Page 97 of Savage Elites

“I-it’s time for me to go,” I murmured. “But I’ll come and see you as soon as I get back.”

Cormac dipped his head. “Thanks for being here when I need you most.”

* * *

Hours later, Leopold parked Sebastian’s jeep outside our house, and I stepped out of the vehicle, still feeling like a bastard for leaving Cormac on his own after getting such earth-shattering news. A thick layer of frost covered the front garden and over the brass letterbox, leaving a few fingerprints where I hoped the postman had pushed it open.

Turning the key in the lock, I pictured the look of betrayal on Prakash’s face when Ashley had announced that I’d been collecting evidence against him.

I opened the front door of our cottage and stepped inside. The scent of stale cigarettes hung in the air, making me wrinkle my nose.

Leopold stepped in after me and shut the door. “Does Ashley smoke?”

“Not cigarettes.” I’d heard a rumor that DJ Bones smoked heroin, but I had no idea how the drug smelled.

“She’s probably been here since getting expelled.”

My stomach churned. “Or whoever broke in through the back returned.”

“Is there anything missing?” he asked.

I walked through each downstairs room. The lounge’s TV and DVD player were untouched, as was the stereo. The dining room didn’t have anything worth stealing as it only contained furniture and books, and no one had touched the kitchen’s small appliances.

My gaze caught the holes made in the doorframe by the policeman who had boarded up the door. Three feet above and below it were the new bolts I’d had a locksmith install. Hopefully, it meant that the intruder hadn’t returned.

Leopold’s arms wrapped around my middle, and one hand snaked up to squeezed Velma. “If you were Ashley, where would you hide incriminating evidence you wanted to sell for a six-figure sum?”

“DJ Bones’s squat.” I moved his hand back to my waist.

“I beg your pardon?” He drew back and tilted his head to the side.

“He’s an ex-con who runs illegal countryside raves.”

Leopold rubbed his chin. “We went to one of them last year and only stayed for an hour.” He shuddered. “The girls were ghastly and not up to my standards. Where’s his squat?”

I raised a shoulder. “Whichever building or house is empty and available. According to Ashley, he doesn’t believe in property.”

“Unless it belongs to someone else, I wager.” Leopold walked around the kitchen and opened cupboards full of canned and dried food. “If this DJ fellow moves about, I doubt Ashley would entrust something so potentially lucrative to him.”

“True.” I stepped into the dining room and examined the bookcases for out-of-place items.

In a louder voice, I said, “Some of her friends have their own homes, but they’re more likely to ask too many questions. This is the kind of thing she’d keep to herself.”

“Hopefully, she’s hidden her stash of blackmail material in the maids’ quarters,” Leopold said from the kitchen.

“I’m sure Sebastian and Prakash will text if they find anything.”

After we had searched the downstairs for signs of Corrine’s diary and my laptop, we walked up the stairs. Ashley’s bed was still disheveled from when the intruder had lifted it, and my room appeared untouched. Mom and Dad’s room remained exactly how I had left it.

“Everything’s fine,” I muttered.

After we went through Ashley’s room, pulled Mom and Dad’s luggage out from under their beds and inspected their contents, and searched the rest of their things, grief weighed my heart with the reminder of what I had lost, and we took a break to recoup.

Leopold made a pot of mint tea from the tea bags in the cupboard and found a pack of butter biscuits he and Sebastian had brought when I’d gotten expelled. We stat around the dining table and munched on our late breakfast.

The morning light streamed in through the window, making the ends of his blond hair shine like buttercups in the sun. My gaze roved over his sparkling, aquamarine eyes, high cheekbones, and full lips. What would Mom and Dad think of me dating a boy like Leopold? Would they be pleased or worried?

Leopold reached across the table and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Where’s the least obvious place Ashley would put valuable blackmail material?”