"Don't worry," Carlyle said. "This place is totally anonymous. Nobody cares what you do or who you do it with, as long as you don't skip out on your bill. As for the elemental, she had other fish to flay tonight and sent me instead. So your skin will stay right where it is-for now. "
Stephenson drew a white handkerchief out of the breast pocket of his suit and mopped his forehead with it. I could smell the stench of his relief all the way across the room. "I wish I'd never gotten involved in this mess. "
"You wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't fucked all those ten-year-old girls on your daughter's soccer team," Carlyle's tone was light, conversational, like he was talking about whether it might rain tomorrow.
Donovan Caine let out a low, guttural growl. The sound a wolf might make before it ripped out your throat. His hands clenched into fists, and I heard his teeth grind together through his clenched jaw. So Stephenson was a pedophile. Would have been easy for the Air elemental to get her hooks into him. All she'd need would be a picture, just one, and the police captain would have been hers.
"What about the assassin?" Carlyle asked. "Anything on her?"
Stephenson snorted and poured himself a third drink. "Bitch is a fucking ghost. None of my snitches know who she is or what she looks like. And none of the tips we've gotten have been worth a damn, I'm starting to think that sketch Caine gave us was total bullshit. I think she's gone. Out of town and out of the picture. " Carlyle digested the information. "What about the old man's son? The banker?" Stephenson shrugged. "Finnegan Lane told his bank he was taking a vacation because he was so heartsick over his father's murder. I imagine he's on an island somewhere by now. "
"What about Caine? Has the detective surfaced yet?"
Stephenson mopped more sweat from his forehead. "No, I can't find the fucker anywhere. He wasn't stupid enough to go back to his house. He hasn't reported in for work, and none of his buddies have seen him. He's gotta still be in Ashland, though.
He doesn't have the resources to disappear like Lane does. "
Carlyle leaned forward and speared the giant with a hard, flat stare. "You need to find the detective. Caine is a loose end that needs to be clipped off before he starts unraveling things. The elemental wants you to find him-ten minutes ago. I showed you the picture of the old man at the barbecue restaurant. You know what happens when she doesn't get her way. "
Stephenson tossed back another drink. Some of the liquid courage must have finally kicked in because he glared back at the vampire. "I called Caine just like you wanted.
If your crew had done its job and held on to him until the elemental got there, we wouldn't be wondering where the detective is and what he's up to. And I wouldn't be wondering when your boss is going to kill me. She'll kill you too, you know. As soon as she thinks she doesn't need you anymore. Bitch is crazy. Does she really think nobody will notice what she's doing? All the wiseguys she's hired? The fact she's building her own crew to take on Mab Monroe's organization? And that she's using money from Mab's own company to do it?"
"Nobody did notice the embezzling or anything else, until Gordon started digging around," Carlyle replied.
My eyes narrowed. So that's what this was all about. The Air elemental had been stealing money from Halo Industries to try to wrest control of the city away from Mab Monroe. To build a crew and fund a war against the Fire elemental. Gordon Giles had known about her embezzling and was going to blow the whistle on her to the cops. That's why he'd had to die. The Air elemental couldn't afford to let Mab get wind of her plans, not before she was ready to make her move. But since killing Giles outright herself would have drawn Mab's unwanted attention to Halo Industries, the Air elemental had hired me to take the fall-to come in and be Giles's conveniently dead killer.
But Stephenson was right. Bitch really was crazy if she thought she could take control of the city away from Mab Monroe. Because before the Air elemental could even get to Mab, she'd have to take out her flunkies first. The lawyer, Jonah McAllister, might not present much of a problem, although he had his own guards. But Mab's giant enforcer, Elliot Slater, he'd be a hard weed to mow down. And then there was Mab herself, the toughest task of all. David had had a better chance against Goliath than the Air elemental did of knocking off Mab Monroe.
But the revelation also told me something else-the Air elemental almost certainly had to be Haley or Alexis James. Nobody else was high enough up in the company to manage something like this. Carlyle was going to tell me later exactly which one of the sisters it was-no matter how bloody I had to get in the process.
Instead of arguing further with the giant, Carlyle sat back in his seat. He ran his finger around the lip of his glass, then gave Stephenson a sly look. Considering something.
"Perhaps you and I could come to an agreement," Carlyle said in a smooth tone.
"Since you seem to be rather tired of working for the elemental. "
Stephenson eyed him. "What kind of agreement?"
"We both agree it's only a matter of time before the elemental implodes," Carlyle said.
"Who's to say after that happens you and I can't pick up the pieces?"
"What exactly are you proposing?"
Carlyle shrugged. "Nothing right now. Except you watch out for me, and I'll watch out for you until things settle down. After that, well, we'll just see what happens. "
"What about the elemental?" Fear crept back into the giant's voice. "If she even thinks we're plotting-"
"Don't worry about the elemental. " A smirk filled Carlyle's blocky face. "I've got a little insurance policy in place to keep her in line. "
Insurance policy? There was only one thing Carlyle could have that the elemental wanted-Gordon Giles's secret flash drive with all of her dirty deeds on it. The vampire was going to be more useful than I'd anticipated.
Stephenson didn't respond to the other man's offer. But I could see the desperate hope in his eyes. The police captain would do anything to get out from under the elemental's thumb, even fall into bed with a hood like Carlyle. He didn't realize the vampire would treat him exactly the same, in the end.
"Just think about it," Carlyle said. "But not too long. "
He finished his drink and jerked his head toward the door. "Now leave. I've got other things to do tonight before