The Prof Croft Series: Books 0-4 (Prof Croft Box Sets Book 1) Brad Magnarella (ink book reader txt) 📖

“You’re telling me my job, Croft. I’m asking what you can do.”

I scratched the back of my neck. The truth was, my specialty was nether creatures, not vampiric beings. Meaning if I was going to help Vega, I needed to study the crap out of them.

“I’ll look into it,” I said at last.

“Look into it?” Her eyebrows collapsed down. “We only have a week, Croft.”

“I’ll have something before then. I promise.”

“Yeah,” she said thinly. “I know about you and deadlines.”

I held up three fingers of my right hand to form a W. “Wizard’s honor.”

Vega shook her head. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride.”

7

Detective Vega and I left the tower together and hurried toward the cruisers. When we were safely in her sedan, I remembered something. “Hey, what did Stiles mean when he said, ‘Welcome home’?”

She yanked the gearshift into drive. The sedan jerked forward, scraping a neighboring cruiser. “What do you think?”

I looked from Vega to the grim towers and back. “You lived here?”

“Tower two. Room twelve thirteen.” She peeled from the plaza. “Six of us in a one-bedroom.”

“So you have three siblings?”

“Four. All brothers. Our dad raised us.”

That went a long way toward explaining her take-no-crap attitude.

“For how long?” I asked.

“Till I was twelve. Our dad got us into a subsidized home in the Bronx. More room, safer neighborhood, though both were sort of relative.”

As she jounced the sedan off the curb, I craned my neck around at the towers. “And you knew Stiles back then?”

She hesitated before answering. “He was my first boyfriend.”

I looked back at her with a surprised laugh. “What?”

She shrugged. “I was young and dumb.”

I’d picked up on some sort of familiarity between Vega and Stiles, but wow. That gave the standoff in the lobby a whole new context.

I searched for something to say. “So … were you able to stay friends?”

“Where am I dropping you off?” she asked abruptly, glancing over at my tux. “The Copacabana?”

I was surprised she’d tolerated my prying into her past for as long as she had, but with my concerns shifting back to Caroline, it was just as well. I dug out the address for the gala.

“Upper West Side,” I said. “One Hundred Fourth Street.”

Fifteen minutes later, we pulled in front of the crenellated apartment building.

Vega’s dark eyes glinted over at me. “Look, Stiles might play the cool cat, but he’s got a quarter-inch fuse. That much hasn’t changed. He says he’ll stomach us for a week, but if the creature strikes there again, forget it. Which means we can’t let that happen. I need you to commit to this, Croft.”

“I’m committed, I’m committed,” I said, my gaze wandering to the front doors. I hoped I hadn’t missed Caroline, especially if she’d left with—

Vega’s hand clamped my jaw and squeezed.

“Ow!” I cried through smooshed-together lips.

“I’m serious, Croft. No crapping around or getting pulled into other things. Not until we find the killer.” She released my jaw, the place where her fingers had pressed still throbbing.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a deal.” I worked my jaw around. “Geez.”

“I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”

Before she could decide to grab my jaw again, I backed out the passenger side door. Vega watched me, concern for the residents of the Towers anchoring her stare.

“It’s my spring break this week,” I said. “No teaching duties. I’ll give it my full attention.”

“Good.”

As the sedan sped away, I paced to the front doors of the building. The concierge, a pleasantly plump man with an obvious toupee, opened the door a couple of inches and raised his thick eyebrows.

“Yes?” he asked, pronouncing it jes?

I read his glinting nametag. “Hi, Javier. I was here a little earlier, for the gala?”

“Jes, Mr. Croft. I remember you from check in.”

“Good memory. Is it still going on?”

“Oh, no-o-o,” he said. “Gala over. Everyone leave.”

Damn. “Did you happen to see a young woman with blond hair done up in back? Light purple gown with lace up here? She would have been carrying a small white purse.”

“Beautiful woman?”

“A stunner, Javier. An absolute knockout.”

“Ahh, jes, I remember. Your date?”

“I … yeah, I think so. And you saw her leave?”

“Oh, jes. I see.”

“Did she leave with…” I swallowed. “…with someone else?”

The man’s face tilted in what appeared confusion. “What you mean, Mr. Croft?”

“I mean, did a man escort her out?”

“You mean someone else?”

I squinted at him. That was what I just asked, wasn’t it?

“That’s right, someone else.”

“No-o-o-o?”

“Look, just dish it to me straight, Javier. Yes or no?”

“Beautiful woman leave with someone else?” He shook his head. But he was still giving me that wtf? look, meaning something wasn’t quite translating. I peeked past him to the concierge desk, where I could make out the top of a telephone. Probably easier to get the answer from the source.

“Would you mind if I made a call?”

“Oh, no-o-o, Mr. Croft. Only I can use. Building rule.”

“All right, fine.” Exhaling, I looked around. “Do you know if there’s a payphone close by?”

He pointed past me. “Two block. But you should not be out at night.”

Thanks for the public safety tip, pops, but you’re not leaving me much choice. I nodded and wheeled to leave, but then turned back. “Tell you what, Javier. While I find that phone, would you mind calling me a cab?”

“Jes. Can do.”

“Great, have him swing by the payphone.” I was about to leave again, when I noticed Javier holding out a hand. “Oh, right.”

I pulled out my wallet and flicked through the nest of small bills until I found a five. I handed it to him, stuffed my wallet away, and set out at a fast walk, hoping there was enough left for the taxi. Though I earned a decent salary through the College, the costs of wizarding remained just shy of prohibitive. Another reason to log some hours with the NYPD.

But first I needed to contact Caroline, make sure she’d arrived home safely. Leaving her with a full-blooded fae was feeling more and more careless, especially with Javier’s odd responses now clunking around