Page 36 of Dead Serious Case 5 Madame Vivienne

He leans over and scoops it off the counter, laying it on the table so I can see while he picks up his own cutlery.

“Oh god, this is so good,” I mumble around a mouthful. I close my eyes and chew happily.

I hear Danny chuckle and open my eyes. “I was trying to work out three various avenues of investigation. Obviously, one is finding Sage Wilson, but Mr Hadley’s firm seems to have that under control for the moment. The second is finding out who killed Madame Viv; as much as I trust Maddie, she doesn’t have a clue that this involves real witchcraft. Sam and I can handle an off-the-books investigation.”

“Going rogue?” I grin as I scoop up another forkful. “I never thought I’d see the day when you threw the Scotland Yard rulebook out of the window.”

“It’s more like adjusting course slightly.” Danny sighs. “I’ve always played by the book, only to find out there’s so much more going on in the world than the book covers. Ghosts, witchcraft, and the supernatural are so far beyond Scotland Yard’s scope.” He shakes his head. “Sam and I work together well, we’ve already proved that, and we’re much better equipped to figure it out. The first thing we need to do is find out what those symbols on her body mean and who has the skill level to perform that kind of magic.”

He pauses suddenly and blinks, setting his knife and fork down with a small clink against his plate. “I can’t believe I just uttered that sentence and was completely serious.”

I give a small, sympathetic laugh. “Yeah, who the hell knew witchcraft and ghosts and monsters were real?”

He shakes his head and laughs, then resumes eating.

“So you and Sam are going to pursue the murder case. You said three avenues?”

“I think we need to know more about that property. I don’t know why, but I just have this feeling in my gut that everything ties back to the bookshop.”

I sigh. “I know. I have the same feeling.”

“I figured you and Harrison could start delving into the history of the place and the Crawshanks family themselves. After all, you have Cornelius’ book, his journals, his letters, and now the master copy of his guide. Maybe there’s something else about his family and his sisters in there. I mean, Viv was descended from Constance. Maybe you could try and talk to that ghost at the shop too. What’s her name again?”

“Evangeline?”

He nods. “She was Constance’s daughter, right?”

“Yeah, she was.” I scoop up another mouthful and chew thoughtfully. “Harrison and I did start digging into it when we were investigating Bruce’s cold case after Death told us to look at the bloodlines. Maybe he knows more than he’s letting on. We should see if Chan can get anything out of him.”

“I think the only thing Chan’s intending to get out of him tonight is orgasms,” Danny says wryly, “but we should mention it to him.”

My phone suddenly vibrates against the table and the screen lights up.

“It’s Sonia.” I set my fork down and open the screen to read the full message. “She’s inviting us to Sunday dinner tomorrow. She says Byrnes is driving Maddie crazy and she probably needs you to vent to.”

“Looks like we going to dinner tomorrow, then,” Danny says as he clears his plate and sits back, sipping his glass of water.

“You know,” I point out, “motive is also a factor. Mr Hadley said that everything has to go to a living descendant, which means this Sage stands to inherit a lot of money as well as prime property in Whitechapel. What if…”

“What if he’s the one who killed Viv?”

I nod.

“Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind,” Danny says. “Sam is already looking into Viv’s son. He has resources and skills I don’t fully understand, but he has an uncanny knack for finding out things that no one else can.”

“I hope he didn’t kill her,” I say quietly. “I hope he’s just some sweet, boring, normal guy who works in an office and has a partner and maybe a goldfish. Or a poodle.”

Danny grins. “That’s oddly specific.”

I shrug. “It’s just Viv wanted him to be safe, to have a normal life. I don’t want him to be a killer who uses dark magic.”

“Only time will tell, love.” Danny reaches out and lands his hand on mine, stroking my fingers comfortingly with his.

I blow out a breath. “I don’t want to talk about death and murder anymore. Something tells me we’ll have enough of that to deal with sooner or later.”

“What did you have in mind?” His lips quirk.

I stand, then slowly move over to Danny and swing my leg over him as he pushes back from the table so I end up sitting in his lap. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss his amused lips as he slips his hands down the back of my sweatpants and cups my arse cheeks in his warm palms.