The Promised One (The Turning Stone Chronicles) (17 page)

“You’ll get used to it.”

She doubted that. But if that’s what it would take to bind him to her and the Turning Stones, that’s what she’d do. He stepped closer, brushing against her. Shivers rushed over her body, flooding her soul with an ache. It seemed like he’d been gone for years, not hours.

“You haven’t convinced me yet, Lexi.”

What else could she say? Mentally, she ticked off her arguments: apology, soul mate, lies, confessions, mind-blowing sex. What was left? “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

He tipped her face toward him and gazed into her eyes, his irises sparking golden fireworks. “I’m not the logical one,” he said in a voice husky with desire. “Quit using your tongue to talk.”

“Oh,
that
kind of convincing.”

Rhys’ cell phone buzzing in his pocket sent an unexpected thrill through his thigh and brought him up for air. He cleared his throat before answering. If that was the captain calling he didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.

“So what did she say, Temple?” The captain sounded annoyed.

“She’s okay with being my partner.”

“And the case?”

“We haven’t ironed that out yet. It took a lot of convincing to get through the partnership agreement.” Technically, that wasn’t a lie. He’d let her convince him, physically, to the point of distraction. If she hadn’t crawled on top of him when they sprawled on the sofa, he wouldn’t have been able to keep from sweeping her into his arms and into the bedroom. “But I’m sure she’ll agree to that, too.”

“Keep me posted,” Williams said and hung up.

Alexi rolled off his chest to a seated position and tucked her shirt back into her jeans. “Agree to what?”

He gathered the case file papers strewn next to the couch. “The captain wants us to work on a case he believes is related to Baron’s killer.”

Alexi yanked the papers from him. “At last! Something concrete to go on.”

“I wouldn’t get too excited,” he said as she thumbed through the paperwork. “I think Williams is calling a long shot.”

Her face paled when she got to the last report. “He’s killing now. That’s not good.”

“Who?” What did she know that she wasn’t sharing? “Who’s killing, Alexi?”

She ignored his question and shoved the papers back into the manila file. “Go back to the office, Rhys, and search for anything more you can find on Pawling. Check the fences for some of these jewels.”

“Aren’t you coming?” He stood and straightened his clothes.

“I need to take care of something with Eli. I’ll be there as soon as we’re finished.”

“I don’t like leaving you with him, Lexi. What do you really know about him?”

“He’s who he says he is. Trust me. I just need to tie up some loose ends, and I promise I’ll be down to the station.”

Taking the papers, he kissed her good-bye. “Call me if you need me.”

“I won’t need you.”

He didn’t believe that for a minute. She was planning something. He just didn’t know what.

Chapter 29

Shaw flipped his razor on and buzzed off the salt-and-pepper five-o’clock shadow on his chin. This was the third time he’d shaved the damned thing off today and it wasn’t even noon. He emptied the razor into the trashcan then limped to the kitchen. And that was the other thing—why hadn’t the limp disappeared when he’d changed back into himself? He could cover the limp by telling Lulu he’d twisted his knee at the job, but how the hell was he going to explain a beard—not the color of his hair—that kept growing back?

He dumped the morning’s take onto the kitchen table, sorting out the prettiest pearls for Lulu—a pearl and diamond three-strand choker that fastened in the front under a walnut-sized diamond. Then he chose a set of earrings to match, put them in a box, and tied it with a pink ribbon. He scooped the rest back into the bag to fence later.

This had been his biggest haul so far, and except for the guy he shot, which was the stupid dude’s own fault, it went off without a hitch. No cops. A clean getaway. And enough cash to cover everything Lulu wanted. He dropped the engagement set into his pocket, and the money and the pearls into a fancy gift bag, and headed for Lulu’s.

When Lulu peeked into the gift bag, she squealed like a third grader. “You did it, Danny! Oh, my gosh! You did it!” She stuck her hand into the bag and rifled through the cash. “How much is here?”

“About 10K. Give or take. I might have more coming, too.”

“Ten thousand dollars?” Lulu’s eyes widened until the whites were visible around the entire iris. It made her look like one of those plastic Cupie dolls. “What did you do? Rob a bank?”

“Jewelry store.” He grinned, answering without missing a beat.

Lulu giggled and playfully slapped him on the arm. “Silly. How did you really get it?”

“Working my fingers to the bone. Multiple jobs. Night and day. Just so my babe can have the wedding she deserves.”

“You’ve become a money-making machine, Danny. I’m so proud of you.” She got a glimmer in her eye he’d come to recognize. “Know what, Danny?”

Shit, I’m screwed now. She’s gonna want something else.
“What?” he said, trying to hold off the rollercoaster barreling into his belly.

“With you making money hand over fist like this, we ought to buy a house. Wouldn’t it be great to move into our own place after we get married?”

“I got an apartment. Won’t that do?”

“It’s okay for a bachelor, but we want to entertain our friends when we’re married.”

“We ain’t got any friends, Lulu.”

“I got coworkers and relatives. We need a cute house to invite them over. When we’re out in the suburbs in our cozy bungalow with a white picket fence and a rose arbor at the front gate, I’ll bet we can make lots of friends. You can get a grill and we’ll throw barbeques for the whole street.”

“How the hell am I supposed to afford all that? Do you think I’m made of money?”

His outburst took them both by surprise. Lulu jumped away from him, shock at his flaring temper creasing her pretty face.
Where the hell had that come from?
He never talked to Lulu like that.

“Don’t bark at me. I’m just trying to make a good life for us. Besides, you said you had more cash coming. We’ll just use that as a down payment.” When he didn’t agree, Lulu’s lower lip trembled. “Don’t you want me to be happy?”

“Sure, I do. That’s why I got you those.” He pointed to the boxes, anxious to move to another subject. “Open ‘em.”

Lulu opened the pearl necklace first and nearly swooned. “I ain’t never seen a cubic zirconium that size,” she said, stroking the glittering stone. “Are these real pearls?”

Shaw took the necklace from her and fastened the strand around her neck.
“Probably cultured,” he said, letting his fingers linger on the smooth skin beneath her chin. Wouldn’t do for her to know she had real pearls and diamonds round that pretty neck.
Damn, she was soft.

Lulu giggled as he stroked her skin. “That tickles, Danny.”

He handed her the earrings and watched as she fastened them in her ears. “You’re beautiful, babe.”

Lulu gently touched the necklace and earrings. “They make me feel beautiful. I’m going to get a mirror. Be right back.”

Shaw pulled the engagement ring box out of his pocket and got down on one knee in front of the doorway Lulu had exited through. When she came back and saw him on bended knee, holding out an engagement ring, she broke into tears.

“I never got you a ring before because we were saving for the wedding.” He stood and slipped the ring onto her finger.

Lulu twisted her hand, catching the light in the prism cuts. “Oh, Danny, it’s the most beautiful zirconium I ever saw.”

“This one’s real,” he said, his chest puffing with pride. “No fake diamond for my wife’s finger. When you wear this, I want you to know you’re the most important thing in my life. I’d do
anything
for you.”

She gently cupped his chin in her hand. “Anything?”

He’d already stolen and murdered. There wasn’t much else that loving her would require. “Anything,” he replied confidently.

“Then get me a house.” Lulu rubbed his chin, her fingers scraping on the stubble. “And please get rid of this, Danny. You know I hate a man in a beard.”

The house he could probably do, but getting rid of the beard was going to be a helluva lot harder than knocking over a bank.

Chapter 30

“I’m going to have to go back to the bar where I found all those shifters, Eli.”

“Why, lassie?”

“Because I think Baron’s killer was just involved in a jewelry murder heist this morning. That’s what Rhys was here to tell me about. The captain is putting us on the case.”

“Do they ken the man yer after is a shifter?”

“No. He’s just one of several robberies committed by people with airtight alibis. First by someone who was a doppelganger to Baron, who was dead when the crimes took place, and now a man who is a frequent customer at the Le Gran’ Jewelry store. They pulled homicide in on this last case because of the murder. If these are all the same man, the one I followed yesterday, maybe someone at that bar can give us a lead.”

“Ye dinna know what yer walking into. It could be dangerous if they’re rogues.”

“Then I’m going to need backup, of the magical sort.” She looked Eli straight in the eye. “Is your word good or are you going to do a Sylvia and send me out alone?”

The old man drew himself to his full height and glared at her. “I’ll nae be sending ye out tae the wolves alone. But we canna go without a plan. Have ye any money in the hoose?”

“How much?”

“Enough for bribes.”

“Bribery? You’re really digging me in deep. I’ll get kicked off the force for sure if I’m caught.”

“Yer gonna have tae leave sooner o’ later when yer destiny kicks in.”

“Which one?”

“The one yer trying so tae avoid. The fulfillment o’ the Promised One prophecy. The bringing taegether o’ all the shifters intae a world o’ peace.”

“If we can convince Rhys to join us, I might just stop kicking and screaming at my fate.”

“‘Tis no if aboot it. We have tae convince him.” He redirected the conversation. “How much cash do ye have?”

“There’s a few hundred dollars in Baron’s safe.”

“That should do fine. Here’s what we’ll do.”

The lunch drinkers were gone and happy hour hadn’t begun when Eli and Alexi slipped into the Rogueman’s Bar mimic shifted as two burly male bikers.

“Better let me do the talking,” Alexi whispered, “unless you can disguise that brogue of yours.”

“‘Tis a wee hard, but I can. Being as ye know this area better, I’ll leave it up tae ye.”

“What’ll ya have, mates? Beer, draft or bottle?” asked the bartender as they sat down at the bar.

Alexi tried to place his accent. Scottish? Irish? She went with Irish, based on his flaming red hair. “Two drafts.” She dropped her voice down a couple of keys to match her brawny appearance.

The bartender set the mugs on the counter. “Haven’t served ya two here before. New to the area?”

Alexi nodded toward Eli. “My friend is. Is this bar new?”

“New again would be a way to describe it. The owner opens and closes it on whims.”

She glanced around. “Always this empty?”

“Nah. It does great business, mostly afternoon and evenings, but I gotta keep three jobs, just in case it shuts down, to pay my bills.”

Eli cleared his throat and nodded toward the door where two customers entered. She followed his motion, scanning the men’s auras as they cleared the doorway. One had a very dark red aura spiked with black. The other aura was dark red ringed with a rainbow of colors. The red pulsed like a faulty neon light. If she guessed right, they were a very evil shifter and a low-level mimic about to lose the ring’s aura.
Is that what the aura of Baron’s killer would become?

“Get to the point,” Eli whispered, nudging her with his elbow.

She slipped a twenty-dollar bill under the cocktail napkin and slid it toward the bartender. “We’re searching for someone we think might have come in here the other day.”

“I hear a lot of things. See a lot of people.” The bartender peeked under the napkin. “What’s the bloke look like?”

She purposefully stared at the bloodstone ring on the bartender’s hand. “What does anyone look like in this bar?”

His eyes narrowed and he slid the napkin back to her. “As I said before, I keep three jobs just to pay the bills. Couldn’t afford to lose this one because the owner thinks I’m selling out the customers.”

She laid down another twenty, covering it with her hand. “I’d hate to think of your family out on the street.”

He nodded at her hand. “I’ve got three kids I need to support.”

She laid down two more twenties. The bartender swiped at the counter, catching the edge of Alexi’s hand under the towel. She released the bills and he swept them, and the twenty under the napkin, into his palm. “How will I know him?”

“You’ll know him by his eyes. Bright blue. He came in yesterday.”

He pocketed the cash then felt under the counter, got a beer mug, and started polishing it. “Who’s asking?” he said, as he held the mug to the light.

“That’s not for sale.”

The bartender wiggled his fingers at her under the cover of the bar towel. Alexi slipped him another twenty.

“Never met him before.” He motioned to their beer mugs. “If ya’ll not be drinking, ya’ll need to be leaving.”

Eli slapped some bills on the counter and stood, motioning to Alexi.

“If ya want me to watch for him, I can.”

“How much?” Alexi slipped her hand into her pocket for her wallet, but Eli stopped her.

“We can pay someone else as easily as ye. Ye’ll git no more till we git the information.”

“Where can I reach ya?”

Alexi handed him a slip of paper. “Call this number the minute he arrives.”

The barkeeper raised his reddish eyebrows in two surprised arcs. “Ya trust me with your number?”

“It’s not mine,” Alexi said. “And, no, I don’t trust you.”

Shaw rested against the building scratching his salt-and-pepper beard and waiting for the last drunk to stagger out of Rogueman’s Bar. He needed answers and this was the only place he knew to get them.

The red and green neon sign blinked off and on like a damaged traffic light . . . first go, then stop. Shaw felt as jerked around as the light. He thought he had everything figured out—all the wedding money, the ring, and a life of luxury for him and Lula—and now it was all down the crapper. All because of this damned beard and limp he’d developed. The only way he could get rid of either one was to change into someone else, and he didn’t think Lulu would like that much. The problems were tied into the ring, somehow, but he didn’t know what to do to fix them.

As the bar sign went out and the redheaded server who waited on him yesterday came out and locked the door, Shaw changed into the fat getaway man he’d used to rob the bank. Stepping into the darkened alley, he called out to the server. “Hey man! Got a minute?” The man flattened his body against the building wall, striking a defensive pose. Shaw stepped closer, hands in the air. “It’s me. The guy from yesterday. Remember?”

“Bloody hell,” he said as recognition flashed over his face. “Didn’t I tell ya to stay away?”

“I need to talk to you, man. It’s important. Can we go somewhere?”

The barkeeper unlocked the door. “Get in here before anyone sees ya.”

Shaw entered the bar and jumped as the door crashed shut. The man lowered the shade on the door, flipped on one set of lights, and motioned him toward the bar.

“Might as well get ya a pint. I have an idea this is gonna be taking a while.”

He hopped onto a barstool and then off again. “Damn, that’s uncomfortable. How do fat people sit on those things?”

“Most don’t.” The server moved a table out from a bench seat and set two beers down. “Try this.” He pointed toward the bench. “Or ya could just shift.”

Fat hanging over the seat was better than an itchy beard and dragging a game leg around. He sat down on the bench and slid the beer toward him.

“I see ya took my advice and changed yer ring hand. But ya didn’t throw it in the river.” The bartender took a gulp of beer and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “What’s yer name, mate?”

“Danny. What’s yours?”

“Ya can call me Johnny. So what’s yer problem?”

”I’ve got a beard and gimp leg I can’t get rid of.”

Johnny stared at him and then looked under the table at his legs. “Ya don’t seem to have those things now. Yer going to have to shift so I can check out the problem.”

“Shift? Oh, you mean change. Shift. Is that what it’s called?”

“You don’t know nothing, do ya, man?” Johnny’s mouth twisted into a lopsided grimace and he shook his head. “What have ya been doing with the ring?”

“That’s none of your business.” He didn’t know this jerk from Adam. No way was he going to spill his guts.

“Doesn’t matter. I know it wasn’t any Boy Scout deeds. When ya mimic shift and do evil with the ring, ya retain some of the characteristics of those ya shift to.” He scooted his chair back and folded his arms across his chest. “Shift to yerself and let me see what we got.”

Shaw hesitated, studying Johnny. Should he do what he asked? Could he trust this guy?
He must know something about the ring, because he figured out I’ve been messing on the wrong side of the law. Nobody knew that. Not even Lulu
.

Lulu. Everything he’d done had been for her.
Hell, this was for her, too
. “I’m not very good at it,” he told Johnny.

“I’m not going to judge yer skill, man, just try to figure out how much help ya need.”

Shaw pictured his image in his head and within minutes the surge of transformation ran through him. He ran his hand over his chin, the whiskers pouring from his skin like water from a tap.

Johnny gave a low whistle. “Ya must have done a lot using that fella for the beard to come in like that. Is the game leg from him, too?”

“No. I only used him once.”

“And ya got his limp the first time?”

“Yeah.”

“Are those yer own eyes? They’re still a bright blue.”

“Are they supposed to change?”

“They will if ya’ve been taught how to use the ring properly. Takes a bit of practice, though.” Johnny’s mouth drew into a thin line. “When did ya start using the ring?”

His first contact with the ring had been on the 19
th
and today was the 25
th
. Shaw counted on his fingers. “About a week.”

“Good God, man! Have ya been pillaging and killing like a damned Saxon?”

He didn’t know what a Saxon was, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to admit to murder. “Can you help me or not?” he said brusquely.

“Not me, but I know someone who might. Her help doesn’t come cheap. Might cost a few thou for her, and I’ll need a ten percent fee for making the arrangements.”

Shaw made a protesting noise. “That’s highway robbery.”

“I’m taking a risk by contacting her. That’s worth something.” He shrugged dispassionately. “Course, if you like that beard . . .”

“I can probably scrape something together, if you’re sure she’ll fix me.”

“It means ya’ll have to get rid of the ring.”

Shaw hesitated. Without the ring, he couldn’t give Lula a life of luxury. “Can’t you just teach me how to use it?”

“I’m not a mentor. She could probably teach you, but I’m thinking you might be better off dead than messing with the likes of her.” He glanced around, even though the place was empty, and whispered, “She’s just as likely to bump ya off as give ya the time of day. You’d be wise to offer her the ring, too, especially because it’s so close to Samhain. If you’ve no mentor to protect ya, ya won’t last anyway.”

A shiver ran over him. Sounded like one nasty dame. “Okay. Tell her I’ll pay what she wants and give her the ring.”

Life as a poor man with Lulu was better than no life at all.
Maybe the remaining jewelry he had to fence would be enough to get a down payment on a house and leave something for savings. If not, he’d do one last job before giving away his gravy train.

“
Where can I reach ya?”

Shaw gave him the number of a pay phone near the Dew Drop Inn. “Call me at this number to let me know her price. I’ll be there every afternoon at three.”

“Make it five a.m. I gotta work at three. And be sure yer there to take my call. She won’t take it kindly if she thinks ya’ll screw her.”