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‘Money, mostly,’ Elena said bluntly. ‘He’s second to the Yorkshire West Riding pack, and although they are land rich they don’t have much money in their coffers. Despite that, he’s always driving around in the latest car dressed in sharp suits – and he has a Cartier watch.’
‘Maybe he has family money?’ I suggested.
‘No, I looked into that. His parents are both still alive, so no inheritance, and his mum’s a teacher and his dad is a plumber.’
‘The trades make good money,’ I argued.
‘Not Cartier good.’
She had a point. Dammit, I really liked Walker. Despite that, I mentally moved him to the suspect column. ‘Who else?’
‘Well, Lord Samuel suspected Ramsay.’ Elena shrugged. ‘I guess he was right on that score.’
‘It seems likely,’ I agreed. I’d told her about Larsden being on the USB drive and asked her to dig into him. Less than a day later, he was dead. ‘And Larsden?’
She nodded. ‘Lord Samuel suspected him, but honestly I wasn’t sure if his suspicions were based on anything other than dislike. Larsden was second to Jimmy Rain, and that made him guilty by association in Lord Samuel’s eyes. I took his suspicions with a pinch of salt right until the time when you told me he was involved. Anyway, Lord Samuel had no evidence against him, not about the black tourneys. Apart from Larsden, the only other one on his radar was Aitken for the same reason as Walker – too much wealth. Aitken is second to the Staffordshire pack.’
‘Which neighbours Cheshire,’ I noted. And Cheshire was Rain’s pack.
‘Yeah.’
‘Did you manage to speak to Larsden before he was killed?’ I kept my tone bland.
She wrinkled her nose. ‘He hit on me, started talking about us having a good time together. Ethan rescued me when I sent him a panicked look. He came over and draped an arm across my shoulders and we walked away together.’
I frowned. Elena was strong and forthright. ‘Why didn’t you just tell him no?’
She licked her lips and shook her head. ‘You didn’t grow up in a toxic pack.’ She looked down at her hands. ‘You don’t tell men like him no; it’s not an answer they listen to. I might not have thought he was into the black tourneys, but he had another reputation that was just as dark.’
Rage flared in me, hot and raw; it was compounded by Esme’s rage and together we were an inferno. It took me a minute to wrestle down our emotions. I suddenly wished I’d let Ares eat the fucker’s body.
Meanwhile Elena was frowning. ‘If I’d known that was my last chance to speak to Larsden, I’d have rolled the dice and gone with him, risk be damned. Now I’ve missed the opportunity to question him about his co-conspirators.’
‘I’m sure it was for the best that you didn’t go with him,’ I said firmly.
She grimaced. ‘Yeah, I expect you’re right. It’s just frustrating, I was hoping to bring him down myself.’
‘I get that. Thanks for your time, Elena,’ I said evenly. ‘You can go.’
‘You want me to look into Aitken or Walker some more?’ she asked eagerly.
‘No, that’s okay. Leave it with me,’ I ordered firmly. She nodded, but I wasn’t sure that she’d drop it.
She does not look like she has done wrong, Esme observed as Elena slipped from the room.
No, but maybe she doesn’t see it as wrong. Larsden was part of the group that caused her brother’s death. Maybe she sees it as justice.
Perhaps, but neither does she look triumphant.
No, she didn’t. If anything, Elena had struck me as annoyed that she’d lost her chance to expose Larsden and his lies. That was part of the reason I was concerned she’d continue to dig into Aitken and Walker.
But my real concern was that if bodies kept dropping, I didn’t want hers to be next.
Chapter 8
My phone was ringing and I looked in surprise at the name of the caller: it was Reynard.
I’d met Reynard when he was a gargoyle called Bob and we were huddling together under a children’s climbing frame, hiding from some lurking vampyrs. We’d grown quite friendly as we’d worked together to locate young Bobby when he was kidnapped from school. Then, of course, there was the small matter of my grandfather Alessandro and me strolling back in time when I’d met Reynard in the Victorian era.
