by Elise Noble
“Coffee? Tea?”
“I don’t need a drink; I need an explanation.”
“Yes, yes, I understand. There was a small incident involving Sky last night, and while it was relatively minor, I believe in nipping these things in the bud before they escalate. Tell me, has Sky shown much interest in boys before?”
Beth did a great job of looking shocked. “Boys? No, never. What happened?”
“I came across your daughter with a boy in the staff area. They were…” Rosenberg cleared his throat. “They were kissing.”
“I see,” Alaric said, taking the opportunity to slip a bug under the desk while Rosenberg fidgeted with his handkerchief. The guy was so uncomfortable, it was amusing.
“I spoke to Sky this morning, and she told me it was she who’d instigated the kiss. It can’t be allowed to happen again.”
“We’ll talk to her.”
Tell her not to get caught next time.
“I’m afraid it’s not quite as simple as that. The boy involved also claimed he was the instigator, and I’m inclined to believe him. I’m afraid…” Rosenberg inhaled, held the breath for a beat, then slowly let it out. “I’m afraid the boy is my nephew. We’ve had a few problems with him, and I can only apologise for him corrupting your daughter. Here at Shadow Falls, we take discipline very seriously, and honesty is one of our core values.”
Alaric almost laughed out loud. Honour among thieves, right?
“I appreciate your candour.”
“Last night, I sent them to their respective rooms, but we need to take steps to avoid a repeat of the issue.”
“They’re teenagers, Mr. Rosenberg. Telling them not to do something usually has the opposite effect.”
A lesson Alaric had learned first-hand. When his parents banned him from bringing girls home, he’d lost his virginity in the back of a diplomatic limousine.
“We’ll put measures in place. Additional monitoring to keep them apart out of hours, that sort of thing.”
Additional monitoring? This might be a problem.
“Is that really necessary?”
“Where my nephew is involved? I’m afraid so.”
“I’ll have a talk with Sky,” Beth said. “She never normally behaves like this. I think the move’s unsettled her. Having to leave her previous school and her friends with so little notice wasn’t easy, but the promotion was an opportunity Alan couldn’t afford to pass up.”
“We’ve had many students in the same situation. I’m sure you’re right and this is just a temporary blip. Her teachers report she’s getting excellent grades, plus she excels in sports. And her mixed media portrait of a young President Clinton was something to behold.”
Bill Clinton? The jelly bean thing? Sky said that was Tom Cruise.
“Good to hear.”
“We don’t want to disrupt her schooling, but I wanted you to be aware that she shares some classes with my nephew. Scheduling difficulties mean it won’t be easy for her to change groups, but if you want us to look at alternate solutions…”
“They’ll be fine. How much trouble can they get up to with a teacher in the room?”
“I hoped you’d say that. Thank you for your understanding.”
“We’ve all got Sky’s best interests at heart.”
And speaking of Sky, Alaric needed to find her and give her the latest piece of news.
“How’d it go?” Sky asked.
Alaric embraced her in a slightly awkward one-armed hug and slipped a new comms system into her pocket. Nate had made this one to look like a pair of silver earrings and a matching watch. And Beth had brought a new batch of bugs in her purse, each one individually wrapped in gold foil and nestled in what looked like a box of expensive chocolates. Nate had even included a bunch of real candies for effect.
“New boyfriend?”
“New cover story.”
Was that a hint of defensiveness in Sky’s tone? Cute.
“Sure,” Alaric said agreeably. “Whatever you say.”
“It’s true!” Then she looked away. “Sorry I fucked up again.”
“Oh, but you didn’t. The bug you planted last night picked up another clue. At least, we hope so. This morning, somebody in that office mentioned The Count of San Trior.”
“It’s a painting,” Beth filled in. “Quite a famous one, and it’s been missing for three decades. It was stolen from the Malermo Gallery in Turin.”
“Was it Dr. Merritt speaking? What did he say?”
“Dr. Merritt’s your chemistry teacher, right? Because we don’t have a transmission of your classes with him. Can you do a basic recording on your phone and email it afterwards? Then we can compare voiceprints.”
“Not until tomorrow. I don’t have chemistry today. But Asher records all the classes—I could ask him for one of the files. I’ll tell him I need to fill in some gaps in my notes.”
“That’s not a good idea at the moment.”
“What? Why?” Sky sagged, and her too-short tie swung forward. “Rosenberg?”
“He’s putting extra monitoring in place to keep you two apart.”
“Extra monitoring? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t feel it was the right moment to ask. He considered moving you to different classes, but we all agreed things can stay as they are. Apparently you both took the blame?”
“We did? Why? It was my fault.”
“Asher was trying to protect you.” And if he’d done that, he probably wasn’t a bad sort. “Beth and I are meant to be warning you off him.”
“And are you?”
“As your father, I’m going to give you this…” Alaric slid a condom into her pocket alongside the spare comms set. “And tell you to be careful. If you have any more questions, ask your mother.”
Beth elbowed Alaric in the side, her cheeks reddening nicely. He’d pay for that later, but you know what? He didn’t even care. In the last few weeks, he’d discovered that under her oh-so-English upper-class exterior, Beth hid a filthy side most people would never even guess at. If she wanted to spank him, he’d willingly bend over.
Thankfully, Sky changed the subject. “Who else was in Dr. Merritt’s office? Or was he talking on the phone?”
“We believe it was Saul Rosenberg.”
“Did they say anything more?”
“Not much. The unsub—unknown subject—said the people with The Count of San Trior had been in touch, and Saul said they’d talk about it at the meeting.”
“What meeting?”
“That’s a question we don’t yet know the answer to.”
“Is Saul the Master?”
“We don’t know that either.”
Sky harrumphed, frustrated, but at least things were moving in the right direction. They had leads now. It was just a question of slowly unravelling them. Alaric’s current hypothesis did indeed have Saul as the Master, a position he might well have inherited from his father. The timeline fit. Sandor Rosenberg would have needed an heir, and who better than one of his sons?
“So what do I do now?” Sky asked.
“Right now? I believe you solve quadratic equations and then go running.”
“Haha, very funny.”
“Just carry on exactly as you’ve been doing. Plant bugs when you can, but watch out for extra eyes. We’re getting closer. I can feel it.”
“Are you staying nearby?”
“For tonight. Tomorrow, I need to travel to Ohio with Emmy to follow up a lead on another case, but call if you need me. You’ll be okay?”
“I don’t have a lot of choice, do I?”
He gave her another dad-hug. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Hey, somebody’s paying me.”
“You know what I mean.”
Beth handed over her goodies. “Thank you from me too.”
“Figure I still owe you for nicking your car.”
As Alaric walked back to his vehicle with Beth, he felt eyes
following. Ezra Rosenberg? He knelt to retie a shoelace that wasn’t undone and cut his eyes sideways. A man stood watching him from the shade of an old oak tree, half-hidden in the shadows. An inch or two shorter than Alaric, arms loose by his sides, wearing a school uniform. He glanced back at Sky for a second, and in profile, Alaric recognised him as Asher Martinez. Olive skin, tousled dark-blond hair. He’d inherited his father’s skin tone and his mother’s hair colour. Emmy had done a background check, of course, and they’d worked out where the third Rosenberg sibling had ended up. Asher’s life was one of tragedy. Losing not one parent but two would screw with anybody’s mind. How far gone was he? Research showed he’d veered off the rails and hung with the wrong crowd in San Diego, but he’d escaped charges thanks to some skilful negotiating by his father. After the final incident, he’d dropped off the radar for a year. Poof. Gone. No record of employment, he hadn’t paid any taxes, and he hadn’t gone to school. Then he’d shown up here for the last term of his junior year. Not the behaviour of your average nineteen-year-old.
When Alaric stood, he raised a hand in greeting so Asher would know he’d been spotted. A smile curled at Alaric’s lips when Asher tentatively waved back. Not a complete asshole, then. Alaric only hoped Sky knew what she was doing.
The next morning, Alaric paused with one hand on his fly. He should have been zipping it up and buckling his belt, but all he wanted to do was shuck his pants and climb back into bed with Beth. It was too early for a road trip with Emmy, let alone a seven-hour drive to fucking Ohio, and he also felt like an asshole for lying to the love of his life about the purpose of the trip. He’d stuck to the story he’d told Sky, but there was no lead. There wasn’t even a case.
It would be okay, he kept telling himself. If things worked out the way he hoped, Beth would forgive him, and if they didn’t work out… Well, Emmy knew how to keep her mouth shut.
CHAPTER 31 - SKY
WHY DID THINGS always have to fall apart? Every time a chink of light shone onto my life, some asshole had to go and flip the switch. Again and again it had happened, ever since I was a little girl. When I finally got taken away from my dad and put into foster care, my first foster sister had hated me. I got moved from that place and met Lenny, only for us to be split up. My third foster mom said I had bad juju, but I’m pretty sure she was into voodoo. I wasn’t with her for long. She accidentally burned her flat to ashes when one of her spells went wrong.
That streak of luck had followed me across the Atlantic, it appeared. I’d begun to enjoy my life, and then the events at the Grove had brought it crashing down around my ears. I’d picked up the pieces as best I could, only for Rafael, the guy I’d come to trust, to pull away from me completely. He’d ghosted me. Every time I tried to call him, I got voicemail.
And I’d met Asher and Vanessa, only for fate or karma or whatever to step in once more. I’d been banned from talking to Asher outside of class, and now Vanessa was in tears. Again. It was only nine thirty a.m., and I’d found her like that when I came back to our room after a biology lesson in which Asher and I were made to sit at opposite ends of the lab. Halfway through class, someone passed me a note from him. Ezra had confiscated his phone.
“What did she do?” I asked.
It had to be Deandra again, right? Vanessa had just had a music lesson with the bitch.
She pointed at her desk, and I saw the mangled remains of her glasses sitting on her composition book. She didn’t wear them all the time, but she needed them for close-up work. One of the lenses was mostly intact, but the other was covered in a spiderweb of cracks and the arms were twisted.
“She knocked them off my desk and stepped on them.”
“Deandra?”
Vanessa nodded, and a tear rolled down her cheek and plopped from her chin.
“Let me guess—another accident?”
“That’s what she said.”
Was the girl dense? Was getting her hair washed in eau de toilet once not enough? Good grief. What was it my parkour teacher used to tell me every time an idiot got in our way?
“You can’t fix stupid, even with zip ties and duct tape,” I muttered.
“You can’t fix it, but you can knock it out with ketamine,” said the voice in my ear. Yup, Sofia was back on duty. She seemed slightly calmer today. Perhaps Emmy hadn’t been kidding about the meds?
“I just want her to leave me alone. Even the others looked shocked by what she did. Carlie apologised before she ran out after her.”
Had I contributed to the problem? I’d only been trying to help, but what if I’d pushed Deandra over the edge? A cornered dog always fought the hardest.
“I’m so sorry.” I seemed to be apologising a lot too lately, mostly on other people’s behalf. “Can you get new glasses? We could go to the mall on Sunday.”
“Maybe. I don’t have the money, but I can call my mom.”
“I can pay.”
“That’s not fair.”
But it was right. “I’m paying.”
“Don’t wait until the weekend,” Sofia told me. “Ryder’s on his way. Meet him at the gates and give him what’s left of the glasses, and Bradley can get another pair for you by this evening.”
I couldn’t answer, but it didn’t matter because Sofia wasn’t asking a question. She was telling me how it was going to be. For once, I didn’t mind her pushiness. Vanessa needed glasses, and perhaps the sweetest revenge on Deandra would be for Vanessa to turn up with a new pair first thing tomorrow morning.
“Can you manage for today?” I asked Vanessa.
“I don’t have much choice. We’ve got chemistry next—will you help me if I can’t see the textbook?”
“Sure. I’ll meet you in the chemistry lab, okay?”
“Ooh, the chemistry lab,” Sofia said. “I love chemistry labs. Here’s what we’re going to do…”
That evening, I found out what Ezra Rosenberg meant when he said they’d be putting extra monitoring in place. Ryder texted to say he had Vanessa’s new glasses plus a spare phone for Asher, but when I put on a pair of shoes to go and meet him, I only made it halfway across the living room before a voice stopped me.
“Where are you going?”
I turned to see Miss Brooks sitting on the couch by the fireplace, a novel splayed out across one thigh. She taught cello and violin, so I hadn’t had much interaction with her, but I knew her by reputation. Rumour said she’d been a dominatrix in a previous life.
“For a walk.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She stared at me. I stared at her. I knew I wasn’t going to win this one, so I shrugged and walked back upstairs. Then I opened the window and shinned down the sturdy tree outside. Rafael had taught me that head-on confrontation wasn’t always the best policy. Sometimes, a little out-of-the-box thinking was required.
The wind whipped through the trees and made their branches twist and bend as I jogged down the driveway. I didn’t mind the weather. I’d worn a dark tracksuit with a hood, and the dancing shadows helped me to blend in with the scenery. Ryder too. If I hadn’t known exactly where he’d be waiting, I’d never have found him. A hand flashed out from the undergrowth, I got a quick smile and a wave, and then he melted away into the darkness. I’d heard he was former special forces, and it showed.
But I’d learned a few tricks myself, and I stuck to the treeline, keeping my footsteps quiet out of habit even though there was nobody to hear them.
Or was there?
I was halfway up the driveway when I saw a silhouette heading towards me. Ah, shit. Had I been spotted? Or did other students make unauthorised pickups from their Man Friday late at night too? I ducked among the trees to wait for the interloper to pass, only to do a double take when I realised who it was.
“Asher?”
“Sky? Where are you?”
I quickly stepped out of the bushes and pulled him closer, keeping us both out of sight.
“What are you doing here?”
/> “I wanted to talk to you, but when I got close to New Hall, I saw you climb down a tree and vanish in this direction. What are you? A ghost?”
“You got out? Don’t you have a babysitter?”
“Yeah, but it’s Dr. Pearson. He’s got bowel problems. He went to take a dump, which means I’ve got at least twenty minutes.”
“Here, take this.” I pressed the phone into his hand. “It should be charged.”
“A phone? Where did you get it?”
“My parents live nearby. Did you hear Deandra broke Vanessa’s glasses this morning? I wanted to get her a spare pair as a surprise, and I asked for a phone at the same time.”
“You’re too damn sweet, Sky Milburn.”
Malone. My name was Sky Malone, and I wished I could tell him. Mind you, he usually called me Chem Girl, so I figured I should celebrate the small wins.
“I’m sorry about last night.”
“Why are you sorry? I’m the one who should’ve been faster.”
“Because I caused even more problems. Now they think we need chaperones.”
Asher ran his fingertips down my arm, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. When his hand reached mine, he twined our fingers together.
“Are they wrong?”
My heart went from tortoise to hare in half a second. What was he saying? Not… Not… I waited for the familiar tightness to grip my chest, for the air to stick in my lungs. But the panic didn’t come. And when I realised I was okay, I felt more confusion than relief.
“What did your parents say?” he asked. “I saw them here yesterday.”
“About us getting caught together? They’re fine with it.”
“They are? I thought the Rosenbergs were gonna shit bricks. I got the whole ‘how dare you risk the reputation of this school?’ lecture from Ezra, then Saul showed up, and he only stopped yelling when Grandma appeared and banged her cane on the floor. Ezra was ready to send me to public school until she stepped in. If he’d caught me with the test paper, I’d probably be on a plane back to San Diego right now.”
“I’m glad you’re not.”
“Me too.”
Asher watched me in the moonlight. What was he thinking? Trying to decide whether I was worth the trouble?