Page 63 of Lethal Salvation

She felt the same. He always seemed to know what she needed before she did and gave it freely. How she’d misjudged him at the start made a lie of his words. “Not sure that’s true but I know you’re stalling right now.”

He sighed and dipped his lips to her neck, a shiver passed over her skin as his warm breath hit her pulse. “Carter asked for my help. He wants to go to the police and he knows I’m working with someone and what your former profession was.”

Duchess carried on dancing but her desire had fled, replaced by one-hundred percent focus. Her eyes scanned behind her watching for any sign of an attack, but she knew her team had eyes on her and Lotus.

“Does Bás know?”

“Yes, I do know so enough with the lovey-dovey shit.”

Duchess smirked at her boss’s response in her ear. “We should probably go.”

“Agreed.”

Gideon stood still as the music faded and a scream that sent chills down her spine rent the air. The room seemed to still, some people realising what the sound was and others so involved in themselves that they didn’t notice. She glanced at Gideon, then across at Lotus and Damon, who’d joined the dance floor shortly after them.

Picking up her skirt she ran towards the sound, Gideon on her heels. A crowd had started to gather outside the library doors and she shoved her way through to see Marsha on her knees, her make-up smeared as she sobbed over the dead body of her son.

Gideon braced his hands on her hips as he drew up to her back with a shocked gasp. Reaching for him, she squeezed his hand but made no move to get closer to the scene. There was no helping Carter. A bullet between the eyes wasn’t something you recovered from and the wide stare of his unseeing eyes confirmed it.

“Fuck!”

“Help him, someone help him.” Marsha cried over and over as she bent over her son, Gideon’s father looking pale as he stared in horror.

“Lotus, get these people back.” Duchess took control even though they really need to get out of there before the authorities arrived and things got very sticky for the team.

Lotus began ushering people out with her own special brand of persuasion, the room emptying of onlookers. Sirens sang in the distance, and she stepped away from the scene in front of her and pulled Damon and Gideon to one side. “We can’t be here, but we can’t leave either. This is a crime scene now and with so many witnesses, we can’t just disappear.”

“What should we do?”

“Damon, go pour your father a drink. He looks like he’s about to pass out. Gideon, go with him and see if he can get Marsha to leave too. She’s contaminating all the evidence and I need to take a look in private before we have officers all over the place.”

“I can do that.”

Gideon looked shaken but he cupped her face. “Be careful.”

She lifted up on tiptoes and gave him a short, brief kiss to reassure him and herself that things weren’t about to go to shit when she knew that was exactly what was happening.

Gideon guided his father by the arm as Damon helped Marsha stand, reminding her that it was a crime scene now and offering to get her a drink.

Lotus joined her as she glanced at the body of the man who’d done so much damage to those she cared about. Was it right he died this way? No. Was it just? She thought perhaps it was. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

“Watch my back, I need to check something.”

Lotus nodded as Duchess slipped inside the library and looked at the scene with a clinical eye. The room was clean, not a cushion out of place, so a struggle hadn’t taken place there. Crouching down, she examined the wound that had ended Carter’s life and noticed it was a nine millimetre. Most likely a Glock 17, like the UK Military used and easy to come by if you knew where to look.

Unlike in the US, handguns weren’t owned by every person over eighteen but that didn’t mean it would be easy to trace this weapon unless there was something already in the system. She wouldn’t be that lucky and the killer was clearly skilled and therefore wouldn’t make that kind of mistake.

To walk into a party such as this one and murder a high-profile target without a single person seeing was evidence enough for her.

“Duchess.”

Standing, she quickly scanned the floor and found no casing and the bullet was still embedded in his skull. A close-range shot if the powder burns were any indication, which meant he knew his killer.

Slipping out with one last sweep of the room, she closed the door.

“What a shit show.”

“Bás says he’s handling it and to stay put.”