Kevin raised his gaze to Lachlan. “I think you should leave,” he murmured.
Lachlan got to his feet and walked away, turning his back on the gargoyle. “Not your fault. You’re not built for it. It’s not in the typical gargoyle man’s purview to provide for a woman and child, right?”
“Hey.” Kevin stood up. “I’m getting my shit together. I got things lined up. It’s hard to get night work. Hell, you sound just like her.”
Lachlan turned back to face him. “But Beckett James Stanley’s managed to figure it out, right? He’s got no problem getting night work.”
“Shut up,” said Kevin, his nostrils flaring.
“You wanted to get back at him. You wanted to use him. That would diminish him somehow. If you tricked him? Make him less of a dark shadow on your relationship? So, you told her to get in touch with him and lie to him. Tell him Harlem was his kid. Try to gouge him for money.”
“Man.” Kevin shook his head. “It was not like that at all.”
“How did it even work?” Lachlan said. “How’d you get Beckett to think that Harlem was his son when Harlem knew that you were his father?”
“We told Harlem that Beckett was his uncle, and Beckett agreed to abide by that,” said Kevin. “So, he was always Uncle Beckett to Harlem. Beckett thought that he’d be allowed to tell the boy that he was his father sometime in the future. Rowan strung him along like that.”
“That’s disgusting,” said Lachlan.
Kevin winced.
“So, that went on for years,” said Lachlan. “And then when there wasn’t enough money coming in, you wanted a windfall. So, you cooked up the idea to kill him for the inheritance that Harlem would get. You’d already gotten the kid written into the will.”
“No, no.” Kevin was still shaking his head.
“Using your own child to try to make up for your own inadequacies as a man,” said Lachlan. “It’s pathetic.”
Kevin lunged at Lachlan. He pressed the vampire into the wall next to the television. “Shut up. It wasn’t like that. It was all her fucking idea.”
Lachlan grinned. “Was it? Tell me everything, Kevin. Tell me everything, because you know that someone like her will just blame it on you the minute she gets the chance.”
Kevin backed away, a look of horror on his face. “You… you tricked me.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Fuck, she’s going to kill me. She always says I can’t do anything right. Maybe I can’t.”
“You better be careful there,” said Lachlan. “Because she really might kill you. She’s done it already. If I were you, I would take my son and go before she gets home.”
Kevin turned to him. “I can’t. She… I’m stone during the day and Harlem isn’t. And… and she’s not all bad.”
Lachlan let out a disbelieving laugh.
“She went too far,” said Kevin. “I know she did. She shouldn’t have hurt him. I mean, scamming him for child support, that always left a bad taste in my mouth, but it wasn’t so bad. He could have knocked her up, right? It wasn’t as if he didn’t deserve it.” He dragged a hand over his face. “Maybe it’s like you said. Maybe I liked that something bad was happening to him, because she’d been with him. But, uh, killing him? That was a whole different thing. I wasn’t cool with it. I never wanted it to happen. But she did it for Harlem, you know? She did it for our son, because it’s like she says. I’m worthless, and I can’t take care of him.”
“She sounds like a real peach,” I muttered.
“Get Harlem out of bed,” said Lachlan. “Come with us to the station now and make a statement.”
“I can’t,” said Kevin. “She’s… what would I do without her?”
“She’s abusive,” I said.
“What?” said Kevin.
Lachlan turned to me.
I walked over to Kevin. “Listen to me, Kevin, I was in a relationship like this once. With a man who didn’t have a problem killing. A man who told me daily that I was worthless.”
“This isn’t like that,” said Kevin.
“I didn’t have a job either. I was dependent on him. That’s how he liked it. But he’d taunt me about it too. Say that I couldn’t take care of myself even if I tried. Tell me how much I needed him because I was stupid and incapable. And in the end, he’d never really let me get a job. He’d find ways to sabotage all that. Keep me from having access to the car or throw an emotional fit the night before my job interview about how worried he was that I’d neglect him and the house if I went. Any of this sounding familiar?”
Kevin hung his head.
I laid a hand on his forearm, softened my voice. “You might not think that you can be abused and manipulated, because you’re the man in the relationship, but you’re a human being just like anyone. And it doesn’t matter whether or not you’re a man or a woman. When a manipulative person sets their sights on you and uses all of your weaknesses against you? Well, it’s damned hard to get out from underneath that.”
“You don’t understand,” said Kevin. “If I were to… betray her like that, she would… I can’t do that to her.”
“You make a statement, we’ll lock her up,” said Lachlan. “She’ll go to jail. You’ll be free of her.”
“But…” Kevin looked back and forth between the two of us. “I love her.”
Lachlan started to speak.
I held up a hand.
He stopped.
I put a hand on Kevin’s shoulder and looked deep into his eyes. “Sure you love her. Of course you do. But do you honestly think she loves you?”
Kevin bit down on his bottom lip. A tremor went through his entire body, including his wings.
“Get Harlem up,” said Lachlan. “Come with us.”
Kevin shook his head. “I can’t,” he said.
* * *
It was morning, and we were at the Flamingo. I was cutting up toast for Wyatt while Lachlan was at the back of the restaurant, talking on his phone.
Kevin hadn’t budged. We’d pleaded with him until Rowan came home. One look at his face, and she knew he’d spilled the whole story. She was livid and barely kept herself under control. She forced us to leave the house. Since we didn’t have a warrant or anything, we had to go.
Before we left, Lachlan told Kevin he was going to make sure that he put some uniforms on the house. If Kevin felt he was in danger at any time, he could go out to the officers for help. We both begged him not to turn into stone in the house with her. He’d be vulnerable to whatever she wanted to do to him. He might wake up with his head submerged in the bathtub or something.
When we went to sleep, we hadn’t heard anything, and there hadn’t been any news this morning.
Then Lachlan had gotten a phone call. So, that was who he was talking to now.
I kept an eye on him. It looked as though he was mostly listening, not saying much. I couldn’t gauge his expression.
Finally, he hung up and came back over to the table.
“Well?” I said.
He sat down. “Well, it’s good news and bad. Apparently, right around dawn, Kevin rushed out of the house with Harlem in his arms. The officers got him into the car, and he indicated that he’d be willing to make a formal statement against Rowan. But he turned to stone before he could.”
“Crap,” I said.
“That’s not the bad news,” said Lachlan. “Rowan showed up at the station, demanding her kid. So, that’s why they called me, because they were hoping that I’d have something solid enough against her for a warrant. If she’s under arrest, she can’t take him, but if we don’t have the arrest, well, we can’t keep Harlem from her.”
“Oh my God,” I said. “But we don’t have anything solid or we would have filed last night.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said. I went through everything with them, and there’s not a shred of physical evidence. The only thing would be maybe Harlem himself. If a DNA test proves that he’s not Beckett’s son, then maybe that’s something. But it’s still really thin, and
it’s not going to help us this morning.”
“So, they’re releasing Harlem into her custody? But she’ll just take him and run.”
“Well, she’s a person of interest in the case, at least. We don’t want her leaving town, so they’re going to keep tabs on her, and then they’ll rush a warrant in as soon as they’ve got Kevin’s testimony.”
“This is ridiculous,” I said. “Can’t you or I sign an affidavit or something? We heard him tell us that she killed him.”
Lachlan sighed. “Honestly, I think that the captain is a little twitchy considering this is a gargoyle man against a human woman.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
Lachlan picked up his fork, shrugging. “You know how that plays out in the court of public opinion.”
“Well, it’s bullshit, that’s what it is,” I said. “We can’t let her get away.”
“No,” said Lachlan. “We can’t. I want to be the one who arrests her. Beckett Stanley deserved so much better than what he got. I mean, he was born into slavery, got his entire race free, and then just gets taken down by some money-grubbing manipulator? It’s so… petty and ugly.”
* * *
Later that evening, Lachlan and I were sitting in an interrogation room, watching Kevin and waiting for him to wake up. He had been sitting in the back of a police car when he turned to stone, so he was sitting now, and he’d been set on a chair next to the table. A recorder was waiting to take his statement.
Gargoyles didn’t wake up all at once. Pieces of their bodies would start to move while other pieces were still frozen. We waited as wakefulness moved over Kevin. First he blinked. Then he twitched his nose. Then his shoulders and his torso. His wings. Finally, it spread to the bottom half of his body. When he was finally awake, he shook himself a little and looked around. “Where am I?”
“You’re at the station,” said Lachlan. “It’s very important that we get your statement about Rowan right now. There’s not a moment to lose.”
Kevin swallowed. “Where’s Harlem?”
“Harlem’s with Rowan,” I said. “Don’t worry. She’s got a police tail and she’s not allowed to leave the city. If she tries anything, the authorities will intervene. Once we have your statement, though, we’ve got a judge standing by ready to issue a warrant, and we will go and arrest her.”
“And we’ll bring your son back,” said Lachlan.
“Okay?” I said.
Kevin rubbed his hands together as if he were cold.
“I’m going to start the recorder now if that’s okay,” said Lachlan.
“Wait,” said Kevin.
“We can’t wait,” I said.
“If I do this,” said Kevin, “she might… I don’t know what she’s going to do.”
“She won’t be able to do anything,” I said. “We’re going to arrest her. I know this is hard, Kevin. She’ll have told you all kinds of things. You’re afraid of what she might do. You think that you’re weak. But you’re strong. You can do this. Okay?”
Kevin took a deep breath. “I…”
“Come on, Kevin,” said Lachlan.
And Kevin nodded. “All right. Start the recorder.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Rowan Lynch was having dinner in a restaurant downtown, brazen as you please. She’d ordered herself a bottle of wine and two slices of pie for Harlem.
We could see her through the window. We were outside in the parking lot with the police who’d been keeping tabs on her all day.
“She talked to you?” said Lachlan.
“Couple times,” said one of the uniformed officers. “Cursed us out once or twice. Told us to leave her alone, that we were violating her civil rights, all that. But then she started ignoring us. I think it’s bad for the kid, though. He doesn’t know what’s going on.”
“Yeah, it’s hell that she decided to do this in a public place,” said Lachlan. “And it’s hell that we got to do it in front of her son.”
“Do you want to wait?” I said.
“No way,” said Lachlan. “That’s why she chose the restaurant. Thought maybe we’d wait so that it wouldn’t be so messy. But she’s got another thing coming. She doesn’t get to win.” He nodded to the officers. “Come on, let’s go. She wants to make a scene? Let’s give her a scene.”
Lachlan led the way, and I flanked him along with the other two officers. We burst through the doors of the restaurant and marched up to the hostess, whose eyes got big.
Lachlan held up his badge. “We’ve got a warrant for the arrest of Rowan Lynch,” he said. He pointed to the table where Rowan was sitting. “We’re going to serve that warrant.”
“Um,” said the hostess, who was just a teenage kid with braces, “maybe I should get the manager.”
“Ma’am,” said Lachlan, “we are the police.”
The hostess squeaked. “I’m going to get the manager.” She scurried off into the depths of the restaurant.
Lachlan didn’t wait for the manager. He turned and started toward Rowan.
Rowan glanced up from her glass of wine and gave us a look of pure hate.
Five feet away from her, Lachlan raised his voice so that it filled the restaurant. “Rowan Lynch. Stand up and put your hands on your head.”
Rowan didn’t move. She poured her glass full of wine again. “I can’t believe you’d do this in front of my son,” she said, her voice high-pitched.
Lachlan kept coming. “Stand up. Hands on your head,” he snarled.
“You don’t think I’ve got a gun or something do you?”
“Did you say something about a gun?” said Lachlan, reaching into his jacket to draw his weapon. “I think she said she’s got a gun, fellas,” he bellowed. “Should we evacuate the restaurant?”
All around us, people who had been enjoying their meal were now cowering, looking around warily.
Rowan drained her glass. “You bastard.”
Lachlan stopped directly in front of her table. He held his gun with both hands and pointed it at her. “Stand up. Hands on your head,” he yelled.
“Whoa,” said Harlem, looking at us with his mouth gaping.
“Fuck you,” said Rowan, but her voice was breaking. She stood up.
“Hands on your head,” said Lachlan.
“Damn it.” Rowan started to cry. She put her hands on her head.
“Save the tears,” said Lachlan, tucking his gun away and getting out his handcuffs. He approached her. “They’re not going to work on me. You can’t manipulate me the way you did your boyfriend.”
“I didn’t do it,” said Rowan.
“Sure,” said Lachlan, snapping one handcuff over her wrist. “Rowan Lynch, you’re under arrest for the murder of Beckett Stanley.”
She spat in his face.
Lachlan handcuffed her other wrist. “Not a great move, Rowan.” He threw her at one of the other officers, who caught her.
I handed him a tissue.
He wiped his face.
Rowan tried to get away from the officer who held her, but she couldn’t. She struggled, the whites of her eyes prominent, spittle forming in the corners of her lips. “Let me go!” she cried.
“You’re under arrest,” said Lachlan. “Stop resisting.”
Rowan seemed to break down. She let out a guttural cry of frustration. “He got what he deserved, that dumbass.”
“What’s that?” said Lachlan.
“Beckett was too stupid to see it coming,” she hissed. “He played right into my hands.”
“Take her away,” said Lachlan.
* * *
“So,” I said. “What happens to Harlem?”
“Well, he’ll be released into the custody of his father,” said Lachlan. “There is the little issue of his not being stone when his dad is, but there’s apparently a kind of day care that he can go to for a few hours every day. Since he’s going to night school anyway, he should sleep for most of the time his dad’s out of it. So, hopefully it’ll work out.”
“Hopefully,” I said.
We were in the station and it was late. No one else was around anymore. There had been a flurry of activity earlier, but things were calm now.
Lachlan sorted through a stack of papers on his desk. “I think I’ll tackle the rest of the paperwork tomorrow.”
I smiled. “Sounds good.”
“Told you we’d close the case before Thanksgiving,” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “You were right. And now we have exactly one day to prepare for the Eaglelinx Executive Board meeting.”
Lachlan grimaced. “Man. That’s cutting it really close.”
I nodded. “It is.”
“You were going to tell me something about it. Felicity had an idea?”
“Oh, right,” I said. “I guess I never did tell you that, did I?”
“Nope.”
“Well,” I said. “Uh, she thinks we should be separated afterward. Use the whiteflame and then stay apart for a few days. Hopefully, separating us will stop the effects of the blood bond, and keeping us apart will make it so that it doesn’t start up again when we’re back together.”
“Oh,” he said. “I guess I’d need to be the one to go off on my own?”
“Considering I’m still nursing Wyatt, probably,” I said. “I know it means you’d miss Thanksgiving, but I could get someone to bring you by food, and we’d just have a doubly special Christmas.”
“Wyatt’s first Thanksgiving,” he said, looking down at his feet.
“Well, maybe they could bring Wyatt to you along with the food,” I said. “I think it’s the only way, Lachlan.”
He rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, maybe it is. And those bastards at Eaglelinx do need to pay.”
“They do,” I said.
“I was supposed to do the turkey, though. What are you going to do about that?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Wait, are we sure this is a good idea?” said Connor. “I thought you were dead set against it, Penny.”
“I’m not happy about it,” I said. We were all gathered in our kitchen again. Connor, Felicity, Lachlan, Scott, and me. We were making a plan of attack. I was terrified of using the blood bond again. All I could think about were the people who I’d sent to their deaths. I hadn’t given them a choice. I’d simply compelled them into a fight that was important to me. I’d used them, as if they were nothing more than toy soldiers. I could still see the blood, smell the discharged firearms.
Fire Brand (City of Dragons Book 6) Page 21