I nodded. “You’ll let me know tomorrow if there’s anything untoward in the initial report, though?”
“You know I will.”
I blew him a kiss, then jogged down the lane to the rear door and let myself in. We had another good crowd in, although it wasn’t as busy at this hour as it had been last night. I found Ingrid and checked that everything was okay, then headed upstairs, dumping my clothes into the washing machine before heading into the kitchenette to put the kettle on. Once my tea was made, I settled on the sofa, dragged out my phone, and found Eljin’s number.
Hey, I sent.I’m really sorry to text on your weekend away, but I was looking for a brooch Mom gave me, and I think it might have fallen off at your place. You mind if I go over tomorrow morning and search for it?
I didn’t expect an immediate reply, and I didn’t get one. He was likely out with his sister having dinner somewhere, so I grabbed my iPad, drank my tea while I doomscrolled my favorite social media sites, and watched a few YouTube videos. It was a good hour before my phone pinged.
Brooch?came his reply.Can’t remember seeing you wear anything other than the pendant that hates me.
It was no doubt meant as a joke, but it was a strong reminder that if the Eye had reservations about this man, I really needed to start listening.
It was pinned on the coat I was wearing last time I was there. I only just noticed it was missing and did a search here, to no avail.
Would it have fallen off anywhere else? In the street perhaps?
Possibly, but I thought I’d check your place first before I put in a police report, because it’s fair to say we were in a heated haze last time I went there, and it could have fallen off in the hasty stripping off.
Heated haze is something of an understatement,he replied, and followed it up with a LOL emoji.What time you going over? I’ll turn off notifications for that period. You remember the security code?
About midday and, yes, I do.A little bit of the inner tension untwined. Surely if he’d had anything incriminating hidden in his house, he would not have been so easygoing about me going in.How’s your sister?
The three little dots indicating he was replying appeared.She’s good. Missing her kids something fierce, though, which is crazy to me. You’d think she’d enjoy the break.
If they’re only young, it’s understandable.
I suppose. What are you up to? Why are you searching for the brooch?
I hesitated, then sent,Got a date, and I just noticed it was missing when I put the coat on. As I said, a quick search didn’t uncover it.
I thought the competition was unavailable for the next few months.
He is.
Darby, then?
No.
There was a long moment of text silence before he sent back, Ask no questions, be told no lies?
I sent several smiley emojis.We’re not exclusive and I was bored.
Then I shall have to up my game and ensure boredom is not a problem. He added a number of sexual emojis.
He did not, I couldn’t help but notice, even jest about going exclusive, which was interesting given my statement was the perfect opening for it.Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
Challenge accepted, my dear. I shall see you when I get home.
You will.
And if Ididfind something untoward in his apartment tomorrow, at least I had Monday to think about my next step with him. Because as much as I’d want to confront him straight away, that might not be the best option. I could always attempt to use my magic on him—male pixies were not immune to it, even if elves were—but if he’d been deliberately placed in my path to keep an eye on me, it was more than possible he’d be immune to being pixied, whether that be via magic or some sort of telepathic overrule to prevent him from saying too much.
I finished my tea then went downstairs to help Ingrid, as I’d promised, so it was close to midnight by the time I got back upstairs.
The Bruadar remained stubbornly silent, and the disappointment levels were high. I stripped off, climbed into bed, and slept. Dreams spun through the night, none powerful enough to wake me, but still filled with the warning of danger, of death.
To say I woke up feeling less than rested and particularly grumpy would be an understatement. I took my time eating breakfast, then went downstairs to Mom’s office to finally go through the multiple boxes that were stored there. Most of them were old bills that she hadn’t gotten around to filing, but the two at the very bottom of the stack held a number of leather-bound accounting and appointment books. A quick look at one revealed Mom’s handwritten and rather meticulous accounting of expenses and profits—not for the tavern, but rather her relic hunting side business. My pulse skipped several beats. Maybe,just maybe, there’d be something here that would lead me to Geitha’s Tears—presuming shehadmade an appointment to meet with Cynwrig’s father to discuss finding the missing necklace.
