And she left this to me.
“What are you doing?” Millie asks from the doorway. Her eyes are heavy with sleep as she surveys the pile of books on the floor. “Rearranging?”
I lift my hand, and all of the books return to their places on the shelf.
“Well, isn’t that handy? Can you clean the whole house like that? It’ll save some time.”
I smile as she pads into the room and sits in the chair next to mine.
“Is that mine?”
“No, it’s mine.”
She frowns. “I didn’t know you had a book of shadows.”
“Neither did I until about thirty minutes ago.” I tell her about the dream, and coming down here to look. “It’s always a bit jarring when I discover something new.”
“You can’t possibly remember every single moment,” she points out. “It makes sense that things come back to you here and there. That’s a beautiful grimoire.”
“My great-grandmother wrote it. Well, Lucien’s great-grandmother from a hundred years ago anyway.”
“And she gave it to you?”
“Yes, before she passed away. I was close to her. Learned a lot from her. Miss Sophia reminds me of her in many ways. She was patient and seemed to know everything. I always wondered how she literally knows all of the answers.”
“Because she’d lived a full life, and you were a young boy,” Millie says with a gentle smile. “I think it’s lovely that you were close to her.”
“I know there might be stuff in here that can help us.” I offer her an apologetic grin. “I know, more reading.”
“It will be fascinating,” she says. “This is priceless, Lucien. You should think about putting a spell on it so it can’t be stolen or destroyed.”
“I already considered that. I’ll do it in the morning.”
I set the book on the side table and reach for my wife, then pull her into my lap. She drags her fingertips down my cheek before offering me her sweet lips. With my mouth pressed to hers, I snap my fingers, and the lights go out.
“I wonder what it’s like,” I murmur as my lips trail down her neck, “to have sex in a library.”
“I think we’re about to find out.”* * *“I wonder what Miss Sophia wants to talk about,” Millie says the next morning as we buckle our seatbelts and leave the house. “I hate it when she’s vague. It could literally be anything.”
“If it was an emergency, she would have said so,” I remind her and kiss her hand. “Before we head out to the bayou, I need to stop and talk to Cash.”
“Okay.”
One of the things I love most about Millicent is how easygoing she is. Not much ruffles her feathers. She’s openminded and patient, two things I admire.
I make a turn and park in front of the police station, but rather that having to go inside, I see Cash waiting on the front steps.
“I have the newest bloodstone for you,” he says and passes it to me. “I don’t think you’ll find anything different from the others, but it doesn’t hurt to look.”
“Agreed.” I nod. “What else do we know?”
“The victim’s throat was cut. There was no torture with this one, but the blood was pretty much drained.”
I narrow my eyes. “Accident?”
“That, or necessity. I’m not sure. Who knows with this asshole?”
“Well, that’s true. I’ll take this to the lab and work on it later today.”
“Sounds good. I’ll let you know when and if I know more. We’ve decided to send in some of our cops who look a little like you, to the bars to try to lure him out.”
I stare at the other man that I’ve come to consider my friend in such a short time. “That’s dangerous.”
“They’re seasoned officers. They can take care of themselves. I’ll keep you posted on that, too.”
“Okay. Thanks, Cash.”
He nods and waves at Millie, who’s waiting in the car.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night as we all dance naked under the blue moon.”
I laugh and pat him on the shoulder. “You only have to dance naked on your first visit. After that, you can wear whatever you want.”
“For fuck’s sake,” he mutters. “The things we do for love.”
I laugh again, with absolutely no intention of easing his mind and telling him that the naked dancing is something only done in fiction.
It’s fun to tease him, as I would a brother.
“See you tomorrow,” I say and return to the car.
“Everything okay?” Millie asks as she waves goodbye to Cash.
“Aside from innocent men dying? Yes. Everything’s okay. I don’t want to keep this stone on me, so I’m going to drop it by the lab on our way.”
“Okay.”
“You’re quite agreeable this morning, darlin’.”
She shrugs a shoulder. “What’s not to be agreeable about? I get to spend time with you, it’s a lovely fall day, and I know my café is being taken good care of by Esme and Gwyneth. I don’t have any complaints. Except…”