I leaned back in the chair, watching him. He hadn’t liked being questioned, but for all his bluster, there wasn’t a hint of guilt in him.
Finally, I stood. “All right. Thanks for your time.”
He followed me to the door, relief and irritation written across his face in equal measure.
Back on the street, I drew a long breath. Everything in me said Leon wasn’t the killer. He might’ve had reason enough to hate Winston, but he didn’t have murder in him, and Jim’s death rattled him just as much as anyone else.
I hated the thought of telling Declan, though. He’d been so sure Leon was the villain in this story. I was sure he was going to be disappointed that he wasn’t.
I was about to go find him and tell him when my phone buzzed with a text from Mellgren.
Mellgren:Do you have a few minutes?
Mellgren pretty much never asked for anything, so I was a little surprised, but if he needed something, I would do what I could.
Me:Sure what’s up?”
Mellgren:I’m struggling. There is so much going on with the murders and the festival.
I started to reply, but I could see that he was still texting. It took a few seconds where I saw him text and delete and text and delete, but then the text finally came through.
Mellgren:And the blood. There was so much blood. I don’t want to bite anyone. I hate the taste. Ew. But I have this little voice that says you might like it now. I’ve been doing all the things, meditating, drinking beet juice for the iron, I even warmed it up, but I just wanted to talk to someone.
Me:That’s what we are here for Mellgren. Do you want me to come to you or do you want me to call a meeting?
Mellgren:A meeting would be good.
Me:I’ll make the call and I’ll meet you there.
Chapter Nineteen
A new lead… Maybe
Declan
After Gideon left, I flopped back on my bed and grinned at the ceiling. I felt like a teenager who’d just discovered sex for the first time. Somewhere in the intervening years from my first fumbling attempts at blow jobs to now, I’d forgotten how fucking brilliant sex could be.
Then again, I suspected a large part of my newfound awe of sex was because of Gideon’s amazingness.
If heart-eyes existed in real life, I would totally be wearing them right now.
A slow thud of footsteps on the stairs leading to the apartment warned me of Elwood’s arrival before I heard the door open. I scrambled to throw on my clothes. Then, I quickly combed my fingers through my hair. It was short enough that it never got very messy. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to detour quickly to the bathroom to splash some cold water on my heated face.
The minute I stepped into the bathroom, I caught my reflection in the mirror. Oh boy. I adjusted my glasses and looked again. A bit of water wasn’t going to help with the beard burn or my swollen lips. And what the…?
I tilted my head to the side and leaned closer to the mirror.Fuck. Was that a mark on my neck, too?
Gideon hadn’t been nearly so marked up when he’d left. I’d have to fix that next time.
Because there would be a next time. There was no question about it.
For now, though, every single person who saw me would know I’d been well fucked. I braced myself against the counter. Well, I wasn’t going to hide in here all night, so I should go out and be done with it.
“Declan? You in there?” Elwood knocked on the door.
As soon as I opened it, Elwood took one look at me and barked out a laugh. “You look like you were mauled by a wolf.”
“Yeah, yeah…” I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t stop grinning as I pushed by him.
