Deathtrap (Crossbreed #3)(13)
After the revelation regarding the alleged value of my necklace, I tucked it inside my shirt. Odds were my mischievous friend was messing with my head to further his theory, and that specialty drink had done me no favors. It had altered my mood, though it wasn’t so strong that I couldn’t control my actions. Maybe that was why I’d participated in his game, whereas any other night I might have blown him off.
I was beginning to see the allure of all the club drinks.
After I left Club Nine and made it back to Keystone, I went into the dining room to find empty pizza boxes stacked on the table. One had leftovers inside and a note with my name taped to the box.
I lit a candle and took a seat in one of the booths along the wall between the dining and gathering rooms. Through the archway to my left, I noticed that the fire was extinguished—not a single flickering ember in the hearth. The butterscotch glow from my candle suffused against the wooden table, creating a peaceful aura amid the darkness.
Blue silently entered the room in a long red dress that looked like something out of medieval times. Her daytime attire consisted of tall boots, dark pants, and a tight shirt. In the wee hours of the morning, I occasionally caught her roaming the halls, her gown or cloak swishing against the cold floors. Blue remained an enigmatic figure in the house. On one hand, the face she showed the world was fierce. Yet within the privacy of these walls, a feminine side existed.
“You’re not eating?” she asked. “We saved enough in case you came home hungry.”
I waved my hand. “If you want some, it’s all yours. I don’t have an appetite.”
She opened the box and took out a slice. “I don’t think we’ve ever ordered pizza before. Viktor almost had a heart attack when the delivery man buzzed at the front gate.”
I snickered. “I tipped him online, so I hope you guys didn’t go out of your way.”
She took a seat across from me and folded a slice of pizza in half. “Christian answered the door, so I don’t know what he did.”
“Probably said a lot of fecks.”
Her eyes danced with amusement. “I think he was curious like we all were what you were going to cook.”
I touched some of the hot wax dripping down the side of the candle. “I wasn’t hungry after we found the body, and I really didn’t feel like cooking.”
She took a large bite and picked up a fallen pepper. “I thought you’d be famished.”
I gave her a cold stare even though I knew she was kidding.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “Claude filled us in on the gory details. No one expected you to cook after that.”
“Is the woman going to be our next case?”
Blue wiped her mouth, her sapphire-colored eyes focused on the pizza. “It’s up to Viktor. A lot of murders happen in the Breed district; it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve happened upon a crime scene. But we still have to get paid, so that means someone would have to hire us to solve the murder.” She glanced over her shoulder at the door across from us that led down to the training room. “Shepherd was upset when he heard about it.”
“Shepherd?”
She ate the pizza up to the crust and left it on the table. “After Claude described the grisly scene, Shepherd got up and left the room.”
“Was Claude talking about it over dinner? No wonder.”
She stroked her bottom lip. “Shepherd has an iron stomach. I once saw him eat a taco while some guy told a story about how he removed a twenty-foot tapeworm from his bowels. Gem I’d expect to leave the table, but not Shepherd.”
“Maybe he had to do some more pull-ups.”
Blue smiled, her cheeks glowing.
I noticed the holes in her earlobes where her feather earrings usually hung. “Don’t those close up when you shift?”
“Sometimes. I could make it permanent with liquid fire, but I just pierce them again. It’s no big deal.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
She sat back. “Sure. But I can’t guarantee you’ll get an answer.”
“Remember the masquerade ball? When you went with Christian to buy a wig, did you see him buying anything else?”
“Like what?”
“Jewelry or something.”
Her eyes skated up. “No. He pretty much stayed in the chair and watched me try them all on. He picked out the hideous ones first so he could get a good laugh. That much I remember.”
“So the guy didn’t try to sell him anything else?”
“We spent about an hour picking out my wig and then loaded the costumes into the van. That was it.”
I leaned back, my arms still on the table as I stared at the candle. I didn’t have the best memory in the world, but I was pretty sure Christian had told me that the seller was pushing his trinkets to get him to buy something else. If that was true, wouldn’t he have also bought Blue a necklace? She’d ended up wearing something Gem had lent her for the evening. Why would he lie?
I refused to believe that Chaos’s statement was true, so there had to be a logical explanation.
“Is this about the necklace I’ve seen you wearing?” She stared at my black shirt, which concealed the stone beneath.
“I thought he mentioned buying it from that dealer, so I was going to see if he had anything else I might like. My memory isn’t what it used to be,” I said, hoping to throw off any suspicion.