“I bet we can,” I said. But the gleam in my eye wasn’t romantic. It was strategic. “I want to break into Sorcha’s house.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
B TO THE E
“You’re just full of interesting plans tonight,” Catcher said. But I kept my gaze on Ethan, watching emotions and considerations move across his face.
“She has to have a workroom, an office,” I said. “A place where she preps her magic. I want to see it. Maybe we’ll find something that explains what the hell is happening in Chicago.”
“And maybe we won’t,” Ethan said, “and we’ll be arrested for breaking and entering.” He looked at Catcher. “Didn’t you look through the house after she was arrested?”
“We were allotted ten minutes by the crime scene folks,” Catcher said, voice as dry as toast. “That didn’t give us time to get through the entire house—just the center wing.”
“And we didn’t get anything out of that,” Mallory said, “other than a sense of their atrocious taste.”
She had it right. There wasn’t much in the Reed house that hadn’t been covered in screaming red velvet or gleaming gilt, every nook filled with furniture and statuary.
“Can we even get in?” Ethan asked.
“Reed’s estate is in probate,” Catcher said, running fingers over his shorn hair. “Since Sorcha’s accused of his murder and is still on the lam, the house is being monitored by a security outfit hired by the executor.”
Ethan looked at me as if he thought that might dissuade me. I just smiled at him.
“What’s the point of being Sentinel of the city’s best vampire House if I don’t get to break a few human laws?”
Ethan arched an eyebrow. “Working on your brownnosing game?”
I grinned back at him. “If it gets me what I want, yes.”
“I could make a phone call,” Catcher said, “ask for formal permission for you to go through the house. But if they say no, they’ll be on alert, and that will make it harder for you to get in.”
“And if you don’t make that call,” I said, “we may be able to use our considerable skills to slip inside undetected?”
“Something like that. And if she does have a work space, there’s a chance she’ll be there, that she slipped past the guards and got inside.”
“Then she should mind her manners,” Ethan said. “Because this won’t be a social visit.”
“I say skip the call,” I said, “and don’t put them on alert.” I looked at Ethan.
He considered in silence for a moment. “What my Sentinel wants, my Sentinel gets.”
“Since I don’t have a closet stocked with chocolate, that is literally incorrect,” I said. “But good about this Sorcha thing.”
“While you’re committing crimes, we’ll stay here, work on the magic,” Catcher said. “And maybe, if you’re cool with it, we’ll stay the night at the House.”
It wasn’t the first time they’d done so. When Mallory had been plugged into the House’s ward, she’d stayed here to keep it running. She’d since figured out a way to power it with good old electricity; she just had to check the magic to make sure everything was working the way it should have.
“No objection,” Ethan said. “I’m fairly certain your manners are better than Sorcha’s.”