Page 20 of Hextreme Measures

“He rents my former condo,” Sully replied. “I’m sure you have the address in your records.”

“Great.” Biff brightened. Or maybe he was just feigning being happier. Ofelia honestly couldn’t tell. “I guess I’ll go over there looking for them.”

Ofelia wanted to ask what Biff was going to do if he found them, but it was a suspicious question, and she wasn’t dumb enough to ask him. “Good luck, I guess,” she said instead. “She wasn’t injured, though.”

“Then she has nothing to worry about.” With that, Biff turned on his heel and sauntered out of the restaurant.

Ofelia stared in his wake, her heart pounding. This was not good.

5

FIVE

Ofelia knew better than to react in front of her father. Somehow — it took superhuman effort — she went through the motions of a normal breakfast, and Oscar wasn’t any the wiser. Or, if he was, he opted to keep his questions to himself.

Once breakfast was finished, Ofelia sent her father off with his friends after planting a loud kiss on his cheek. Oscar’s face turned crimson as his friends hooted and hollered, but Ofelia knew he secretly liked it.

Once it was just the two of them, Ofelia turned to Sully and finally allowed her worry to show. “What the hell are we going to do about Biff?”

“We could throw him in the river with a few rocks attached and see if he can swim,” Sully suggested blithely.

Ofelia made a face. “I’m being serious.”

“Who says I’m not?”

There was no containing her eye roll. “I need you to be serious. No matter how irritating you find Biff, we both know you would never kill him. Give me a break.”

Sully held up his hands in supplication. “Sorry. You’re right. If I kill Biff, I won’t tell anybody, including you.”

“Hey!” Ofelia reared back as if she’d been slapped. “I thought we were a team.”

“We are, but I wouldn’t tell you so you don’t have to lie to the police if they start asking questions. That’s me protecting you. I’m assuming you would do the same thing for me.”

She had to consider it. “If I killed Biff, I definitely wouldn’t tell you. I wouldn’t kill him, though, because I don’t like the idea of a lie living at the center of our relationship.”

“Oh, funny thing.” Sully’s fingers were gentle as they brushed her hair out of her face. “That’s why I haven’t killed him either.”

Despite their circumstances, Ofelia managed a grin. “I guess that’s why we’re such a good match.”

“Definitely.” Sully pulled her in and swayed back and forth as he hugged her. “For right now, Biff is chasing his tail. He can’t search your property without a warrant, and there’s no judge who will give him one on flimsy evidence, and that’s all he has.”

Ofelia wasn’t as certain that the law would back up their position as Sully, but she’d built failsafes into the wards the previous evening. “Even if Biff gets a warrant, he won’t be able to find Angelique at my building.”

Sully pulled back far enough to eye her. “What does that mean?”

“Just that if he were to try, the elevator wouldn’t go to that floor, and he would have no idea she was there. I built it into the spell. She’s safe.”

“So, he could search our place, come up empty, and basically be out of luck with the other building,” Sully mused.

“Yes.” Ofelia bobbed her head. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“So, maybe we should let him search the building sooner rather than later to cover ourselves.”

Now, Ofelia hesitated. “Wouldn’t it come across as suspicious if you just volunteered to let him do that after we denied seeing her after the party?”

“Probably.” Sully bobbed his head. “I’ll feel Jack out when I see him later. For now, I’m going to the morgue.”

Ofelia’s hand flew to her mouth. “Who died? Did somebody from the party last night die?”