Snared (Elemental Assassin #16)(91)
“I’ll find Mason sooner or later,” I said to my mother’s photo. “No matter who he is or where he’s hiding. And then I’ll kill him for what he did to you and Annabella. I promise you that.”
I ran my fingers over her snowflake pendant a final time, then left the den and headed into the kitchen to see what Finn and Silvio had come up with for dinner.
? ? ?
Over the next few days, things slowly returned to normal. I ran the Pork Pit during the day and searched for information on the Circle and the mysterious Mason at night, along with the rest of my friends.
Bria and Xavier were assigned to investigate the murder of Damian Rivera, but it turned out to be an open-and-shut case. Tucker hadn’t just killed Rivera. The sly vampire had actually left a note behind—and he’d blamed the whole thing on Bruce Porter.
Tucker had typed up the note as though he were Porter, and in it, he’d confessed to being the Dollmaker. He claimed that Rivera had found out what he’d done and was going to turn him into the police, so Porter had killed his boss instead. And here was the real kicker. The note claimed that Porter was so distraught by what he’d done to Damian that he’d thrown himself off the cliffs at the edge of the Rivera estate. So in one fell swoop, Tucker killed Rivera, blamed Porter for it, and closed the entire case by claiming that Porter had committed suicide.
I had to admire the vampire’s efficiency, if nothing else.
Of course, Bria and Xavier did a thorough search of the entire Rivera estate, including Porter’s caretaker cottage. They found a secret drawer in the bottom of Porter’s dresser that was full of locks of blond hair, each one tied off with a different-colored ribbon and all from the women he’d murdered. I didn’t like the fact that Tucker had twisted the story around to suit his own needs, and also those of the Circle, but at least the victims’ families got a little bit of closure, knowing that the person who’d killed their loved ones couldn’t hurt anyone else ever again.
Including Stuart Mosley.
Four days after the fight at the Rivera estate, the dwarf came to the Pork Pit at about two o’clock in the afternoon. He shrugged out of his long gray overcoat, hung up his matching hat, and sat on a stool at the counter next to Silvio, who was typing on his tablet like usual, still in hot pursuit of the mysterious Mason. The two of them exchanged polite nods, and Silvio went back to work.
“Mr. Mosley,” I said. “You’re looking much better today.”
And he truly did. His silver hair was neatly brushed, his Rudolph-red nose had returned to its normal color, and his hazel eyes were sharp and clear instead of tired and watery. Plus, he was wearing a suit instead of the rumpled pajamas he’d had on the last time I’d seen him.
Mosley harrumphed. “Yes, according to Finn, I am not a germ-infested, snot-ridden mess anymore, so that’s a definite improvement.”
I laughed, pulled my order pad out of the back pocket of my jeans, and grabbed a pen from the top of the cash register. “So what can I get you?”
“I’m not here to eat.”
“Oh?”
Mosley glanced around the restaurant, which was largely empty, since the lunch rush had already come and gone. Only two spots were occupied.
Jade Jamison sat at a table across from Dr. Ryan Colson. Given the way the two of them kept staring at each other, smiling and laughing, I’d say that they were on an unofficial date, whether they realized it or not. Jade saw me watching them, and I flashed her a thumbs-up. She grinned back at me, and a faint blush colored her cheeks. She leaned forward and focused on Ryan again.
I wasn’t the only one who noticed Jade and Ryan together. From a nearby booth, Elissa Daniels stared over at her sister, a faint smile lifting her lips.
Jade had been calling me every day with updates. Elissa was seeing a therapist and trying to cope the best she could with everything that had happened. Bria had been able to keep Elissa out of the official police investigation, so no one knew that she’d almost been the Dollmaker’s next victim. The last thing she needed right now was to be hounded by the news reporters who had been covering the story nonstop.
Jade had told me that Elissa just wanted things to go back to normal—or as normal as they could be—so I’d decided to help with that. Three other girls were sitting in the booth with Elissa: Eva Grayson, Owen’s sister; Violet Fox, her best friend; and Catalina Vasquez, Silvio’s niece.
Eva, Violet, and Catalina had all been through some pretty horrific things themselves, and I thought that the four of them might be able to help each other. That they might be able to talk about things together in a way that maybe they couldn’t with the older people in their lives. At the very least, Eva, Violet, and Catalina could show Elissa that this too would eventually pass, that the pain and fear would slowly lessen, and that there were still plenty of good things and people left in the world, instead of just the nightmare that she’d experienced.
Plates of food were spread out across the table, along with their laptops and textbooks. Ostensibly, they’d come here to study, although they didn’t seem to be getting any work done. Eva was doing most of the talking, throwing her hands up into the air as she told some story, with Violet and Catalina both chiming in occasionally. Elissa sat there, nodding her head instead of talking, but every once in a while, her eyes would brighten, and she would smile a little at something one of the other girls said. You couldn’t get more normal than gabbing with some new girlfriends. I just hoped that it helped her.