2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I closed my eyes and prayed that Liv was just screwing with me. She’d barely spoken to me since I’d arrested her for almost killing Sigrid and Stan. Admittedly, she’d been under the influence of some cursed gemstones at the time, but I stood by the arrest. Really, she should have thanked me for it; at least that way there could be no suggestions of corruption. She’d been arrested but the charges had been officially dropped by the council. I had given her the gift of innocence but did she thank me? She did not.

Part of me wanted to ignore the text but the other part that sorely cared about my duty as a detective knew I couldn’t do that. Liv was dangerous, powerful and terrifying; if she needed help, the situation was bound to be truly dire.

I texted back, Where are you and what is the problem?

Just meet me at the Nomo’s office, was the immediate response.

Fine, I replied.

Since I didn’t want to ruin anyone else’s holiday, I jogged to the kitchen and told Sigrid, ‘I have to run to the office. I have a call.’

She grimaced. ‘What a pain! I’m sorry, dear. Hurry back!’

My stomach grumbled. ‘I will. I’ve been looking forward to eating your food all day. Can you put me up a plate? A big one with a bit of everything on it?’

She smiled. ‘You bet.’

I slipped away discreetly. Gunnar had been run ragged while Sidnee and I were at the academy and he still didn’t look as if he’d recovered. This was one of the first occasions in a long time that he could kick back and think about nothing. I wanted to give him that gift, too.

I’d brought the Nomo SUV to Connor’s in case this happened, so I climbed inside and turned the key. A knock on my window startled me: Connor was standing there. I rolled down the window.

‘I’m coming with you,’ he said.

‘You can’t!’ I objected immediately. ‘One of the hosts has to stay here. I’m sure it’s no big deal, just Liv being Liv. We can’t both leave!’ I looked at him entreatingly. ‘You stay. I’ll be back in a half an hour, tops.’ Probably. Possibly.

He grimaced. ‘Are you sure? Because if you want the company, I’ll come.’

‘I’m sure. Go, enjoy the food for me! Sig’s going to do me a plate. Tell everyone I’ll be back soon.’

He leaned through the window and kissed me. ‘Hurry back. If you’re not here in an hour, I’m coming to get you – Liv be damned.’

I flashed him a smile. ‘Deal.’

He watched me back out and turn around before I headed for the gate. I swore as I approached it: I’d forgotten the damned remote control. Evidently Connor was still watching me because the gate swung open as I approached. ‘Thank you!’ I hollered at the intercom, then zoomed off down the hill towards town.

We’d had a rare snowfall last night and Portlock gleamed like an untouched star. It truly was magical, but I wasn’t used to driving in snow so I went slowly down Connor’s private road to the main one, which thankfully had already been ploughed. Once my tyres had a good grip, I raced to town to get the ordeal over and done with so I could return to my own damned party.

I pulled into the back behind the office. Liv was already waiting there in her car and I gestured for her to follow me. After I’d unlocked the door, I went through the office, dropped my coat on the back of my chair and plopped onto it. I waved Liv to Sidnee’s chair.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked her brusquely. There’d better be an imminent crime we needed to stop or I was going to be furious with her.

As usual, her dark hair was piled on her head in a riot of wild braids with the white streak standing out. She was wearing a gold-coloured dress that made her look a million bucks. Even so, I detected a hint of nerves as her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

She cleared her throat. ‘I want to make amends.’

I stared at her for a moment. ‘That’s why you called me away from my Christmas party? To make amends? Isn’t making amends more of a New Year’s Eve thing? New year, new you?’

She sighed and looked down at her hands, which were folded neatly in her lap. ‘Listen, this is important. I need to do something so Gunnar will forgive me.’ I opened my mouth to interrupt but she forestalled me. ‘I promise I’ll never hit on him again. It isn’t about that. Just listen to me. Please?’

It was the please that got me. I closed my mouth and nodded.

‘It turns out I liked Gunnar’s … ummm … tolerance of me more than I fancied the man. He wasn’t afraid of me – not ever – and I can’t say that about anyone else in town. I realise now that my … feelings were more because of that than from any desire to be with him. I enjoyed flirting, pressing his buttons and making him uncomfortable with my advances, but after what I’ve put him through all that is behind me. From now on I will treat him like I do any other council member.’

‘So you’re going to look down your nose at him?’ I quipped lightly.

She gave me a flat look and a desert heat swept into the room. I shifted in my seat.

She continued speaking as if I hadn’t. ‘I figured the perfect gift for this season’s festivities would be to let him know that I’m truly penitent. And it’s Christmas Eve, so it’s now or never. I need your help. I need you to convince him to speak to me.’ She looked at me hopefully.

I stared at her. ‘You almost killed his wife. She’s his world, something you never seemed to understand. So, this…’ I waved a hand ‘…is a waste of both of our time.’ She shrank down in her chair and I wished I’d sugar-coated my words. ‘Sorry,’ I mumbled. I stood up and reached for my coat.

Her voice behind me was wobbly and sincere. ‘Please help me, Bunny. I’ve got no one.’ Her voice caught.

I froze; Liv was never vulnerable yet here she was baring her soul. And I knew what it was like to have no one. Oh, I’d had ‘friends’, but when I’d been made into a vampire they’d melted away like snow on a hot morning. She had no one. My heart twanged and my conscience pricked.

I moved my hand away from my coat and sat back down. As I studied her I told her honestly, ‘I don’t know what I can do. I’m a Nomo officer, not a miracle worker.’

Liv’s eyes sparked with unshed tears. ‘Please… Tell me how I fix this. He was my only friend.’

I didn’t tell her that he’d never seen her that way; there was no need to rub salt into an already gaping wound. I scratched around for something to suggest. ‘A sincere apology wouldn’t hurt.’

‘I tried that.’ She looked away. ‘He shut the door in my face before I even got a word out.’

My phone buzzed in my pocket. ‘I guess you need to speak to him when he’s a captive audience, then.’ I had a message coming through the office software: 11-82, the code for a fender bender with no injuries. The message also told me the address of the accident.

I stood and put my coat on for real this time. ‘Look, Liv, I’ve got to go out on a real call.’ Her shoulders slumped. I knew I would regret my next words. ‘Tell you what, why don’t you come up to Connor’s house in half an hour or so, then you’ll have Sigrid and Gunnar’s undivided attention?’

For a second she looked uncharacteristically nervous but then she threw back her shoulders and nodded graciously before standing up and sweeping out of the office like she owned it. Thank goodness; I couldn’t handle too much of a soft Liv.

I wondered if she’d come to Connor’s. It would take a set of big brass balls for her to show up to the Christmas party – but I was pretty sure Liv was packing a pair.