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“No need,” Blue says instantly. “We’ll put it back.”
Will we? Blue avoids my gaze as he takes the frame from Jim and says, “We knocked it off. We’ll put it back.”
The old man seems almost relieved. “Well, if you don’t mind.”
“Course not. Thank you,” Blue says. “It was good to talk to you.”
“You too.” Jim smiles. “Have a good honeymoon.” He nods at both of us and disappears into the depths of the museum.
I lean against the counter and look at Blue as he sets the picture back down. His brow is furrowed as he looks at it, and his mind is busy working. “What do you think?” I ask.
“Eh?”
“About those rumours of controlling the dead.”
His gaze is distant. “People never trust what they can’t understand. Could the rumours be connected with his career as an exorcist?”
“I would’ve thought exorcists would be liked and respected.”
Blue shrugs. “Liked? Not sure about that. Maybe respected, but that’s a different thing.”
“Is it?”
He shoots me his sharp-edged smile. “Course. One is welcome to go for a pint with you. The other is only let into your house because he’s removing something you fear. I’d say exorcists are treated with the same amount of respect as psychics.”
His tone’s bitter edge makes my heart hurt. I put my finger in the waistband of his jeans and tug him towards me. “Well, not in the Black-Billings house. We love psychics there.”
I steal a kiss and he smiles at me, his eyes warm with affection. “Billings-Black.”
I step back. “We’ll get there. So, what do we do now?”
He grimaces. “Now we have to tell Branok that one of the three men he trusted most in his life was apparently involved in some way with the wreckers, and is also responsible for your possession.”
“I think he was a bad man in life.” My words come out in a whisper. “And I’m pretty sure he’s the same in death. He scares me, Blue. I felt his power.”
He cups my face in his hands, his eyes warm with the usual heat and love. “Don’t sweat it.”
“Well, now I feel so much better. Thank you.”
He shrugs. “You can tell Branok about Boynton.”
“Oh, thank you very much.” I let him distract me from my fear using his highly tuned weapon of flippancy.
“Just don’t waffle. He’s been on this earth far too long not to spot flannel when he sees it.”
He picks up the frame, avoiding the vicar’s fixed stare. “You’re not putting this back on the wall, are you?” I say.
“Nope. We need it to show to Branok. Just to make sure that it’s actually Richard Boynton. People can sometimes get things muddled up and put the wrong face to the wrong name.”
“When people ask what I did on my honeymoon, it’s lovely that I’ll be able to tell them that we spent the time stealing valuable artefacts from museums.”
“Don’t say I don’t make every experience memorable, Levi.”
CHAPTER 13
BLUE
A Few Hours Later
