Page 69 of Secrets of the Forgotten Heir
‘We’ll talk about it later.’ His tone silenced her. How peculiar: it wasn’t like Yanni to be silenced so easily. Was she hurt, too? Please don’t let her be hurt!
My concern for Yanni forced my eyes open. Blinking against the light, I tried to focus. ‘Did you get him?’ My words were barely audible.
‘We got him. Don’t worry about that.’ Fraser’s voice was soft and his touch was like the cosy blanket that had caught me when I fell. But surely that had been my imagination?
‘He’s in the car with magic cuffs on him so he can’t change or move,’ Yanni confirmed. She sounded fine.That’s good, I thought to myself.That’s good.
I closed my eyes again and let the warmth surround me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this way – safe, whole, like something that had been missing from my life for years was finally back where it belonged.
The thought of Gilbert and the fight flickered through my mind. We had got him. That was done. But Maddie… I needed to see Maddie. I needed to tell her we’d done it.
I jolted awake. How could I have forgotten? I needed to get back to her. I sat upright, only for the blood to rush from my head. The entire world swayed as I glanced down at my bloodstained side. Blood? What the hell? God – I’d been shot.
Now I remembered. Gilbert had a second gun – and he’d shot me! The little prick.
Expecting pain, I pressed my hand against my side but I felt nothing more than dampness. When I drew my hand away, I saw the hole in my T-shirt the size of a bullet wound. ‘What? I— I...’
Shrugging off the leather jacket from my shoulders, the one I recognised as Fraser’s, I lifted my top. There was no sign of any injury. Confusion overwhelmed me. Had I caught my top on the railing on the way down and torn it? But the blood…?
I shook the thought away. It didn’t matter. Maddie was what mattered. ‘We need to get back to Old Jacobson’s.’ Itwisted my neck so that my eyes locked with Fraser’s. ‘We need to make sure Maddie’s okay.’
‘Maddie?’ Yanni said tightly. ‘Why wouldn’t Maddie be okay? Beatrix? What’s wrong with Maddie?’
Oops. The chill I’d expected from the water finally hit me, though it had more to do with Yanni’s sharp voice than the actual temperature.
‘Beatrix, tell me! What’s going on?’ she pressed. ‘Why do you need to get to Maddie?’
I kept my eyes on Fraser; for some reason I trusted his judgement now more than ever. His chin moved the smallest fraction, but I knew what he meant: I had to tell Yanni what had happened.
I was trembling as I turned to her. ‘I swear I didn’t know how bad it was.’
Her face blanched and her lips curled in a way that reminded me more of her bear form than the human police inspector I was used to seeing.
‘Take me to my granddaughter. Now,’ she snarled.
Chapter Forty-Six
Dove arrived to take Gilbert to the police station. A triple murder was beyond Yanni’s usual scope and the main magic council would need to be brought in to handle it.
As we walked towards Maddie’s car with Yanni leading the way, I tried to hand Fraser’s jacket back to him. ‘It’s fine. You keep it,’ he said softly.
I’m not one to keep things that don’t belong to me, but I wasn’t going to say no. The moment I’d taken it off earlier, I’d felt an unusual chill. Now I was wearing it again, the jacket seemed to fit me perfectly – which was bizarre given that Fraser was twice as broad as I was. It had to be something to do with the water: the leather must have tightened or reshaped itself.
‘So, let me get this straight,’ Yanni said as we drove toward Old Jacobson’s house. I could tell she was trying to piece it all together so I stayed quiet and let her work through it. ‘As far as you know, the Eternal Flamedisappeared about two weeks ago. It wasn’t stolen, no alarms went off, it just disappeared? Was it extinguished?’
‘I don’t know,’ I replied. ‘Maddie just said it was gone. But it’s not possible to extinguish it. We should know, we tried often enough as kids.’
Yanni ignored that piece of idiocy. ‘Okay.’ Her voice was still sharp. ‘But rather than coming to me, or consulting a coven, Maddie waited a week. In that time, she somehow mastered black magic so she could keep on making her tattoos. Then, when the Flame still hadn’t come back, she brought you back to Witchlight Cove – and on top of that, she convinced me to hire you at the police station. Was that so you could keep an eye on me? Make sure I didn’t find out what was going on?’
‘No,’ I said quickly, stung by the accusation. The idea that Yanni thought I’d manipulate her like that hit hard. ‘I’ve hated you not knowing. Honestly, I wanted to tell you but it was so difficult. We didn’t want to put you in an awkward position. And, for what it’s worth, I’ve loved spending time with you. Apart from the early starts and answering the phones.’
Yanni snorted. ‘It’s not like you’ve actually done much of that, is it?’
‘Well, no,’ I conceded.
‘I think it’s best if you go backto doing what you’re best at. Being a PI.’
I blinked. ‘Are you firing me?’
