The Order Boxed Set (68 page)

“I know, Piers talked to me, and I have thought about it,” Ryan said. “But I don’t think Faith would leave the force. It’s her whole life. Besides, she hates all that ‘supernatural bollocks.’ She thinks it’s a load of shit.”

“Well, it would be easy to prove her wrong.”

“Maybe, but I also suspect in Faith’s mind, you’d definitely be one of the bad guys. In her books you’re either bad or you’re good. There’s nothing in between.”

“She sounds a little…intolerant.”

“Yeah, she’s that, but she’s also a bloody good cop. Right, I’ll go down and see what she really wants.”

Asmodai picked up his long leather trench coat and slipped it on to cover the weapons. “And I’ll come with you.”

“You don’t need to.”

He bit back a grin at the alarm in Ryan’s voice. “Hey, we’re partners remember?”

Ryan gave a nod of resignation. “Okay, but what do we call you? Because I’m not introducing you as ‘Asmodai.’ I’m thinking it won’t give the right impression.”

“Depends what sort of impression you want to give.” He shrugged. “Call me Ash. Ash Delacourt—it’s the name I usually go by when I’m…visiting.” Ryan shot him a filthy glance, and this time he did grin. “Don’t look so worried. I promise to be on my best behavior.”

“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?”

Chapter Three

Faith examined the reception area of CR International from her strategically situated chair. Ryan had done all right for himself.

Perhaps she should have phoned ahead, but she suspected Ryan would ignore her call and if that happened, she wasn’t sure of her next move. And she’d wanted to see this place for herself. Maybe even catch a glimpse of the enigmatic Christian Roth.

She’d looked Roth up on the police files after her meeting with the colonel and his sidekick, Father O’Brien, that morning. There had been nothing of any interest. If the colonel had anything on him, they were keeping the information to themselves. She hated that.

Beside her, Jess fidgeted.

Jess had recently turned sixteen. Faith had seen the photos of her before she’d been abducted. She’d been a pretty, if slightly plump teenager. Nothing out of the ordinary. Now she was almost ethereal, her body slender, her face slimmed down so the bone structure showed clear beneath her skin. But her eyes held the biggest change. At times, they appeared haunted and much older than her years.

“Will she really be here?” Jess asked.

Faith knew she was referring to the woman who had found her. “I hope so.” She turned to study the girl. “Why does she mean so much to you? What’s so special about her?”

Jess considered the question. “I was in a dark place, and she brought me out of there. She saved me.”

It didn’t make sense to Faith. And she hated things that didn’t have a rational explanation. There must be one; there always was. She just had to find it. Dig and dig and keep digging, and it would be there.

“But how? What did she do exactly?”

She’d asked these questions before, and it was always at this point that Jess became vague.

Now she saw the girl’s eyes lose focus as though she was searching inside herself. For the first time, she sensed she might get some sort of meaningful answer and she leaned in closer. But at that moment, the man on the reception desk waved to Faith and the connection was broken.

He held out the telephone, and Faith hurried across. She took the receiver; it was Ryan. She spoke with him before handing the phone back. “He’s on his way.”

Faith was pacing the floor when the elevator doors opened. Ryan hadn’t changed at all—she suspected he might even be wearing the same outfit he’d had on that last night they’d worked together. Either that or he bought his clothes in bulk. But he seemed well.

And he wasn’t alone. The man from earlier was at his side. Faith tightened her grip on her bag and stepped forward to meet them. Jess came up beside her.

Ryan nodded to the girl. “Hello, Jess. How have you been?”

“Okay.”

Ryan turned his attention to Faith. “Faith, you look like shit.”

Faith grinned. “Aw, thank you, Ryan, sweet and diplomatic as always.”

“So how have you been? Are you all right now?” He sounded uncomfortable, but he’s always hated talking about illness so she let him off, but not too lightly. “Thanks for the concern and all the flowers and the visits and…”

He shifted from foot to foot. As well he should. “Sorry. I’ve been busy. New job…”

“So we meet again,” a man’s low voice said as Ryan trailed off. For a second, he appeared relieved at the interruption then he frowned. Now why was that?

Faith turned her attention back to the other man and almost wished she hadn’t. His eyes were heavy-lidded, almost sleepy, behind a thick fringe of lashes. They scrutinized her from head to toe—lingering at various points along the way. For the first time in her life, she wished she wasn’t quite so scrawny and maybe that she’d had a haircut in the last two years or put on some makeup. The thought shocked her rigid.

His full lips curved in a slight smile as though he could read her thoughts, and he took a step closer.

Faith fought the urge to step back. Instead, she made herself give him an equally close scrutiny. It was supposed to have been offhand—as though two could play at that game—to prove she wasn’t affected. Which was stupid. Because she was; her pulse racing, her mouth parched. But once she’d started staring, she couldn’t tear her gaze away.

While she was tall, she still had to tilt her head back to stare into his face. She left that quickly, not wanting to make eye contact again, and moved down the strong column of his throat, broad shoulders, encased in leather, lean hips—encased in more leather. He looked like some sort of gang leader, drug-dealer type. So what was he doing with Ryan? A client?

Ryan sighed. “Faith, this is my new partner, Ash Delacourt.”

Her gaze shot to Ryan’s face, but she could read nothing from his expression. He had a new partner? The idea hurt, but that was stupid. “We’ve already met,” she said. “Though he failed to mention he was your partner.”

“It’s sort of a new thing.”

Beside her Jess took a step forward and held out her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Delacourt.”

She had better manners than Faith, but then Jess wasn’t reeling from the shock that Mr. Leather-Clad, Bad-Guy look-alike was Ryan’s new partner.

He took Jessica’s hand. “And to meet you, Jessica.” His voice was a rough purr that sent shivers down Faith’s spine.

She forced her gaze around to stare at Ryan. “A new thing?”

“Yeah, we’re working together on a special project?”

“What sort of special project?”

“That’s confidential I’m afraid, Detective Connolly,” Ash replied. He’d dropped Jess’s hand and was holding his own out toward her. She didn’t want to take it, but she could hardly ignore him. Taking the final step to close the space between them, she slipped her hand into the outstretched one.

A tingle of electricity ran through her arm. His eyes widened slightly, and she knew he’d felt it as well. Then his lips curved into a slow, satisfied smile. “How nice to meet you, Detective. May I call you Faith? I feel we’re already friends I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Back off, Ash,” Ryan growled, before she could answer.

Ash grinned but dropped her hand. Barely resisting the urge to wipe it down her pants leg to get rid of the sensation, Faith cleared her throat. “So,” she said. “Your friend, Rosamund Fairfax—will she talk to Jess?”

Ryan stared past her over her shoulder. “She’s here now. You can ask her yourself.”

Faith swung around. Two women had entered the reception area through a door in the back wall. Both were short, one slender with blond hair and green eyes. Faith had never seen her before, but she sensed Ash stiffen beside her and gave him a quick sideways glance. He was staring at the blonde, a strange, almost sad, expression on his face.

The second woman had short, spiky, dark hair and a sweet smile. Faith recognized her from the night they’d found Jess. And she realized now she had a chance to study her, that she’d actually seen her before, on other occasions, at the station talking with Ryan. Why had he never introduced them?

She headed directly to Jess and hugged her hard. Then she straightened and smiled. “So what’s going on?”

“Perhaps some more introductions are in order,” Faith said. She wanted to get these people organized in her head and she wanted confirmation this was Rosamund Fairfax. And who the blonde was who studiously ignored Ash, but smiled at Ryan.

Ryan sighed and stepped forward. “Faith, this is Rosamund Fairfax and Tara Roth.”

Tara Roth? Christian Roth’s wife perhaps?

“Faith is a detective with the metropolitan police force, and my ex-partner.”

Faith shook hands with them both. “Ms. Fairfax—”

“Call me Roz,” the dark-haired woman interrupted. “I hear you wanted to see me?”

“Actually, Jess wanted to talk to you.”

“You said you would come and see me again,” Jess said. “You never came.”

“I’m sorry,” Roz replied. “For a while I thought I was moving away. I didn’t want to call in case I had to leave.”

“And why would you have to leave, Ms. Fairfax?” Faith asked.

Roz smiled, her eyes showing genuine amusement. “
Roz.
Just the possibility of a job offer, Detective. It didn’t come to anything.” She turned to Jess. “Come with me. We’ll get some coffee and find somewhere to talk.”

“Thank you,” Jess said.

They headed off. Faith made to follow. She really wanted to hear this conversation, but Ryan stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Let them talk alone,” he said. “It will do Jess good. Besides, we need to talk.”

For a second she thought about arguing, but then she halted and watched as Jess and Roz paused by the reception desk and spoke to the red-haired man, before disappearing through the door behind him.

Faith sighed. Ryan was right and she could only hope Jess would have something new to tell her when they spoke again.

“And I’m going to go find Christian,” Tara said. “Nice to meet you, Faith.” She nodded to Ryan but ignored Ash. Was there something going on between the two of them?

“Let’s go to my place,” Ryan said. “We can talk there.” He turned to Ash. “Haven’t you got something to do?”

“No.”

“So find something,” Ryan snapped.

As Faith followed him to the elevator, she could sense Ash’s gaze on her and the skin on her back prickled. Ryan pressed the button for the fifteenth floor, the doors slid shut, and she relaxed.

“You live here?” she asked.

“Yeah, I got the place with the job. It’s convenient.”

“I bet.” This place was right in the middle of the business district. She didn’t even want to think about how much an apartment would cost to rent here. Faith had a grueling one-hour commute each day from her tiny apartment into Scotland Yard.

Ryan was doing extremely well. While she’d have sworn he wasn’t the type to be swayed by money, maybe everybody had a price and they’d found Ryan’s.

He led her into a spacious living area with huge windows along one wall, which gave a spectacular view of the city of London. “Nice,” she murmured.

“It is. Look, are you really all right?” he asked. “Did they find what was wrong with you that night?”

“I’m having a few tests done, but they think it’s nothing serious.” She hated lying to Ryan, but she hated sympathy more. “Hey, I don’t suppose there’s a chance of a coffee in this posh place.

“Yeah, I’ll go make you one.”

She trailed after him into the luxurious kitchen,

“Wow, they must really like you. This place is…”

“Nice. Yeah, it is. But it was empty.” He shrugged and opened the fridge. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with milk.” He picked up the phone and punched in a number. “Graham, any chance of sending some coffee up to my place. Thanks.”

“Christ, all this and coffee on call. Maybe I can see why you took this job.”

He studied her for a moment, and she knew he was trying to come to a decision. Finally, he shrugged. “They’re still recruiting. I could put in a good word for you.”

His words shocked her. She didn’t know why, but she hadn’t expected it. “Recruiting for what? What is it you do here, Ryan? Your new partner looks like some sort of gang leader.”

Ryan grinned. “Ash has his moments, but he’s basically a good guy.”

“I’ll take your word for it. So…the job, what is it?”

“At the moment, liaison as much as anything. With potential customers. But CR Investigation takes on all sorts of jobs. It could be interesting.”

She’d bet it could. Talk about a whole load of words saying absolutely nothing. “All sorts of jobs” could cover a multitude of sins. Still, even if she had been prepared to leave the force, she was hardly in a position to take a new job right now. She had a time bomb ticking away in her head.

“Maybe once I’ve solved this murder, I’ll think about it.”

“And what if you never solve the murder?”

“I will.” She wished she were so certain.

“You said you had some information for me. What is it and how did you know about Roz being here?”

She’d been planning to tell him everything about the meeting with the colonel. Now, after seeing this setup and meeting his new “partner” she wondered if she should. But Ryan was still the same man and she trusted him. Besides, the colonel hadn’t actually told her not to mention their little talk.

“Come on, Faith, spit it out.”

She took a deep breath. “That wasn’t my first job offer of the day.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No. This morning I was approached by a couple of guys. They said they were working for a government department. They were investigating Christian Roth and—”

“What?” Ryan’s sounded shocked.

She opened her mouth to continue when a hard knock sounded on the door.

“Wait a second,” Ryan said.

She followed him through and waited as he spoke to whoever was on the other side, but she couldn’t hear the words. Finally, he opened the door wider and stood aside.

“You’d better come in.”

Chapter Four

Ash had expected an argument. He’d known Ryan didn’t want him in on this conversation, and he wasn’t sure why he wanted to be here anyway.