Chapter 21 #2
I turned them palms up. “Huh, healed.” I smiled at her, willing her to understand I wasn’t upset at what she’d suggested that had caused the injuries. “No harm done.”
“Could’ve been a lot worse. We were both idiots to risk you like that without thinking it through. Dalziel will have words with both of us for this.”
“I won’t tell him!” I said hotly.
“Never said you would. He’ll know anyway.
Bugger knows everything that happens. Swear to God, he can sniff out guilt at a hundred paces.
” At last, a grin curled the corners of her mouth.
I mirrored it. She swivelled on her seat, then clicked the nearest keyboard to life.
“Done a bit more research on your family tree. There’s mention of an old family Bible donated to a church back in—” she checked her notes “—1834, but it was the letters inside that were of interest. They ended up in some parish offices in, hang on.” She flipped the sheet of paper she was using to the other side.
“Otley. Should’ve remembered that. The original church and even the settlement are no longer there, which is why I presume everything got moved. ”
“What did they say?”
“The letters?”
I nodded and leaned towards her. “Did they say something about the Fae?” Now I’d had a sniff of excitement, I wanted to know more. I didn’t kid myself I was special in any way, although a tiny voice inside my head muttered about seeing pink lights, but I figured I was entitled to be interested.
“Dunno. They apparently got ‘stolen’.” She put finger quotes around the word. “It’s more the gossip surrounding the alleged theft that pressed my nosy button.” She winked at me. “It appears the letters were concerned with the offspring of a soldier in the Napoleonic wars.”
“Oh?” I pressed even closer, as if that would somehow make what she said more real. What a pillock I was.
Baxter tapped a couple of keys and the printer whirred to life again. “It would seem as though they, that’s the fella and his wife back home, both thought their middle child was a changeling.” She paused to let this sink in.
“Isn’t that what they call a baby who gets swapped at birth by the Fae?” Why was I whispering? But Baxter merely nodded.
“Yeah, except the supposed descriptions of the child, a boy, could have simply meant he had albinism. White blond hair and ‘pale eyes that change colour’ could be accredited to that. I’m not sure though.
” She gave a slightly self-conscious laugh.
“I’m probably being fanciful, but perhaps mama soldier wife had herself a liaison while papa was off fighting the French or whoever, and her lover was a Fae.
” She eyed me pointedly. “It tends to be that a family who attracts the Fae often attracts them as repeaters. So that would explain how you came into being. You’ve got a nice long line of faerie-seducers in your family tree. ”
I choked out a laugh. “That sounds so wrong.”
She smirked, then sighed. “I don’t half fancy a road trip right now.
” When I raised my eyebrows, she elaborated.
“A little bit of breaking and entering never hurt anyone. There’s only hints about the contents of these letters online.
I’m not convinced they were stolen at all.
I’m more inclined to think the word was put about in order to prevent any more questions about them.
The only way to know would be to poke about after dark.
” Her grin this time showed her fangs, making me think that excitement was what brought out the vampire in her.
“You’d break into a church?” I’d never been religious, but this seemed a bit scandalous, even allowing for all the dodgy dealings I’d been involved in.
She looked offended. “I wouldn’t damage anything. Anyway, I’ll check what needs doing over the next week or two and head off if I can be spared. I won’t be gone long. Why, you gonna miss me?” she teased at my no doubt stunned expression.
“I’d miss your tea-making,” I shot right back. Oh bum, I’d forgotten about Charley. I explained and hastily gathered the extra papers Baxter had printed out for me. “I should go.”
“He’s not downstairs yet. Don’t worry. This is Charley. He’ll be along after they’ve banged whatever it was out of their system. Lucky bastard.”
I froze in the act of picking up the mug I’d come down for. “You fancy Luc?”
“Heavens, no. Sure, he’s hot stuff, but not the type I go for.
I like ’em slender and twinky. Preferably with long hair.
Luc’s all muscles, plus, y’know, wolf.” A gusty sigh.
“I meant I’m envious of their bond. Their love.
Finding their OTP?” She waved her hand at me.
“Go on and get your tea. You don’t want to listen to my cranky arse bemoaning my lack of love life. ”
“If you haven’t found the right bloke yet, Baxter, it’s because nobody’s been good enough for you.
” I felt my cheeks heat as the words left my mouth, but when Baxter blew me a kiss, they could have boiled the Thames.
I escaped at speed and took refuge in the blessedly empty kitchen.
I finally made the tea, then drank it slowly, sifting through all the information Baxter had dug up on my family.
I could feel my eyes getting heavy. The next thing I knew, I woke up back in our bed in the guest room, in the pitch black, my day clothes missing and the definite feeling it was dark outside.
I panicked for all of twenty seconds before I felt the mattress shift as someone sat down on the edge of the bed.
“Eddie?” I knew it was him. Anyone else would have triggered a freak-out, but I could sense him with my eyes shut. “I was in the kitchen. I think I made a cuppa. I don’t remember much after that.”
He sounded amused. “You were asleep with your head on the table. I carried you up here and you didn’t even stir. I think your hangover caught up with you, love. Shall we go home?”
I scrambled upright. “I need to speak to Pavel.”