25. Lucy
CHAPTER 25
Lucy
Liam grabbed a plate and started placing tiny sandwiches and cakes on it. I watched him consider the options like he really did care what I was eating. Normally, Frankie did this kind of shit or I did it myself, but there was something about watching Liam consider the red grapes or the green that really…
He settled on both before proudly placing the plate in front of me. The look on his face made me think he wanted some kind of praise for choosing well, and I really wanted to give it to him.
It was overwhelming how badly I wanted to make him smile.
“I don’t like red grapes.” I had to look away when his smile faltered, hating myself for doing that to him, but I couldn’t let this feel any more real than it already did.
Liam sat in the chair right next to mine and then pulled me closer. Resting his arm over the back of my chair, he popped one of the red grapes in his mouth as he inspected his brother’s home.
My statement and lack of thanks hadn’t bothered him at all. He’d even used it as an excuse to get closer to me .
It was difficult to look at him when he was like this, honestly.
A legacy alpha was a lot more secure and confident than anyone I’ve ever met. Liam had the same trait, but he was on a completely different level. He was positive things would go his way no matter what, which fucking terrified me because I had no idea what it was he wanted.
The sound of footsteps made me stiffen and Liam stood with the kind of grace and speed I’d only ever seen on TV or in Frankie’s childhood home.
“Melinda.” He came around to greet his sister-in-law, hugging her tight like they were close.
They stood like that for almost a full minute as he silently comforted her and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.
Liam was an alpha without a bond, and Melinda was once a very sought-after omega who no longer had a bond or the mark of an alpha’s scent on her. She was still gorgeous and the way she clung to Liam made that sour feeling in my gut even worse.
I stood slowly, not sure what the fuck I thought I was doing, but I couldn’t sit here and watch this.
She was touching him like he belonged to her and it didn’t exactly look platonic.
Before I could move toward them, I froze as the full weight of all these emotions hit me.
Was I feeling… territorial?
Jesus, what the hell was going on with me?
Liam finally took a step back and led Melinda to the table just like he had for me. Every action down to selecting her food was identical to what he’d done for me except she smiled up at him when he set the plate before her.
“You always take such good care of me,” Melinda told him in a sweet voice that had Liam smiling again.
What the fuck was going on right now? Why was I so angry I was shaking?
I needed to get my shit together. Alphas took care of omegas even if they weren’t their bonded. She was his brother’s widow and Liam would end up as her pack alpha one day. He didn’t belong to me.
“This is Lucy Parker,” Liam told her. He turned that smile on me then and I wanted to do something reckless like throw my plate at him for giving it to her first. “She’s my girlfriend as well as one of the private detectives who will help us find Gideon’s killer.”
Gorgeous blue eyes turned on me and the warmth in them evaporated. “An omega working as a detective? Liam, Mother will never approve.”
I flinched when Liam straightened, feeling the shift in his mood instantly. He came around the table and I watched him warily, wondering what he was going to say now when he looked like he wanted to kill someone.
Then he smiled when he reached my side, his fingers caressing the big black bow holding up half of my hair. That cruel glint in his eyes didn’t disappear but the weight of his anger eased.
“Lucy is allowed to do whatever she wants,” Liam told Melinda. “As long as she stays by my side, I don’t care what she does and no one can make her do anything she doesn’t want to do without having to answer to me.”
I shivered, feeling the bottomless pit of violence laced into that quiet threat. Even though this was all for show, I didn’t doubt him for even a second. If someone was causing me problems, I could always call him and he would take care of whatever it was.
Fuck me, I was going to fall for him if he kept this up.
“Even my mother will have to answer to me.” Liam took my face in his hands and kissed my cheek, making the sickness in my stomach ease. Such a small thing and yet all those horrible feelings that watching him hug another omega had given me disappeared like they’d never existed. “What would you like to drink, Lucy? ”
I blinked, trying to catch my breath after all his mood swings. “Orange juice, please.”
“Of course.” He gently kissed my other cheek before leaving me alone with Melinda.
My hands shook for an entirely different reason then and I smoothed down my skirt before sitting down to focus on Melinda Valor.
“If you don’t mind, I have a few questions for you.”
Melinda was a completely different person when Liam wasn’t in the room. She didn’t exactly glare at me, but it was something close.
This omega was flawless even in person. Her nails were perfectly manicured and her skin was clear and smooth without a single wrinkle to be seen. Her eyes though…they reminded me of a siren and her beach blonde waves only added to her strangely exotic look. If someone had told me she’d stepped out of a giant clamshell and was actually Aphrodite reincarnated, I’d believe it.
I didn’t have my sketchbook or my latest crochet project to keep my hands busy, so I picked at my cuticles and forced myself to maintain eye contact with her.
“I didn’t kill my husband,” Melinda stated, popping a red grape into her mouth while still looking like the epitome of grace and femineity.
For some reason, it infuriated me to think Liam had chosen red grapes for me just because another omega he knew liked them, but I shoved that irrational feeling down and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
“Even if you did kill him, I don’t care.” I placed my phone on the table and watched that mean look in her eyes fade to shock. “I’m not here to convict anyone. That’s not why I was hired.”
Surprisingly, Melinda didn’t have anything to say to that.
“I was hired to get answers and then deliver them to Nicolette Valor. I am not working with the police and will not be turning any of the evidence I find in to them.” Tapping my phone forced her gaze to it just as I’d hoped. “Even if you confessed to me right here and now, I still wouldn’t say anything to Mrs. Valor because I’d need to find the evidence first to corroborate your story. Do you understand?”
Melinda recovered from her shock faster than I anticipated and picked up another red grape but she didn’t eat it. She just looked me up and down as if reconsidering where I stood. Was I insignificant trash or a threat?
I smiled shyly and looked down at my phone to keep her guessing. I wasn’t as good at this as Frankie, but I had studied psychology as well as body language. Profiling wasn’t my area of expertise either, but I was good at picking up on stuff most would miss.
My phone was already recording audio, but I needed more if I was going to protect myself. “Would it be all right with you if I record our conversation? I don’t have many questions for you if I’m being honest. You may be his spouse but you weren’t anywhere near Gideon when he died.”
Which meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, but I didn’t need to tell her that.
“Fine.” Melinda eyed me suspiciously though. “But would you indulge me for a moment?”
My instincts warned me not to give in, but I had no reason not to agree. “Go ahead.”
“Did you get this job because you’re fucking my brother?”
I’d expected this question, just not from Melinda.
The shaking in my hand was obvious as it hovered over my phone. Should I turn off the recording? This was getting personal and I didn’t really want someone else getting their hands on this audio, but if she said something even more reckless…
“Who’s your brother?” I asked, playing stupid to buy myself some time .
“Liam.” Melinda didn’t roll her eyes but it was clear she thought I was a special kind of stupid.
“Liam Valor?” Interesting that she called him her brother and not her brother-in-law.
“Who the fuck else would I be talking about?” Melinda snapped, losing her patience with me.
Well, that hadn’t taken long.
“I got this job because I’m the best in my field,” I told her truthfully.
Something icy slid down my spine but I didn’t look away from my phone even when Liam set down a glass of orange juice in front of me with ice cubes dancing in it. “Would it matter if she got this job because she was fucking me?”
The question sounded deceptively calm, but the tart orange on my tongue was a reminder that he’d just told her what he would do if someone bothered me. I was such a petty bitch sometimes because all I felt was satisfaction when Melinda paled.
“I was just trying to look out for you, Lee.” It was a nice recovery, but I doubted anyone would believe that had been her true intention.
“Now, state you’re willing to have this conversation recorded with video.” Liam’s command was just as soft as his threat and yet I had no doubt that Melinda would do exactly as he instructed.
His voice must really be fucking with my head because I was starting to feel a little sweaty.
I would not think about all the commands he could give me in that tone and how pleased he’d look when I complied. I refused.
“You may record our conversation with audio as well as video,” Melinda whispered, dropping her gaze first.
Liam took my phone and I turned to watch him set it up behind me so the camera was pointed at Melinda. Nothing but my shoulder in the frame. Then he took a notepad and a mechanical pencil out of his pocket, setting it on the table where my phone had been.
I stared at it, completely fucking speechless.
This was more than pretending to be in a relationship. It had to be. Nothing else made sense, not when he was paying such close attention to me that he’d brought me something to keep my hands busy.
Flipping the top of the notepad over, I saw the pages weren’t lined but blank so I could draw if I wanted instead of taking notes.
Rubbing my thumb over the edge of the paper, I tried not to read too much into this, but it was really fucking hard not to.
When was the last time someone cared enough to pay attention like this?
That boy. He’d buried treasures in the sand without even asking me if that’s what I wanted so I could experience the surprise and awe of finding whatever it was he thought I’d like. Most of the time it was a pretty rock or a warped spoon made out of silver, but sometimes it was colored glass with the sharp edges sanded down.
Liam actually reminded me a lot of that boy and my stomach flipped hard enough I almost gagged.
I needed to ask why he was doing this before I lost my mind and fell in love with him just because he reminded me of someone I didn’t know how to forget.
“I’ll be in Gideon’s study, working,” Liam told me, leaning down to kiss my cheek again. “Let me know when you’re done.”
I wanted to turn my head and kiss him for real – grab his hand and ask him to stay, but I didn’t need him to do my job. I was a professional and I needed to act like it.
“You can come back in fifteen minutes.” I took the mechanical pencil and the notepad, leaning back in the chair as I focused on Melinda. “It won’t take longer than that. ”
Liam didn’t ask how I could possibly know that, he just turned and left, giving us the illusion of privacy.
I stood and checked to make sure my phone was filming us and the angle was right. “Was anyone with you Thursday night between 8:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.?”
“No. I was alone.”
Without Liam to distract me, it was easier to focus on the scents in this house. It didn’t surprise me how clear the air was, but there wasn’t a single trace of Gideon at all. Almost like he was never here.
“Where were you?” Turning back to Melinda, I took my seat and focused on my notepad to make this a little easier on her, but I watched her closely from under my lashes.
“I was here in my home, sleeping.”
Looking up from the blank page, I saw she was watching me just as closely as I was watching her.
Confirming where she was would be easy enough with all the security Valor had at their disposal, but there was something about this house that warned me it wasn’t as simple as it might appear.
This place wasn’t as empty as Liam’s. There were wedding and vacation pictures strategically placed, but unlike Liam’s, the air here was sterile. It was impossible to truly cleanse the air of the residents while they lived in their homes even with top-notch filters and cleansers. Pheromones seeped into the walls and furniture – clinging to the most innocuous thing.
Yet, there was barely a trace of Melinda let alone anyone else, which implied there was someone coming to this house who shouldn’t be here.
Then there were Melinda’s pheromones.
Here in her home, she didn’t need to wear scent blockers but I could see the slight sheen of the film on either side of her neck. Even still, I could smell the sweet scent of an omega with lingering traces of an unfamiliar alpha on her .
Without the bond, there should be no trace of an alpha on her at all unless she was seeing someone else.
Not only that, but there was also a gentle scent that reminded me of milk, making her natural allspice and pumpkin a little creamier. I’d write it off as a scent specific to her, but I’d smelled that exact note on more than a few omegas over the years.
Melinda was pregnant.
Did Liam know? Could he smell it like I could, or was this one of those things normal people couldn’t pick up on?
There wasn’t much else I could ask her without being overly direct.
Frankie was better at subtly guiding people to give her the answers she wanted. It was flawless actually. Most had no idea what they were even saying until it was too late, but I wasn’t Frankie and there was no easy way to ask Melinda what I needed to know without pissing her off.
Maybe I could make that work for me.
I looked back down at my notepad and started sketching the face people paid millions to use, focusing on the shadows instead of the golden sunlight making this whole thing feel like I was watching an old romance movie that was about to turn into a psychological thriller.
“Were you happy with Gideon?”
My question pissed her off enough the scent blockers were having a really hard time covering up her pheromones. “Of course I was happy. What kind of question is that?”
“So, you weren’t upset when he had to stay late at the office?”
“It wasn’t easy, but I knew when we got married it would be like this. He’d make sure to be home on the weekends so I was happy.”
Today was Saturday. Was that why everything was so clean and sterile ?
“Have you ever had an affair?” I looked up and watched her face transform into an ugly expression that was all too familiar.
Hatred.
“How dare you?”
“Let me remind you, I don’t care if you cheated on him. I’m simply asking.” I made a small note in the corner of the paper without looking down, writing down all the nuances of her scent for Frankie.
“I’ve never had an affair.” Melinda didn’t look away from me when she said it, but she did place that grape on her tongue to bite into it slowly like she wished she was dining on my eyeballs instead of fruit.
“Then why can I smell the pheromones of someone who isn’t Gideon in this house?”
It was a lie, but her face paled and she choked on the grape. I didn’t bother trying to help her and watched with detachment at the way she fumbled for the glass of water to swallow it down. I’d been guessing, but my hunch had been right.
This house was too fucking clean and sterile.
“Who are you having an affair with?”
“You fucking bitch .”
I looked down at the notepad to hide the instant fury that always came over me whenever someone spat that word at me. My grip on the mechanical pencil was so tight it might just snap the damn thing if I didn’t calm down.
“Are you going to tell me or not? I have a lot to do and I’d like to end things here if you have no plans to answer.”
Flipping to the next page, I made another note to check her medical files instead of asking her about that milky scent. If she was pregnant, it could be Gideon’s, but it might be someone else’s. Confronting her about that now when she was all worked up didn’t seem like a good idea.
I would need a foolproof reason to ask her that question if I wanted to get more information .
“I’d like for you to leave now,” Melinda gritted out, standing so abruptly her chair fell over backwards.
“Of course.” Closing the notepad, I stood and grabbed my phone before heading in the direction Liam had gone.
He was staring at a large romantic painting of Melinda with his hands clasped behind his back when I found him. “You didn’t even make it ten minutes.”
“Told you.” I needed to get the fuck out of this empty house before I burned the whole thing down.
It was pathetic how much a single word could affect me, but who was I kidding? My whole life was an illusion, not just this weird outing with Liam.
Pretending everything was okay just wasn’t working anymore.