Kai stepped forward, and the werewolf flinched back. ‘Wait! You said you weren’t going to hurt me!’
‘Actually, he never said that.’ Irene focused. The Language could be used to adjust a person’s perceptions. It didn’t last long, but it could be quite effective in the right time and place. She addressed the werewolf. ‘You perceive that my friend is a truly terrifying person who is willing to do anything to make you tell us the truth.’
Fiddling with people’s minds was on the dubious side of ethical, but, Irene reassured herself, it was preferable to actually beating the information out of him.
He folded before Kai could reach him, cringing and baring his neck. ‘All right, all right!’ he babbled. ‘So we followed her outside, didn’t we? And we saw her take a private cab to the Liechtenstein Embassy to meet her husband … That’s what she told the driver. And he addressed her as “my lady”!’
Now that was rather more useful. While the woman wasn’t necessarily nobility, there couldn’t be that many women at the Embassy who’d rate that form of address.
‘But are you sure that was for real, and not just to fool you?’ Irene asked.
Despite his position, the werewolf looked smug. ‘Naah, it was for real, and you know why? Because the man who was driving the cab, my mate George knew him. He’s a regular Embassy driver. Even if she wanted to pull a fast one on us, the driver was for real.’ ‘His name,’ Irene said crisply.
The werewolf hesitated, looked at Kai again, then gave in. ‘Vlad Petrov,’ he muttered. ‘Don’t know no more than that.’
That sounded honest enough. And now they had a name to work with. ‘I think this gentleman has told us everything he can,’ Irene said to Kai.
‘I would agree.’ Kai turned back to the thug. ‘But let’s not run into each other again, hmm?’
‘You said it, guv,’ the thug agreed enthusiastically. ‘Least said, soonest mended, like my old mum always used to say.’
Kai didn’t bother asking what that was supposed to mean. He stepped back. ‘Good evening,’ he said. He offered Irene his arm and they strolled away together. They weren’t followed.
They turned the corner. ‘What do you think?’ Kai said quietly.
‘Very low-grade types,’ Irene replied and watched Kai nod in agreement. ‘And careless of whoever hired them. They were lucky their new employees didn’t attack the wrong people. And that whole business with the bag and “Don’t contact me, I’ll contact you.” She really didn’t want them getting in touch.’
Kai nodded again. ‘But I can’t quite see it as being Silver. Thugs aren’t really his style. Even if he was interested in the Stoker book. Our mystery Fae woman knew we’d be coming from the auction, with the bag - so surely she’d come from there herself. Perhaps she was Melancourt’s patron.’
Irene had to agree with the first part of that. Silver - or Lord Silver, if she absolutely must - was far more likely to arrange duellists with whips and rapiers, or have assassins descend on their house at midnight, if he really felt the need to express himself in that way. ‘Another Fae makes sense,’ she said. ‘But the timing’s off. I’m not sure someone could have been at the auction, left at the same time as us and managed to hire those werewolves to attack us.’
Kai frowned, thinking. ‘She could have left early and then hired the werewolves to intercept us - in case we got the book.’
‘True.’ They were almost at Oxford Street now. ‘But it seems a bit haphazard, and really a very careless way of handling matters.’
‘I know you’d do better, if it was you,’ Kai said graciously.
Irene gave him a sideways look.
‘I mean in terms of a planned operation,’ he added hastily. ‘Something well-organized and efficient, without trusting the first ruffians you come across to do a good job or being totally outmatched. It was a compliment, Irene. Really.’ He couldn’t entirely hide his smirk, though.
‘Planning now saves trouble later,’ Irene said firmly. ‘And there was someone watching from the rooftops. Someone of rather better quality than those men. I couldn’t get a good view of him - or her,’ she added thoughtfully.
‘Could it be just a burglar?’ Kai suggested.
‘It could be.’ Irene adjusted her veil. ‘But what if it was the person nominated to retrieve the bag, once the werewolves removed it from us?’
‘Oh, that makes sense. It’s a pity we couldn’t question the watcher, then.’
‘They were gone by the time you’d taken the men down,’ Irene said. ‘It looks as if that lady and her agents really wanted to hide their trail.’
‘But they failed,’ Kai said with satisfaction. ‘We have a name.’
They stepped out into Oxford Street, and Irene raised a hand to signal a cab. ‘Everyone’s unlucky sometimes,’ she said. ‘However good the plan may be.’
But she couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps she and Kai had been a little bit too lucky themselves tonight.
CHAPTER TWO