When the hell would he get here? Eileen’s fingers tapped impatiently on the wood of the table as she sank back into the plush of the seat. Her eyes wandered over the inhabitants of the pub. It wasn’t very well known from what she had heard, but there was still a lot of people here.

  She’d decided that the best way to stay under the radar was to come here as a Kiran. Lenora would have been more out of pce, and as Ay had so kindly mentioned, very few people would find it odd for a man to be alone at a pub rather than a woman. Seeing the logic behind the reasoning, she hadn’t really protested the idea.

  Eileen sighed as she moved to take a sip of the juice the waitress had gotten for her not long before. She still hadn’t told Ay the details of what she was doing back inTeodes, and Ay knew better than to ask. A faint smile flickered over her lips. Anyone who knew them knew better than to dig too deep into what a Devencrux was doing.

  It was more often than not, nothing but trouble.

  Grandpa alone was a lot of trouble, as Dane often pointed out, there was no telling what two of him could do. Eileen was still a little annoyed at being compared to the old man, but she’d learnt to wave it off. If she ever admitted to their simirities aloud, it would be because someone was extorting her.

  Thoughts of her grandpa made a small smile flicker over her lips as she gazed towards the entrance. His st letter had told her not to stress so much. He had also given her a name and a lead.

  Joseph Ellis. If she remembered correctly, he was in charge of feeding the horses in the manor. Along with all the other livestock grandpa had brought home from his travels. Eileen took another sip of her drink, running her hand through her hair. She wouldn’t have bmed him he’d wanted to quit after the fire-breathing panther grandpa had decided to bring home.

  But he’d stayed. From her faint memories she could even remember the man having fun trying figure out how to get the hellcat its food. He had never missed a day of work. So, it was even more suspicious that the man’s only day off in all the time he’d worked for them was the day of the accident.

  And even more so that he was nowhere to be found after the day. It had taken her days to find his phone number, and even longer to get him to agree to meet her. If she was being fair, she supposed it would have been easier to get the man to talk to her if she had revealed who she was. But that would be a stupid move.

  So instead she’d broken into the central record room and hacked into their database to find a man fitting his description. It was a little disconcerting how easy it was to do that. She hadn’t even needed to use the driveArenhad sent her to weaken their defences. It had almost seemed too easy.

  But two weeks without any sign anyone had noticed had done a lot to quell those fears. At least fears of someone suspecting something amiss. She still couldn’t believe a city with rapidly growing technology had such weak defences on their database. However, it made things easier for her, so she couldn’t be too mad about it.

  As the final sips of her drink vanished, Eileen spotted her suspect lingering in the doorway. His greying bck hair hidden under a cloak and brown eyes nervously gncing around the pub. She was amused to note that he still wore dark brown leather pants and silver armour over a white shirt even when he wasn’t working.

  She shook her head. The man may love his job a little too much, but it was a little endearing. Still. She needed answers.

  Eileen lifted her hand and waved her fingers to the right, crisscrossing them thrice before tapping the handle of her drink twice. They had discussed this over the phone mere moments before she had decided to come here, but she was little worried he had forgotten. The worry was proven needless when Ellis immediately honed in on her position in the corner and nodded twice.

  “I was beginning to think you’d stood me up.” Eileen poured some of the ale into two cups as he took a seat.

  Joseph grimaced as he took a seat, immediately going to chug the ale. “It was certainly a possibility.” He fiddled with his hands, before taking another chug. “Especially considering what you want to speak to me about.”

  She hummed in response, bringing the cup up to her lips and pretended to take a sip. “I suppose it has been more a decade.” She sighed then turned her head questioningly towards him. “Why did you decide to meet me?”

  “I don’t know.” He gnced towards the door before meeting her eyes. “It’s been a long time since anyone has even mentioned that family.” He paused when taking a sip, eyeing her suspiciously. “Why did you want to ask me about them?”

  Eileen smiled wryly, ying her head on the palm of her hand. “Call it professional curiosity.”

  He blinked at that, eyebrows furrowing as his eyes flickered from her posture to her eyes. She smiled encouragingly as he sighed and took the sip. “You’d be the only one.” he said whilst wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, “No one has brought up that incident in over a decade.”

  “Well, let’s just say I have an invested interest.”

  It wasn’t surprising that no one had brought it up. A fire inTeodes, especially so close to a traveller’s town was unheard off, and they wouldn’t want to draw attention to it. Eileen had had enough time to be annoyed with the inaction to not show a reaction now. Still, her blood boiled at the ck of investigation.

  Ellis put the cup down to eye her warily. “Who did you say you were again?”

  “Who I am is irrelevant.” She gave him a grin before taking another fake sip of her drink. “In this particur instance, I believe it’s better to keep it that way. Don’t you?”

  From the way he tensed up and gnced towards the door, it seemed Eileen wasn’t the only one suspecting foul py. She could see his fingers twitching restlessly beneath the leather of his gloves as he tapped them on the cup again. There was a good chance that if she looked under the table, his feet would be simirly fidgety. When he turned his gaze towards her again, Eileen decided to throw him a bone.

  “Don’t worry. You have my word that I will not give you away.” She put two fingers to her heart before lifting them to her lips. “Your secrets will be safe with me.”

  Whatever he saw in her eyes must have been convincing because soon he was rexing a little and lifting the ale to his lips once again. Good. It would make getting information all the more easier. She remembered the reportArenhad sent her mentioning he was more loose-lipped after he had a drink.

  “What can you tell me about that day?” Better to get right to the point.

  He looked up at her for a slow second before inhaling deeply, eyes taking on a more confident gleam as he leaned in to whisper. “It was so long ago, I can hardly remember a thing but…”

  “But?”

  His lips pursed, eyes wondering around nervously before flickering back to hers. “I remember it started off as a normal day. I was going down to feed the falcons and take care of the panthers the General had brought back.”

  Eileen had suppress a smile at the longing in his tone as he reminisced. It put a damper on some of her suspicions at least. She didn’t think the man could hide his emotions even if his life depended on it. On the off chance that she was wrong, she decided she’d just have to keep tabs on him.

  “They always used to purr when they got their feed,” he went on to say. “Don’t believe anything you hear about them being vicious creatures. Docile cats, the lot of em.”

  “I won’t.” It was hard to keep the amusement out of her tone and she had to hide it behind another fake sip.

  Joseph grinned. “Good.” Then his expression turned sombre again. “Anyways, I was feeding them when I got a call from a colleague saying something about a meeting and alone time. Mind. I didn’t believe it at first. The Lord and Lady weren’t ones to make people leave on a whim.”

  No they were not. They had always thought it would be unfair to disturb their work because of their personal wants. Besides, with the hellish training grandpa always ran near the manor, both of her parents had learned to appreciate hard work. Although, she didn’t quite know if her mother was always like that.

  “Hmm. But you left anyway?” Because he had. The reports and eyewitness accounts she had read over with grandpa had said there was no one left the manor but her parents.

  “I wish I hadn’t.” He finished off the ale with a swig. “I didn’t want to believe it. I remember writing it off as a joke. But then we got the notes.”

  “Notes?” Eileen felt her eyebrows furrow. They had gotten notes? “That seems awfully convenient.”

  “In hindsight yes. But I was younger and dumber then. I believed it when it said all staff were to spend the day in town and not return until night fall. Remember grumbling about it to Willis too.” He leaned forward to bury a shuddering sigh into his hands, face on the table.

  “And when you returned everything was set abze.” She might have been sighing too.

  “I regret it every day.” His looked up and Eileen could see the sincerity in his eyes. “I’ve gone over that day a million times, wondering at the what ifs. What if I had stuck to my guts and not left? What if I’d returned before nightfall? What if had just checked to make sure they were legit? If…” His st words cut off in a sob and her heartpangedwith sympathy at the depth of his regret.

  “It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known what was going to happen.” It was frustrating and rage inducing that it had happened, but she could hardly expect people to know the future in advance.

  “But it was!” Joseph shook his head, pulling tighter at the hood. “It’s so obvious it’s a set up now. I should have known they’d never do something like that.”

  “Hindsight’s a bitch,” she agreed. “Do you know who sent the notes.”

  “No.” He huffed in frustration, the regret still palpable in his tone. “No one does. But I know someone did,” he leaned in again, “a few weeks after the fire, I found a tattered red cloth by the west wing.”

  Interesting. That was the wing her parents always stayed in on their stays in that manor. Whoever had been behind the fire must have known that. But how?

  “You think it was from the person who sent the notes?”

  “I know it was.” His eyes gleamed as he set a stack of notes on the table and made to stand up. “Mark my words, the man or woman who left it behind is the reason the Devencrux family are gone.” His voice cracked at the st words.

  “Is it still there?”

  “No. Contractors confiscated it with the rest of the rusty ornaments.” He grimaced in memory. “If you’re really investigating this, and I think you may be, I’ll send you a photo I took.”

  Eileen gave him what she hoped was a rexed smile. “I am. The picture would be more than appreciated.”

  Warm brown eyes flickered between hers before he nodded. “Good man. Now I’ve got to be off. I’ve already lingered enough.” Then without waiting for a reply he made a beeline for the door.

  When he stumbled on the way, Eileen was a little worried he might be more inebriated than she thought. She had made sure to order something that was only slightly alcoholic. She wanted him loose-lipped not out of it. It would dangerous if he was no longer aware of his surroundings.

  Would it be better if she went to check up on him? She was halfway out of her seat before she saw him subtly wave at her as he turned the corner out into the street. She blinked. Maybe not. Slumping back into seat with a sigh, she was almost tempted to drink the ale after all.

  Maybe then she wouldn’t have to deal with the emotions wrecking havoc in the wake of the information she’d been given. The brief investigation she’d read hadn’t mentioned any notes. But they had cimed to interview workers, so it most certainly should have.

  Even if she didn’t know grandpa vetted anyone who wanted to work for them, she would have known it from the sheer magnitude of Joseph’s regret. If any of their other workers felt even a fraction of it, they would have mentioned something. So there was only one conclusion she could come to.

  It was pnned. She had always suspected it might have been, but having the confirmation was jarring. A pit formed in her stomach as she tried to bury the array of emotions it brought out. Gods. Who could have done something like that?

  Who hated her parents that much?

  A step closer yet, she still had no clues which leads to follow. Sure, she had a piece of cloth, but it may be a dead end. Who would remember a decade old piece of cloth? Anger welled again at the injustice of it all. Accident her ass.

  It didn’t matter how long it took, she would find out who was behind it.

  Still, a drop of doubt mixed itself with the anger. What if her parents had written the note? What if….What if she was wrong? No. She wasn’t. She couldn’t be. But what if…

  “Fancy running into you here.”

  The trail of doubt cut off, along with the direction of her thoughts as her head snapped sideways to look into the smug face accompanying the familiar. Once again, he’d shown up out of the blue, but this time she was somewhat gd for it.

  Raiden Redthorn had appeared right when needed someone to snap her out of a spiral. But that didn’t make his presence any less surprising.