Page 44 of Live To Tell

Rowan flops down next to me. “You reckon witches tried to kill Kai before he turned eighteen to stop this transfer?”

“That’s obvious,” says Leif and squeezes into the adjacent armchair. “But wouldn’t shifters be the ones who wanted to stop another human getting rights to the lands?”

“They have their own rights,” I say. “Kai wouldn’t own the shifter’s part of the land.”

“As far as we know,” says Rowan. He takes my hand and plays his fingers along the back. “Sawyer hasn’t disclosed everything to Dorian. Your father knows nothing about this sudden inheritance, or that Sawyer has a ‘vampire lawyer’, and his big-mouthed son just dropped him in shit.”

I still his fingers by placing mine over them. “Most certainly. But Sawyer invited Dorian, so he isn’t hiding the situation anymore.”

“Yeah, we all know Sawyer’s sucking up to Dorian for protection.” Leif moistens his lips. “What if he’s expecting an attack?”

“Oh, joy,” I say. “More public bloodshed.”

“What about those papers you found in the box?” asks Leif. “Has Dorian found anything from them?”

Rowan rubs the back of his neck. “So, about that...”

I snap my head around. “What?”

“I only photographed one side of the papers. We don’t have all the information, according to Dorian’s legal people.”

“What?” I blink at him. “That’s extremely remiss of you.”

“Legal papers aren’t usually double-sided,” he retorts. “And we were in a hurry!”

“What information do we have?”

“Half,” says Leif and smirks as Rowan punches his arm.

“Speak to Dorian?” suggests Rowan. “I don’t speak legalese.”

“What’s that? A witch language? Do you think the deeds were in code to trick people?” I straighten.

Leif chuckles. “You could argue legalese is a coded language that tricks people.”

“Well, is it or not?” I snap my head between the two.

“Legal jargon, Violet. A lot of legal jargon,” says Rowan.

“But only half,” puts in Leif again.

“Why is that funny?” I snap. “Because half a story is never funny!”

If only we’d taken those papers along with the tiara on the night of the attack. The box disappeared from the location hidden beneath the factory floor before the papers could be retrieved by investigators. Josef removed the box? Or somebody else we never saw also present that night?

Leif presses his large palms to his thighs and stands. “We’re at a party. Can we get a drink now?”

“But—”

“But unless you intend to leave for more sleuthing, there’s nothing more we can do,” says Rowan.

“You don’t want to miss the evening entertainment,” adds Leif.

I allow Rowan to help me to my feet. “Entertainment? There was the man playing music through a machine. Is there more? Not another band, I hope.”

“I heard there’ll be fireworks later,” Leif says.

“There’re witches here. He could’ve saved money and asked them for a light show,” I comment. “Like Holly planned for the Spring...” She isn’t here for me to remind her of the occasion, but I still feel I’m speaking the unmentionable.

---