Page 54 of Hard Heart

“Just take my advice and drop this,” she said, and then she left as I rummaged around in my purse for a tip.

“Well, that was weird,” Heidi said once the door closed.

“Did you hear everything?”

“Duh, of course. A freaking detective shows up, and you think I’m not going to eavesdrop?”

In a way, I was glad she had. “Is that normal in Virginia? For a detective to make a house call like that?”

“How should I know? I don’t do crime.”

“I mean, I didn’t put my address on the email to Special Agent Paulson, only my name and number.”

Which meant Rimer had looked me up, probably by using DMV records. Why go to all the trouble of visiting? Why not simply call and tell me Paulson was injured?

“Huh. That is weird. Maybe she wanted to size you up?”

“Enough to drive two hours from Fairfax County? Rimer’s in the state police, but Blackstone Bluff is in a different division from Richmond.”

“Isn’t there a police academy in Richmond? There’s a cop who comes into the club whenever he has to visit for training.” Heidi crinkled her nose. “I’m pretty sure he’s married. And also that he does an awful lot of training.”

“I guess it’s possible.” But that still didn’t explain the “why.” “And the pentagram thing is weird too.”

“How’s that?”

“Everyone’s trying to make out that the murder was a satanic ritual, but Satanism uses an inverted pentagram. One point down, two points up to represent the horns of Baphomet. The upright pentagram is Wiccan, and it symbolises harmony, protection, and the five elements—earth, air, fire, water, and spirit.”

“And wasn’t Ruby arranged in a cross? That’s Christian, not Satanic.”

“Satanism does use the inverted cross as a rejection of Christian morality.”

“So maybe she was supposed to be viewed, like, upside down?”

“That would make more sense, but she was just lying there on the bed.”

“I’m beginning to think that this case is one big cosmic joke.”

There were so many anomalies coming to light, but every time I tugged on a loose thread, it either stuck fast or pulled loose in my fingers. I’d have to ask Levi more about the scene, and I feared that would break him.

“So am I, partner. So am I.”

CHAPTER 18

SERAFINA

“Another agenda?”

“Are you surprised?”

Sykes shook his head. “Nope. And you changed your shoes.”

My cheeks heated. I hadn’t expected him to notice my ballet pumps, but I should have known better.

“These are more comfortable.”

And I figured that if we ended up playing footsie under the table again, I didn’t want to stab him with a stiletto. Yes, I had lost my mind. Yes, I was flirting with disaster. Despite Special Agent Rimer’s warning, my heart still beat faster when I got close to Levi Sykes, and it wasn’t due to pentagrams or knives or crime scenes. The man exuded pheromones like a slow-rolling fog. I couldn’t escape it, so I might as well embrace it on these brief visits.

Rudd had never made my breath hitch. I’d occasionally felt heady to be on his arm, but now I realised that had mostly been due to the situation rather than Rudd himself. Because he took me to fancy parties. Because other women looked at me jealously. Because I’d achieved the goals society had set out for me. Not because of the man himself.