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

favor and let your father know you’re all right. I think he was worried about you.”

“I will.”

I descended the step. “Goodnight,” I said without looking back.

“Everson.”

I didn’t stop. She caught up to me on the sidewalk and grasped my arm.

“Look,” I said, turning. “You don’t have to—”

Her lips pressed against mine, silencing me. I tasted the subtle power of the fae, like spring water and honeydew. Her soft hands held my cheeks. I raised my own hands, clasping the backs of hers. Worlds spun around us.

When at last Caroline broke away, tears shone on her face.

“I am sorry,” she whispered.

“Yeah. So am I.”

She gave a final sad smile before climbing the steps and disappearing into the fae house.

33

When I swung the sedan into the parking garage across from Grand Central Station, Detective Vega was sitting on the rear step of the ambulance, a blue blanket over her shoulders, Larry the EMT beside her. I pulled up in front of them and got out to open the passenger side door.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

Vega shed the blanket and climbed into the car. “Good enough.”

“She let me give her a unit of red and half a bag of saline,” Larry said. “She could really use another of each, but she promised me she’ll go to an ER whenever you two wrap up whatever you’re doing.”

“And we’re off the books on this one?” Vega asked.

“What books?” Larry made a shooing gesture with his hands. “Go on, get out of here. Go save New York.”

We pulled out of the garage and onto Lexington Avenue.

“I’ve already called Hoffman,” Vega said. “He’s going to meet us at the office downtown. How did everything go with—”

“She’s fine,” I interrupted.

“So she wasn’t missing?”

“Yes. Well, no.” I stared at the empty road ahead. “It’s complicated.”

“O-o-okay.”

I changed the subject. “Did Hoffman sound suspicious when you talked to him?”

“No, but he seemed a little too interested when I told him I had info on the creature’s mother. Probably can’t wait to get his grubby hands on it so he can run it to whoever he’s informing.”

“I think it’s Mr. Moretti.”

“The washed-up gangster?”

“I ran into a couple of his men just now,” I said. “One of them let slip that I’d popped up on Mr. Moretti’s ‘list,’ which I can only assume meant his hit list. Think about it. Someone has Sonny killed but without knowing what the vampire might have told us. So he has to play it safe—”

“And eliminate us, too,” Vega finished.

“But I think our plan buys us time. Mr. Moretti’s going to want to know exactly how much we know. That info will be in the fake file that Hoffman will hopefully deliver to him.”

Vega was silent for a moment. “Why Moretti, though?”

I’d done some thinking on the drive back from the townhouse. Lord knew I’d needed to occupy my mind with anything but the bombshell Caroline had dropped on my heart. “The hit was the first clue,” I said. “I then went back over what Arnaud told us outside of Sonny’s. He said, ‘The truth is not as distant as it might seem, especially for you, Detective.’ That last part didn’t click for me at the time, but Little Italy is just a few blocks north of your office, right?”

“Moretti’s fiefdom.”

“And think about Arnaud’s parting advice: ‘Find out who wants the creature dead, and the answer will reveal itself like a magician’s coin.’ A coin has two sides, right? So if one side is Moretti, the other side is probably—”

“His wife,” Vega said.

“I met her last night at the gala. She fit the bill. Long, auburn hair, orange-tinted irises. And she had this feral air about her, like she wasn’t entirely human. That could be accounted for by werewolf blood.”

“That also fits with what Lady Bastet said about her being mixed up with disreputable people. The Italian mafia isn’t what it used to be, but it’s still plenty criminal. And there’s probably enough in the till for the wife to have helped her daughter without anyone in the organization noticing.”

“I didn’t sense a lot of love between Mr. and Mrs. Moretti last night, either,” I said.

“But why is he so desperate to cover up his wife’s past?”

I shrugged. “To protect their reputation? The man’s been trying to wheedle his way back into the upper echelons of organized crime in the city—honorable organized crime, as he probably thinks of it. Maybe he considers having a homicidal creature for a daughter a handicap.”

“Maybe,” Vega said, but without sounding convinced.

“We’ll find out for sure, in any case. What time did you tell Hoffman?”

“Four thirty.”

I checked my watch. “All right. That gives us enough time to create the file and for me to put a spell…” My voice petered out as I remembered the fae’s neutralizing effect on my magic. I powered down the window and aimed my cane at the approaching street light.

“What are you doing?” Vega asked above the roaring wind, a hand to her whipping hair.

“A test,” I said. “Vigore!”

I watched for the street lights to rock on their wires. With even a small return of my powers, I could cast a weak hunting spell, something that might hold up provided it didn’t start raining again.

The street lights erupted in an explosion of sparks. Wires snapped, and one of the traffic-light bodies plummeted onto the roof of the sedan before clunking away behind us. I drew my cane back into the car and powered up the window.

“Successful test?” Vega asked thinly.

“Yeah,” I said, reflecting on Caroline’s parting kiss.

I wasn’t sure, but I think she had restored my powers.

“So what do we got?” Hoffman asked, waddling into Vega’s office in one of his polyester suits.

“The list of women I mentioned.” Vega tossed the file of fake names and addresses onto the desk. A light blue aura that only I could see hummed around the manila folder. “I want you to follow up. They’re all in the city.”

Hoffman squinted over at me with naked disdain as he grabbed