Page 47

“We?” Alessandra took a sip of her wine.

“My partner in crime”—he nodded to Toni—“came with me.”

“Where were you?” Kenton asked Lawrence, who, to his credit, scowled at the Englishman.

“I was sitting behind the bar playing solitaire,” he answered. “Way too busy to go off chasing an old woman who very likely knows we exist.”

So maybe they weren’t fast friends after all. His brother didn’t usually stoop to sarcasm—that was his purview.

Torr smiled at Kenton, suddenly quite happy.

“Why don’t you just get it out of your system, Derrickson?” Kenton said to him, his voice like an icy blast of winter.

“There’s nothing to get out in the open, Morley. You know I don’t like you. Nothing has changed.”

“Yes,” Alessandra said. “It has. Everything has changed.”

Torr didn’t answer.

“We have Cheld uncloaking themselves, beheading vampires out in the open. An old woman who may know of your existence, and the two of you insist on fighting like teenagers? You’re centuries old. Act like it.”

“Teenagers?” Alessandra would not have liked him as a teen. He scowled at Kenton. “How old were we that time when you came to Bowden Castle with your father and took advantage of my unfortunate . . . position . . . in the stable with that—”

“Torr, please?”

Toni really must be taking lessons from his sister.

“Fine,” he said, inclining his head toward her. He told the full story, with Toni adding in an occasional detail. Spoken out loud, it sounded worse.

Alessandra turned to Kenton.“I’ve got to get near her. We have to know if she’s a threat.”

Torr knew Alessandra had the ability to sense danger, one of her unique Cheld abilities.

“But even if you do, what will that tell us?” Lawrence asked. “She could be a danger to us and not you.”

“We need that journal,” Alessandra said.

He refrained from thanking Captain Obvious, trying his best to keep the peace.

“Yes. That’s the key, but Birdie and Uncle Jim looked everywhere.” Toni stood up. “If they got it during the Walsh estate sale, they don’t have it any longer.”

“I could talk to the grandson again?” Torr offered.

“No,” Lawrence sighed. “He’d have told you more if he knew it. I think he’s as in the dark as we are.”

The group went silent.

“I need to get close to her,” Alessandra repeated, sitting up straighter.

Everyone spoke at once. No one thought it was a good idea—Alessandra wasn’t known for her subtlety, and they certainly didn’t want to confirm any of the Walsh woman’s suspicions—but neither did they have an alternative plan.

It was maddening, even more so because it looked like they would need to rely on Morley’s woman to get to the bottom of the situation.

And all Torr could think of was that he wanted to be anywhere but here.

No, he wanted to be with Charlotte.

Unable to take it anymore, he jumped to his feet.