Ashes (Dark in You 3)

He inhaled deeply, adopting that unnatural calm that she’d never be able to perfect. If she hadn’t been able to feel his anger brushing against the edges of her consciousness, she’d have thought he truly had his shit together.

“Let me in,” he said. “I need to talk to her a little. Not interrogate or upset her, just talk to her.”

Harper nodded, trusting that he wouldn’t do anything to frighten Heidi. She opened the door and led the way to the kitchen, where the four imps had gathered.

Knox smiled at Heidi, who was sitting on the countertop, munching on a cookie. “I heard you had a bit of an adventure today. You must have been very scary to make a bad person run away.”

“My scream hurt his ears.”

Sensing Knox’s confusion, Harper said, She has a sonic scream.

Ah, I see. “From what Harper tells me, you were very brave. I will find the person who did this, okay? They’ll never bother you again. I just need you to tell me whatever you remember about him so that I can find him.”

Heidi’s little button nose wrinkled. “Well —”

“What did he look like?” Martina interrupted. “Tall? Short?”

“He was tall,” said Robbie. “He had broad shoulders.”

Heidi nodded. “He —”

“What about his hair?” said Martina. “Blond? Red? Brown? Black?”

Heidi opened her mouth to answer, but Robbie beat her to it. “He had a buzzcut.”

“Did he tell you his name?” Knox asked Heidi.

“Yes,” she replied. “He said it was —”

“He won’t have given her his real name,” Robbie scoffed. “He could be anyone. I’ve never seen him before.”

Heidi did a cute little growl. “Will someone please let me talk? Jeez.”

Harper bit her lip, stifling a smile. “They don’t mean to talk over you, Heidi-ho, they’re just anxious. Now what is it you’d like to say?”

“He said his name was Dean. I don’t know if it’s true. Check.” She pulled a brown leather wallet out of her pocket and handed it to Knox.

Jolene framed her face with her hands, smiling. “You fabulous little girl!”

Levi grinned and tugged on one of her ringlets. “You told him he was really tall in that shaky voice to make him bend down so you could rob him, didn’t you?”

She grinned back at him. “Uh-huh.”

Harper kissed her cheek. “Clever girl.”

She smiled brightly at Jolene. “Can I get a puppy now?”

Harper looked at Knox, who’d opened the wallet. What’s his name?

Dean Bannon.

Huh, so he had used his real name. Never heard of him.

I have. He’s a stray demon for hire. His address is right here on his driver’s license. Levi, grab him and take him to the boathouse. Knox rattled off the demon’s address, and the sentinel nodded and strode out of the house.

Jolene walked over to Knox, eyes hard. “I want that bastard.”

“I have questions for him,” said Knox.

“So do I – this son of a bitch is mine.”

Harper put a hand on her shoulder. “Levi will get him, Grams. Once Knox is done with his questions, you can have him, okay?”

Jolene’s shoulders lost some of their stiffness. “All right. He’d better be alive when you hand him over, Thorne.”

Knox couldn’t give her any guarantees, since it would really all depend on exactly what the fucker said. “I’ll do my best not to kill him.”

Jolene snorted. “I suppose that’s the best I can hope for.”

It didn’t take long for Levi to retrieve Dean. In fact, they were already at the boathouse when Tanner drove Harper and Knox back to the mansion. She wasn’t surprised that Knox tried to talk her into going inside and leaving the interrogation to him, but she was having none of that shit. Heidi was her cousin and that motherfucker had tried to snatch her. Harper wanted to look into his eyes. She needed to do it.

He was tied to a chair, mostly naked, when Knox and Harper strolled into the boathouse with Tanner in tow. The hellhound went to stand beside Levi near the wall while Harper and Knox halted in front of their captive. He didn’t look like a criminal, she thought. He looked more like a doctor or a teacher – someone harmless and nonthreatening. She supposed that was his “weapon”, so to speak.

No one said anything. The tense silence stretched out until the anticipation had to be almost excruciating for good ole Dean. He spared Harper only a brief glance; his attention was on the predator glaring down at him. He was wise not to look away from anything that dangerous, in Harper’s opinion. Knox might look cool and composed, but they could all sense that he and his demon were far from it.

Her own demon was just as infuriated. The entity liked Heidi a lot and was very protective of her. The fact that this male had frightened her, manhandled her, and tried to take her… yeah, that was definitely enough for her demon to want him dead and buried. Jolene would most certainly take care of that, and his death would not be an easy or quick one.

“Mr. Bannon, isn’t it?” Knox held up the wallet. “You should have thought twice before trying to kidnap a pickpocket.”

Dean swore, shaking his head, clearly disgusted with himself.

Harper’s smile was all teeth. “Howdy.” She tilted her head. “How’re your ears?”

“A little better.”

“Too bad.” She bent forward a little. “How does it feel to be brought down by a five-year-old?” His eyes flared, and she straightened. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I thought.”

Knox took an aggressive step toward him. “I don’t make deals, but I’ll make an exception in this case because I need answers. If you answer my questions honestly, I won’t kill you.”

Hope briefly flickered in Dean’s eyes, but then he shot Knox a skeptical look. “I find that hard to believe.”

Knox shrugged. “Then what do you have to lose?” Dean said nothing, but Knox saw capitulation in his eyes. “Now I’m going to take a stab in the dark and guess that you were hired by someone to take Heidi Wallis. Why did they want her?” Knox raised a hand. “Don’t try telling me you acted independently. We both know you’d be lying. Not that it will bother me all that much if it becomes necessary to… persuade you to tell me what I want to know. My demon will definitely enjoy it. Just as it enjoyed killing the two hunters that attacked Harper.”

Dean swallowed. “I don’t know why they wanted the kid. I don’t even know who they are. I didn’t ask any questions. It’s none of my business.”

“She’s five,” Harper spat. “It doesn’t bother you that you could have been hired by a pervert? Maybe you were hoping they’d share her with you.”

He jerked back. “What? Hell, no. I was hired to do a job – that’s it.”

“A job for who?” asked Knox.

“I don’t know. I got an anonymous email. It was encrypted. Whoever sent it was smart. It self-deleted a few minutes after I opened it.”

Knox exchanged a knowing look with Harper. “How are you supposed to contact this person?”

“I’m not,” said Dean. “I was hired to take her and drop her unconscious at a specific place, where the money would be waiting. The old quarry near the landfill. Then I was supposed to leave straight after – no hanging around, and no trying to make contact with anyone.”

Knox thought on that for a moment. Whoever was behind the attacks was taking many precautions to ensure they couldn’t be identified, which meant they weren’t underestimating Knox’s ability to find them. Yet, they obviously considered themselves smart enough to avoid capture or they would never have fucked with Harper in the first place. “What did they want with Heidi?”

“They didn’t say. I didn’t ask. I’m normally contacted by people who demand ransoms, so I’m guessing that’s what this is about.”

Harper cast him an exasperated look. “She’s a Wallis. We’re not exactly billionaires.”