Chapter 30

Sidnee was back at the desk when I rolled in with Fluffy and Shadow. ‘Sorry I bounced,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want to leave the office unattended for long.’

‘No worries. What happened to Gunnar and Sigrid?’

‘They were at another gathering point. Gunnar’s already in his office.’ I hadn’t realised there was more than one gathering point but it made sense.

I checked my phone and grimaced when I saw I had three missed calls from Connor. I went into the break room to give him a quick call back. ‘Hey,’ he answered. ‘I was trying to check-in. You okay?’

‘I’m fine. I went to the high school.’

‘I figured you’d be there. You left your house unlocked so I secured it for you. I’ll swing by with the key.’

I flushed with embarrassment at being so careless. ‘Thanks, I appreciate that. I ran from the house.’ I paused. ‘What were you doing there?’

‘Checking you’d gotten out okay,’ he admitted. ‘It can be difficult to wake up when daylight exhaustion has you in its grip, even with the alarm.’

‘The quake woke me,’ I reassured him. ‘Did you go to any other vampire’s house to make sure they were gathering?’

‘No,’ he admitted, ‘but the vast majority live in the hills, mostly because of the tsunami risk. Under cover of the forest, they can evacuate their homes even in daylight because the canopy is so dense. In town they can’t leave their homes for fear of the sun. A tsunami might kill them but the sun definitely would.’

Connor lived in the hills and he’d left the safety of his home to come into the valley to check on me. That felt like a big deal. ‘Thank you,’ I said softly.

‘For what?’

‘Checking on me. I appreciate it.’ Ugh: I sounded so lame. He’d risked his life for me, and all I could say was ‘I appreciate it’? I face palmed, grateful he couldn’t see me.

‘Random question,’ Connor started. ‘What’s your favourite drink?’

‘Tea is my every day go-to, but chai latte is my real favourite. It’s full of syrup and sugar so it’s a “now and again” drink. What about you?’

‘Whiskey,’ he answered without hesitation. ‘A good whiskey on the rocks. What’s your favourite type of music?’

‘What is this? I asked, amused. ‘Twenty questions?’

A beat of silence. ‘I thought that maybe if we knew each other better, you’d feel more comfortable about us.’

His honesty often took me by surprise. ‘Anything I can dance to,’ I responded. ‘And you?’

‘Give me Mozart any day of the week – I’ve never fallen out of love with classical music. The heart-wrenchingly beautiful sounds humans can make never fail to astound me. Favourite colour?’

I laughed. ‘A nice soothing blue, I guess. What about you?’

‘I’m partial to sage green. It’s relaxing.’

‘It is,’ I agreed. I sighed and gripped the phone tightly. I hated how much I loved speaking to him. ‘I’ve got to go,’ I said reluctantly. ‘I’ve started my shift. I wanted you to know I was okay.’

‘Appreciate that. I’ll put your key underneath the plant pot by the door.’

‘Thanks. Bye.’ I hung up before I could be tempted to make kissy noises. There was something about the man that made me forget any objections I had to a relationship with him. Fated mates be damned; he was so kind, so caring, so unlike I’d imagined a vampire leader – a fricking prince no less! – could be.

Sidnee looked at me curiously as I walked back into the main office. ‘Just calling Connor,’ I mumbled, blushing again.

She smiled. ‘Glad to hear it.’

‘Any new developments on the case?’ I wanted to turn the conversation to topics I was more comfortable with, like police work, politics, religion or my masturbation habits.

She grinned triumphantly. ‘Oh yeah! I found some info on Aoife’s dad. His name is Jayden Donaldson and he’s just finished seven years in prison for … get this…’ she paused dramatically ‘…jewel theft.’

‘Jewel theft? Are you freaking kidding me?’

‘Nope,’ she said cheerfully. ‘I’m as serious as a siren in a sea.’

‘Is he here? In town, I mean?’

‘I think there’s a strong possibility he is. I traced him to Homer, then he either caught a small plane or a boat because I lost track of him. But there’s every chance he’s come here. I checked our records and he’s been to Portlock before, just before he got sentenced.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It means that he’ll know the phrase to get through the barrier.’

‘So he can come in and out at any time.’ A chill ran down my spine.

‘You got it. Most people fly or sail in because it is the safest way to avoid the beast, but if you’re brave – or foolhardy enough – you could come in by land.’

My excitement was growing. ‘This is great, Sidnee. You’ve blown this whole case wide open. If he’s a jewel thief, he can hawk the cursed gemstones. And maybe Aoife didn’t teleport away from her killer because it was her father! He killed her, took the gem then got greedy and snatched the wind stone, too. If he’s been in prison we’ll have fingerprints and DNA on file. Let’s hope some of the physical evidence points back to him.’

I thought of the acrylic fingernail at the scene of the crime; unless Donaldson liked flashy manicures, that hadn’t been his. ‘Hmm.’

Sidnee quirked an eyebrow, ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I pinned a lot of hope on the fingernail we found with the body. I’m guessing that it doesn’t belong to Donaldson – though it’s not outside the realms of possibility.’

‘Could it have been planted?’ she suggested.

‘That’s possible.’ A lot of things were possible but that didn’t mean they were probable. Maybe Donaldson had an accomplice. It was something to think about.

‘I’m heading home.’ Sidnee yawned. ‘Ring me if you need me.’

‘You got it.’

I watched her leave; she seemed a little more relaxed than she’d been recently. I hoped she was on an upswing because she really deserved to be.