But Leith was a sea dragon, and he could fight with the best of them. “Then you’re not actually offering to help hunt down these people?”
“No.” He shrugged—a casual motion that seemed at odds with the tension still riding him—and added, “But if telling you what I know helps bring these bastards down, then that’s a small price to pay for the nightmares remembering brings. Just be careful, that’s all I ask. I don’t want another death on my conscience.”
I leaned back in my chair and wondered if he meant Rainey or someone else entirely. While I believed he was telling the truth as far as it went, I also believed there was a whole lot more that he wasn’t saying.
And that intrigued me—even as all the senses honed by years of watching my back and recognizing trouble before it hit were warning that this man was just that. Trouble.
It was a damn shame they couldn’t actually tell me whether he was a major instigator or merely a foot soldier.
“The problem is, you’re not telling your story for free, are you?”
His sudden smile was grim. “Nothing is free nowadays, lass. And the money will come in handy for the booze it’ll take to drown the memories again.”
“How much do you want?”
He pulled at his beard for a moment, as if considering the question, although we both knew he’d had a figure in mind from the moment he’d walked in the door.
“A thousand will do.”
A grand wasn’t a whole lot in the scheme of things—not if it led me to the answers I needed.
“I’ll give you two thousand,” I said slowly, and watched his eyes light. “Five hundred for telling me your story now, and the rest if you lead me to where the bodies are.”
“I don’t know—”
“You asked me to prove myself,” I cut in. “And I’m offering you a lot of money. It’s only fair that you prove the truth behind your words.”
“My scars are my proof.”
“Your scars could have been caused by anything. You’re the one who said you know where the bodies lie. I want you to show me.”
He picked up his beer and drained the glass in one gulp. He wiped the froth from his beard with the back of his hand, then said, “I just have to show you? I don’t have to do any more than that?”
“No more. I just want proof.” What I’d do with it once I had it, I wasn’t entirely sure.
Nor was I sure how finding bodies from a cleansing that had happened over thirty years ago would help my quest or find Rainey’s sister, but I had to try. Hell, merely having some evidence might just get the council to take me more seriously. Reporting the empty, gutted towns had caused little more than uninterested disdain.
Angus studied me, blue eyes still holding that cold determination. “Why do you want proof? It’s not like you can go to the cops, and if you think the council will care, you’re not exactly living in reality. And you’re not going to threaten these people, especially considering you’re just one lone draman.”
“I never said I was alone.” Although to all intents and purposes, I was. Leith was ready, willing, and able to help, but I’d already lost one good friend to this quest. I had no intention of losing another. “I just want to stop what is going on. Finding the bodies is one more step along that road.”
?
?But why? That’s what I don’t get. Especially after what they tried to do to you.” He studied me for a moment then added, “Was someone you loved killed in one of the cleansings?”
“No.” I hesitated, then added, “But Rainey lost a sister in one.”
“That wasn’t mentioned when we arranged the original meet.”
“No,” I said, and wondered why the hell he even thought it should have been. It wasn’t something you mentioned on a phone to a complete stranger.
I gulped down the rest of the Coke and wished it were something stronger. I’d never been one for alcohol, but a little something to help push the memories back into their box would have been handy right now.
Angus—who was watching me like a hawk—said, “You want another drink? Perhaps something with a little bite?”
I grimaced. “Not at this hour. But another Coke would be good. Thanks.”
He snapped his fingers at the bartender, who gave a nod. Obviously, Angus was pretty well known here. I couldn’t imagine the gruff-looking bartender playing waiter for any old stranger.