“Good for you. Try not to abduct anyone on the way.”
Of course his sister had told him. But it wasn’t only her I needed to see. I had an appointment with Cassie. Dixie’s tablet had a passcode and facial recognition I couldn’t get past. I was a data scientist, not a hacker, even if I’d joked about that with the skeleton girls. I needed access, and as Dixie’s employer, Cassie was my best shot.
An engine rumbled. Kane cruised down the street, keeping pace with me.
“I’m not getting in,” I informed him.
“Didn’t ask.”
Oh, for Heaven’s sake. I rolled an unimpressed glance his way. “What are you even doing here?”
In my fear, I’d barely questioned why Kane would be only streets away from my house. As far as I knew, he wasn’t even from Deadwater, and his only ties were to the warehouse and the skeleton crew who ran it.
He didn’t answer, keeping that maddening car’s width away from me.
At the end of the street, I turned. He did, too. Then at the main road, when I hopped onto a thankfully waiting bus, Kane drove the whole route behind it. I didn’t get this guy. I didn’t have anything he wanted…
My stomach tightened. Unless he knew what I’d taken from Dixie’s. That had to be it. Why else haunt me?
Off the bus, I clutched my bag to my chest and hustled down the cobbled river street to the huge, red-brick warehouse thathoused the skeleton crew and their clubs, certain I would be mugged at every step.
There was no sign of Kane in the neon-pink lit reception when I reported in to the crew member manning the back desk.
Mila and Cassie appeared to collect me, the first a beautiful woman a couple of years younger than me and with wavy blonde hair to her shoulders and zero resemblance to her brother, and the second a fierce but tiny Scotswoman with wild black curls.
I was a hugger, but I didn’t know either well enough to launch in with open arms, though I wanted to.
Cassie walked straight up and threw her arms around me. “I heard what ye did to get Convict free yesterday. Badass member of the Skeleton Girls Detective Agency. Ack, you’re freezing, woman.”
“I had to get the bus,” I explained. “My car is still in Leith.”
Mila joined the hug. “I don’t even think I said thank you.”
I embraced her back, sinking into the warmth. Hugs fuelled me, and it had been a while. “You don’t need to, but I accept gratitude in the form of cake.”
Cake didn’t fix everything, but it did take the edge off existential dread.
Mila laughed into my shoulder. “You were the only solution that guaranteed his safety. You did that. And I know it could’ve come at a cost. I can’t tell you how grateful I am, let alone to have you as a friend.”
My emotion dipped. No,plummeted. It happened when I was carrying stress. Feelings hit me in a tidal wave, sometimes so strong I had to hide away until they faded. More often it was gentler, like yesterday when Kane told me about Dixie, or now, when a hug and kind words threatened to make me cry. As a teenager, it had dominated my every day, so bad my mother took me to doctors and then therapists. I’d learned to manage it. Mostly.
By force, I pulled myself together, summoning a smile. “How is he? How are you, for that matter? I thought you’d be holed up for days.”
“Con wanted to see Arran and Shade, but we’ll go home once they’ve talked.”
“Come upstairs? I’ll make tea and warm ye up.” Cassie directed us deeper into the warehouse and in the lift to the seventh floor.
Her apartment was a lovely space with polished oak floors and brick walls. Floor-to-ceiling arched windows gave views over Deadwater and the river flowing into town. Drawn to the sight, I gazed on the cobbled walkway below, the pink neon lights of the clubs flickering to life, though they didn’t open for a few more hours.
Cassie danced to the kitchen, overhead pendant lamps casting a warm glow on shiny chrome appliances. She flicked the button on the kettle, then smiled when another person entered the room. Riordan, her boyfriend, strode from the hall which I presumed led to the bedrooms.
His brown hair was ruffled as if he was just starting his day, which was likely as most of the crew worked nights. He raised a polite hand in greeting to us and straightened his skeleton crew black t-shirt and the skull bandanna tied around his throat, then stepped into a pair of heavy motorcycle boots.
Cassie tracked his progress.
She was unapologetically obsessed with her boyfriend, and from the way he behaved around her, the feeling had to be mutual.
At the door, he paused and made a small gesture. Cassie flew from the kitchen and leapt at him. He caught her, her legs wrapping around his waist, while one of his hands cupped her backside.
