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Chapter Forty-Three

‘I need the car keys,’ I told Fraser as I marched back into the living room.

‘What? Why?’ Concern shadowed his face.

‘I have to go – Yanni needs help. She’s worked out who killed Warren Storcrest, and the same person has killed his stepmother and his sister’s fiancé. We have to stop him.’

‘Who does she think did it?’ he asked.

I sighed. I didn’t need an interrogation, what I needed were the bloody keys. ‘Warren’s son, Gilbert.’

‘He’s a water shifter?’

‘Yes.’

Finally, Fraser pulled the keys out of his pocket, though he didn’t hand them over. ‘I’m coming with you,’ he said.

‘What? No, I don’t need you.’

‘You absolutely do. First of all, you’re not in any state to drive. You’ve been through an absolute trauma with your best friend and there’s no way you should be behind the wheel of a car— ’

I opened my mouth to object but he continued before I could get a word in. ‘Secondly, he’s a water shifter and I’m second-in-command of the water shifters. If he bolts, there’s a good chance he’ll head for the sea. You need someone who can swim. You need me.’

I bit down on the inside of my cheeks. He was right. Yanni might be a massively powerful bear shifter but her swimming skills were average at best. And while I could splash about fine in a pool, my guardianship training had been very much focused on dry land.

‘Fine, but you stay back! This is police business,’ I said, as if I were an actual member of the police rather than someone hired to answer phones.

As I prepared to leave, fear struck me again. Did I really want to leave the most important person in my life in the hands of someone who had attacked me twice? Like he sensed my apprehension, Jacobson raised his eyes to mine.

‘Nothing will happen to her while she is with me,’ he promised, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. ‘She’s as safe with me as if she were with her family.’

‘That doesn’t mean much in my bloodline,’ I muttered.

He gave a dry chuckle that faded into a sad nod. ‘I’m sorry. You’re right. But you have my word – the witch’s bind – that I won’t let anything happen to her. And you can leave that one to keep an eye on me, if you want.’ He nodded at Eva. ‘I’m pretty sure she’d take my leg off if I hurt your friend.’

That was one thing we agreed on. ‘If anything happens to Maddie I will hunt you down,’ I swore darkly.

Jacobson smiled. ‘I would expect nothing less.’

I knew I didn’t have a choice. Gilbert had killed a member of his own family and he wouldn’t think twice about putting a bullet through Yanni. There was no way I could let her face him on his own. ‘We’ll come straight back as soon as we can.’

Jacobson didn’t bother replying; he was already working on Maddie again.

As Fraser and I raced to the car, my phone buzzed again. ‘Yanni?’ I answered.

‘We’ve got a sighting of him,’ she said without needing to clarify who. ‘He was around the back of his father’s house. He kicked a charter customer off one of the yachts.’

‘He’s taking a yacht?’ I said, looking at Fraser as I spoke. He nodded and turned the car to the waterfront. It seemed that having a water shifter might come in handy after all. ‘Okay, I’m on my way. Wait until I get there,’ I said before I ended the call.

‘If anything looks dangerous, let me handle it,’ Fraser said as we drove toward the waterfront behind Warren’s house. ‘I know you don’t want to hear it, but I have my skin to protect me.’ He pinched at his leather jacket. ‘You don’t.’

‘You don’t know what powers I have,’ I replied indignantly.

‘You’re right, I don’t. But you said not much power, and I know you’re a witch who chose to break down a door by kicking it rather than bursting it or burning it down. This is my territory. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you, not after all that’s happened with Maddie.’

Guilt radiated from him, thick and sharp. My emotions had been too high all evening to sense anyone else’s, but now I could feel his as strongly as if they were my own. ‘What happened to Maddie has nothing to do with you,’ I said, confused.

‘If I hadn’t been trying to get to the Eternal Flame, it wouldn’t have put her under such stress. None of this would have happened.’

Instinctively, I placed my hand on his. ‘Fraser, the Flame would have gone out anyway. And Maddie would have carried on doing her spells regardless.’

My mind flicked back to my first day back in Witchlight Cove. Was it really less than a week ago? It felt like a lifetime had passed. But I remembered the giant ward Maddie had placed on the house to keep Fraser out while she tracked me down.

In some ways he was right: his actions had put pressure on Maddie to increase her magic at a time when she was at her weakest. But it was no more than the pressure I’d put on her by leaving her to manage the house alone while I sought my own space.

There was no point in us both harbouring guilt. I’d shoulder it; at this point in my life, it was virtually my other half.

‘Look, I know how to fight,’ I said. ‘If we’re on dry land, I promise you don’t have to worry about me. But if Gilbert heads to the water, he’s all yours. How about that for a deal?’

A smile crossed Fraser’s face. ‘Another deal? Done.’

We pulled up outside Warren’s house and raced around the back to where the jetty protruded into the sea. Several boats were still boarded up, but one – a giant yacht – was rocking from side to side in the water. ‘Why’s he sailing away when he can swim?’ Fraser asked.

‘The same reason Gilbert has done everything so far,’ I replied without hesitation. ‘Money. I’d bet that yacht has a load stashed on it.’ Not to mention that the vessel itself was worth a small fortune .

As we climbed out of the car, I saw Jennifer at the water’s edge, tears streaking her face. ‘He did it!’ she cried. ‘He was already on the boat saying he needed to think stuff through. He said he didn’t kill Dad, but then the police car turned up and he started firing a gun. He told Yanni it had silver bullets in it. He killed Toby, didn’t he? He killed Toby and Dad?’

I suspected she already knew the answer. She was all but hysterical but we had no time to stay and comfort her. ‘Where’s Yanni?’ I asked urgently.

Wordlessly, Jennifer pointed to the back of the boat where Yanni was hoisting her giant body up a ladder. So much for waiting for me before doing anything.

‘You get to the water!’ I yelled to Fraser. ‘You need to be there in case he jumps.’

‘A boat is not dry land!’ he yelled after me, but I didn’t stop.

I needed to get to Yanni.