Rose of Jericho (Lilith Adams Series Book 2) (22 page)

“I’m parked in a garage two blocks down.” Timothy dug his keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Chance. “I wish you luck on your super-secret mission, man.” He clapped Chance on his shoulder and flashed a smile. “And don’t worry. I’ll keep her safe.” The wink he gave Chance said it all. Who knew Timothy was so good at figuring people out.

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, can you give us a sec?” Chance nodded toward the diner door and Timothy obediently strolled off to play lookout.

Lilith fought back the nervous energy clawing around in her brain. She willed herself to let the siren crap go and just wish Chance good luck. “I still don’t like this.” She rubbed her hands over her arms and stared at the concrete. The night was nippy but her sudden chills had nothing to do with the weather. “You shouldn’t be going by yourself.”

Chance very slowly slid his hand over hers and the warmth seemed to seep up her arms. A faint smile curled the corner of her mouth when she didn’t automatically jump back. She looked up into his warm hazel eyes and the panic was still there, but it wasn’t as strong as it had been that morning. She fought to keep herself there, looking him square in the eye and not backing up. She owed him that much, but it took a considerable amount of effort.

There was no fooling him, of course. He could feel every emotion warring in her, but he still smiled softly down at her. “I wish I could make this whole nightmare go away. I’m sorry, Lily…” Silence filled the air, but for the first time in a while it wasn’t awkward, just quiet. Well, except for the voice inside her head that screamed for her to back away. “I’ll be careful, I’ll get what we need and I’ll be back here as fast as possible. You may not like me going solo, but trust me, I hate leaving you with Cohen even more. I still don’t trust him,
Cher
. Watch your back and stick close to Timothy.”

Lilith bit back the panic in her head and reached out to caress her hand over his stubbled cheek. “I will and you better get your ass back here. Nightmares or not, I can’t make it through this crap without you.”

She swore she could see a tear in his eye, but Lilith’s phone started ringing. Chance blinked and just like that the moment was gone. “Who could be calling you on a burner phone?”

Lilith glanced down at the number. It was local. “I cloned my phone number to this phone. I figure they are tracing my physical phone, not the number. I didn’t want to miss another call that might help us or raise suspicion by calling from an unknown number.”

Chance’s warm chuckle filled the crisp night air. “Pretty damn smart. I think you’d do just fine without me.”

With a completely serious face and absolutely no hesitation, she looked up at him and spoke clearly. “Maybe, but I don’t want to. I never want to.”

A dart of fear slid through her as he leaned toward her. Lilith’s entire body froze as her heart sped up, not with the heat and desire he usually caused, but with the throat-crushing fear that plagued her brain. Chance simply placed a soft kiss on her cheek quickly stepped back. “Be careful. I’ll call you when I get to my destination. I better take off before Cohen comes looking for us.”

She wanted to stop him, wanted to just grab him and snuggle into his lean body, kiss him feverishly, anything to keep him there. But she couldn’t. They needed that tin box at Goditha and he was the only one that could get to it. With a heavy heart, Lilith watched him walk away before the dark streets swallowed him up. She caught a glimpse here and there as he passed under a street light and then he was gone.

Someone cleared their throat behind her. Lilith turned to see Timothy standing there staring down the street. “He’s one of the toughest guys I know. Wherever he’s heading, he’ll be fine.” The smile that stretched his thin lips was soft and friendly, a look she’d never seen on him. “Also, Cohen is wrapping up his call. He’ll be joining us any minute now so you might want to wipe up that tear on your cheek.”

Lilith swiped at her cheek with a mock scowl and lightly punched at Timothy’s shoulder. “No need to be a smart ass.” His laugh was more of a booming nasally wheezing than a chuckle and it caught her so off guard that she couldn’t help but join in. It distracted her from the fight she was about to have with Cohen. Good god it was
not
gonna be pretty.

Chapter 18

J
ust as Cohen rounded the corner, Lilith’s phone rang again and she sent a silent thank you to the powers that be. She slid her finger over the screen as fast as possible and rushed it up to her ear. “Hello?”

“Oh hi. I’m glad I finally got ahold of ya.” It took her a minute to place the accent and the energetic female voice.

“Nicci DeLuca?”

“Yep. That’s me. I left a few messages, but I didn’t want to pester you too much while you’re out on bereavement. Anyway, do you have a sec?”

Lilith glanced over at Timothy and then eyed Cohen approaching them. He started to look around the street and even behind him at the diner. He’d noticed Chance’s absence. “Actually, I was just about to call you.”

“Oh yeah? Was there something you needed?” She did a pretty bad job of hiding her excitement. Of course maybe she wasn’t trying. Not everyone felt the need to bury their emotions under a political persona.

“I’m working on a private case and I could use some discrete help. Is there any way we could meet up?”

“Oh sure. You are welcome to come by my place.”

Lilith watched as Timothy moved forward to talk to Cohen, keeping him at a distance. “You mind if I bring a couple people with me? I’m not working this alone and I doubt they’d let me sneak off without them.”

“Yeah, sure. No problem at all. I’ll text you the address. See ya soon.” There wasn’t the slightest bit of hesitation in her voice. Well, she seemed like a big ole ball of sunshine. Definitely wouldn’t be her first pick for a new partner, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

The phone buzzed before she even hung up the phone. Nicci was definitely efficient. Lilith took a deep breath and watched Cohen storm around Timothy, heading right for her. No more delays. Time to face the music.

“What is going on?” Cohen stalked up to her with a serious scowl on his face. “Where is Chance?” His sky blue eyes were staring holes into her, daring her to lie to him.

Lilith held up her hands and kept her voice calm and even. “He’s chasing a lead. I’m not sure how promising it will be, but it could be crucial. It might even get us all out of this alive.”

Cohen raised his eyebrows in disbelief and stepped closer with a serious urgency. “Chasing a lead? You have got to be kidding me. Maybe you didn’t understand Luminita. Chance is part of the team. If the council finds out, it won’t matter if he finds Jimmy Hoffa sitting on the Arc of the Covenant while chugging beer out of the Holy Grail. We will all be dead.”

To her own surprise, Lilith kept her cool. She laid her hand on Cohen’s arm and held his stormy gaze. “
If
they find out. Even if they have people watching us, Timothy is a great fit for a generic description. I seriously doubt they bugged Tim’s car or have tracers on his credit cards. As I see it, the only way they’ll find out is if
you
tell them.”

Cohen released a frustrated breath and rubbed his fingers through his sandy blonde hair. He looked over Timothy, who just shrugged with a hapless smile. Cohen groaned, his eyes searched the street aimlessly as if he’d find some magic wand to solve all their problems. Finally he turned back to face Lilith as if he finally formed a question.

“What in the hell could be so important?”

“I’m not prepared to share that yet.” Lilith crossed her arms over her chest while Cohen blinked in surprise.

“I’m sorry, what?” He took a step closer and Lilith could see Timothy tensing behind him. When she didn’t respond, his surprise hardened into anger. “If this is about that damn nightmare… You can’t just put all our lives in danger because you had a scary dream about your boyfriend choking you out. You want to be a jumpy, nervous wreck around him, fine, but you don’t swap out partners just because you’re uncomfortable.”

A sudden tension headache had Lilith pinching the bridge of her nose. Great. Timothy would have a million questions now, a of which she’d been hoping to avoid. He may have had his suspicions, but now they were concretely confirmed. After a long sigh and counting backward from ten, Lilith met Cohen’s angry blue grey eyes.

“You’re out of line, Cohen. Chance is chasing a lead and hopefully he’ll be saving all our asses. Have I ever once shown myself to be untrustworthy? I’m just trying to give us every possible chance to live through this crap.”

She could feel him pause, truly assessing the situation. “He’s trying to find the cipher isn’t he?” When Lilith just stood there like a stoic statue, Cohen sighed heavily. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt…for now. I do
not
like this. It’s a huge gamble, so it better be worth it!” His eyes held hers for a moment, as if waiting for her to scream “Just kidding!”. He let out another heavy sigh and shook his head. “This is just fucking nuts.”

Cohen turned and found himself face to face with Timothy. There may have only been an inch difference in height, but Tim had a good 60 pounds more on him and it was all muscle.

“All right, Lilith, Chance-substitute, can we head to the car before we end up on YouTube? I have a sudden need for a long hot bath and a valium cocktail.” Cohen gestured toward the packed diner and Lilith could see several faces staring out at them.

“Actually, we need to stop somewhere first. The address is on the way to the hotel. Shouldn’t take long.”

“Another secret or are you going to share our destination?” The sarcasm in Cohen’s voice wasn’t exactly unexpected.

“Stopping at my new partner’s place. She’s going to help us with these damn check stubs. Hopefully, she can give us something useful.”

“It sure would be a welcome change of pace.” Cohen started walking, not bothering to see if they followed. Every muscle in his back was singing with tension. He sure as hell wasn’t happy, but he was controlling himself. She honestly had expected a lot worse. Why couldn’t he reign himself in when Chance was around? Obviously he was capable of it. Trying to figure him out just made Lilith’s brain ache.

“What’s his deal?” Timothy leaned in to whisper while they followed Cohen’s angry trail.

Lilith snickered and shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve been trying to figure that out since I met him. I’ve had more luck trying to smell the color nine.”

Timothy’s unusual laugh filled the air and Lilith swore she saw a vein in Cohen’s neck throbbing like a water balloon ready to burst. So much for the friendly moment they’d had in the diner. Oddly enough, Lilith felt more comfortable with Cohen being his normal, prickly self.

*                                          *                                          *

Half an hour later they were knocking on a door in a modest apartment building a lot like Lilith’s. There was a lobby with a security desk and the familiar row of mailboxes. The guard in the lobby had been too engrossed in his cell phone to do more than wave them through. Good thing they weren’t a group of scary monsters come to reap souls. Just two vampires and a demon here to visit a fellow monster.

An athletic little brunette answered the door with a brilliant smile. Her deep blue eyes scanned over Timothy and Cohen with mild curiosity, or that’s what most people would think. The slight pull to her cupid bow mouth and the tightness around her eyes betrayed an intelligence that Lilith could appreciate. She may seem overly friendly, but it was all a cover. Apparently, Nicci learned to take advantage of the fact that most people underestimated her.

People always assumed that the cost of beauty was having the IQ of a ten year old. Lilith knew that stereotype first hand and she could tell Nicci did too. If it hadn’t been for her slight overbite and a strong Italian nose, Nicci would have looked more like a tiny super model than a cop. Oh she was still a looker, but in an earthy way. By the smile on Timothy’s face, he whole heartedly agreed.

“Hey, guys. Come on in.” She waved a hand and then strode purposefully down the entry hall, leaving them to follow her. Her dark brown hair was pulled up in a long ponytail that swished wildly from side to side as she walked. Either Nicci had just come from the gym or she simply preferred wearing hip hugging yoga pants and a sports top. Lilith was guessing it was the latter, not that she wasn’t in shape. Nicci was all lean muscle packaged into a short 5’2” frame.

Their perky hostess stopped in the living room and turned that smile on them again, focusing on Lilith. “It’s nice to finally meet you. The guys at the station have only great things to say about ya.”

That was somewhat surprising, considering the horrific scene at Alvarez’s funeral. “Really?” Nicci nodded emphatically and Lilith couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. It may not have been a pressing concern, but it’d been in the back of her mind, nagging at her. It was part of the reason why she’d put off calling Detective DeLuca back. She wasn’t ready to hear the office gossip about being slapped by the widow. Sure, Gloria called and apologized but no one else knew that.

“Well, I’m sorry it took me so long to get a hold of you. I’ve been kinda tied up.” At times, literally.

“Can we skip the small talk?” Cohen’s voice only held a well-practiced boredom, but Lilith knew better. He was still pissed at her and Chance on top of the frustration of having almost nothing to go on.

“Yes, sorry. Detective Nicci DeLuca, this is Detective Andrew Cohen and security specialist Timothy Bardow.”

Nicci’s smile was strained this time as she shook Cohen’s hand. Yet another person who wasn’t planning on becoming his best friend. Surprise, surprise.

Timothy shook her hand a little too eagerly with a sly grin stretching his thin lips. “Pleasure to meet you, Miss.” Lilith bit back a laugh. The proper greeting definitely sounded like he was trying it out for the first time, but with an odd sort of bravado. “Have you lived in New York long?”

Nicci flashed a tight smile, one that said “Yeah, I was waiting for that line.” “All my life, but let me stop you right there before you hit me with one of those cheesy pickup lines.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You don’t exactly have the right equipment.” Nicci straightened with a friendly smile and a wink.  “So if you want a buddy to train with at the gym, cool. Anything else and you’ll be pretty disappointed.”

Timothy just blinked a few times, letting it all sink in, while Cohen actually choked out a laugh. “Oh I think I like this one, Lilith.” Cohen gave Nicci a nod of appreciation and patted Tim’s shoulder. “It’s all right, big guy. Can’t win ‘em all.”

“What? I was…I was just being friendly.” Timothy frowned at Cohen’s gloating smile.

“Hey, it’s cool. I’m just smart enough to know that there’s only one reason a guy asks you anything personal.” Nicci shrugged her slender shoulders with a casual smile on her lips. “I like to be upfront and avoid mixed signals. Plus I’m always looking for a new sparring partner. Too many guys think I need to be protected. They always pull their damn punches.”

“As amusing as this is, perhaps we should get to the reason for our visit?” Cohen gracefully strolled past everyone to perch on the arm of an overstuffed chair.

“Uh, that chair has a seat.” The scolding look on Nicci’s face just made Lilith smile. Seeing Cohen lock eyes with her as he slid like silk into the seat of the chair, made her smile even bigger. Oh yeah. If she had to have a new partner, Nicci would work just great.

Lilith and Timothy took seats on the sofa while Nicci claimed an identical overstuffed chair on the other end of the couch. Once they were all settled in, Lilith got her up to speed, omitting the same things they’d kept from Timothy as well as Gregor’s death. There was no need for her to know about it right now. It wouldn’t help them find their thief or the book.

Cohen sprinkled in a few facts here and there, carefully steering Lilith away from accidentally mentioning Peisinoe a couple times. Nicci’s cool blue eyes sharpened as she listened, her mind working through every angle. Lilith noticed a slight pull to her lips, tightening around the eyes, tiny movement of her eyebrow, subtle signs here and there that she knew there had to be more. She was good.

“Do you think the trace was planted in the wounds to throw you off? It’d be a pretty damn good way to send a forensic examiner of your caliber on a wild goose chase.”

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I might have thought the same thing.” She thought back, retracing the rough wounds in her mind before shaking her head. “No, I don’t see how the trace could have been planted in such natural patterns.”

“Okay.” Nicci nodded thoughtfully as she leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. “So, you have something you want me to take a look at?”

Lilith pulled the stubs from her pocket and slid them across the coffee table. “Do the company initials mean anything to you?”

She shook her head and stared at the slips of paper. “I can do some research, see if I can find anything. I can access some databases, even a logo registry and try to track down the company. I’ll warn you though. If this is a check for illegal services, it’s probably just a shell company. It could take me hours, maybe days, to trace a trail to anything recognizable, if I can find anything at all.”

“Hey anything is more than we have right now.”