Page 19 of Blood Bearon
“Okay?” He blinked, peering at the sheets on her desk, trying to figure out what she was thinking.
“Let’s go.”
Khove nodded and rose abruptly. “Right. Let’s do it.” He paused. “Um. Where are we going?”
Rachel was shaking her head at him, still seated at her desk. “To the place that didn’t fit the pattern. The one where you decided to run off on me.”
Khove frowned. He hadn’t “run off”. He’d followed the scent of Canim, tracking them down and accosting the trio of youths who had fled from the warehouse. It turned out they were the ones who’d called in the fake fire. They were covering their own tracks, as they’d put it, while trying to hide out.
He’d caught them in a nearby warehouse, surrounded by supplies, inflatable mattresses and a tiny portable cook stove. After some threatening and cajoling, Khove had gotten it from them that they weren’t responsible for the attacks on Ursa property. They just didn’t want to be at Moonshadow Manor anymore. They claimed it wasn’t safe.
It was absolutely nothing to do with him and his House. He’d let them go and raced back over to the warehouse.
“It’s a dead end,” he said bluntly. “A coincidence, nothing more.”
“What? How can you be so sure of that?” Rachel was standing now too, gathering up her files. “Or is this another one of your super-duper training skills?”
Khove was trapped, and he knew it. He couldn’t tell her the truth. That was simply out of the question. So, he had to throw her a bone, a distraction—something to keep her attention occupied elsewhere. Unfortunately, there was only one he could think of.
“Because,” he said tightly, wishing he could have kept this card closer to his chest. “I know who’s behind all this.”
“What!?” Rachel shouted, slamming her hands down on her desk.
All around the office, conversation ceased as heads turned to stare in their direction. Acutely uncomfortable at the attention, Khove cleared his throat quietly.
“Do you seriously know who’s doing this?” Rachel hissed in lowered tones, leaning over the desk, neck craned back so she could stare at him.
“Not here,” he said softly.
“Khove, if you know anything that pertains to this case, you need to tell me. If you don’t, that’s obstruction of justice. That’s a legitimately arrestable offence,” she ground out, eyes flashing with blue-white lightning.
“Not. Here,” he repeated. “Come on.”
“What? Where are we going?”
He smiled. “Being the center of attention always makes me hungry. So since you did that, you’re taking me for food. We’ll talk more there.In private.”
Rachel stood up, giving him a long stare. Khove tried not to let it show, but he felt more analyzed and dissected in those five seconds than at any other point in his life. It was extremely unsettling. How did she do that?
“Fine,” she said at last, gesturing for him to follow her. “Food it is. That’s not such a bad idea. But you’re going to tell me everything, got it?”
“Got it.”Everything you need to know.
They walked out into the parking lot behind the station. He started scanning the cars, looking for hers, but didn’t spot it.
“Over here.”
Rachel was pointing at an SUV. He followed her over to it. “Finally, something with room.”
She pulled open the back seat. “Get in.”
Khove looked at her. Then at the back door. Then at Rachel again. She just smiled sweetly. “I have stuff in the front. Someone decided to wreck the back seat of my car.”
Grumbling, he climbed into the back of a police vehicle for the second time in twenty-four hours.
At least this time, he didn’t have handcuffs on. That was an improvement of sorts.
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