My people.
“I promise never to steal her on a Monday night again,” Valdemar reassures them.
“It’s fine. I think Pierre and I can manage the remaining champagne by ourselves.” Una smiles.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” I say, giving them a small wave.
Una salutes, and Pierre nods, still avoiding looking at Valdemar.
Valdemar stands, places his hand on the small of my back, and steers me out of the bar.
The car is close, and Valdemar opens the passenger door for me before climbing in the driver’s side.
We don’t speak until he’s pulled out onto the road.
“Are you okay, angel?”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“We’ve been trying to find out what happened,” he says, changing gears. “But the police are all over it. It’s made it hard to get any answers.”
“I know what happened,” I tell him.
Valdemar whips his head round, eyeing me carefully before returning his eyes to the road. “You do?”
“Yes.”
“Through the paper?” he asks.
“No.”
“Then how?” He glances at me quickly, not able to take his eyes from the oncoming traffic.
It takes me the rest of the journey to tell him about Ed and Annabel’s visit and how Ed showed me what they’d done through the mirror. By the time I’m finished, he’s pulling the car into the drive at Corvus House.
“Fuck.” Turning the engine off, Valdemar sits back. “It’s fucking insane.”
“I know.”
“But it’s done. And nothing will lead to us?”
“No.”
He sits up and leans over, closing the gap between us. “I still can’t believe it. That he’s dead. It feels like a dream. And all thanks to you.”
“I didn’t do this,” I say quickly.
“No, but it was your idea. You set it in motion. If it weren’t for you, Fortunato would still be sitting behind his desk, counting his money and dealing his drugs, the bodies stacking up.”
“Men like Fortunato always get their comeuppance.”
“Not always, but on this occasion, you were clever enough to uproot him.” He pushes my hair from my face. “You are a truly exceptional person, Evangeline.” Hearing him say my name, which he very rarely uses, unfurls something inside me.
I bow my head, the compliment heating my cheeks.
“Don’t you dare look away from me,” he says, tipping my chin. “You listen to me. You have saved your brother and Annabel from eternal unrest, you have released this city from the clutches of a tyrant, you have brought the Raven Hands into the twenty-first century, and you have saved me. How is that not the work of an exceptional person?”
“It’s nothing you wouldn’t have done.”
