“I put a coffee maker in there for him,” I said. “Nick, this is…”
“Jerome Walters,” my client said.
Nick’s unexpected presence had at least relaxed my client enough that he was willing to talk to me. Maybe he was reassured that I was just as weird as promised.
The reason my clients came to me was because I had a reputation as being one of them. No one was every able to put a finger onwhatI was, but they all knew they could trust me because I had that same paranormal edge to me that made me just weird enough to trust.
“Jerome here has a case for us.” I accepted the cup of coffee from Nick, who propped a hip on the filing cabinet behind me, crossing his massive arms over his attractive chest.
“Us?” Nick said. He raised his eyebrow, and I nodded at him.
“Yeah,” I said. “Us. He’s just now getting used to us working together professionally.”
I said the latter to Jerome, who was looking between us with an eyebrow raised.
“I thought you worked alone,” Jerome said. “They said you worked alone.”
“I used to,” I said. “But business has picked up. I needed the extra help, and he’s got skills.”
“Not just in the bedroom?” Jerome joked.
Laughing, I shook my head. “I promise he’s a great investigator.”
Nick really was a talented investigator. He was thorough, detail oriented, exactly the sort of guy I would want to have working on any case for me. Only he didn’t work for me. He was property of the San Amaro Police Department.
Technically he was on vacation—one his boss had mandated. Captain Tate had told Nick to use his vacation time after his last case, or Tate would see that Nick was on desk duty for the next year.
Nick’s last case had been a mess of werewolf turf wars and destroyed alchemy circles. Normally, it would have been one for the Criminal Gang and Pack Division, but it got sent to Nick in Paranormal Crimes because of the alchemy involved. He’d ended the case in the hospital, lucky to keep his arm.
The forced vacation had been interesting. Usually I was the one that was laid up on the couch, feeling like something a demon had dragged in for dinner. Nick looked just as terrible, only he was crawling the walls. It was so bad, his physical trainer had actually banned him from the gym.
He’d even tried to drag me hiking. Only the fact that I didn’t own any hiking boots had saved me. When he’d bought me a new pair, I’d faked the flu.
The only thing that would keep him occupied would be a new case.
“So, Jerome,” I said. “What can I do for you?”
Jerome looked down at his hands, picking at his thumbnail. Then he looked up at my ceiling. I glanced up. I’d never paid itmuch attention, and there were a few water stains but nothing that would hold someone’s focus.
“A few months ago, my grandma died,” Jerome said.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said.
“Thanks.” Jerome picked at his thumbnail again. “This is all confidential, right?”
I shared a glance with Nick, who couldn’t resist saying, “As long as it’s nothing illegal.”
“I don’t think it is?” At our dubious looks, Jerome said, “I’m pretty sureIdidn’t do anything illegal.”
“How about you start at the beginning,” I coaxed.
Jerome brought his hand to his mouth and nibbled at his thumbnail for a moment, glancing between us. Finally, he spoke around his finger.
“So, thing is… Well, I mean…”
“Your grandma died,” I said.
“Yeah,” Jerome said. “My grandma died. And I inherited everything. I have an uncle, but he lives on the East Coast. I think he works in finance or something. He said I could have everything, so I got the entire estate. It wasn’t a lot. She had a house up in Redding, and it was packed with all of her stuff.”
