by Diane Darcy
He didn’t like being separated from his mate. He was on edge, irritable, and after texting security over at Lena’s shop, and being assured that she was fine, lying down, only then could he start to relax.
He’d give her a few hours, but then he was going over there to see how she was. He wasn’t sure he could stop himself.
In the meantime, he had to find the murderer, and needed to do it fast. He hadn’t just found his mate, only to lose her again.
He decided to walk around the casino. It was something he usually did, familiar, and he needed to think.
He spotted Alastair, resident computer guru, and man in charge at the moment. Dressed in black, Alistair stood with his huge arms crossed as he leaned against a stone column, his dark gaze fixed on the noisy crowd at a High Roller table.
William joined him. “How’s it going?”
Alastair straightened. “Busier than usual, so we’ve a team of fifteen besides the eyes in the sky.”
William nodded his head. He was usually the first to know what was happening down here, but with the murder investigation going on, and the fact he’d just met his mate, and a vampire tried to kill her, his attention was needed elsewhere.
“Have ye found the owner of the Gmail address?”
He shook his head. “Their encryption is too tight. All I can tell for sure is that the email is newly active, so tis probably a throwaway. I’ve still got a man working on it.”
“How do ye send a blackmail note to a throwaway address?”
Alastair shrugged. “How’s Lena?”
William felt a surge of aggression. “How do ye know her name?”
Alastair scowled. “Everyone knows her name. Even the witches are claiming her as one of their own. I would say sorry about the bad luck, but we both know that if I was fortunate enough to find a mate, witch or no’, I’d be jumping for joy. So I’ll try no’ to be a hypocrite.”
William’s anger receded, leaving him feeling slightly foolish. “I appreciate that,” he said dryly.
He knew any of them would take his place in a heartbeat.
Only two wolves working in the casino were mated, and they lived elsewhere. It worked out better that way, as their contentment and happiness wasn’t something the rest of the pack needed to see twenty-four seven.
William wouldn’t have that option. Once he and Lena were a couple, they’d live here, but he’d try his best to make it as easy on everyone as he could.
“How’s the investigation going?” Alastair asked.
“Actually, that’s what I’m here to talk about. I could use a new set of ears, and mayhap a new perspective.”
“Glad tae help.”
“All right. Let’s go through it all again.” William went through the list of potential suspects: the bride, the mother-of-the-bride, the florist, caterer, photographer, maid of honor, and the many people who’d been invited to the wedding who’d been interviewed by his crew.
“We’ve no fingerprints, no clues, no camera. Is anything jumping out at ye?” William asked.
Alastair sighed. “The groom was murdered with a silver cake knife, and then the cake lady was murdered. Do ye think that has anything to do with anything?”
“Mayhap, but if so, I don’t know how.” William tugged on his ear. “Who could she have been trying to blackmail? What could she have seen? Creighton was married before, some sixty years ago. Mayhap she made the cake for his previous wedding?”
“Could she have?”
William had just been joking but, of course, it was possible. Time meant nothing to immortals. “I don’t know. I’m going to see if Quinn’s found anything on the florist. Thanks.”
On his way out of the casino, William’s shoulder was grabbed from behind.
He spun and had a smaller man’s wrist in his hand, crushing it, before he realized it was one of their regular customers.
“Ow! Let go!”
“Sorry.” William released Rykar Baines’s wrist and the smaller man rubbed it, then shook it out.
“Dude! Seriously, you don’t know your own strength!” He punched William in the shoulder. “I haven’t seen you in forever. How’ve you been?”
It was difficult to focus on anything but keeping his mate safe, but Rykar was a good customer, and it wasn’t his fault William was in such a surly mood. So he stifled his impatience and nodded. “Things are going well. And how are ye?”
Rykar, tall, thin, with cropped blonde hair was something of an entrepreneur and liked to have a good time. A decade ago he’d made his fortune in some sort of California internet business. Now, in his early thirties, he sat back and watched the royalties roll in and spent his money as fast as he made it.
Fortunately The Hemlock was his favorite place to gamble.
“I’m doing good.” Rykar looked around, a slight grin on his face. “The place is hopping tonight.”
“Did ye get a room?”
His smile widened. “You bet. Ivan set it up this time.”
The last time Rykar had come into town, he’d been denied a room at The Hemlock and had to stay elsewhere. He’d been quite indignant about the fact, but as The Hemlock was so exclusive, they could afford to turn even high-rollers away. Rather than discouraging tourists, it only seemed to make them want to frequent the place more. He had no doubt that Sofia Darrow, manager extraordinaire at the front desk, played her games and was the one who set these types of things in motion. She was a genius at strategy, and they all bowed to her dictates.
“Weel, I’m glad tae hear it.”
“Any chance you can hang out with me tonight?” Rykar asked.
At times William did become friendly with some of the regulars. In his long life, he did what he could to break up the monotony. “Sorry, I cannae, tonight. We’ve our hands full at the moment, and also, I’ve met a girl.”
Rykar’s eyes widened. “What? Are you kidding?”
William understood his incredulity. They had known each other long enough for Rykar to have gathered that William hadn’t had a girlfriend in a long while.
Rykar had constantly tried to set him up but, of course, William wasn’t interested. It had been many a year since he’d been keen to find a woman, and Rykar just hadn’t understood his reluctance, as they looked about the same age and that was all Rykar thought about.
Well, besides gambling.
“There’s a couple of rumors going around. I hear your birthday is coming up.”
William snorted. “Doonae believe everything ye hear.”
“I also heard there was a murder.”
William was about to brush him off when he remembered the man’s business had something to do with computers.
“There have actually been two murders. A groom was killed, and then a cake artist. She was trying to blackmail someone, presumably the murderer.”
Ryker’s eyes were shining. “Is there anything I can do to help out?”
“Depends. She sent an email to an unknown Gmail address and we doonae have any idea who it went to. Any chance ye could figure out the intended recipient?”
“Give me the information. If I can’t crack it, I may or may not have gone to college with a guy who’s now a big wig at Google. If I track it down for you, what do I get in exchange?”
“The satisfaction of having helped yer fellow man? Or woman, as the case may be. We need to solve this before someone else is murdered.”
Rykar shook his head. “I don’t know, I’m not sure that’s enough to keep me interested.”
William narrowed his eyes, but Rykar only smiled, looking angelic. “All right, how about we start ye at ten grand in casino credit?”
“Make it twenty.”
“Twenty, it is.”
Rykar lifted a hand for a high five. “My man!”
William snorted. “Come this way, and we’ll see what ye can do, or no’.”
Rykar laughed. “Does this mean I finally get to see security?”
“Aye, but if ye doonae come through, may
hap I’ll throw ye in the dungeon, instead.”
“Yes!”
Chapter 32
William took Rykar to security, found the computer that had belonged to Georgina, the cake designer, and set him up at an empty desk. He hoped Rykar was able to get the information for him, because surely, if he did, it would lead them directly to the murderer.
William paced back and forth until Rykar snapped at him. “You’re distracting me. Go do something else for a while. I’ll let you know when I have anything. Give me about twenty minutes before you come back.”
“Fine. Watch him closely,” he said to Berkeley, sitting nearby.
Berkeley turned his chair to face Rykar.
“That hurts, William!” Rykar continued to type. “Words hurt!”
William ignored Rykar and called Quinn. “Do ye need any help?”
“Sure. We’re in interrogation,” Quinn said. “Just finishing up.”
“I’ll be right there.” As William walked through security, Esmeralda threw open the door, almost bumping into him.
A tall brunette with creamy skin, and a long green gown, she was usually the most reasonable of the witches.
“Where’s your new friend?” Esmeralda asked, looking around him as if William was hiding her behind his back.
“Tucked safely away.”
“What? Why?”
William wasn’t going to explain himself to a witch. “What do ye want?”
She looked excited as she showed him a handful of papers. “We’ve spent the entire afternoon researching her ancestry.”
His eyes narrowed. “For what purpose?”
“We think the girl is one of ours. We intend to invite her into our coven.”
“Over my dead body.”
She looked startled, as if it hadn’t occurred to her anyone would object. “But you don’t have a say in the matter. If she’s a blooded witch, she belongs with us. You have no authority over us.”
It was all William could do to resist showing his wolf to the wretched woman just to prove his dominance. “Now is no’ a good time.” William bit the words out. “As ye well know.”
Her excitement cooled, and she shot him a chilly look. “If she is a witch, we’ll stake our claim as we see fit,” she said, and walked out.
William blew out a breath. If anyone was going to stake a claim on Lena, it would be him.
Anyway, it was unlikely she’d ditch the family coven. Witches were notoriously loyal to their own. An issue for another day. He had a pair of murders to solve.
William caught up with Quinn and found him and three others conducting interviews with people who’d planned to attend the wedding.
“Did ye get everyone?” William asked.
Quinn showed a rare grin. “Aye, we hunted them all down. Some tried to leave town by car, or airport, but we caught them.” He pointed to the family being questioned. “This is the last.”
“Where is the wedding party?”
“We have them next door. They’re bored to death. Ye realize we’re going tae have to let them all leave soon. Sophia is getting testy about having to find rooms for the extra people we’re keeping.”
“Everyone can wait.”
William lifted a stack of notes taken by his men, found a free desk in the common area, and sat down and started reading through them: how they knew the bride and groom, how they’d been invited to the wedding, where they’d been at six o’clock on the night of the wedding.
Quinn was right. They were going to have to start releasing guests that didn’t have a motive for murder. Starting with lack of opportunity, or the ones who didn’t arrive until after the murder had taken place.
They had all the attendees’ contact information, and if need be, could track them down again, but William wanted this business taken care of now. He didn’t want this dragging on. Not with Lena in danger.
A second sense had him looking up to see Lena enter the room. He stood, furious that she’d been roaming the city without protection, but when he spotted one of his guards walk in behind her, he released a breath.
Lena spotted him and headed his way, and the pleasure that gave him was indescribable.
As she approached she smiled and he held out his hand. She clasped it in her own. “Hi.”
“Lass. I’m glad ye came back.” He led her around a desk and motioned for someone to bring a second chair. He sat her next to him and sank down.
“Sorry about earlier. I guess I can’t decide if I’m coming or going. What are you doing?” she asked.
“Reading through all the interviews.”
“Nothing new? Any suspects?”
“Nothing new. We’re holding anyone the least bit suspicious, and we have someone with important contacts working to find who that blackmail note was sent to.”
She indicated the stack of papers. “Can I help?”
“Sure.”
She picked up the first one, looked at the next, and then started to organize. A few minutes later she asked, “What is this?”
“The death certificate for Creighton Cameron’s wife.”
“And this?”
William looked at the other certificate she held up. “They must have sent two of them.”
Lena pointed to the notation at the top that said, Jasmine Russey’s mother — and her eyes widened. “Which would make Creighton Cameron Jasmine’s father.”
“And a blood relative.”
William stood just as Rykar yelled out for him. “I’ve got it, William. Come and see!”
William hurried across the room. “What do ye have?”
Rykar, looking pleased with himself, leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms behind his head. “The person who opened the account was Georgina Baldwin, a cake decorator here in town.”
That distracted him. “She opened her own account? Sent herself a blackmail note?”
“Yes, and no.”
“Spit it out,” William barked. “What do ye mean?”
“I mean she opened the account, then gave out the account and password to someone else to use. Smart really, now that I think about it.”
“Is that all?”
Rykar laughed. “No, that’s not all. Don’t you want to know who used that account?”
“How can ye tell?”
“Because she used her cellphone to open it. And it was …” Rykar lifted his phone to reveal a picture of Jasmine Russey. “This lady.”
Rykar’s eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. “Oh, jeez.”
“William?” Lena choked out.
William turned to see Lena, with a knife to her throat. Jasmine stood behind her and started pulling Lena along as she backed toward the door. “This is bull crap! I came out here to ask to be allowed to leave, and what do I find? I’m being set up!”
William could feel his muscles getting bigger, enlarging as he prepared to attack.
“I mean it. Nobody move, or I’ll hurt her.”
William instinctively took a step toward his mate and Jasmine pushed the knife against Lena’s jugular, making her wince. “Not one step closer or she’s dead.”
William fought for control. “If ye hurt her, there is nowhere ye can go that I willnae find ye and kill ye.”
How could his mate have gotten captured right under his nose? And how would she ever trust him again?
Chapter 33
Lena should have stayed home.
She cursed William for his drawing power even as she tried very hard to do exactly what Jasmine wanted, backing up with the other woman.
“Ye killed Creighton, Jasmine?” William looked calm, and collected. “Why? Because he’s yer father?”
Jasmine tensed, the knife pressing harder. “Are you crazy? I didn’t kill him! I was here to meet him for the first time since I was a child!”
“I understand yer mother died recently.”
“She did.” Jasmine swallowed. “And I wanted my father to hear about it from me! He left her, her only crime was being huma
n, and getting old. And now he’s here in Vegas getting married again?” Jasmine’s bitterness was evident in her voice.
She made her way out of the room, easily dragging Lena with her, and William followed, looking like he was about to do murder.
“We’re going to leave, and no one is going to stop us.” She pulled Lena along, out the doors, and to the elevator.
William was there every step, and when Jasmine pushed the down button, Lena met his wild-eyed gaze as the doors started to close between them.
“Lena,” he rasped. “Doonae worry lass, I’ll get tae ye.” He looked fierce, on the verge of being pushed over the edge.
Once the doors were shut, Jasmine let out a breath. “I don’t want to hurt you. Just don’t try anything and you’ll probably make it out of this alive.”
Creighton didn’t. Georgina didn’t.
Lena felt weak with fear. Cowardly. Like she should try something to free herself, but with the sharp blade against her throat, and the strength of the woman at her back, she was afraid she’d get killed if she so much as moved.
When the doors opened on the casino floor, somehow William was there waiting for them.
“Get back!” Jasmine pushed Lena forward and she tried to think of a way to distract the girl.
She swallowed, feeling the blade. “I still don’t understand why you’d want to kill your own father?”
“I didn’t!” she gave Lena a slight shake. “But if I had, it would be no more than he deserved! He deserted my mother, and was no father to me, I can assure you of that. In fact, he didn’t even want to know I existed. He had no interest in a human daughter in her sixties.”
Sixties? The woman really was delusional. She couldn’t be much older than Lena. “I have to say, you’ve aged really well.”
The girl made a scoffing noise and, while continuing to hold the knife to Lena’s throat, Jasmine pushed Lena into the crowded casino.
Tourists started to scream and back away, giving Jasmine a clear path to the lobby. “Don’t get behind me!” she warned William as they built up speed and hurried forward.
Lena’s head was bent at an odd angle to accommodate the knife, and it took all her concentration to walk smoothly. The last thing she wanted was to stumble.