Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Laurel stalked off to the kitchen to make her magic smoothie, taking the reminder of herbs with an eye roll. “I’m not a novice, Shannon,” she muttered.
Nick was slowing down his eating, his eyes sharp and alert, even if he still didn’t look like he could lift much more than his head.
I settled next to him, my own sandwich platter balanced on my stomach.
For a while, we ate in silence, interrupted only by the click of my stove being turned on and Laurel’s mutterings about the state of my herb collection.
“You wanted to talk about what happened yesterday?” I asked.
Nick nodded. “I thought about what you said. And I realized if you’re going to keep trying to push me away, then I have to assume you don’t want to be with me. But if you’re just doing it because you’re scared I’m going to leave you? I’m not.”
Swallowing the suddenly dry sandwich, I asked, “What do you mean?”
“You’re fae. You’re the Windrose, whatever that means.
You’re a foster kid, and I bet you don’t think you can be in a relationship because you think everyone who you meet is going to leave you.
” He spoke with the confidence of someone used to being right about this sort of thing.
He was a cop, and it looked like his ability to read situations was as good as mine.
I stuffed the rest of the sandwich in my mouth to avoid answering him.
“I like you,” he said. “I want to make this work. But, like I said, if what you really want to tell me is you don’t like me, then I hope we can still work together because clearly someone needs to keep an eye on you before all the other packs in San Amaro kidnap you just to see what the big deal is. ”
The sandwich was flavorless, and I chewed and swallowed, the feeling of food scraping down my dry throat. My mind was racing. What did I want?
The answer was painfully clear: Nick. But I wanted him so badly that the idea of him leaving me, the idea of opening myself up when it wasn’t to win an argument, left me feeling like I’d taken a knife to my own gut.
“Okay,” I said.
“I don’t know what that means,” Nick confessed, his brows tight. “Do you just want to be co-workers?”
“I’d like to try a relationship,” I said. “Try the boyfriend thing now that you know everything.”
“Do I know everything?” Nick gave me a searching look, and I nodded. “Alright. Yeah. Let’s try it, then.”
He leaned over, our sandwich plates clinking together, and pressed his lips against mine. They were dry, like he was dehydrated, but he smiled into the kiss and I wanted more.
In the kitchen, Laurel turned on the blender. I pulled away from Nick and glared at her, ignoring her sugary sweet smile. “Get it,” she mouthed, the sound impossible to hear over the roar of the machine.
“So, who’s the serial killer?” Nick asked.
I thought about obfuscating, doing the tap dance I was used to performing in order to keep everyone at arm’s length and me with all the information. Instead, I said, “Mark Woolworth.”
“The professor? How do you know?”
“I heard him ordering Dieter around, and also Dieter was tracking Acacia. I thought it was just because Woolworth was worried she’d file a complaint about him, but Dieter knew I was a fae.
” It seemed tenuous, but I saw the pieces clicking for Nick, too.
“And no one knows I’m a fae. I think Woolworth must have given him something that smelled like fae, which is how he was tracking us. ”
“We could find out if there’s any evidence he was tracking Tim, too,” Nick agreed. He accepted a glass of smoothie from Laurel with a nod. “Why now, though? Why start killing like this now?”
For a while, we mulled over it, and then I stood, picking up the textbook off my desk. I paged through until I found the photo showing the ancient spell. Moving back to the couch, I handed it over to Nick.
“Look familiar?” I said.
“This is really close to the one we found on the incubus.” Nick thumbed through the rest of the book, stopping when he got to the author’s picture on the final pages. “Woolworth. Related to our serial killer?”
“His mother. He took over her class when she died a few months ago. Maybe he didn’t know about the spell until now?”
“So,” Nick rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, thoughtfully. Laurel cleared her throat, and he took another sip of the smoothie. “Mom dies, and he’s distraught. Maybe he goes through her research and discovers the spell? And, what? Tries it?”
Picking up another sandwich half, I took a large bite and thought about it for a minute. “He tries it on what, though? It’s a huge leap to go from academic study of magic to murder.”
“There must be something we’re missing,” Nick said.
“I didn’t know Professor Woolworth even had a son,” Laurel said. She’d collected the leftover smoothie in a second glass and pried the remaining sandwiches out of my hands, replacing it with the drink. Standing over me, she watched until I took an unhappy sip.
Of course it was delicious, Laurel had made it. Still, I preferred the sandwiches over the slightly grainy texture of the drink. “Do I want to know what’s in this?”
“Something good for you. Don’t think I can’t see your magic is dangerously low, too.”
“You didn’t even check me,” I said. She gave me a flat look and sitting on her hospital bed, next to her body, Shannon was giving me the exact same one. “I’m feeling very attacked here.”
“We should check his house,” Nick said. “Maybe we can even catch him there.”
“He knows we’re after him. Dieter would have run to him,” I said. “Where else is he going to go? The SoPa and the Five Dragons want his head.”
“We can still check it out.” Nick gave me an arch look. “I’ll call my captain to get an address.”
He tried to stand up and Laurel shook her head, shoving him back down with one hand. “You’re going to rest. Maybe even take a nap. You’re lucky you didn’t go into shock.”
“Are you sure you’re his sister?” Nick said. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Parker sound that responsible.”
“Foster sister,” I said.
Nick settled back and finished his smoothie, handing over the empty glass when Laurel gestured and accepting his sandwiches in return. “Tell me exactly what you heard. I want to try to get a warrant.”
I rolled my eyes. “Can’t we call it a wellness check? Maybe see if we don’t hear some screams when we get there? I can throw my voice really well.”
Granted, it took a bit of magic and convincing the air the vibrations had come from the other side of the door, which wasn’t a big deal.
“No.” Nick’s lips pulled down slightly in the corner. “We have to do this by the book. This guy is a serial killer. If he gets off because we didn’t do things right, then that’s more dead people on our hands.”
“God, the book, the book. I think you love the book more than me,” I complained, hiding my smile in my glass.
I’d met a lot of cops in my time in the system, and it was rare to find an honest one who actually cared about the people he was supposed to be protecting and serving.
Most just wanted things to be easy, even if that meant they weren’t following the rules they enforced.
Laurel looked between us, a smirk on her face. She raised an eyebrow, and I shrugged. Okay, so maybe I liked him a lot. Hex me.
“I was... uh…” The conversation I’d heard had been from when I was breaking the laws Nick held so dear.
Pulling back my shoulders, I tried again.
“I was on UCSA’s campus when I saw Woolworth.
Dieter came by and Woolworth got really pissed.
He didn’t want them seen together and told Dieter he shouldn’t come back unless he had something for him.
I thought he meant drugs, but now I’m thinking he meant another fae. ”
Nick nodded, writing on a notepad.
“Seems suspicious,” he agreed. “Not enough to get a warrant.”
“You’re just going to let him go?” I narrowed my eyes.
“No. Of course not. I trust your judgment. If you think he’s the guy, then we put on the pressure. But we just can’t search his place unless he lets us in.”
“What’s the likelihood a guy who’s killed five people is going to just let us in?” I said. “This is a fishing trip. He’s going to attack us.”
“If he attacks us, then we definitely have a reason to detain him and search his place,” Nick said.
I grinned. “Okay. I see what you’re thinking.”
“I’m not thinking anything.” Nick frowned. “I’m telling you how the law works.”
“Sure.” I tapped my nose. It seemed to make him even more irritated, and he began listing all the different legal ways you could search someone, and explaining them to me. It was kind of adorable.
“I’ll leave you guys to it,” Laurel said. “If I think of anything else, I’ll text you.”
“Thanks, sis,” I said.
“Parker Ferro,” she said. “Dropping all the family titles today.”
Sliding her bag onto her shoulder, she leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Be careful. Call me if you need backup. And both of you keep eating. I’m going to send over another bag of food. Eat all of it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “We won’t even leave a single crumb.”
After she shut the door, I looked over at Shannon and sighed. “What are we going to do about you?”
“It’s not ideal,” Nick agreed. “But you can keep her here until the end of the case at least.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Well, about that. I really am getting evicted.”
“What?” Nick sat up and frowned down at me. “Why?”
“That’s not important.” I didn’t want to get into the mess that was the job I’d done for Derek McCallum and how it had left me broke, angry, and ready for revenge. “I’m just not sure how long she can stay here.”
“You’ll figure it out, kiddo,” Shannon said. “I believe in you.”
Nick brows were tight, a small crease between them. “I thought we said no secrets. You just told me I knew everything.”
Groaning, I dragged a hand through my hair. “Fine. Okay. No secrets. The job I did for McCallum ended badly. You knew that. I lost everything in my savings and then some. What I had left, I had to use to pay for Shannon’s facility. So, no rent, no apartment.”
At the mention of McCallum’s name, Nick’s nostrils flared.
“See?” I said. “This is why I didn’t want to bring it up and ruin a perfectly good evening.”
“The perfectly good evening where I’m recovering from magic depletion and you’re looking half dead?” Nick said.
“Okay, well, I resent that. I am a paragon of beauty.”
Some of my magic was returning, and I put up a glamour, the sort fae were known for. I couldn’t hold it long, but when Nick’s eyes traced over my face, he looked struck. Shocked.
I’d turned my skin from California-tanned into a golden lustre that made it look like I’d bathed in body glitter.
My lips glistened like I was wearing shiny lip gloss.
The ears were easy because everyone thinks fae have pointed ears straight out of Lord of the Rings, so I’d done those, with several silver rings lining the cartilage.
My eyes were the crowning glory, though.
They’d always been blue, a washed-out sky blue one of my lovers told me made him think of long summer days.
But with the glamour I deepened the color, pushing the blue as far as it could go until they were the color of a sapphire ring.
Then I told the color to shift so the blue was never quite the same each time you looked into my gaze. It was the aurora borealis of eyes.
Nick reached out and brushed a thumb across my cheekbone, his mouth hanging open slightly.
“What is this?” he asked.
“A glamour.” It was a familiar look, one I’d worn nearly my entire time in the Far Realm.
“I like how you were,” he said. “I like how you look on your own better.”
I felt the words in my chest. Dropping the glamour, I watched Nick’s expression go from patient to affectionate as he leaned close and pressed a kiss to my cheek. His lips were warm. When he spoke, his breath tickled my skin.
“Much better.”
“You don’t like the full get up?” I asked. “Most people are attracted.”
“I like the look of you right now,” he said. “If you want to play dress up, I can get into it, but the whole look isn’t what I got into this for.”
“What’d you come for?”
“Obviously the guy who likes handcuffs and can’t keep anything in his refrigerator.”
Shoving him, I laughed. Someone knocked at the door and when I checked the peephole, it was a guy wearing one of Laurel’s Cafe shirts. He handed over two enormous paper bags of food and then offered over a cooler filled with the expensive pressed juices Laurel sold.
When I got back from putting everything in the kitchen, Nick was on the phone with his captain, telling him our theory about Woolworth.
“Yeah, I understand,” Nick said. “I agree. But we need an address for that.” He listened for a moment and nodded, “Yes, that’s a good idea.
Tomorrow morning.” After a beat, he said, “Okay, thanks, Captain.” Hanging up, he grimaced at me.
“The captain doesn’t think it’ll be enough for a warrant, either. ”
I swore. “So, our plan is just to hope he lets us into his house?”
“We’ll go over tomorrow. The captain is going to have some people on standby, but we can’t depend on them because they’ll be a few minutes away. He’s sending over Woolworth’s address now,” Nick said. “He thinks Woolworth wouldn’t kill us because so far he’s only been killing paranormals.”
“Of which, I am one,” I pointed out. “And if Woolworth was powerful enough to take down the Windrose, I’m not really eager to face him on my own. Can’t backup wait around the corner or something?”
“The captain wants us to treat it like we don’t know he’s the killer.”
“And a raid team of cops would give it away.” I looked up to the ceiling. “Okay, I mean, it feels like a bad plan.”
“Hey, you think we can’t handle him? We just fought off two of San Amaro’s top wolf packs,” Nick said. “We know who he is, we know what he’s capable of. We’ve got this.”
I shook my head. “And here I thought you were the responsible one.”