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“Aye, you’re the talk of the town, smitten with the mysterious beauty.”
Moons, was he that obvious?
Kade wasn’t surprised. He was practically bursting with feelings for Evelyn, except she didn’t know he knew she was Evelyn. His head pounded with a migraine. He placed a pint glass down and ran his hand through his hair.
“Now don’t look so worried, lad,” Miss Patricia said.
Kade scoffed, wishing it was only worry he felt.
“From what I hear, she’s just as smitten,” Miss Patricia went on.
Kade’s insides twisted, more guilt eating away at him. Evelyn was smitten with a man who was lying to her. He should tell her. It was the right thing to do. If his mother was here, she’d suggest reconsidering what he wanted versus what was right. He wanted whatever between them to continue, but the right thing was honesty first. The nature of that kiss, the way she’d kissed him back, gripped his shirt, made it seem like she was as hungry for him as he was for her. The kiss wouldn’t be the end of it.
Kade had to be honest.
He’d come to Callum to find Evelyn and convince her to leave with him. He’d never expected the murders, the vampyr. And now there were feelings and their kiss.
Miss Patricia placed her flour-coated hands on her hips. “Come on now, what’s the matter? You’re smiling one minute and solemn the next.”
“How do I know what I tell you won’t become the talk of the town?” he said with a brow raised.
Miss Patricia raised her hands in surrender. “Aye, I’ll say nothin’, keep it between us.”
Kade sighed and decided to trust her. “I’m not sure how honest I can be with her about . . . who I really am.”
Miss Patricia’s brows furrowed in thought. Realization softened her features, and she nodded slowly. “I see.” She sighed. “Well, my Da’ always told me that bad news never gets better with age.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Miss Patricia wrung her hands together. “I dunno what you’re keepin’ from her, and I don’t need to know. But what I do know: Saige was going to run and leave town I reckon she has been doin’ that for some time now. And I know these murders started and she stayed to solve ’em, but I think something else, or someone, has also kept her here, too.”
Kade blinked, digesting Miss Patricia’s words. Evelyn had been less on edge lately. She’d opened up to him, revealed she was a witch. She seemed settled in her apartment. Becoming a part of Callum. It wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but maybe he had influenced her decision to stay a while.
Before he could comment, the Runaway Radish’s door burst open. Commissioner Doyle rushed in with two other men. They lingered by the door while Commissioner Doyle approached the bar alone.
“What ya barging in for?” Miss Patricia asked.
“Apologies, Patricia, here to see the huntsman. Cyrus, I’m sorry to bother, but I was hoping you could help me out with something that’s not related to the vampyr business.”
Kade’s shoulders relaxed. He’d assumed the forlorn faces of the men by the door meant another murder.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“There’s been a kidnapping.”
“A kidnapping?” Miss Patricia gasped.
Cyrus rounded the bar. “Who?”
Commissioner Doyle sighed. “A young woman named Tessa. She went to pick apples for this weekend’s festival down by the Gray Wood. She didn’t come back before supper.” The commissioner nodded at the others, and they approached the bar. “This is Tessa’s father, John Byrne, and her husband, Aaron Collins.”
“Why do you think it’s a kidnapping?” Kade asked.
Tessa’s father cleared his throat. “Our farm sits near the Gray Wood, an ancient forest that’s home to the Far Darrig.”
Kade shook his head. “Far Darrig?”
“Aye, a tribe of faeries,” Miss Patricia said.
