Page 19

Chapter Nineteen

I was still a good twenty feet away when I realised who it was. My stomach gave an annoying somersault. Ugh.

‘You,’ I said, as Fraser Banks joined me next to the fountain.

‘It would appear so,’ he replied.

I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Banks looked even more attractive. His collar was still undone, but now there was no jacket and his shirt sleeves were rolled up above his elbows as though they couldn’t go any further because of his biceps stretching the fabric. Honestly, did he buy his shirts from the children’s section to show off those muscular arms?

A flutter of attraction rippled through me, and for a split second I could have sworn I felt the same attraction rolling from him into me. But that couldn’t be right: there was no way I was reading Fraser Bank’s emotions. My lousy empath skills were the only powers I’d inherited from my parents, and even they were pathetic. What was the point of being able to feel that someone’s upset when you could already see the tears in their eyes?

‘What’s going on?’ he asked. ‘I saw the police car outside. Is this to do with yesterday?’

‘I’m not at liberty to divulge details,’ I said. I’d already mastered sounding official from my PI days.

‘Is everything alright?’ he asked. ‘Is Warren okay?’

‘What are you doing here?’ I demanded instead of replying. ‘Are you and Warren friends?’

‘I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’re friends, but we’re part of the same sect.’ Banks’ tone was casual, relaxed, but the investigator part of me felt there was something I could dig into more deeply. If he and Warren had issues, that would push Banks up the suspect list and reduce the pressure on Mrs D. It could also help me get him away from my house and the missing Eternal Flame – two birds with one stone.

I hoped like hell that he was our killer. Killers always returned to the scene of the crime, didn’t they? Not that I had much experience with murder, I was more of an affairs-of-the-heart PI than a murder one.

‘What does that mean?’ I probed. ‘You’re here at his house, but you’re not his friend?’

He quirked an eyebrow. ‘Is this an interrogation?’

‘No, it’s a question. Answer it. Please.’

His eyes narrowed. Much as I didn’t want to, I felt my pulse tick up under the scrutiny of that icy blue gaze. ‘I brought the minutes for him,’ he said finally.

‘Minutes?’

‘Yes. I’m the second in command for the water shifters, under Lorenz. Warren’s a polar bear. He didn’t turn up at the morning meeting, which a couple of us thought was strange, so I volunteered to bring the minutes to him and check he was okay. He’s normally quite fastidious about going through them.’ He lifted up the folder in his hands to prove his point.

‘Couldn’t you have emailed them?’

‘I could, but it was pretty odd for him to miss a meeting. And after yesterday, tensions are pretty high so I thought I’d swing by. Anyway, Warren likes to have the minutes printed out – he’s a stickler for seeing things dated and signed in case someone tries to change them.’

‘Have they been altered before?’

He shook his head. ‘Not that I know of, but he’s donated large sums of money to various good causes so it makes sense that he’d want to keep the paperwork organised and filed away. He enjoys his paperwork.’

Uh-huh: nothing said excitement like an evening spent filing minutes of a meeting. Maybe Yanni should have hired Warren to sort out the mess at the office .

‘I’ll take them.’ I held out my hand and after a beat he released the folder.

‘For Yanni’s eyes only,’ he said pointedly.

I nodded. She’d let me know if there was anything relevant in them.

Banks looked over my shoulder. ‘So is Warren okay? Can I speak to him?’

I took a long breath. Sooner or later it would get out that Warren was dead. Lorenz would be one of our first ports of call, but we needed to notify the family first. ‘Wait here,’ I said brusquely, before heading back to the boat to find Yanni.

‘Fraser Banks is here looking for Warren,’ I told her, handing over the folder. ‘What do I say to him? He keeps asking if he’s okay. Apparently he missed a water-shifter meeting today and they’re all concerned. Banks is their second in command.’

There was a good chance that Yanni already knew Fraser’s position in the group, but it seemed relevant. Hierarchies are important in magical communities and it means something when someone rises to that height so quickly. Especially when they’re not even from Witchlight Cove. Whether it meant something good or bad in this case, I couldn’t say .

Yanni sighed and scratched her head. ‘Well, it’s gonna get out soon enough. I don’t know much about Banks but I’ve never heard anything bad about him. Take his number, tell him what’s happened, but make it clear that he’s not allowed to inform the other shifters until we’ve spoken to the family. Is that okay?’

I nodded, taking a moment to digest what she’d said. Maddie seemed to think Fraser was the devil but Yanni clearly didn’t, and she wasn’t someone who could easily have the wool pulled over her eyes. He’d obviously gone to some effort to cover his tracks, whatever he was doing; either that or Maddie had got it wrong – but as he’d shown up at the house yesterday, I was inclined to agree with her assessment.

‘Sorry to keep you waiting,’ I said as I returned to Banks. ‘What I’m about to tell you can’t be disclosed to anybody, not until we give you permission. Is that understood?’

His expression clouded. ‘This is serious, isn’t it?’ he said tightly.

‘Did you hear what I said?’ I repeated. ‘You can’t tell anybody – not even Lorenz – until the family has been informed.’

His jaw dropped. ‘Oh God. Is Warren dead?’

It riled me that he was smart enough to deduce that, but it was probably my own fault for mentioning Storcrest’s family. ‘Yes. We haven’t told the family yet, so you need to keep this contained until we’ve done so,’ I reiterated.

‘They’re going to be heartbroken. His daughter, Jennifer… They’re so close. And he’s got two boys too – I think one of them is still in school.’

I was struck by a wave of sympathy and sadness that I knew wasn’t my own. Just like the attraction I’d felt earlier, it was very real and it was coming from him. I was feeling what Fraser Banks was feeling, and I had no idea how I could feel it so clearly when my shields were up so high.

I stepped back, confused. I normally only feel emotions when they are incredibly strong, like Mrs D’s guilt about accidentally poisoning Warren, or when they’re coming from someone I’m close to such as Maddie or Yanni. Despite that, I could get a good read on the nuances of his emotions and it made me uncomfortable.

I tightened my mental shields still further. ‘Can I take your number, please?’ I asked, focusing on the job Yanni had asked me to do. ‘The police station will contact you when it’s okay to release the news.’

He took my phone and typed in his number. ‘If there’s anything we can do – the water shifters or me personally – you’ll let us know, won’t you?’

‘For now, just keep it to yourself.’

Fraser Banks turned to leave, but then he stopped and I was hit by another wave of emotion. Hope, perhaps? ‘It would be nice to see you under more pleasant circumstances at some point, Beatrix,’ he said with a smile.

I gave him a flat look. ‘This is a crime scene.’ This was not the place to flirt with me. Besides, my romantic life was already full. Of stress, caffeine and poor decisions.

But why did the thought of him flirting with me make the butterflies in my stomach wake up and take flight? He was the enemy, damn it.

And I wouldn’t forget that again.