I glanced over his shoulder to where Hatter would be waiting for me. The urgency to solve the case had just ratcheted up by several degrees.
“How long do you have until you need to go back?” I asked him slowly.
He looked at me from between his long fingers. “Bo didn’t say, but I’m assuming sooner rather than later.”
I nodded. “That’s enough time.”
“Time for what?”
I grinned. “You know we work best when we take the edge off. Scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours?”
I was a siren. I had biological urges. And I couldn’t bloody focus when I constantly wanted the constable. Ich was the next best thing.
He grinned. “Yeah, I think we’ve got enough time for that.”
In seconds, he was nude and in the water with me. I laughed when he grabbed me up, and then there was no more laughing after that.
Chapter 13
Detective Elle
Walking from the gardens together, Ich and I were the definition of professional as we shook hands and nodded.
“Okay, and thank you, Ichabod. For everything,” I added softly.
He nodded, dipped his head toward Hatter, and then, with a swipe of his key card, was gone.
Hatter looked me up and down, and for just one second, his eyes flashed. Grabbing his hat, he set it on his head and grunted. “Let’s go.”
I frowned and jogged after him. “Where?”
“Goose. She should be back now. I don’t see any more reason to delay, do you?”
His voice was calm, but I sensed he wasn’t happy. There was a sharp bite to his words that hadn’t been there earlier.
I frowned.
Yanking open the door, he stepped to the side, as if waiting on me to pass through. But when I tried to smile a thank you at him, he refused to meet my gaze.
I scowled.
“If you have a problem with me, then just say it. Be a man and spit it out, Constable.”
Looking down at me with hard eyes, he shrugged. “I’ve got nothing to say to you, Detective. Now, if you’d rather I visited Goose alone...”
“Whatever,” I snapped, and walked through the door.
By the time he joined me outside, we were both quivering with quiet fury.
“Detective, if you would,” he said with barely suppressed venom.
So angry I was starting to see black spots in my field of vision from clamping down on my tongue too hard, I yanked the key card out of my pocket and swiped the air.
Only once I’d done it did I realize how discombobulated we both were, since we hadn’t technically needed to walk outside to do it.
In seconds, we were back in the hells that was the between. The quiet was smothering.
“I thought every second mattered,” he snipped into the stillness.
And like a powder keg being lit, I turned on him, exploding with all the pent-up anger. “If you’re talking about the fact that I had to—”
He scoffed, grinning cruelly, making him look far more sinister and deadly than normal. “Had to. That’s rich. We’re on the clock, Detective. Need I remind you—”
“No.” I stabbed his chest with my finger, which he easily swatted away, looming large and intractable over me as he breathed like a bellows. “You don’t get to judge me. You don’t bloody get to look down your nose at me. You know what I am. And when I say I had to, I bloody had to, so bugger off!”
And dammit all to the two hells, my body burned. Ich had been great, but it was Hatter that’d lit this fuse inside me.
“Bugger off?” he roared. “Goddess dammit!”
Moving in a blink, he had me off my toes and shoved up against the tunnel walls. He wasn’t just kissing me. He was claiming me, shoving his hot, delicious tongue down my mouth as he forced me to give him my own. My hands were in his hair, his hands were in mine, and though my eyes were closed, I felt the burning glow of light radiate against my flesh.
Fire raced through my bones, and memories, dark hated memories, came surging up of another man with hot, demanding hands and the devil’s own charm. Madness and pain surged through me like a wave. I wasn’t gentle as I clawed and nipped at him, dragging my long nails down his neck. But he took it and gave me back his own manic need.
His fingers were rough as they dug into my hips, grinding his cock hard against me. I hissed, curving into his hard strength as a warning bell rang out in my head that we had seconds before we were at Goose’s, and that there was no way in hells we could afford to be caught like this.
“Dammit.” I shoved him away. “Dammit,” I said again, this time full of regret. My body burned like a sun flare, and my throat squeezed tight with the need to sing the siren’s song.
I swallowed over and over, trying to shove it back down, that desperate desire and madness that this eccentric man had pulled out of me.
Hatter stood still as a statue beside me, hand planted on the tunnel wall as he hung his head and breathed deeply. His body trembled, and I bit my bottom lip.
“Maddox, I—”
“Don’t,” he breathed. “Just don’t.”
I closed my mouth, saying nothing.
A second later, we were out of the tunnel and standing on Goose’s expansive front lawn. This time, it was littered with children. The sound of their squealing laughter grated on my shredded nerves, and I had to bite my teeth together to keep from snapping at them.
When I looked at the constable, he was dusting off his jacket and smiling broadly. At no point did I see the agitated beast he’d been back in the tunnel.
He started to walk up the trail, and I followed, not sure what to say or whether I should say anything at all.
After looking over the scene on the lawn, something felt off to me, different. I sniffed.
“I feel it too,” Hatter said beneath his breath just as a gang of children ran up to him with their hands out, demanding sweets.
I curled my lips and watched as he dipped into his pocket and pulled out handfuls of Harry’s truffles to give to the kids.
After receiving their treats, they ran off without a thanks to be had.
“What?” I asked once we were alone again.
“Something is wrong here, but I don’t know what.”
I nodded, glad at least that we could remain professional when it came to the case.
I stared at the worn shoe. The holes for windows. The kids calling and playing. The lines with clothes hanging out to dry on them. This place screamed domesticated hells to me.
The door was suddenly tossed open, and there she stood, the worn looking Goose of before. But there was a smile on her face now where none had been before.
“Oy, Detectives!” She said, gesturing with her hands. “Look at this, will ya’s? Farmer Tom’s made things square again. I’ll no be filing a report after all.”
She pointed at a massive basket full of perfect, beautiful cabbages the size of a horse’s head. There were at least ten of them, more than enough to feed her gaggle for several days, at least.
Hatter looked at the basket with a worried scrawl. “I’m glad, Mother, very glad for you. But tell me,” he said slowly, “when did Tom make this drop-off?”
“Oh, um...” Her smile slipped just a little, and her glance turned furtive as she said, “Why, last night. Left it on me doorstep, he did. What a nice man. You may go. Sorry for dragging yous all the way out ‘ere over a simple misunderstanding. Shoo. Shoo. I’ve got dinner to get going now.”
She waved at us, desperate to get us on our way. But her eyes glanced toward her garden then very deliberately back to me.
The vein in Hatter’s neck throbbed as he clamped down on his jaw. She was lying, and we both knew it. But why? And what was she covering for? Suddenly, Pillar’s clue didn’t feel like such a waste of time after all.
“Are you sure?” Hatter asked slowly.
Her smile wavered. “Course I am, Constable. Course I am. All a giant misunderstanding, ye see.”
Once mor
e, her eyes traveled toward her garden and then back to me, giving me wide eyes. I knew that look, had seen it many times before when someone wanted to say something, but for whatever reason, they couldn’t.
Hatter, though, wasn’t looking at her. He was scanning the yard, so he missed her subtle hint. I frowned, and she didn’t nod or look back, but her eyes reminded me of a pig’s right before the big bad wolf took it down, and I knew there was something in that garden she wanted us to see.
I grinned and placed a hand over Hatter’s forearm to gently move him back a step. He frowned, looking at me.
“Wonderful. Glad matters have been taken care of. Of course, we’ve come such a long way, and I’m just absolutely starving. Haven’t eaten in days.”
Hatter grunted, but I dug my fingernails into the back of his hand, and wise man that he was, he chose to stay silent. His look was wary but trusting.
“Ah! Well, not all was lost the day Tom’s goats ate my flowers. I’ve a patch of berries just ripe for the plucking. Take as many as you’ll be wanting, Detective.”
And with that, she slammed the door in our faces.
Hatter and I looked at each other, understanding flowing between us. Without saying a word, we turned and headed directly to the garden.
At first, nothing looked out of the ordinary. The garden was still in a state of ruins, with a few patches of harvestable vegetables and fruits scattered around. My skin tingled like it did when I knew someone watched me. Glancing up, I saw that it was a cherubic, blue-eyed girl of no more than five, twirling a length of her curly blond hair around her finger.
“Yes?” I asked as Hatter walked up and down the rows.
“Bad people came here today,” she said in a sweet voice.
Hatter whirled at that, looking at her and then at me. I dropped to my knees, taking the girl’s hands into my own. “Really, sweetheart. And what did they do?”
“They told Mama they was gonna take us all away.”
I blinked, feeling as though a rock had just settled in the pit of my stomach.
“They said they was watching her.”
I looked back at Hatter. He was unnaturally still, every fiber of his being centered on the child and what she was saying.
I swallowed. “Why would they say that? Do you know?”
She shrugged, “Dunno.” She spotted a flitting butterfly with magnificent magenta wings and pointed at it. “Oh!”
“Focus, honey,” I said quietly. “Just a few more questions, and then my partner will give you a treat. How’s that sound?”
I hoped to the goddess he had a few more of those chocolates in his pocket.
An ear-splitting grin stole across her features, and her little pink tongue poked out, licking her lips with obvious anticipation.
“Whatcha wanna know?” she asked, madly twirling a length of corn-silk-colored hair around her chubby little finger.
“What did these bad people look like?”
She shrugged again. “Dunno. They had big blankets on. All black. But they stunk, sure ’nuff. Mama made them stay outside.”
She wrinkled her nose, clearly recalling that smell. Twice now, I’d heard of a smell.
“What’s your name, honey?” I asked.
“Jeannette.” She smiled, looking pure and innocent, and making me feel a tad bit bad for thinking of children as pests earlier. Maybe they weren’t all little devils.
“Jeannette,” I said with a nod, “just one last question, and then I’ll get out of your hair, okay?”
“And then I’ll gets my chocolates?” she asked hopefully.
“Mm-hmm.” I crossed my fingers behind my back, hopeful that I wasn’t about to see a child cry because I’d lied. “Did that bad smell make you think of rotten eggs?”
Her eyes went wide, and she gasped. “Just like it. Like when Gwenny lays too many, and mama can’t cook ’em all up, and some just rot and stuff. Yeah, it were just like that.”
Pulling her in for a tight squeeze, I said, “You did great, Jeannette. Just great.”
Hatter, thank the goddess, had exactly two truffles left. Using sleight of hand so that none of the other children could see, he placed them in the center of her palm with a pat to her head.
Down the lane, I could hear a faint cry of police sirens.
“Bloody hells,” Hatter whispered, and I stood.
Goose’s home was high up on a hill, surrounded by little else, giving us the perfect vantage point from which to see the procession of clearly marked BS cars driving in a line directly for us.
They were coming here. Question was, why?
“We should go,” I told him quickly. “The last thing we want is to be caught by them twice.”
“Agreed.”
I reached for my key card, and Jeannette, who now had a face full of chocolate, tugged on my hand.
“I found this,” she said and proceeded to hand me a ribbon.
A blue ribbon.
A bloodstained blue ribbon.
Hatter sucked in a sharp breath. The mystic cross-stitch pattern was clearly evident to all but the blind.
“Where... where did you find this, honey?”
“We have to go now,” Hatter snapped.
She smiled. “In the garden.”
Then, twirling on her heels, she skipped away, taunting her siblings that she’d gotten extra chocolates and they had not.
Just before the agents could see us, Hatter snatched the key card out of my pocket and swiped the air. He yanked me through before the tunnel had even completely formed.
Only once we were safely ensconced in the tunnel did he lean against the wall, panting heavily and shaking his head.
“This can’t be. It can’t be.”
“Hatter,” I said softly.
When he looked at me, his eyes were hard as flint. “I’d have seen it, Elle! I’d have bloody seen it. Alice isn’t who she once was, but she’s not a bloody murderer. She’s not—”
I shook my head. “Of course she’s not. Think about it. Goose gets paid off by the goddess only knows who, told to shut up or her kids will get taken away. We were just here not an hour ago. That damn bloody ribbon wasn’t in the garden. You want to know why I know that?”
He looked like a desperate man clinging to the last vestiges of hope. I knew it was because of Alice that he wasn’t thinking right. He was too bloody brilliant not to see what was so obvious to me. We were getting close, too close, and whoever the hells was behind this was desperate enough to make mistakes.
“Why?” he rumbled.
Because I figured he might need it, I moved into the tense line of his body and hugged him. He was stiff as board, but he didn’t push me away.
“Because this ribbon stinks like rotten eggs. It’s coated in sulfide, the same sulfides that were at my scene and in the one Crowley stole from you. This is a frame job, Maddox, and Alice is their scapegoat.”
With a desperate groan, he dropped his head into the crook of my neck, and for just a second, he hugged me back. Whatever their history, Hatter still cared for Alice. Deeply.
But now it was time for her to tell us why they’d chosen her. What did she know? What wasn’t she telling us? I clenched my jaw and murmured nonsense into his ear, trying to get him back to some semblance of composure.
We were almost at the finish line, and those bastards were gonna pay for what they’d done.
Chapter 14
Detective Elle
When we arrived back at the Crypt, Hatter was back to looking unflappable. No one but his closest associates would have been able to guess that he’d temporarily cracked as he had.
We stood just outside the door. I’d half expected agents to be swarming the place, but they weren’t.
Maybe because I carried the ribbon the killer’s associate had planted at the scene. But whether I’d delayed them or not, it was inevitable that all roads were going to lead the agents directly to Alice’s doorstep, which meant our time together without interference was limite
d at best.
“You good?” I looked at him.
Handsome, but aloof, he nodded. Not that I didn’t get it. I did, more than he might imagine.
“As I’ll ever be. Let’s just get this bloody over with.”
We were about to enter a sex dungeon, a place that, twice now, had done unforeseen things to my body. I didn’t want to breathe in that lust-laced air. He looked at me and, with a nod, quickly undid his cravat and handed it to me.
“It’s not much, but it might help. Just enough to get us back to Alice’s office.”
Our fingers touched when I took it from him, and I gave him a jerky nod of thanks. I wasn’t sure, though, which was worse—smelling the dungeon’s pheromones or smelling Hatter’s. Both seemed like a drug to my senses.
Sighing, I held the cravat to my face and breathed.
“Balls,” I muttered as the powerful smell of him, dark nights and still waters, mainlined through my veins.
The bell above the door dinged when he pushed it open.
I was confronted by familiar sounds of desire and the heated whispers of lovers. Low, mood-setting music heightened the already-saturated carnality that lived and breathed in this too-tight space. I shifted on the balls of my heels, afraid to take a breath of air, remembering what this damned place had done to me once already. But thankfully, when I did, all I smelled was Hatter.
The Crypt was full of patrons tonight, bodies were spinning, dancing, laughing, and writhing. Large orgies were taking place out in the open for anyone to see.
There appeared to be a theme tonight. Everyone was dressed in white and gold only, with porcelain masks on their faces, painted with bold splashes of color. The memorable green fog curled densely around our ankles, casting everything in a sinister shadow.
Even Hatter looked more devilish, with the way the ambient light bounced off the hollows of his face, turning his features harsher, sharper, but no less sexy. He grunted, scanning the place, looking for Alice.
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