Snared (Elemental Assassin #16)(89)

“All right, then. I’ll hold you to that. After all, a favor is a favor, right?”

I smiled at her, and Jade wiped the tears off her face. She darted around the table, yanked me into her arms, and gave me a tight, fierce hug. A small, choked sob escaped her throat, and her entire body trembled. She started to pull back, but I could tell that she was on the verge of breaking down completely, something that she didn’t want her sister to see. So I tightened my arms around her, telling her that it was okay to let go, that I had her, that I was here for her. Another sob rocked her body, and I felt more of her tears soak into my shirt.

I stood there and held Jade while she silently cried.

? ? ?

An hour later, Elissa’s long blond locks had been transformed into a sleek black bob with hot-pink streaks, much to her satisfaction. Since we were all gathered in the salon again, I asked Jo-Jo to dye my hair back to its natural dark brown. I didn’t want to be reminded of Bruce Porter any more than Elissa did.

Jo-Jo finished with me, went over to the sink, and washed her hands, while I sat in a chair and toweled off my wet hair. Elissa was in the backyard playing with Rosco, while Jade stood by the double doors, watching her sister.

“Are you sure that you want to go back home today?” I asked. “Especially given the, ah, mess in your backyard?” I arched my eyebrows, and she realized that I was talking about the four dead dwarves.

“Actually, Sophia took care of that earlier today,” Jade said.

I glanced over at the Goth dwarf, who’d moved from the salon floor over to one of the sofas and was now reading a Karma Girl comic book.

Sophia lowered the comic and gave a modest shrug. “I do good work.” Then she grinned and went right back to her reading.

I turned back to Jade. “But what about all the damage in your office?”

“Silvio’s been over there all day working on that, along with Finn and Ryan,” Jade said. “I told Silvio that I could get a cleaning crew to come in, some of my own people, but he insisted on doing it all himself.”

That sounded just like my assistant. “Of course he did.”

Jade waved her phone at me. “Silvio texted me a few minutes ago, saying that all the files had been boxed up and that Ryan was taking everything back to the police station where it belongs. Besides, I think it would be good for Elissa to sleep in her own bed tonight. Give her a sense of normalcy.”

I nodded. “If you need anything, anything at all, you or Elissa, just call me.”

She nodded back at me. “I will, Gin. Thanks.”

Jade knocked on one of the doors, and Elissa came back inside with Rosco. The two of them packed up their things, said their good-byes, and headed home.

They hadn’t been gone five minutes when a car rumbled to a stop in front of Jo-Jo’s house. The front door banged opened, and Bria stormed into the salon, a grim look on her face.

I sighed and lowered my towel. “Now what’s wrong?”

“Damian Rivera is dead.”

Shock jolted through me. “What do you mean, he’s dead? He was fine last night. Drunk and delighted that Porter was going to torture and kill me.”

Bria flopped down in the chair next to mine and ran her hand through her hair in frustration. “Xavier and I got the call right before our warrant came through. Rivera was beaten to death inside his office. A maid found him when she went in to clean this morning.”

“But how—” The answer came to me in a flash. “Tucker,” I muttered. “He must have realized that I’d survived. He knew that I’d go after Rivera, so he went back and killed Rivera so that I couldn’t get anything out of him about the Circle. Dammit. I knew that I should have gone after Rivera as soon as Jo-Jo healed me last night. Dammit!”

Anger surged through me, and I threw my towel across the room. Somewhat comically, it hit the patio doors and harmlessly bounced off, falling to the floor. Jo-Jo gave me a look, but Sophia kept right on reading her comic book, ignoring my temper tantrum. Rosco put his head down and let out a whimper from his basket in the corner.

I slumped back down in my salon chair. Every time I thought that I was getting closer to learning more about the Circle, Tucker was right there to cut me off again. And he said that I was a thorn in his side. Bastard.

“Don’t blame yourself, Gin,” Bria said. “There’s nothing you could have done. Rivera died sometime during the night, not this morning.”

“During the night? What time?”

She shrugged. “Ryan won’t know for sure until he does the autopsy, but he estimated sometime around midnight.”

“And what time did you guys find me on the riverbank?”

“Before then. About eleven o’clock,” Jo-Jo chimed in. “Why do you ask?”

I shook my head. “No real reason.”

But my mind churned, thinking about everything. Given the estimated time of death, Tucker had killed Rivera after I’d battled Porter. The vampire must have been lurking somewhere in the woods and realized that I was still alive and that Porter was dead. I hadn’t been in any shape to go after Rivera then, but Tucker would have known that I’d hunt Rivera down the first chance I got. Tucker could have easily told the other man to leave Ashland, but instead, he’d gone ahead and killed Rivera himself.

Why? Why would he do that?