Silver Reaper (Reaper Series Book 3)

by Shelley Russell Nolan

  Maybe I should have called Sam, waited for him to be able to come here with me. No, he was busy with his investigation, and it could be coincidence my client had been found in the backyard of the same house as the two homicides he was investigating.

  Besides, I was not helpless.

  Far from it.

  If anything bad happened I was ready to form a wall of aether around me, or blast my attackers with lightning. It wouldn’t kill a winged Tr’lirian. But it should slow them down long enough for me to get away.

  I let my arms fall to my sides, back straight and head held high as I marched inside the large room Killian used as his meeting room, prepared to face anything.

  Anything except Chris Bradbury.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ I blurted out the words, heart racing at the sight of him.

  ‘Hello, Tyler.’ His smile was strained, face shadowed as he stared at me.

  He stood in front of Killian’s desk, dressed in a dark blue suit that enhanced the colour of his eyes. I took in his unshaven chin and how his dark blonde hair looked like he’d run his fingers through it numerous times. Even dishevelled he had a presence that caught my breath.

  I hadn’t seen him since the aftermath of the battle in this compound. As far as I was aware he hadn’t been back, supervising the completion of Riverside Plaza from Sydney. He’d also been missing from the social pages in the nation’s tabloids, after announcing an intention to focus more on the corporate side of the Bradbury Corporation. I hadn’t tried to contact him, aware he was hurting because I’d chosen Sam instead of him.

  ‘His business is with me, Miss Morgan, not you, so why don’t you tell me why you insisted on meeting with me so we can get back to our work,’ said Killian, deep voice roughened with fatigue.

  He got up from the chair behind his desk and stalked towards me, not stopping until he was inches away, looming over me. He appeared to be as exhausted and troubled as Chris, though just as impeccably dressed.

  ‘What’s going on? What’s wrong?’

  Killian’s nostrils flared. ‘It does not concern you. Why have you come here?’

  I shook my head, wide eyed. ‘This place looks like you’re preparing for another war. How can that not concern me?’

  ‘If your only reason for being here is to critique my architectural project, then I suggest you leave. I do not have time for a social visit or to pander to the whims of a Davilian.’

  I stiffened. The derision in his voice cut. I’d thought he’d gotten over the matter of my Davilian heritage, going so far as to urge the leader of Clan Godden, Cade, to trust me when it came time to go up against Almorthanos. We’d been allies. Now he was looking at me as if I was dirt. Unclean.

  ‘Michael, Tyler obviously has something important to tell you or she wouldn’t be here.’

  I frowned, the ease with which Chris used Killian’s first name suggesting a long acquaintance. Even more startling was the way Killian immediately backed down.

  ‘Very well. She has five minutes.’ He took a step back, arms folded in front of him, and glared at me. ‘Start talking.’

  I took a deep breath, shaking off the increasing feeling of unease building in the room. ‘I just reaped the soul of a man, and I think he was Tr’lirian.’

  ‘What did you say?’ Killian lunged forward and grabbed hold of my shoulders.

  I reacted on instinct, calling up a wall of aether and shoving him away from me. Chest heaving, breath speeding up, I put up my hands to ward him off when he tried to grab me again. ‘Touch me and you will regret it.’

  Chris launched himself across the room to stand between us. ‘Everybody needs to take a step back and calm down.’

  After an angry glare my way, Killian moved to his desk and poured himself a drink from a crystal decanter, taking a long swallow of an amber liquid, face averted.

  Chris faced me, expression earnest. ‘What makes you think your client was Tr’lirian?’

  I met his worried eyes and told him what I had discovered.

  ‘Have you told anyone else about the body?’

  I shook my head. ‘No, I came straight here.’

  ‘What about Lockwood?’

  I stifled the guilt that rose within me. I should have called Sam. He was a homicide detective. It was his job to investigate dead bodies in Easton, but…‘If I’m right, and the man is Tr’lirian, I thought it best to come here before the police were involved.’

  Killian strode to the door and called out a command. Two winged Tr’lirians, a man and a woman, dashed inside the room. Like all the winged Tr’lirians I had ever seen, they both wore dark pants. The male was bare-chested except for a thick strap that secured the sword sheathed between his shoulder blades. The woman wore a vest tied in a way to stop it interfering with the large white wings that swept the floor with each step she took. She also had a sword sheathed on her back, the hilt twisted to the left to stop it banging into the back of her head.

  The militant way they both moved and the muscles on display in their skimpy attire suggested they were well versed in sword play. After a hurried conversation with their commander, the pair were sent winging on their way to the abandoned house.

  While we waited for them to return, I examined Killian and Chris. Neither man seemed able to sit still, either pacing across the room or fidgeting with the objects on top of the desk.

  ‘You two are acting like caged lions, all set to pounce only you have no one to pounce on. Will one of you please tell me what the hell is going on?’

  Killian didn’t even look up. ‘I already told you, this does not concern you.’

  ‘Really? Then I suppose you don’t want to know about the other mysterious bodies that have appeared in Easton this week?’

  Killian moved so fast I had no time to think as he launched himself at me, hands wrapping around my throat. ‘What bodies? Was one of them female? Tell me.’ He shook me, hands tightening their grip.

  I choked, desperate to breathe as I called on aether, ready to blast his soul to shreds. Before I could lash out, Chris appeared at my side and wrenched him away from me.

  ‘Calm down. Let Tyler talk. You don’t know that any of these bodies are Rebecca’s.’

  ‘Who is Rebecca,’ I asked, massaging my throat.

  ‘My daughter.’

  ‘My fiancée.’

  4

  Their voices overlapped and it took me a second to sort out what each of them had said.

  ‘You’re engaged to his daughter? When did that happen?’ I stared at Chris, eyes widening even more at the cautious look in his eyes.

  I shifted my gaze from Chris to Killian. ‘I didn’t even know you had a daughter.’ Though that explained why Chris was using his first name and why Killian listened to him. Still, six months seemed a short time for Chris to have fallen in love and proposed.

  ‘Was one of the bodies that of a young woman?’ Killian asked, visibly bracing for my answer.

  Understanding at least part of his concern, I shook my head. ‘They were both male, but so far the police have not been able to identify them and have no clues as to what killed them.’ I quickly recited what I knew of the ongoing homicide investigation.

  There was silence after I finished talking; silence in which the two of them shared looks full of hidden meaning. I squared up to Killian. ‘All right, I’ve told you what I know. Now it’s your turn. Why do you think your daughter might be dead?’

  ‘Rebecca left the compound two days ago, in the company of one of my men.’ His expression was bleak. ‘A good man, he lost his wings six months ago. He would die before allowing any harm to befall my daughter, but no one has seen or heard from either of them since.’

  ‘And you think the client whose soul I just reaped is the man who left here with Rebecca?’ That explained the tense and harried expressions both men wore when I entered the room, and the reaction to my announcement of more dead bodies. It didn’t explain why Chris was engaged to Killian’s daughter. But that really was
none of my business. If he had found love then I was genuinely happy for him, and would do whatever I could to help him find his missing fiancée.

  ‘Have you filed a missing person report with the police?’

  ‘I do not want the police involved.’ Killian’s response was clipped, determined.

  ‘Why the hell not? If you think she’s in danger, you have to call the police.’

  Chris shared another telling glance with Killian before he responded. ‘We don’t know for sure if she is in danger, or even missing. She wasn’t exactly in the best of moods when she left here. She made it quite clear she didn’t want anything to do with either of us. Our inability to contact her could be caused by her simply refusing to answer the phone.’

  The woman Killian had sent to check the body of my last client entered the room and strode over to whisper in his ear. I couldn’t hear what she was saying but the relief in Killian’s eyes was evident. He dismissed the Tr’lirian, back straight, and turned to me with a determined look on his face.

  ‘My soldiers will now travel to the morgue to view the bodies found in that house. We’ll soon know if their deaths are connected to Rebecca’s disappearance.’

  ‘What about the man whose soul I reaped? Is he one of yours or one of the Davilians who sacrificed their immortality in exchange for being allowed to live? They’d have the same scars.’ My stomach churned just thinking about the agonising cries that had echoed throughout the compound when Cade had enacted his revenge on those who’d fought against him.

  Given the choice of death or exile to the physical plane, most of the Tr’lirians who fought for Almorthanos had opted to have their wings ripped from their backs. Doomed to a mortal existence, they would no longer be able to return to their home, Angellin, though they would still be able to access the astral plane.

  ‘He was one of my men.’

  ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’

  Killian’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why? He was nothing to you. I hardly think you would concern yourself with my sorrow, or that of any other member of my clan.’

  I recoiled. ‘No one deserves to die like he did. Alone and cast aside like rubbish. Just because I didn’t know him doesn’t mean his death doesn’t sadden me. All death saddens me.’

  ‘Then perhaps you had better get yourself a new job, Reaper.’

  ‘Michael, that’s enough. Tyler came here in good faith. You need to treat her with respect.’

  Killian glared at Chris before storming out the door without saying a word.

  Chris came forward and laid a hand on my shoulder. ‘Don’t take his attitude personally. He’s just worried about Rebecca.’

  ‘What about you? You seem awfully calm for a man whose fiancée ran out on him.’ I wanted to ask him what it was he and Killian had done to make Rebecca flee the compound in the first place, but now was not the time.

  He grimaced. ‘It’s complicated.’

  ‘I’ll bet.’ My smile was strained as I looked at him. Something was going on here Something more than a missing daughter and fiancée. ‘Does it have anything to do with why this place is turning into a fortress?’

  Chris’s brow creased. ‘A fortress?’

  ‘Come on. You can’t have missed all the construction work, or the battleground being prepared right outside the front door. From the looks of it, Killian is expecting trouble.’

  He ran a hand through his thick hair. ‘When I arrived here two days ago it was in the middle of the night and, honestly, I was so tired I didn’t take much notice of anything other than where and when I would be able to sleep.’

  ‘And Rebecca, what did she think?’

  ‘Excuse me?’ He raised one eyebrow.

  ‘You said she took off two days ago, so two nights ago she would have been here with you, right?’

  ‘She was already here when I arrived, but I didn’t get to meet her until the next morning.’

  I frowned, his phrasing confusing me. Before I got a chance to question him further, Killian walked back into the room, a tight smile on his handsome face.

  ‘Tyler, you have a visitor.’

  Sam strode in behind him, and from the look he gave me he was not happy. His frown deepened when he spotted Chris. ‘Should have known you’d be mixed up in this mess, Bradbury.’

  ‘Pleasure to see you again, too, Lockwood.’

  I moved to Sam’s side. ‘What’s going on? Why are you here?’

  ‘I should be asking you the same question, but first I’d like to know what the hell two of your goons were doing running around my crime scene?’ He confronted Killian, gaze steady as he waited for an answer.

  Killian held his head high, a smirk curving his full lips. ‘I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Bullshit. Last I checked you were the only man in town with winged minions at his beck and call. Or is there another Tr’lirian arsehole trying to lay claim to my town? From the way you’re fortifying this place I’m guessing you’re preparing for one hell of a fight.’

  ‘I can assure you, your town is not under threat.’

  ‘Then what’s with the makeover, and interfering in a police investigation?’

  Killian’s smirk never wavered as he raised an eyebrow. ‘There’s nothing wrong with being prepared. A number of my clan are now stranded on this plane, outnumbered by humans. I’m just ensuring they have a safe place to call home if our presence is discovered. Your lot aren’t exactly known for their hospitality towards illegal immigrants.’

  Sam stared at him for a moment longer, before shifting his attention back to me. I didn’t blame him for being suspicious of Killian’s smooth answers. I hadn’t missed the way he’d avoided mentioning the reason his men had gone to the abandoned house. But it was something else he didn’t say that concerned me more.

  ‘What about the Davilians who lost their wings? Do they have a safe place to call home or did you just cast them out and let them fend for themselves?’ I lifted my chin, determined to get answers.

  Killian cast a glacial glance my way. ‘They have been taken care of and are no longer your concern.’

  I frowned. “Taken care of” could mean a lot of things, and not all of them good. ‘Where are they?’

  ‘Gone from Easton, and before you threaten to blast my soul to smithereens I can promise you they are all alive, and will continue to stay that way as long as none of them pose a threat to Clan Godden.’

  I sucked in a breath. ‘Do you think one of them has something to do with Rebecca’s disappearance, or the dead Tr’lirian I found today?’

  ‘Whoa. Back up. Who is Rebecca and when did you find a dead Tr’lirian?’ Sam clutched my arm, eyes narrowed. ‘Is that what his goons were doing at my crime scene? Sniffing out a dead body?’

  I nodded, explaining what had happened since I said goodbye to him at the shopping centre. ‘Killian’s people confirmed the deceased is a member of Clan Godden, but not the man who was with Rebecca when she left here two days ago.’

  Sam grabbed out his phone. ‘I’ll call in the dead body, and have your fiancée listed as a missing person,’ he said to Chris. ‘Do you have a recent photo of her I can use?’

  Chris shook his head. ‘Sorry, I don’t have any photos of Rebecca.’ He turned to Killian. ‘Michael?’

  ‘I’m afraid I have no recent photos of my daughter. It has been some years since we were in contact with each other, and my soldiers have already taken care of the body of their fallen brethren. Once they return from the morgue we will know if the dead men who were found inside the house are also Tr’lirian.’

  Sam looked like he was ready to explode. I stepped to his side and put a hand on his arm. ‘With any luck, Killian’s men will be able to identify them and you’ll finally have more to go on.’

  Lips thin, nostrils flaring, Sam shook his head. ‘I’m supposed to just forget they removed a body from a crime scene, and are breaking into the morgue? Are they going to steal those ones too?’

  The conflict
ed expression in his hazel eyes made guilt fizz through me. ‘I’m sorry. I should have come to you first.’

  ‘Yes, you should have.’ He tempered his rebuke with a squeeze of my hand. ‘But you’re right about one thing. This could be the break the case needs.’

  5

  The Tr’lirians Killian sent to the morgue wore grim expressions when they returned and marched across the room to report to him. They conferred in quiet tones on the other side of the room from where we waited making stilted small talk with Chris.

  After five minutes of this Sam strode forward. ‘Enough chit chat. What have you got?’

  Killian was not pleased by the interruption but Sam showed no sign of being intimidated by the black look sent his way.

  Killian dismissed the Tr’lirians and waited until they had left the room before turning back to Sam. ‘Very well, Detective, here is what I know. The men are not Tr’lirian, but they are known to me.’

  ‘How exactly?’

  ‘I had business dealings with them, five days ago. Afterwards I assumed they had returned to New South Wales, where their business is based.’

  ‘What business would that be?’

  ‘Real estate. And before you ask your next question, the details of my dealings with them are not pertinent to your case.’

  ‘That’s not up to you to decide. This is my case. I need to know everything you know about those men, starting with their names.’

  With Sam in full detective mode, I left him to it. It was time to do my own interrogation. ‘What’s really going on here, Chris?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You. Rebecca. This so-called engagement.’

  ‘There is nothing so-called about it.’

  ‘Really? Then why did you say you only got to meet her the morning after you arrived here? And why would she come here at all? Killian said he hadn’t seen her for years. Why the sudden visit to a father she wasn’t even in contact with? Don’t tell me you had to ask his permission to marry her?’