Scorched Heart (The Firebrand Series Book 4), Helen Harper [free ereaders .txt] 📗

space between the murders, they desperately need any clues or evidence that will point them towards a suspect. I hope you don’t mind.’

I widened my eyes, astonished. ‘Goodness, no. People are dying, Laura – myself included. We can’t let the bastard who’s doing this get away with it, and we can’t risk him hurting anyone else.’

‘I knew you’d understand.’

‘Believe me, I’m worried too. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that supes are involved and I’ll be shut out of the investigation. I don’t want that to happen. Not now.’

We exchanged glances of mutual determination, then Laura raised her fist and bumped it with mine. ‘All for one,’ I murmured.

I ordered a pot of coffee and took it up to my room. Because of the day’s events, from my resurrection to Miranda’s revelations to Julie’s death, adrenaline was still buzzing around my system. The last thing I needed was caffeine but I knew that the crash would come soon, and I wanted to stave it off and remain alert for as long as possible. I had a lot of work to do and I couldn’t afford to doze off.

I slid my laptop out of my bag, glad that it hadn’t been stolen along with the files on Patrick Lacey. As it powered up, I called Lukas and was relieved when he finally answered.

‘D’Artagnan,’ he purred. ‘How are you?’

‘I’m good,’ I told him. ‘How are you? I felt like you were avoiding my calls earlier.’

‘I was stuck in meetings all day. The council are being particularly intractable on the licensing for the new club. There’s no law that states we can’t run a business outside Soho, but that doesn’t mean the authorities won’t put up as many stumbling blocks as possible.’ He released an exasperated breath. ‘I’m not giving up. If we expand into other areas, we can connect with more communities and dispel some of the idiotic myths about supes. I’ll get what I want sooner or later.’ He paused. ‘I always do.’

That was definitely true. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’

‘No, it’s in hand. And it’ll be better for you in the long run if you keep out of the negotiations. I appreciate the offer, though. How are things going in Barchapel?’

‘Not great.’ Laura’s suggestion that I still didn’t entirely trust Lukas flashed into my mind and I wrinkled my nose. ‘There have been a couple more deaths since we last spoke.’

There was a beat of silence. ‘Murders?’

‘Yeah.’

‘By the same person?’

‘It looks like it.’ I fiddled with my cuffs. ‘One of them was mine.’

There was a long pause, so drawn out that I wondered if Lukas was still there. ‘Hello?’

‘I’m here,’ he growled. ‘What happened?’

Sticking to the facts, I gave him a brief précis.

‘You need to get out of that pub and find somewhere else to stay.’

I remained calm. ‘There isn’t anywhere else. All the other accommodation is filled by either tourists who booked months ago or by other police officers investigating the murders.’

‘It’s obviously not safe, Emma,’ Lukas argued.

‘It’s fine. I’m fine. I can’t actually die, remember?’

‘We don’t know the limits of your phoenix powers.’

No, we didn’t. But I was beginning to think that Miranda James might. ‘I’m working on that.’

Lukas bit out a curse. ‘Emma…’

‘I’ve got this. Besides, the more often I die, the more powerful I become. I’m in this for the long run, Lukas. And this killer isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.’ I outlined what we’d learned about the footprints. ‘He’s not a supe, he’s just trying to make us think he is. His days are numbered.’

‘I sincerely hope so.’ He didn’t sound optimistic.

‘You worry about your problems with the council, and I’ll worry about things here.’ I ran my tongue over my teeth. ‘What are you wearing?’

‘Huh? Are you trying to turn this into a booty call, Emma?’

‘Is the thought so very unappealing?’

‘I’m not convinced that you can tell me you’ve been murdered again, then try and turn me on a moment afterwards.’

I felt a surge of wicked delight. ‘Really? Not even if I told you I wished I could unbuckle your belt right now? Slowly unzip your trousers and then trail the tip of my finger along the trail of dark hair that leads down? Use my tongue to…’

‘I’m still in the council headquarters,’ Lukas said, sounding gratifyingly strained.

I laughed. ‘Another time then?’

His voice was rough. ‘Count on it.’

We said our farewells and hung up. That had ended better than I’d hoped.

I understood Lukas’s fears because our roles had recently been reversed when I’d had to witness his death and subsequent resurrection. Resurrection of sorts, anyway. I knew where he was coming from. I also knew that I would be fine. I didn’t stay dead – unlike Patrick Lacey, Julie Mackintosh, and my parents.

I tapped the keyboard on the laptop, pleased to see that DSI Barnes’ email had come through with the files relating to my parents’ murder. I left it unopened for now and checked for messages from Liza. Nothing yet. Reaching for my phone again, I called the Supe Squad office. ‘Hey,’ I said, before Liza could launch into her mandated script for a second time. ‘It’s me.’

‘Good,’ she replied briskly. ‘I was about to call you.’

‘How are things?’

‘As you might expect. There’s no sign of Fred and I’m stuck in the office with Grace breathing down my neck.’

‘Is he there right now?’

‘He’s upstairs,’ she said sourly. ‘Inspecting the weapons. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll shoot himself in the foot with one of the crossbows.’

My fingers tightened round the crossbow on my bed. Although I felt attached to it now, not that long ago I could barely hold it upright. Everyone had to begin somewhere. ‘Liza,’ I began.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ she muttered. ‘Do you want to hear what I found out about werebears or not?’

That could only mean she’d discovered something useful. I frowned. ‘Actually,’ I said, ‘we’re working on a different theory now. It’s more than likely that the Barchapel perp is only pretending to be a