Night of the Lions (Lions of Manhattan 1)

“The bonfire.”

“Right. It symbolises the cleansing of our souls. One of Veron’s pride pulled Sophie-Marie out before she was burned to death. She was permanently disfigured from her self-immolation. I guess she had every reason to hate me. She hated me enough to try to kill you and she was involved in the deaths of my previous girlfriends.”

“I remember reading the news in the papers.”

“Michelle Daly jumped fro

m her apartment. And Stacey Heyde just disappeared. My brothers and I had always harboured suspicions that Sophie-Marie was behind the incident. Only when we raided her home in Alpine to save you were we able to gather some evidence. Among it, we also found proof that Sophie-Marie was the one who ordered your brother’s death.”

Her heart stopped for a moment. “Jon?”

“Jon’s death wasn’t a mere accident. Sophie-Marie hired a pro to make the car crash look like an accident.”

“But what did Jon have to do with her?”

“Sophie-Marie had hired your brother to dig dirt on me. Sophie-Marie pretended to be a businesswoman named Kelly Rothford. Apparently, when your brother found out Sophie-Marie’s ulterior motive, she had him killed. I couldn’t quite figure out why Sophie-Marie hired you afterward.”

Cat didn’t hear Gabe’s last words. Jon had been murdered. Her brother had been murdered. The only person she’d had left in the world. For what? One jealous woman’s ambition. Sophie-Marie had ruined a lot of people’s lives.

Anger boiled in her chest. Suddenly, she couldn’t contain her tears. Gabriel quickly held her hand and tucked her head under his chin.

“Jon didn’t deserve to die,” she sobbed.

“I know, Cat. I’m sorry.”

Thousands of emotions bubbled inside her. Cat wiped her tears with the back of her hand. She needed solitude to mourn Jon. Or sleep. She didn’t want people to see her weeping like an idiot. She swallowed hard. “Can I have that sleeping pill the good doctor offered earlier?”

Epilogue

The office of Kovac Detective Agency looked empty without Jon. It was a small place he had rented in a strip mall in Newark. It had a reception area with a coffee table and a battered sofa. And in the back was Jon’s office, containing an old desk, a bookcase and several lopsided filing cabinets. Her old desk was in the waiting area, complete with an ancient computer that was in dire need of an upgrade.

Cat was nostalgic for the days when she and Jon had worked together. How happy her brother had been when they’d got a client. Or when Jon had received a cheque from a client. Jon had always taken her for dinner at Cucina Amore when they’d had some money to splurge. She couldn’t believe he was gone.

“Cat…”

Gabriel startled her. He leaned against the door frame as she cleaned Jon’s desk. It had been six weeks since they’d returned from South Africa. Her broken leg and wrist had mended and she was out of the casts. She’d lived in Gabriel’s apartment until she’d healed completely. Today, they were visiting Jon’s grave and the office. Cat was overwhelmed by the memory of her brother, but it was time to move on and let go of the past.

Cat took a seat behind Jon’s desk. “I’m going to carry on running this agency. In Jon’s memory.”

Gabriel didn’t look surprised. “I knew you were going to say that.”

Gabriel had proposed to her two weeks ago, and she had accepted. They planned to have a small, private wedding in Bermuda. Her fiancé had probably thought she was going to sit still and be a nice housewife, but Cat couldn’t do that. She enjoyed sleuthing so much, even when it got her stuffed into the trunk of a car or boxed into a wooden crate and flown to Africa. Besides, this was Jon’s legacy.

“Do you object?” Cat asked.

“Naturally, I do. The thought of your running around the city, stalking bad guys, gives me migraines. But what can I do? Each time I tell you to do something, you do the exact opposite.”

She couldn’t help grinning.

“Here’s my proposal. We’ll run the agency together.”

“You want to work as a PI?”

“I think it would be a fun job.”

“What about your companies? Don’t you have to run them?”

“I don’t see why I can’t have both. Besides, I have Alex and Ren to keep an eye on things. That leaves me plenty of time to spend with you.”