Chapter Thirty-six

The Early Bird Gets the Killer

MILA

The next morning, pixies fluttered in Mila’s belly before she was even fully conscious. Then she blinked and realized she was in love. With Riley, her soulmate. She turned and found him snuggled close to her, his face buried in her hair, his muscular arms wrapped over her waist.

A wave of powerful emotions hit her again: love, happiness, longing, excitement… For the first time in a long while, Mila couldn’t wait to live her life. With him, her soulmate. Her sexy, kind, good in the kitchen, and even greater in bed soulmate.

That’s when Riley cracked an eyelid open. “Gargoyles, Bennet, you’re swooning so hard you woke me!”

“Oh, really? As if you could speak, Inquisitor King. Is that a magic wand in your pocket, or are you really happy to see me?”

He pinned her hands over her head and rolled on top of her. “Sassy right from the early hours, I see.”

Mila loved the way he looked at her as if she was the center of his universe. “That a problem, Inquisitor King?”

“Not in the slightest.” He kissed her, slow and languid, and then did many other things to her…

***

Afterward, Mila was about ready to go back to sleep when Riley surprised her by slowly but methodically shoving her out of bed.

“Hey, what are you doing?” she protested. She barely had enough strength left in her limbs to lie down peacefully, let alone keep upright.

“I’m making you get up.”

“Why?”

“Well, in case you had forgotten, Bennet, we still have a murder case to solve.”

She bit her lower lip. “Can’t we do it after eleven?” She needed at least three more hours of sleep after the night—and the morning—they had.

“Sorry, but the early bird gets the killer.”

“You’re awful,” she complained, finally stumbling to her feet—stark naked, right in front of him.

His eyes were a vortex of darkness as he took her in.

Mila smirked, satisfied. “If you could direct me to the shower, Inquisitor King, I’d happily get ready for work.”

He had a wolf-like expression as he leaped off the bed and scooped her up into his arms. “Let me help you with that, Miss Bennet.”

Riley carried her to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and then did even more unspeakable things to her while he washed her up, which made standing afterward all the more difficult.

“I think you’ve melted all the bones in my body,” Mila complained as she got dressed in her clothes from the night before.

“We can’t have that.” He dropped a soft kiss on her still bare shoulder. “Come on, I have the perfect remedy to make bones grow back.”

“Really? Like what?” Mila asked skeptically. She was pretty positive her invertebrate status was permanent.

“Why? Coffee and donuts.” He flashed her that ridiculous grin of his again.

Mila shook her head. “Stop that or I’m never recovering from all the swooning.”

***

They drove to the coffee shop in his car, and then, after breakfast, they went back to Mr. MacNeil’s house. But the silver fox once again wasn’t home, so they prepared themselves for another long stakeout.

Only today, the prospect wasn’t as gloomy as the day before. In fact, Mila enjoyed having plenty of time to do nothing other than talk to Riley, getting to know him—and okay, they might’ve smuggled the occasional kiss in there, too. They spoke about everything, from their families, to their childhoods, their dreams and fears, and everything in between.

As they moved on to discussing the present, Mila had a hard time explaining her lack of a clear direction in her career and why she kept hopping between this or that temp job with the local witching agency and couldn’t find her true calling. And the relief she felt when Riley didn’t judge her for it almost felt overwhelming.

“If it helps,” he said. “I think you’re a darn spectacular detective.”

Mila crossed her eyes. “You say that only because you want me to join the force and become the literal boss of me.”

“Nah,” he said, dead serious, “you’d be too much of a pain in the ass to supervise.”

“Hey.” She mock-punched him.

He caught her wrist before she could punch him again and held on to her a little too long. “And your stubbornness is just one of the many things I love about you.”

Mila squeezed his hand back. “Same here.”

The air between them thickened, and it looked like they were about to smuggle in another one of those stolen kisses when Riley’s phone rang.

“It’s Sarah Michelle,” he said, checking his screen. “I have to pick up.”

Mila nodded.

“Inquisitor King.”

And gargoyles, if the tone of authority in which he said his title didn’t make her toes curl into her shoes. Every. Single. Time.

Riley shot her a look, signaling he probably heard that last mental comment but needed to concentrate on the conversation he was having.

Mouthing a low “sorry,” Mila propped up her mental barriers and let Riley finish the call without interrupting with more naughty distractions.

After not long, Riley hung up and turned to her, already putting the car into gear. “The doctors are waking up Mrs. Blackwell in a few hours.” He pulled off the road, making a U-turn in the hospital’s direction. “At this point, we might as well wait for Mrs. Blackwell to regain consciousness and ask her who gave her the poisoned cupcake.”

“You think she’ll remember? After being knocked out for so long?”

“We can only hope she does.”

The hospital was only ten minutes away, and in the car, Riley filled her in on the details of Mrs. Blackwell’s condition that Agent Callidora had related to him on the phone.

Once they reached the hospital, Mila shivered when she opened the door to get out of Riley’s car. No matter how many layers she put on, winter in Massachusetts would always be too cold for her. The frigid December air swirled in around them and enveloped them in an icy embrace that almost made her teeth chatter, at least until Riley swooped in and put his warm air blanket over her while escorting her to the entrance with an arm slung on the small of her back.

And suddenly, the cold winter day didn’t seem so harsh anymore.

Inside the hospital, the atmosphere was the opposite. Impossibly warm and stuffy. Mila peeled off her coat while Riley walked up to the reception desk to confirm the exact time of Mrs. Blackwell’s reawakening.

They still had a couple of hours. Nonetheless, they went up to Mrs. Blackwell’s hospital room to give Sarah Michelle a break from her guard duties and were utterly surprised to find Mr. MacNeil seated by the bed, lovingly holding the patient’s hand over the covers. So maybe Jacob Sheridan was right and there was nothing between Mr. MacNeil and Mrs. Knox and MacNeil really was Mrs. Blackwell’s new secret lover.

“Definitely not the attitude of a killer,” Mila shot down the mental bond.

Riley shrugged. “Could he be drowning in regret?”

Mila rolled her eyes. “Cynical much?”

“Let’s ask him a few questions, and we’ll see.”

Mila nodded, and they entered the room.

Once Sarah Michelle had gone, Riley flashed his badge to Mr. MacNeil. He was so hot when he showed his badge that Mila was half tempted to ask him for a little role-play that night.

He shot her one of his chastising looks. “I’m trying to do a job here, Bennet.”

“Sorry.” She made a zipper-over-mouth gesture and promised to be good over the mental bond.

“Mr. MacNeil,” Riley continued in his sexy detective voice. “Would you mind answering a few questions for us?”

“Not at all, Detective.”

“This is the second time we’ve run into you here. Are you and Mrs. Blackwell especially close?”

“Yes,” the poor, old man sighed. “We are in love.”

Riley nodded. “But your relationship wasn’t public knowledge, am I correct?”

“No. She had recently broken up with Jacob and wanted to spare his feelings.”

“I see, so your relationship was in a good place, no resentments, no recent fights?”

“Detective King, if you’re asking me if I’d ever hurt my Josephine, the answer is no.” There was a note of disdain in the man’s voice that made him sound even more truthful.

“Mr. MacNeil,” Mila jumped in. “Sorry for asking, but you and Mrs. Knox seemed pretty close the other day. Has there ever been something romantic between the two of you?”

“With Cherry? No, we’ve always been just friends. I mean, she’s been very supportive since Josephine took ill, but that’s it.”

“Supportive how, Mr. MacNeil, if you don’t mind me asking?” Mila prodded.

“Oh, she’s been cooking me meals, helping out with groceries too, and she insisted on accompanying me to the hospital every single time I came.”

Riley shot her a look. “Where are you getting at with this?”

“I can’t put my finger on it just yet, but I’m sure there’s something more to it.”

“But she didn’t come today?” Mila asked, out loud this time.

“Cherry was here earlier, but when the doctor told us they were going to wake up Josephine in a few hours and I decided to wait, she said she had to go home.” There was a heartbeat of silence, and then Mr. MacNeil added, “Something about packing.”

Mila’s heart pounded, and she sought Riley’s eyes.

“What?” he asked through the bond.

“Don’t you see? Cherry Knox is the poisoner.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, very much the skeptical inquisitor.

Mila rolled her eyes. “Okay, hear me out, Chief. What I think happened is that Cherry Knox is secretly in love with Mr. MacNeil—”

“And how’d you reach that conclusion?”

“It’s just a strong vibe I got from the way she was behaving the other day when we ran into them. I thought they were a couple.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“And Sheridan confirmed she’d love to sink her claws into MacNeil. So, she’s in love with him, but then she somehow finds out that MacNeil is already secretly dating Mrs. Blackwell.”

“And she decides to take out the completion?”

“Exactly, and be his shoulder to cry on.”

Riley looked excited now. “But things didn’t go according to plan, did they?”

“No, because my love potion saved Mrs. Blackwell.”

“Wait, wait.” Riley frowned. “If she’s the poisoner, why wait so long to flee? The doctors always said Mrs. Blackwell was going to wake up, eventually.”

“Maybe she thought Mrs. Blackwell would still kick the bucket while in the hospital.” Mila shrugged. “But if she was here when the doctors announced they’d wake her today. Mrs. Knox probably panicked and decided to flee before being pointed at as the poisoner.”

“Flee where? Isn’t she a little old to be a criminal on the run?”

“I’ve no idea. Let’s see if Mr. MacNeil knows.” Mila switched to speaking aloud. “I’m sorry, Mr. MacNeil. Did Mrs. Knox say where she was going?”

“Yeah, she said something about booking a last-minute cruise.”

“A cruise to where?”

“Mexico, I think.”

“No-extradition Mexico, uh?” Mila shot to Riley quietly before adding aloud, “Thanks, Mr. MacNeil. We’ll see you later.”

“Right.” Riley nodded. “Let’s see if we can catch this adorable old lady-killer before she leaves the country.”