Black As Night (Quentin Black Mystery #2) (14 page)

He hesitated, glancing at the driver before he lowered his voice.

“...Your worth,” he said softer. “Which means Anders likely does too. I’m sorry I brought you. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. But you’re leaving, doc. Today.”

But I was still trying to make sense of his words.

“You think they’ll try to use me to get at you?” I frowned, still thinking. “For what? To stop looking into the murders?”

“Among other things.”

I frowned, watching him avoid my eyes. I could tell there was a lot he didn’t want to tell me here, where we had an audience, but I also knew if he was serious about me getting on a plane, I didn’t have a lot of time. “I thought that’s what the boy was for. You think you unintentionally gave them more leverage by showing up there with me?”

“Among other things...yes.” He looked up at me in exasperation. “Just trust me on this, doc. Go home.”

When I bit my lip, he made that clicking noise again.

“It’s not a comment on you...or your ability to take care of yourself. This is my fault. I made a mistake.”

“Which was what, exactly?” I snorted. “Introducing me to your psychopathic pals?”

“Letting them see I give a damn about you,” he growled.

I started, then blinked at him in surprise. He averted his gaze.

“It’s my fault,” he said, lowering his voice. “I take full responsibility...and I
will
make it up to you. If you want a trip to the beach, I’ll take you to Hawaii...all expenses paid.” He smiled up at me, but I still saw that other look in his gold-flecked eyes. “I can’t have you here now, doc. Not now. It’s bad for both of us.”

Frustrated by his vagueness, I glanced towards the driver again. Then, making up my mind, I leaned right up against Black, talking directly in his ear. I felt some kind of reaction off him as soon as I hung over him, but I shoved it aside, speaking lower than a whisper.

“Does this Mr. Lucky want to recruit you because you’re a seer?” I said.

When he didn’t answer, I exhaled in frustration.

I started to move away but he caught hold of my arm. Before I could raise my head, he kissed me. The kiss was warm at first...closer to affection than anything overtly sexual. I felt a lot behind it somehow, a mixture of emotions that confused me more than what I’d felt on him when he kissed me earlier. When he finished the kiss he just looked at me for a moment, stroking my face. I felt him pulling on me again, but that almost felt more like a request for affection, too.

Leaning up, he kissed me a second time, wrapping his hand into my hair.

The intensity behind that second kiss threw me off-balance.

I found myself kissing him back before I’d thought about whether that was such a great idea. When I did, he parted his lips. His tongue was hot in my mouth, causing me to soften against him more. He started pulling on me harder and I kissed him harder in response.

The next thing I knew he’d caught hold of my hips and yanked me on top of him. His hand wrapped around my thigh under the dress once I sat more or less astride him.
 

He kissed me again.

When I ended that kiss, he let out a low sound, almost pleading.

Remembering what we’d been talking about before he’d successfully distracted me...again...I felt my frustration return. Without thinking, I smacked him hard on the chest.

“You’re really not going to tell me
anything?”
I said. “...Again?”

He flinched from the hit, then only held me tighter, yanking me deeper into his lap.

“Fuck,” he said. “You know you’re hitting me because you want me?”

“In your deluded dreams,” I snapped, smacking him again.

He laughed but when I started to pull out of his lap he tugged me back onto his legs.

“Just listen to me, Miriam,” he said, breathless, looking up at me. That pain reflected in his eyes. “Just for once would you fucking
trust
me on something and do what I ask? It’s dangerous for you here. It’s my fault, I know it’s my fault...but I can’t fix it with you here...” When I frowned at him, he gripped me harder. “Remember Ian? Remember when I fucking
asked
you not to go home? Remember how well that turned out, Miri?”

“Then tell me something!” I said. “Tell me something real!” He closed his eyes when I gripped his hair in my hands. I felt another pulse of that wanting pain waft off him, hitting me in the abdomen. “Tell me what has you so spooked...what happened?”

“Anders,” Black said, looking up at me.

I must have given him a blank look, because his jaw hardened.

“...The English one.” He closed his eyes, longer than a blink, right before he pressed up against me, gripping my leg tighter in his hand. I bit my lip, but didn’t move away, or try to get off his lap. “...He knows who you are. He fucking
threatened
you, doc,” he said. “It was subtle, but I got the message loud and clear. He never would have done that unless he’d been given a green light by Lucky. Which means Lucky already
knew
you were here with me. He probably knew as soon as you got off the goddamned plane...if not before. Hell, Anders probably went to that meeting because they knew you were here.”

Glancing up at me, he clenched his jaw.

He looked frustrated briefly.

Then his mind abruptly rose in mine.

...I made a mistake. Several, doc. I didn’t think you still had people watching you in San Francisco, not after Ian left. Now I’m wondering about that, too. Based on what you told me, I thought Lucky decided to leave you alone.

Black clenched his jaw, thinking again. Then, as if making up his mind a second time, he exhaled in defeat, looking up at me.

You asked why I didn’t bring you out here right away?
he sent.
Well, a big part of that was to make sure it was safe for you here. I wanted a sense of where Lucky was at with the whole thing regarding you. I got assurances...multiple assurances...that Lucky had no interest in you, Miriam. They told me Lucky had no interest in breeding a ‘non-pureblood’ as they put it. They definitely think you have human blood in your genealogy, doc. To them, that makes you a non-viable candidate for any race-related interest they might have had in you otherwise.

When I met his gaze, he held up a hand in what almost felt like an apology.

It nearly made me laugh when I realized he’d been worried I might take the “human blood” thing as some kind of insult. Even as I thought it, he gripped my thigh tighter.

Trust me, doc...I was nothing but relieved when they told me that,
he said, sending a heated cloud of that relief as he spoke.
I don’t give a rat’s ass about their ‘racial purity’ b.s., other than the fact that it meant Lucky didn’t intend to stick you in a lab somewhere and harvest your ovum, or have seers gang rape you in an attempt to get you pregnant...

When I tensed, looking down in alarm, he exhaled, combing his fingers through his hair.

I wasn’t lying, doc,
he added.
I brought you out here thinking you could help me find the killer.
He waved his free hand vaguely before placing it back on my leg.
But I also thought it would be safe for you. I knew Lucky might be pissed because I’ve been interfering with his trafficking network...but I’ve been doing that for years and he’s rarely done more than get my visas yanked here and there. Or use local police to harass me or my staff, issue temporary cease and desist orders, that kind of thing. He’s let me operate with surprisingly little interference. Mostly, I suspect, because I don’t have the resources to be a real threat to him.

I stared at Black, confused. “You’ve been interfering with human trafficking networks?” I said. Realizing I’d spoken aloud, I glanced at the driver, then back at him. “Are you out of your fucking mind, Black? Isn’t that how people get disappeared?”

He shook his head, but not exactly in a no.

“It’s a small operation,” he said. “We mostly rehabilitate those who get away.” He shrugged. “Of course, we
help
some of them get away, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the size of the real problem.” Feeling what must have been surprise from me, he glanced up at me almost defensively.

“I’ve been doing it for
years,
Miriam. He’s never threatened me like this. He’s never ransomed a fucking
kid
before...any kid, much less one they yanked from outside their networks totally. He’s never done anything remotely
like
this before. I thought he’d decided to tolerate what I was doing here since it’s good PR for him in a way. It makes it look like something is being done, which probably benefits him more than hurts him, frankly.”

Looking away from me, he shook his head, making that clicking sound again.

“I never thought he’d ever go so far...with the boy or with you. He didn’t seem to care at all that I’d infiltrated his street gangs. Truthfully, I didn’t think Lucky gave a rat’s ass about the
killings
before now. I thought one of his people had gone rogue, gone on some religious kick and started killing kids to make some kind of statement. I mean, with the religious iconography and so on in the placement of the bodies, I knew Lucky’s group had to be involved
somehow
...but I didn’t think it was anyone above the street level. Certainly no one he’d miss.”

Pausing a beat, Black added, “If they’re seriously threatening me like this, it means someone they deem important enough to protect is involved. That means one of his higher-ups. Someone he can’t easily replace.”

I nodded, turning over his words.

They all made sense.

More than that, the evasiveness I’d felt on him earlier was completely gone. It felt like he was telling me what he really thought, not leaving giant holes in his story you could drive a truck through. I didn’t know what caused him to change his mind, but I was grateful.

“And who is this ‘Mr. Lucky’ exactly?” I said. “Are you going to tell me?”

Black frowned at me, then shook his head.

“No,” he said, making an odd emphatic gesture with one hand. “No, we’re not going to talk about that right now, doc. Frankly, the less you know about that, the better...at least until I can get you out of the country.”

Before I could argue, he leaned up, kissing me again.

His arm slid around my waist, tugging me closer when I returned the kiss. I started stroking his hair and his other arm clamped around my back, pulling me roughly against him. When I leaned away a few minutes later, he let out a much more frustrated-sounding gasp.

“I’ll explain everything else when I return,” he said, averting his face. After another few seconds, he looked up at me, firming his mouth. “Did you get anything off them? You should tell me any thoughts you had on the four of them before you go. Anything you think might help me. If I can figure out who’s killing those kids, I might be able to convince Anders to get Lucky to stop it from his end.” He gripped my thigh harder. “...Anyway, I need us to talk about something else right now, doc. I’m going to obsess on having sex with you if we don’t.”

I frowned, crossing my arms. Deciding to ignore the last thing he said, I exhaled.

“I thought you didn’t want me to look at them?” I said.

“No.” He shook his head. “I don’t mean...” He glanced at the driver then looked back at me. “The other stuff. The doc stuff.”

“You mean
besides
the fact that they’re all different breeds of psychopath?” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “Besides that.”

When I shook my head, leaning back on his thighs, he sharpened his voice.

“You must know what I want to know, Miriam.”

“I have no idea what you want to know, Quentin,” I countered. “Were they dangerous? Yes. You don’t need me to tell you that. All of them were dangerous, potentially at least.”

“Was one of them a
pedophile
though?” he said.

I flinched, then glanced over my shoulder at the driver.

He was staring studiously straight ahead and didn’t give me so much as a glance in the mirror that time. Flushing a little, I started to pull away from Black’s embrace, but he gripped my back again, holding me. I didn’t fight him. Truthfully, even now, I didn’t really want to fight him. Maybe some part of me was trying to use him to wash the slime off of me from having to listen to those four men on the roof.

Thinking about them again, I let out a sharp exhale.