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Shade grimaced at the vial which Lexi placed in his left hand. She sighed with exasperation. “Take them or don’t. It’s your choice.”
He swallowed one of the hard tablets without a drink and choked on it. A rising heat emanated from him, and he moved his right arm with difficulty. Lexi sighed as she started the engine, mindful of his sacrifice on her behalf. “There’s a café on River Road,” she stated. “I’ll drop you there and you can grab a coffee. Will Henk arrange transport for you?”
Shade turned towards her and his features hardened into sharp lines. He lifted the finger and thumb of his left hand and pointed a makeshift gun at his temple. Lexi’s shoulders sagged. “Battersea messed up by going after me. I’m not that important. He won’t try again.” She dismissed her own concerns as being without merit. But a voice in the back of her brain warned her otherwise.
Shade’s green irises sparkled in the sunlight like precious gems. Just having him beside her looking injured and gorgeous made her even more hot and bothered. She wished she hadn’t dressed in such smart and uncomfortable clothing and wondered why she’d done it. Did she really believe it would make any difference to Lachlan Mortimer? Or had she wanted to impress the handsome man riding shotgun beside her?
Lexi parked outside the café and killed the engine. She turned to face Shade as she dug in a hidden drawer beside the steering wheel. A ten-dollar note tumbled free and Lexi pulled out five dollars in shiny coins. “This should be enough for two flat whites,” she stated. “I’ll stay here and make some calls.”
Shade snorted. Amusement turned his irises to dancing motes and softened his features. He shook his head, anticipating a ruse.
Lexi groaned. “I’ll stay here until you come back!” she protested. “But you can’t spend the entire day riding around the city with me. This case is driving me nuts! I need to finish it today.” Uncomfortable thoughts flooded her mind. Tarant might wish to pretend she hadn’t quit, but she’d meant it. He’d betrayed her and she couldn’t work with him anymore.
But while she prevaricated, Shade dipped his long fingers into the cup holder and extracted her key fob. He pocketed it and gave her a sultry wink.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake!” Lexi protested. “Stop treating me like a child!” Despite the push button ignition, she still required the key to remain in the vicinity for the vehicle to start. She intended to slam her palms against the steering wheel in frustration, but rerouted them to her thighs at the last second. No point setting off the air bags. She threw herself through the driver’s door and received an angry honk from a passing car. It swerved to avoid her, and her cheeks flamed red. As soon as she reached the pavement, Shade activated the central locking. He stared at the key fob for a long minute, as though debating with himself. His thumb coasted over the buttons before he handed the fob back to Lexi.
A flicker of guilt rocketed through her core as Shade approached the counter. She’d sent him inside to order without a voice. But he pointed at the menu taped to the counter and held up two fingers. The teenager nodded and asked if he wanted sugar. Without checking with Lexi, he shook his head and, having refused her cash, pulled his phone from his front pocket, and used the wireless payment feature.
Lexi slumped into a nearby seat and pulled her phone free. She checked her messages. Tarant had texted Keith Barnard’s address as promised. But he’d added a post-script. ‘Let’s talk. Please don’t quit. I can’t manage without you.’
Shade pulled out the chair opposite her and slouched into it. He carried his right arm across his body as though deadening the pain. Lexi spoke as she processed Tarant’s message. “You look like someone who should spend the day in bed,” she mused. But her cheeks flamed again as he quirked an eyebrow in response and a smile lifted one side of his lip. Lexi gulped, flustered, and knocked off balance. Her mind went in a forbidden direction and her blush betrayed her. “I didn’t mean it as a proposal,” she bit, furious at her lack of poise in his presence. She focussed on Tarant’s message, drilling into the address he’d typed there. “Number twelve,” she whispered. “Where did I hear that recently?” Her eyes glazed as she sifted through the many conversations in her mind. “Number twelve.”
The barista disturbed her train of thought when she arrived with two coffees in take-out cups. One bubbled and frothed through the drinking hole as she placed it on the table. She glanced at Lexi’s damaged face and winced, but her gaze caressed Shade’s muscular torso with obvious interest. Her stunning smile excluded Lexi. The girl paused to take in the jagged rip in Shade’s right sleeve and the way he carried his arm. Lexi sensed her ranking him as some kind of hero type. The teenager grazed her teeth over her lower lip. All wasted. Shade nodded in response and shifted his attention to Lexi in dismissal. The girl kept the smile plastered on her face, but the lowering of her shoulders indicated her disappointment. She returned to the coffee machine and satisfied herself with surreptitious peeks over the stacked rust coloured cups and saucers.
Lexi stared at the cup which Shade edged across the table towards her. Her lips parted, and she seemed to wake from a stupor. “Number twelve, St Andrews Drive,” she whispered aloud. “I heard the number twelve part mentioned on the recording I took from Garima’s car. How did I miss that clue? Trent Barnard sent Father Donald to his brother’s house on the morning he died. He asked him to fetch a book. Trent said someone had visited him in prison and the priest sounded amazed. Because it was Keith.” She slapped the table with her palm, and it wobbled. The barista rose on tiptoes to get a better view. Her blonde ponytail swung as she bobbed from behind her machine. Lexi stared at the coffee. The jerking action of the table had caused a dribble to rise through the drinking hole and slide down its cardboard side. Lexi shook her head. “I can’t visit Keith Barnard now. Whatever he said to Father Donald is the reason the priest died. I think he heard a confession, but not at the church. I can’t ambush a murderer. Not alone.”
Her increased heart rate confounded her thoughts. She reached for her coffee and took a fortifying slurp. The hot liquid burned her tongue and the roof of her mouth. It helped her to pause her spiralling thoughts. She needed to call Tarant and get his opinion. He might wish to turn the information over to Grunwald. He would know how to account for the bug in Garima’s car. Involving Lachlan seemed a very dangerous idea. Lachlan. The angry visit she’d promised herself seemed less desirable now. Victory surged in her chest. She’d disobeyed her dictatorial father and solved a murder. She needed to break his control over her for good. Somehow. But perhaps not today.
Shade scrolled through a new message on his phone as Lexi pondered the priest’s horrible death. Instinct had always told her it held a link to his sister’s murder and Trent Barnard’s incarceration. Lexi’s phone vibrated across the table, and she watched it shake itself towards her coffee. Shade snagged it and held it out to her without lifting his gaze. His brow puckered and his lips pursed as he studied a slew of text on his screen.
Lexi took her phone but had already decided to ignore the call. She leaned towards Shade, more interested in his tight facial expression than the person causing her phone to bounce in her fingers. “What?” she demanded.
Shade turned his screen towards her. He pointed to the bottom of the message. ‘Battersea is in custody for discharging a firearm in a public place. Danny Fisher arrested for fraud and deception.’ He clicked off the power button with admirable speed, but not before Lexi sensed Henk’s clipped diction in the words beneath it. ‘Drop Mortimer’s daughter. Now!’
“So, it’s over,” she said. A smile faltered on her lips. “But what about your DNA on the bullet the cops pulled from the fence post?”
Shade shrugged. Perhaps Henk had already taken care of it. A cavern opened in her chest at the realisation that the handsome motorbike rider would leave her now. A tendril of doubt clouded her mind for long enough to alert her to the attraction she’d denied. “Will I see you again?” she whispered. Her phone vibrated, and she placed it facedown on the table.
Shade’s jaw shifted, showing a hard line through his cheek. His gentle head shake held sadness.
“Oh.” Lexi sat upright. The irony stung. She’d spent a week wishing he’d leave her alone and now, faced with the reality, she didn’t much like it. She sent her hand across the table towards him, her fingers trembling, and a brick lodged in her chest. “Well, thank you for everything.”
Shade winced as he moved his shoulder and lifted his hand. His fingers clasped hers and the familiar electrical current passed between them. Neither of them seemed to want to let go.
“Thanks for disabling the watch,” Lexi whispered. “And sending it back for me to use. I know it belonged to my father.”
Shade’s lips parted in a grin. His long lashes brushed against his cheek. Lexi’s phone vibrated again, and she released an exasperated snort. Their hands broke apart and Shade rose to leave. He used his left hand to salute her before grasping his coffee and moving towards the exit. With the tinkle of the bell above the door and a stab of regret, Lexi watched him walk away from her.
The persistent caller vibrated her phone, and she snatched it up, her tone hard as she growled, “What?”
