‘You can hardly talk! You invented laconic.’
‘Only in public,’ he protested. ‘Behind closed doors I’m pretty talkative.’
‘Yeah, you’re a regular Chatty Cathy,’ I teased.
‘I save all my charm for you, Sunshine.’ He winked and, despite my best efforts, I felt my cheeks colour. Damn, but the man was sexy.
My thoughts skittered to the passionate kiss we’d exchanged. It had all been in the name of the job, of course; I was playing hooker to his customer in order to fly under the Connection’s radar but, wow, what a kiss it had been. I’d had a fair few steamy dreams since then where Greg had taken the starring role.
He wants to mate,Esme said confidently.
My blush deepened.Yes, thank you Esme. So you keep saying. It’s not that simple. He’s my second.
Who better to mate with?She was honestly confused.
I didn’t have an answer to that.
Chapter 7
Ididn’treallyknowwhat to do about the dead gargoyle that had been dumped on my lawn. There hadn’t been a note or a threat, nothing to identify whom the culprit had been nor why the body had been left in this particular garden.
Greg said he’d call some people for information; by that I assumed he was going to ring Emory to see if the Prime Elite had any relevant knowledge. I wasn’t sure why I thought Emory would have any particular knowledge that would help us with the gargoyles; maybe after living through two centuries, he’d picked up the odd bit of gargoyle lore. If something else was going on, I wasn’t privy to it.
I’d ummed and ahhed before I decided to give Steve Marley a call. He is a detective both in the Connection and the Common police. We’d gone to school together and, although I wouldn’t say we were friendsper se, we were definitely friendly. And ultimately, I trusted him.
He answered on the second ring. ‘Marley.’
‘Steve, it’s Lucy Barrett.’
‘Hi, Lucy. Have you got another dead body?’ he joked.
I waited a beat. ‘Funny you should say that…’ I trailed off.
He sighed. ‘Really? Another one?’
‘I’m reporting it unofficially – it’s being handled internally.’
‘By you?’
‘No, actually. By Bob.’
‘And who is Bob?’
‘I think he’s the head gargoyle in this area.’
Steve snickered. ‘He’s got you calling him Bob?’
‘He’s being difficult about giving me his real name.’
‘And why would … Bob … be involved in a werewolf’s death?’
‘He wouldn’t be. A dead gargoyle was dumped on my lawn, and we didn’t see who dumped it. The body was a real mess.’
‘Have you identified the deceased?’
‘Bob said his name was Yorick.’
‘Of course he did. So that’s a no.’