A Darker Past (The Darker Agency #2)(13)

We made our way to the other end of the room. The tables were stacked four across and three rows deep, all covered with the same standard white sheet. Lukas stopped at the second table to the end, and I flicked on the flashlight as he pulled back the cover. There was an array of pictures spread across half the table. I recognized Simon in several. I’d sort of met him a few months back when our necromancer friend, Paulson, summoned him to give us the skinny on the Seven Deadly Sins box. Granted, we’d been tricked and it wasn’t actually Simon, but it’d looked like him. In these pictures, he looked happy, posing with a slightly younger man who bore a striking resemblance. His brother Charles, if I had to guess.

On the other half of the table, there was a small cracked mirror, a saddlebag, and several other random trinkets. The name plate on the front of the table read Darker Family.

“Bingo!” I gathered the corners of the tablecloth together so I could carry the whole thing like a sack, then slung the makeshift bag over my shoulder and turned back to Lukas. He was staring dead ahead with his mouth open and eyes wide like he’d seen a ghost. “What is it?”

His left brow twitched. The number one sign that he was about to say something I wouldn’t like. “Elaine Davis.”

I readjusted the makeshift sack across my shoulders. It was heavier than I thought it’d be. “Who?”

Lukas was still staring at the wall in front of us. “Her name. It’s Elaine Davis.”

I looked around the room. There was no one here but him and me. “Whose name is Elaine Davis? The wall?”

He sighed. “Lucy.”

I almost dropped the sack. “You can see her?”

He shuffled from foot to foot before looking me in the eye. Another twitch from his left brow. “Yes.”

Since when could he see the dead? From the look on his face, this wasn’t something brand spanking new, either. The guilt was etched like runes in marble. He’d been holding out on me.

“And she just told you her name?”

He looked from me to the corner, cringing a little. “Not exactly.”

I took a step toward the door and set the bundle down against the wall. It flopped over noisily, but the knot held together. “Not exactly? What does that mean?”

He didn’t answer.

I moved forward to wave a hand in front of his face. The whole staring into space thing was getting creepy. “Hellooo?”

With another sigh, he said, “I know her.”

“You…know her.”

“I courted her. Before my marriage to Meredith was arranged. I courted Elaine.”

“Courted Elaine,” I repeated like a parrot. When he didn’t answer, I understood. “Holy crap! You’re saying you dated Lucy?”

“Elaine,” he corrected calmly.

“Whatever. Are you serious? Like, seriously serious? You dated the dead girl in Town Hall?”

He rolled his eyes. “She wasn’t dead when we dated, Jessie.”

“Splitting hairs,” I mumbled and picked up the sack.

“It’s complicated,” Lukas said. I was about to tell him to uncomplicate it, but I realized he wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to Lucy. Or Elaine. “Yes. I’d have to agree.” A pause. “No. It’s very nice to see you, too.”

My mouth fell open. “Are you kidding?”

He turned to me. “What?”

“You’re really standing there having a conversation with your dead ex while we commit a crime?”

“I’m being polite. Just because she’s dead doesn’t mean I should be rude.” Then, turning, he said, “No. I’ve missed you, too. You look well.”

Well? How well could she possibly look? She was dead, for crap’s sake.

Lukas nodded and smiled. “This is Jessie. She’s with me.”

My head was ready to explode. With me? Not, she’s my girlfriend, or we’re dating? I would have even taken courting. “Do I need to worry?”

He blinked. “Worry?”

“Maybe another one of your unhinged and irritatingly long-lived exes trying to cut me down?”

“Elaine isn’t long-lived. She’s dead.”

I snorted. Meredith had been buried under six feet of mud and stone, yet she’d still been a problem. “Again, splitting hairs…”

He rolled his eyes and flashed me a smile. The one reserved just for me. Equal parts amusement and adoration with just the smallest hint of frustration. With a nod toward the sack, he said, “Is that all of it?”

I tried to forget about Elaine and jangled the homemade sack slung over my shoulder. “I think so?”

Next to the table was a large fixture leaning against the wall. When I reached over and pulled the dust-covered sheet off, I found an intricately carved, floor length mirror. The thing looked like it belonged in Dracula’s living room. Thick brass vines wound around the outside, twining around four large skulls—two at the top and two at the bottom—with bright red gemstones for eyes.

“Wouldn’t want that in the corner of my bedroom,” I said with a shiver. I placed the sack on the floor and took a step away. “Let me just check the storage room to make sure they don’t have anything in the boxes back there. Last thing we need is for them to replace this stuff with more.”