Web of Lies

by Belle Aurora

Page 23

  Tobias Dawson had used his Stone magic to ward his safe with a protection rune, one that would alert him if anyone tampered with the granite. I'd done the same thing to protect myself on more than one occasion. Even used the same rune as the dwarf.

  Donovan Caine wasn't an elemental, wasn't a Stone, so he couldn't hear the alarm, couldn't see the rune. But I could, and I knew what they both meant - trouble headed this way.

  "Fuck," I cursed out loud this time. "Give me the papers.

  Now. "

  "What? Why?" Donovan asked in a distracted tone.

  "There's some interesting stuff here - "

  "Because I've tripped some kind of silent alarm," I interrupted him. "So give me the papers right now. "

  To his credit, the detective didn't ask any questions.

  Instead, he shoved the documents over to me. I stuffed them back into the hollow space inside the granite, wiped my fingerprints off the diamond vial, then put it inside as well. Although I wanted to, I didn't take the stone. The cowboy dwarf might not pursue us so hard if he still had the diamond. Big, big maybe, but it was the only hope I had.

  I hastily wiped down the granite slab and safe with my jacket sleeve, then hefted the stone slab I'd cut out back into its original place. There was no time to be subtle, so I blasted the rock back in place with my magic, sealing it up tight once more. With his Stone magic, Dawson would be able to sense what I'd done immediately, but he shouldn't be able to trace it back to me - or more importantly, the Foxes.

  Donovan held out a hand and helped me to my feet.

  "We need to get out of here," I said. "Now. "

  We scurried down the hallway and into the front of the building. I turned my flashlight off and peered through the thin slats in the blinds. Two flashlights bobbed in our direction. Giants, considering the fact the lights were about even with my head. Beside me, Donovan turned off his own flashlight and drew his gun.

  "Put that away," I said. "Open the door and head straight toward the back of the basin, where we climbed down. Outrunning them is our best chance. Not engaging in a firefight. "

  "What are you going to do?"

  "Make sure they don't follow us. "

  Donovan shook his head. "No, Gin. Let me stay and help you - "

  "This isn't a fucking discussion," I said. "It won't much matter if they capture me, but you? It'll ruin you, detective. So go. Now. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. Been doing it for years. "

  Donovan stared at me. I could see the gold glint of his eyes even in the darkness and the emotions sparking in their depths. Worry. Concern. Resignation. After a few seconds, the detective reluctantly holstered his gun. He moved toward the door and opened it.

  By the time I stepped outside behind him, Donovan had already taken off back the way we'd come in. Twenty steps later, the rain and night and shadows swallowed him, just the way I'd known they would.

  I palmed my silverstone knives. But instead of sprinting after the detective, I slid around the side of the building and moved all the way to the back, where Tobias Dawson's office was. Ten. . . twenty. . . thirty. . . I counted off the seconds in my head.

  I didn't have long to wait. Despite the rain and mud, their footsteps reverberated through the stone under my feet. Solid, heavy, pounding. Shouts drifted through the rain.

  "Do you see anything?"

  "No. You?"

  "Hey! The front door's wide open!"

  I peeked around the side of the building just in time to see two giants run into the front office. A few seconds later, lights flared in the front room, then spread down the hallway like a wildfire, before erupting in Tobias Dawson's office. I stood off to one side of the windows and watched. It was the same two men Dawson had brought to the Country Daze store earlier this afternoon.

  The two giants still had on the same grimy work clothes they'd sported then, and they both carried long, heavy flashlights that could easily be used to break bones or crush someone's skull. They had to be the dwarf 's top two enforcers.

  I watched them sweep into Dawson's office. They didn't bother with anything on the desk, but went straight to the glass case that housed the dwarf 's rock collection.

  "The lock's been picked," one of the giants rumbled, swinging open the case. "But it doesn't look like anything's been taken. "

  The second giant came to stand beside him. "Nothing obvious anyway. But somebody was messing with the safe, with the diamond. That's why the alarm went off inside the guardhouse. Because somebody other than Dawson opened the safe. "

  Well, that confirmed my suspicion the dwarf had used his Stone magic to craft the alarm on his safe. I could do the same thing, although I was usually more interested in keeping people out of whatever building I was sleeping in rather than trapping them inside. That's what would have happened here. If I hadn't been a Stone, hadn't been an elemental, I wouldn't even have heard the alarm. Both Donovan Caine and I would have still been sitting in Dawson's office when the giants came calling. Some definite pain, perhaps even death, would have ensued.

  Sneaky dwarf, using an elemental alarm like that.

  Something to keep in mind next time, when I went in to kill him.

  "But it doesn't look like the safe's been opened," the first giant rumbled. "Maybe it's just a false alarm.

  "No way," the second guy replied. "The case is open. Somebody touched that safe. "

  "Maybe. But you know how sensitive that rune alarm Dawson created is. I had to come up here twice last week because the cleaning crew jiggled it while they were dusting.

  Remember?"

  "I remember," the second man said. "But you know how obsessed Dawson is with that diamond and the others he found. We'd still better call him, just to cover our own asses. And get Stan and Donny up here too. They can help us look around. "

  The first giant sighed and picked up the telephone on the dwarf 's desk.

  I stood outside, still processing what I'd just learned.

  Others? There were more diamonds like the one in the safe? I began to get a bad, bad feeling about why Tobias Dawson wanted Warren T. Fox's land so badly. If my suspicion was correct, Dawson wouldn't stop harassing the Foxes until he was dead. Which meant the thought of killing the dwarf just morphed from a pleasant idea into a cold, hard necessity. The sooner the better.

  The first giant finished his phone call and turned back to his buddy. "They're on their way. But I still don't see how anyone besides Dawson could even open the safe. All the silverstone in it is keyed to his magic. "

  "For a rock like that? Somebody would find a way," the second guy replied.

  As they stood there talking, I crept away from the window and slipped off into the dark, rainy night.

  I jogged back to the far end of the basin away from the mine office. I didn't sprint full out, but I didn't dawdle either. I kept my pace just quick enough so I'd still be able to hear the giants behind me when their friends arrived and they decided to investigate the area outside the office. But I didn't worry about them finding anything. The drizzling rain would wash away any trace evidence the detective or I might have left behind, including our footprints.

  I reached the back slope of the basin where we'd come down, rounded the rock outcropping - and found myself on the business end of Donovan Caine's gun.

  "Nice to see you too," I drawled.

  Donovan let out a breath and lowered his weapon.

  "Sorry. I heard footsteps. "

  "Don't worry. That's not the first gun I've had pointed at me. " Probably wouldn't be the last one, either, but I didn't mention that to the detective.

  Donovan holstered his weapon. Then he stepped out from behind the rock and looked toward the mine offices. By now, more lights burned there, like fireflies that had been grounded by the rain. Faint shouts drifted through
the night air.

  "Did you kill the guards?" Donovan Caine asked in a low voice.

  "No. "

  Surprise and relief flashed in his golden eyes. "Why not?"

  I shrugged. "Because a possible break-in is one thing. Dead guards are another. I don't want Tobias Dawson to realize I'm coming for him. Not until it's too late. "

  Donovan's relief melted into stubborn consternation, and I half-expected him to start lecturing me about the sanctity of life. To tell me it was just plain wrong to go around planning someone's assassination, even if it would save two innocent people in the end. Donovan stared at me like he wanted to do that very thing, give me the good lecture. Then another emotion crept into his golden gaze.

  The detective almost looked. . . sad.

  What did he have to be sad about? It wasn't like I was going to kill him or even one of his friends. I didn't understand Donovan's sudden mood swing, and I didn't care to stand out here in the dark to try to puzzle it out.

  Not with Tobias Dawson's men lurking around.

  "Come on," I said. "Let's get out of here before the guards head this way. "

  Chapter Twenty

  Even using our rope and gloves, it took twice as long for Donovan and me to climb back up the ridge as it had taken to come down. The drizzle made everything slick, slimy, sloppy. By the time we crested the rim of the ridge, we were both wet to the bone and covered with mud, burrs, briars, dead leaves, and other woodsy debris. It took us several more minutes to reach Donovan's sedan, which was just enough time for the warm exertion from climbing up the ridge to wear off. The rain had picked up and was now a downpour. Despite the Ice magic in my veins, I still shivered with cold. Besides our squish-squish footsteps, the only other sound was the plop-plop-plop of the rain coming down.

  Donovan reached inside the sedan and turned on the interior lights so we could see what we were doing. Then he hit another button, which opened the trunk. "I've got some towels and spare clothes in the back. "

  I nodded. While the detective dug around in the trunk, I pulled out my cell phone and called Finn. He answered on the third ring.

  "Yeah?"

  "We're clear of Dawson's office," I said.

  A slurping sound came through the phone. Finn drinking another cup of coffee. Sometimes I wondered why his brain didn't explode from all the caffeine. "Find anything interesting?"

  "I think so," I said. "We'll talk about it when we get back. Might be awhile, because of the rain. The road we're on isn't exactly the best in the world. "

  "We've moved over to the house. We'll be waiting for you there," Finn said.

  We both hung up.

  Donovan closed the trunk and came around the car to me. He opened the front passenger's side door and tossed the dry clothes inside so they wouldn't get wet while we changed. Then he handed me a thick towel. I lifted it to my face and breathed in. It smelled like the detective - clean and soapy. Mmm.

  The detective grabbed another towel out of the pile of clothes. He used it to wipe off his face and soak up some of the water in his hair. I did the same with my towel, then opened the back door of the car and slung the towel over the seat. Mud caked my boots an inch thick in places, so I pulled them off and set them on the floorboard, along with my ruined socks. Cold mud squished between my toes, but I'd wipe them off with the towel later. Then I stripped off my fleece jacket and put it on top of my boots. My long-sleeved T-shirt came next. I sighed as I looked at the cotton. I'd bought the pink Tshirt covered with bright green limes when I went to Key West after Fletcher's funeral. It was one of my favorites. I picked a couple of briars off the bottom of the tail, folded it, and put it on top of my jacket.

  I was just about to unhook my bra when I realized the detective was staring at me. Donovan Caine's eyes burned like liquid gold in his rugged face.

  "What - what are you doing?" he asked in a hoarse voice "I thought I'd be nice and not get my wet, muddy shoes and clothes all over your car," I replied. "Is that a problem?"

  Donovan didn't answer me. He was too busy devouring me with his eyes. The rain ran down my mostly bare chest in cool, glistening drops. I'd only had my shirt off a few seconds, but the moisture had already soaked into my pale pink lace bra. The cold night air had long ago hardened my nipples. But instead of covering myself up, my own eyes traced over Donovan. The detective had removed his suit jacket and starched shirt. All he wore from the waist up was a white, sleeveless undershirt. The rain had made it transparent too, and I could see the ropy muscles of his chest through the thin fabric. Mmm.

  Despite the rain flicking against my skin, a low, steady warmth spread through my stomach. This was the closest I'd been to Donovan Caine in two months, and I decided to take advantage of the situation.

  "See something you like, detective?" I said in a soft voice. "Because I sure do. "

  The detective raised his gaze to my face. Emotions flickered in his golden eyes, like lightning dancing across the sky during a thunderstorm. Guilt. Heat. Desire. But he didn't move toward me. So I decided to up the stakes, so to speak.

  I looked at him as I slowly unbuttoned my muddy jeans. It took me a few seconds to slide the stiff, heavy, wet fabric down my legs and over my feet. Not the most graceful striptease, but the golden sparks in Donovan's eyes told me he appreciated the view. By the time I'd tossed my wet jeans into the front seat, the rain had turned my pink panties - also decorated with limes - as transparent as my bra.

  Donovan's gaze was even hotter now, and those same three emotions kept flashing in his eyes, one after another, faster and faster, as though his brain were overloaded by the feelings. Guilt. Heat. Desire. Guilt. Heat. Desire.