I laughed and Serenity stifled a giggle. “Pfft! Let them say it behind my back.” I waved a hand. “Cause they damn sure wouldn’tsay it to my fa—Hey, speaking of hiding things, why were you sitting in the bushes? There’s nobody round here doesn’t know you. Nobody’s gonna rob you.”
Clasping the pipe like it was a solid platinum bar and slipping it into his coat pocket, he looked nervously over his shoulder before stepping closer. “Worse things can happen than bein’ robbed,” he said in hushed tones. “Ya feel me? Like creepy shit happening to ya.”
Serenity huddled into my side and I resisted the instinct to wrap an arm around her. “What kind of creepy shit?”
He flicked his hand in dismissal, the marbled fingertips glinting under the moonlight. “Ah just creepy shit. People up to no good. Maybe black magic shit, who knows?”
“Where exactly is this creepy shit going on?
Jacob creaked in a semi-circle, pointing up to a clump of derelict houses on the hill above the boulevard’s end. “Old lab building. Same one been there since forever.”
My forehead and cheeks went engine hot, knowing I’d have to admit a few fibs. “Jacob, you know damn well this whole area, for eight, ten blocks around”—I coughed, avoiding Serenity’s gaze—“is perfectly safe. Only thing that happens around here anymore is petty teenage shit and few drunk homeless people pissing on their fire drums.”
Serenity cleared her own throat, looking at me with an arched eyebrow. “That so, hmm,detective?” Her grasp on me slackened as she straightened and quit using me as a shield against nonexistent shady characters.
I shrugged, disgruntled by a twinge of sheepish guilt sloshing around my gut. “I was trying to make it exciting for you. How’s it going to be exciting if I say the place is basically crime-free and deserted?”
The situation wasn’t helped by Jacob’s wheezy old man laughter.
She nodded and stroked my cheek with a soft palm. “Fair point.Just no more facades, okay? I can only willingly suspend my disbelief so much.”
I took her free hand and turned her fully toward me. “No more facades,” I said, my gaze delving deep into her eyes. “I hear you loud and clear.”
Smiling, she chirped, “Fine. Now, Jacob. Do you have somewhere safe to sleep tonight?”
Oh, shit. That was something I could do for the earthy widower. I pulled my wallet out, plucked a twenty-bill, and held it raised slightly out of his reach. “What does this go toward?”
Jacob pursed his lips unhappily then grumbled, “Something to eat, bed at the hostel.”
“You sure on that?”
He nodded, sighing. “I’m sure.”
I handed him the money. “That’s good, cause if I hear you spent it on ore, I’m hauling your ass in next time. Deal?”
“Deal, detective. Fair deal. And you’ve got a lovely lady friend.” He straightened up his hat, tying the flaps at the bottom and tipping his head at us. “Thanks for the help. Be nice to sleep in a bed tonight.” Looking back up the hill, he gulped. “Don’t know what’s going on at that old lab but if I was you, I’d either stay away or call for back up.”
Jacob lumbered off down the boulevard, in the direction of my bike, and I pondered what he’d said about ‘black magic shit.’ Jacob was a scatter-brained and addicted earthy, but he was no fool.
Scrutinizing the old drug lab, which was actually an abandoned seven-bedroom house with a sizeable wine cellar, I couldn’t see anything but boarded up windows and graff—oh, hold on. My jaguar’s vision had caught something a lesser eye might have missed. Just the merest sliver peeking from between brickwork and grimy plyboard on the first floor, but it was there: light.
I turned to Serenity, feeling pretty foolish. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I just wanted to spend a special time with you and”—humility was hard for me—“impress you.”
She shook her head softly. “Detective Bad Boy,” she said around a chuckle. “What am I going to do with you?”
I stood tall, a boyish grin broad on my face. “Well, one or two things spring to—”
“HELP!” A glass-shattering scream rang out from the old lab on the hill.
I drew my Colt 45, checked the clip was full, slammed it back in and chambered a round of hollow point silver. Fuck. I had really fucked this all up. I’d brought a civilian—and my mate—to a potentially violent altercation.
I got on my cell phone and called it in. The cavalry was on its way. Just had to—
“Ahhhhhh!”
“Fuck!” I screamed into the now slightly chilly night sky. “There’s no time, Serenity. Stay right behind me, okay?”
Alarm spread across her face. “Okay, I just hope you weren’t bullshitting about being the baddest cop in the city too.”
