“Dr. Lefavreau said you and Ms. Boucher were the last two people in the museum last night. Is that correct?”
Ella met his gaze and nodded. “That’s right. We shut things down behind the guests, made sure the caterers got everything cleared away and cleaned up, then locked up once everyone was out. I think it was around one o’clock.”
“But Mr. Stanley said you didn’t leave together.”
Her mouth tightened. “No. Béatrice left by the front doors, locking the house and setting the alarms behind her. She encouraged me to go out by the back gate in the garden. I’m fond of the gardens, so she knows I leave that way a lot. She wouldn’t need to check that gate, because it locks automatically behind whoever goes out that way.”
The detective studied her, his expression still open, but his blue eyes sharp. His mouth curved in a small smile. “You and Ms. Boucher aren’t big fans of Patrick Stanley, are you?”
“To be fair, he’s not wild about us, either.”
“There some sort of history to that?”
The question sounded casual, but Ella debated with herself before she answered. “I’m assuming you were paying attention when he and Bea had words outside?”
McQuaid’s mouth quirked. “Kind of my job.”
“Right. Well, I don’t know Mr. Stanley well. I’ve only met him a couple of times, and always at museum events or when he stopped by to talk to Dr. Lefavreau, but he … makes me uncomfortable.”
The detective said nothing, and Ella paused. Patrick Stanley was a wealthy and powerful man. She would have to choose her words carefully and not make any direct accusations. She didn’t have the money to defend against a defamation suit.
“After the event, when Bea and I thought we were the last ones here, I was on my way across the terrace toward the back gates, like I said, and Mr. Stanley just popped up out of nowhere. He startled me. I thought the gardens were empty. He attempted to start a conversation, but I just wanted to go home. It was late, and I was exhausted.”
“Understandable.”
“I tried to move him along. I offered to escort him out front to unlock the door for him, but he…”
How could she say this delicately?
“He hit on you.”
Ella started to nod, then caught herself. That way there be dragons. “Excuse me?”
McQuaid laughed. “It’s not hard to figure out. Attractive young woman. Dark garden. No witnesses. And Mr. Stanley is known to appreciate attractive women.”
That was one way of putting it.
Ella just shrugged. She had no intention of confirming that for the record. Did they still have debtor’s prisons?
“Mr. Stanley made a few comments that I found inappropriate, but Bea came out of the house and interrupted. She showed him out the front, and I stayed back on the terrace to regain my composure.”
“This is the terrace where the statue was located?”
“Yes.”
“And it was there during this whole time?”
She nodded. “I actually sat down on the edge of the pedestal while I pulled myself together. I remember tilting my head back and looking up at it. It’s always been one of my favorite pieces.”
“You said this was a little before one?”
“Between twelve thirty and one. I wasn’t checking my watch, but the party ended at midnight, and the caterers were super-efficient. I do remember it was about twenty after twelve when they climbed into their truck.”
“Okay, go on. You were alone on the terrace for how long?”
Until the missing statue came to life and left the museum of its own accord?
“Not very, I don’t think. It was late, and you might say I had a stressful night. Once I got a hold of myself, I didn’t hang around.”
McQuaid watched her steadily. “Why didn’t you go with Ms. Boucher and leave where she could keep an eye on you? Wouldn’t that have made you feel safer?”
Ella grimaced. “To be honest, I needed a minute to myself, and I didn’t want to spend another second in Mr. Stanley’s company, even with a chaperone. The altercation had shaken me up, and I’ve always found the gardens peaceful, especially the terrace. Like I said, the gargoyle statue was my favorite, so I used to hang out there occasionally.”
“Okay.”
“I spent about five, maybe ten more minutes just taking deep breaths and pulling myself together. Then—” She caught herself as she recalled what had happened then. How reality had tilted on its axis and Sir Arthur magically sprang to life. But that was exactly what she couldn’t tell the police.
She finished with a shrug to cover her hesitation. “Then I made my way through the garden and out the back gate.”
McQuaid jotted down additions to a couple of his notes, then glanced up at her. “After leaving the garden, did you go straight home?”
“Yes.” Hell yes. At top speed. A couple of hundred feet above the skyline.
“How far away do you live? You take the bus?”
Ella hesitated, then carefully edited events. No reason to make him talk to bus drivers in vain. Obviously, none of them had seen her. “Usually I take the bus. My apartment’s about twenty blocks from here, but last night I went on foot.”
The detective looked up, his brows lifting. “What made you decide to do that?”
Um, the monster who scooped me up didn’t give me much choice.
“I guess I needed more time to clear my head.” Which was true, even if the rest of her statement wasn’t. Precisely “When I hit the bus stop, there wasn’t one in sight, and at that hour, I didn’t feel like waiting around. I just wanted to get home.”
“Well, at least you made it safely. What did you do with the rest of your night?”
“I stayed in. Got cleaned up, went to bed.”
“And was anyone with you at your apartment?”
“Um.” She hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. Kees stayed the night.”
McQuaid just hummed and acknowledgment and made another note. “Anything else you can remember? Did you see anyone suspicious on the street when you left the museum grounds by the back gate?”
Ella had been too far above the streets to notice much of anything. Even if she’d had her eyes open. And hadn’t been praying for her life. “Not that I can recall. It was late, though, and I was kind of in my own little world. I just wanted to get home and get to bed.”
Where she could hide under the covers. Too bad that strategy hadn’t worked.
“Okay. Well, if you thin—” A shrill chime sounded from the detective’s pocket, and he reached in for his cell phone. “Excuse me.” He poked at the screen. “McQuaid.”
Ella watched while he listened to someone on the other end of the connection. Then he held up a finger, muttered something into the phone, and stood.
“Gotta take this. Just give me a second.” He stepped out of the office and clicked the door shut behind him.
She wasted half a second wondering at the stroke of luck before good sense kicked in and she grabbed the file folder off the desk. Rifling through the papers inside, she skimmed quickly through the information before she found what she was looking for. Committing a name and partial address to memory, she placed the folder back where she had found it and resumed her seat a second before the door opened and McQuaid stepped back inside.
“Sorry about that.” His boyish grin flashed again.
“No problem.” Ella smiled. “You had more questions for me?”
“No, we’re finished, but I wanted to give you this.” He pulled a business card out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her. “This is where I officially tell you that if you think of anything else, you should call me at the station.”
Ella stood and took the card between her fingers, but the detective didn’t let go. Surprised, she glanced up at him.
His smile widened, and his eyes warmed. “Unofficially, I’m also going to tell you that if you ever find yourself without that possessive boyfriend, you should also call. I’d love the chance to take y
ou to dinner sometime.”
Shock made her do a double take. The police officer was flirting with her? That meant he’d believed her story and she wasn’t a suspect, right?
“I—um—I mean, thank you.”
McQuaid released the card and reached around her to open the door to the small office. “Thank you, Ella. If you wouldn’t mind, ask Dr. Lefavreau to come up next. I want to clarify a few things about the statue with him.”
She agreed and stepped outside, trying not to appear to hurry. On a normal day, she would have wanted to dash to Bea’s side for a little girl talk about the attractive cop who’d asked her to call him. Personally. But today, the only thing on her mind was getting back to Kees to share the information she’d found in the file.
What in heaven had the gargoyle done to her?
Chapter Five
Ella hated to drive. She actually hated even riding in cars, which was one of the reasons she chose to live in the city, where walking and buses and trains could get her wherever she needed to go. Unfortunately, the address in Kees’s file couldn’t be reached by bus, and walking there would take approximately a day and a half, along with superior wilderness survival skills. A car was the only option, and Ella didn’t own a car.
The rental made her grit her teeth and wince. Not only was she not comfortable driving anything bigger than the compact little Ford she’d used to test for her license years ago, but the idea of all the paperwork and insurance claim forms she would have to fill out if she damaged the hulking SUV during their trip did little to improve her mood either.
Nor did the way her mind kept straying back to The Kiss.
She italicized it in her head, as if it were the painting by Klimt. How something as simple as a kiss could have rocked her world on its axis astounded her. And unnerved her. Especially since the man who laid it on her hadn’t so much as mentioned it since she rejoined him in the museum ballroom post-interview. No, he’d been too focused on the information she had to give him. She might as well have become a computerized information kiosk, for all the attention he paid her. It was like he had no emotions at all.
Maybe she should remind herself that he was made out of stone, after all.
Too bad his lips hadn’t felt like rock. They had felt like sex, all smooth and hot and hard as they moved over hers, urging them apart, urging her to feel things she’d never felt before with a man, let alone a monster.
Yeah, she’d used the M-word again. She had to; it was becoming her only self-defense mechanism. The things she felt when Kees kissed her, or touched her, or, you know, so much as looked at her had her hormones and her brain chemicals spinning little stories about lust and passion and all sorts of other things it was completely inappropriate to associate with a member of another species. She needed to remember that.
And she needed to keep her legs crossed, which wasn’t really possible while she was driving north out of Vancouver toward the small village of Lions Bay.
Kees sat beside her in the passenger seat, his huge form taking up every inch of space even inside the behemoth SUV that had been the only available rental on short notice. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and his gaze slid constantly back and forth between Ella and the road ahead of them. She didn’t mistake his intense scrutiny for personal interest, though. She knew very well what he was up to—studying her every move so that when it was time to head back to the city, he could make a case for getting behind the wheel.
The gargoyle wanted to drive.
“Forget it,” she said, keeping her eyes on the road. “I already told you, you have to have a special license in order to drive a car.”
She’d also had to repeat it—loudly—several times before they had left the rental lot. She understood how a man as take charge and dominant as Kees would prefer to be in control of a vehicle, but there was no way she was going to let him operate one. Especially not when he admitted this was as close as he’d ever been to one. Her nightmares traumatized her enough already.
“It does not appear complicated.” Kees tilted his head to the side and gestured toward her feet. “Already I have deduced that the objects beneath your feet control this vehicle’s momentum. Your right foot moves to the right when you wish to move faster, and to the left when you wish to slow down. Simple enough for a child to master.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t let children drive, either. You need a license.”
“No one has asked to see this license of yours since we took the machine away from the people at the desk. I don’t see how anyone would know whether or not I possess one of those plastic cards.”
If they hadn’t been moving, Ella would have banged her head against the steering wheel. Damn, he was persistent.
“They’ll know if we get pulled over.” She glanced at him and sighed before explaining. “The authorities have the right to make us stop if we disobey any traffic laws, of which there are thousands that you aren’t familiar with, or if we appear suspicious. When they do that, the first thing they will ask is to see the license of the driver. If you were driving, the fact that you don’t have one could get both of us in serious trouble.”
Kees frowned. “I would not wish to cause trouble for you with your human authorities, but perhaps later we could see about obtaining one of these licenses for me. I would like to operate this machine for myself. It appears … very interesting.”
“It’s not that simple. There are tests you have to take about the laws I mentioned, so you’d have to study. It’s not a simple process. Trust me. Now, can we change the subject? I’m kind of over this one.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Ella felt the temperature in the interior of the SUV go up about ten degrees. She could sense Kees’s gaze on her. Hell, she could almost feel it, like hands against her skin.
“And what should we talk about, little human?” His low, rumbling question sounded disturbingly close to a feline purr, full of arrogance and satisfaction. “Perhaps we could discuss the moment we shared inside the museum earlier, hm?”
Ella gritted her teeth and tried to pretend that her cheeks weren’t glowing hot enough to cook an egg.
“Or we could not.” She shot him a glare. “Unless you want to talk about what the hell you were thinking back there. What was that lover boy act all about? Do you just get your jollies from embarrassing me?”
Kees’s expression went from teasing back to stony. He shrugged. “It seemed a logical way to explain why I had accompanied you to your work this morning. It also explained why I would not leave when requested. A male does not leave his mate in a situation in which she could be vulnerable or in which she feels unsettled.”
“Yeah, well, the only thing unsettling about this morning was you, and you put me in an awkward situation. Now Bea is going to keep asking me about you like we’re in some kind of relationship. And I had to tell the police you were at my apartment all night.”
“We are in a relationship of sorts, at least until I locate my Warden and you are placed with an appropriate Guild mentor.” He shifted to look toward the road. “And from what I understand of this age, a young woman spending the night alone with a man she is attached to will make no one think twice, not even the police.”
He was right, but Ella was still unsettled. “What do you know of this age? You’ve been asleep for, like, a few hundred years, right? You think you understand modern relationship paradigms?”
“I slumbered,” he agreed, but Ella could hear the caveat in his tone. “However, we Guardians require little enough sleep when we are awake and active. After the first few years of dormancy, we actually spend very little time in sleep. We might refer to it that way, but it’s more a sort of meditative state. A trance, you might say. We are still aware of the world around us. We can still hear what is going on, and sometimes we can catch glimpses of it as well. Not only does it ensure we will wake if a threat reemerges to menace the world, but it allows us to keep track of changes in humanity so that we understand our surround
ings when we do wake. When faced with a threat from the Darkness, we cannot waste time in finding ways to communicate with our Wardens or the rest of the world.”
“Right. So you always wake up savvy and horny. Got it.”
Silence filled the car for a long minute.
“That is not entirely accurate,” he rumbled, the gravel of his voice abrading against the tension between them. “We wake with much knowledge, but it does take time to associate what we know in our minds with the reality of the physical world. Like this vehicle, for instance. I knew of them, even caught glimpses of them, but this is the first time I have experienced one in this manner. It makes my knowledge much more complete.”
He didn’t mention anything about being horny. Ella couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. On the one hand, she should be grateful not to ease on down that particular road, since all it was likely to accomplish was acute embarrassment and almost certain regret. On the other, it would have been nice to hear that he had a reaction to her even a tenth as strong as her inexplicable reaction to him. At least then, her misery would have some company to love.
Opting for the better part of valor, she cleared her throat and watched the road. “So, um, when was the last time you … woke up? You made it sound like you were, er, summoned for a particular battle. Have you been asleep since you won that one?”
“No, I have woken a few times since. We were summoned to battle at first when the Seven last attempted to join together, and to prevent that is our ultimate calling, but whenever any force of the Darkness gains sufficient power to threaten mankind, one or more of us will wake to fight it. The last time I fought was in your year 1703.”
Ella paused. It took a second for that to sink in. “Really? Um, my knowledge of history is limited to knowing that was the transitional period between Baroque and Rococo, but I don’t remember learning anything special about that year in school. What happened?”
“One of the Seven escaped its prison. It emerged in the south of England and attempted to bring the sea in to devour the land. My brother and I stopped it, but the battle lasted for days near the close of the year. Many human lives were lost to the sea before we prevailed, but we vanquished the demon and banished him again from this plane.”
Heart of Stone Page 6