Page 14 of Veiled Justice
‘A contract went south,’ Krieg said vaguely.
‘But she shouldn’t have been on a contract!’ Aron objected. ‘She wasn’t ready!’
‘I’m aware.’ Krieg’s expression was tight.
‘Then how did this happen? How did she get on a contract?’
‘That’s what we’re trying to find out,’ I intervened. ‘If you don’t know where she was, does she have another friend who might?’
Aron grimaced. ‘Katrín, or maybe Einar.’
‘Einar?’ Krieg said sharply.
Aron shrugged. ‘They went on a few dates.’
Krieg’s face was blank again; a sure sign he was hiding something. I needed to look into this Einar. ‘Weren’t you two best friends?’ I asked Aron. ‘Surely if anyone knew where she was, it would be you?’
He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. ‘We were but my feelings got in the way and she started to put some distance between us. I promised I wouldn’t make her feel uncomfortable, that I accepted that she didn’t like me in the same way, but she still felt some space was a good idea. I didn’t fight her on it.’
‘Yet she was still using you to alibi her for her parents?’ I asked. That seemed cruel: she was happy to use him but not to love him.
He shrugged. ‘We’ve been doing that for years. It would be weird to stop.’
‘What have you hidden from your parents?’ I asked nosily. ‘Why do you need alibis?’
‘Nothing heinous. Ourparents are strict – we use each other to hide stuff they’d object to. Smoking, drinking, dates with unacceptable people, that sort of petty shit.’
‘And what did she need an alibi for last night?’ I pressed.
He shook his head. ‘I really don’t know. I assumed she and Einar had another date. She didn’t tell me, probably because she felt it was cruel to rub my face in it.’
Krieg checked his phone. ‘Einar is on a contract. Out of town.’
‘I don’t know anything more,’ Aron protested.
‘You don’t know anything,’ Krieg growled. ‘Tidy this shit up.’ He gestured to the wreck of the room then turned on his heel to walk out.
‘She loved you,’ the boy said miserably.
Krieg paused for the briefest of seconds then continued walking. Like Mary’s docile little lamb, I followed. Being docile wasn’t my natural state.
I thought he might go and wake this Katrín but no, he walked straight to his car. He opened the passenger door and pointedly held it open. ‘Get in,’ he ordered. I got in.
He walked around the car and slid into the driver’s seat. I waited until the engine was running before I asked where we were going.
‘I’m driving you home.’
‘You don’t need to do that. I can grab a taxi,’ I protested. He didn’t answer. O-kay then. I was running on empty and I was too tired to fight him. My eyes were gritty and sore, and I wanted sleep more than I wanted an argument. This way, I didn’t have to waitfor a lift. If the High King of the Ogres wanted to play chauffeur, who was I to stop him?
My eyes were sliding shut, so I sat up and bit the inside of my lip. The jolt of pain brushed away some of the sleepiness, for a moment at least. As soon as I got home, I was going to crash fast. I pulled out my phone and set an alarm for four hours’ time. I could function fine after three hours’ sleep and the extra hour would lift ‘fine’ to ‘good’. I slid my phone into the pocket of my suit jacket.
In a desperate bid to stay awake, I looked at the man next to me. ‘Did you know she loved you?’ I asked.
His hands were so tight on the steering wheel that I was genuinely worried he might wrench it off. ‘Yes,’ he said finally.
‘What did you do about it?’
He grimaced. ‘She tried to kiss me. I told her that her interest was flattering but misguided. I told her that I saw her as family. I did my best to let her down gently and redirect her attentions elsewhere.’
