“The results match,” Dr. Lane said as soon as he reached us. He handed me the file, and I passed it to Micah, who opened it and started reading.
“The DNA found on Athena is the same that was found on Leslie,” Micah said. “Thanks, Dr. Lane.”
“Let me know if you need anything else,” he said, nodding before walking away.
“Well, I see this news as both enlightening and not. How about you?” I said.
“Why would the ghost in Ethan’s body want to kill Leslie and Athena?” Micah said.
“If it’s Victor’s ghost, maybe a door will open up and show us exactly how he connects to Athena,” I said. “Maybe she was a lover who scorned him too.”
“You really go for the leaps and bounds, don’t you?”
“I’m just thinking out loud,” I said with a grin. “Albeit badly.”
We stared at each other for a moment, then Micah turned back to the computer.
“Let’s continue researching Raston, since everything hinges on whether or not he’s the ghost behind this,” Micah said. We worked together for the next few minutes, though it was more like me hovering over his shoulder while he clicked and typed. It wasn’t long before we found what we were looking for.
“He’s dead,” Micah said. We were looking at his death certificate. “Says he died almost three years ago from lung cancer.”
“Did his ghost manifest?” If it did, we’d need to find a separate certificate that carried that information.
Sure enough, Micah soon pulled up a certificate that confirmed that Raston’s ghost had manifested, but it was because he’d died before he’d resolved an old argument with his brother. Apparently, Victor had been helped, and his ghost had faded. Micah and I sat back and stared at his computer screen for a few moments.
“It appears we’ve reached a dead end,” I said. “Raston’s ghost is long gone. He can’t be the one walking around in Ethan’s body.”
“If he was, it might have explained Leslie’s death but not necessarily Athena’s,” Micah said. “So maybe it’s good that we’ve exhausted this lead. Now we know we have to switch gears.”
“It would help if we could just track down Ethan’s damn body,” I said. Then I sat up straight and felt around my neck but didn’t feel the tracking stone.
“What?” Micah asked.
“I activated a rune stone to track Ethan’s body, but I left it at home,” I said. “It didn’t seem to work, but I was hoping it would kick in sooner or later.”
“Interesting,” Micah said. He yawned and stretched those very lovely biceps over his head. His yawn triggered a yawn in me.
“Let’s go home,” I said, getting up and stretching my entire body. When I was done, I noticed Micah quickly darting his eyes away. I smiled a little. “Monday we can attack this with refreshed minds. We can start looking into who could want Athena dead, but I already anticipate that to be a long list filled mostly with the names of stripped reanimators.”
I immediately deflated at that fact. There would be many more people who might want Athena dead than Leslie, but would there be one person who would want them both dead? It would be one thing if we could say these murders were random, but they clearly weren’t. Both women had been sought out and killed, so whoever was in Ethan’s body had some reason for wanting them dead. I just hoped Micah and I could figure out who and stop them before they killed more people. We gathered our things and headed out of the suite to our cars. There was a moment when we stopped at my car where I thought a conversation about things not involving the case would start, but Micah just gave me a brief smile, said good night, and walked away. Our relationship had changed yet again, but I had absolutely no idea what it had changed into.
Chapter Twelve
I spent most of Saturday worrying over the case and keeping the news on to see if there were reports of people murdered the way Leslie and Athena had been. Thankfully, there weren’t, but I was still driving myself crazy with trying to puzzle things out. A text from Micah told me he was in the same boat. It didn’t help that Ethan was even more upset than he’d already been when I told him I had forgotten the tracking rune at home yesterday, so he was quite the pain in the ass for most of the day.
I understood his unhappiness, but I really was doing everything I could to help him. By the end of the day, I was readily looking forward to Andrew’s cocktail party and drinking an enormous amount of alcohol. Nothing helped break the funk of discouragement like liquor.
After taking Luna for her afternoon walk, I went to get ready. Ethan was in the living room, watching the anime channel, which I didn’t even know I had until he told me. After showering, I stood in front of my open closet in my underwear, trying to decide what to wear. I wanted to look like a knockout, but not like I was trying too hard. Nothing started rumors like being around your coworkers outside the office, especially if alcohol was involved. The last thing I wanted was to dress scandalously, capture Andrew’s attention for the entire night, and have rumors start about us.
I’d been walking this fine line since we’d started having an affair. I wanted to look a little scandalous though, but I realized it wasn’t only so I could impress Andrew. I wanted Micah to think I was a knockout too. How strange that impressing Micah should suddenly matter to me. Clearly it had nothing to do with the fact that he’d confessed to having feelings for me. Clearly.
Eventually, I settled on a fitted red dress that showed some cleavage but not enough to render me a skank and came to just above the knee, so it wasn’t too short. I straightened my hair so it was almost long enough to touch my shoulders, parted it to one side, and gave myself understated makeup. I was tempted to do the whole smoky eye thing, but I had to remember I was going to a cocktail party, not a nightclub. Black pumps and a clutch I could slip around my wrist completed the outfit. I put the tracking rune into the clutch and was quite pleased when I looked in the mirror. Luna barked and wagged her tail at me, so I figured she approved too.
When I walked into the living room, Ethan’s eyes widened as he took me in. He did this stammering, spluttering thing that was adorable and made me laugh. I did a little strut and turn for him.
“I look good, yes?” I said.
Ethan nodded rapidly. It was nice to see another expression on his face besides despair.
“You look fabulous,” he said, giving me a head-to-toe look. “What’s the occasion?”
“Cocktail party at the boss’s house.”
“Sounds fun,” he said wistfully. Luna ran a circle around him and barked.
“It really seems like she can see you,” I said, frowning slightly. “How strange.”
“At least someone can see me then,” Ethan said, looking at Luna as she ran off to play with one of her toys.
“Oh, come now, I can see you.”
“Not the same. You’re a necromancer,” Ethan said. He was looking at the ground, scuffing his shoe against it. The despair was back.
I regarded him for a moment, then went into the bedroom and got my rune bag. I came back out with a few energy runes and slipped them around his neck.
“I’m not supposed to do this, but if it will help you stop acting so pathetic, then I’ll do it. No one but Luna will know, right?”
Ethan smiled a little then reached out and touched the back of my sofa, smiling even more.
“There, now you can change the channel, play your DS, or whatever,” I said. “Just don’t go wandering around, okay?”
“I’ll stay in,” Ethan said. “Thanks.” He gave me another sweeping look. “Have fun at your cocktail party.”
I wiggled my fingers at him as I headed out the door.
About an hour later, I parked in front of Andrew’s Upper East Side condo and was let in by a uniformed doorman. Andrew’s lifestyle was all about extravagance and doors opened by people whose job it was to open them. After I gave the concierge my name and he checked my ID against a roster, he let me head to the elevators.
I was a mixture of emotions as I headed up, and that wasn’t typical whenever I attended one of Andrew’s parties. There was just something about the way Andrew had looked at Micah and me last night that made me feel like I should be worried. No matter how much I told myself that I could be with anyone and Andrew had no say in it, I couldn’t shake the weird feeling.
No one would ever know I was feeling a little off once I stepped out of the elevator and sashayed toward Andrew’s door, though. He opened it with a smile as though he knew it was me on the other side. I returned his smile and allowed him a moment to take in my outfit.
“Ravishing,” he whispered. There was already heat in his eyes, and it gave me both a thrill and a knot of nervousness. I was suddenly battling want and not want when it came to Andrew, and I was not enjoying it.
I blamed Micah for opening his big mouth and saying that he liked me. It was such a novelty that it had thrown me completely off. Then again, I had asked.
Andrew’s hand skimmed up my arm as he let me into the apartment, and I fought the urge to shiver at his touch. It would have been a good shiver though. Despite Micah, I was still attracted to Andrew.
The party was in full swing as I walked into his expansive living room. The far wall was made up of floor-to-ceiling windows, and the ceiling was a high one at that, so it provided a spectacular view. Andrew had modern tastes, so his furniture was white leather, and his accents were chrome and black with a splash of red. It was like a wealthy bachelor’s pad, and I wondered if Cecilia had tried to get a word in about what she liked in home décor. If she had, I doubt it had been taken into consideration.
Andrew had a magnificent bar set up along the back wall of the living area, and he went to get me a drink while I mingled with necromancers and dead witches from our office. Ilyse wasn’t here, but I hadn’t expected her to be. She wasn’t a drinker and was more introvert than extrovert, so this wasn’t her scene.
As usual, Andrew had hired waiters and waitresses to serve everyone. There was also a bartender even though Andrew liked mixing drinks himself to show off the skills he’d learned during a bar-tending class he’d taken. I munched on hors d’oeuvres the waiters passed around, and enjoyed being able to talk to my colleagues about something other than work. We were actually a cool bunch once you got us out of talking about ghosts. Andrew soon joined the group I was standing with and handed me a drink, placing his hand on the small of my back as he did so. Another thrill went through me.
“So, Andrew, where’s Cecilia?” I asked, because I couldn’t help wanting to play with fire.
“Business trip to Paris,” Andrew replied, and I knew that was one of the reasons he’d chosen to have the cocktail party now.
His mention of Paris set off a conversation about who’d been to Paris, who hadn’t, and who wanted to go. I let the conversation go on without me as I sipped my drink, but I didn’t miss the not-so-casual touches from Andrew every time he shifted. At one point, his hand completely palmed the side of my ass before sliding off. I almost gasped but managed to hide it by taking a big sip of my drink. Looked like I wasn’t the only one who liked playing with fire.
Only when my eyes finally landed on Micah did I realize I’d been looking for him. He was standing at the bar waiting for a drink, so I detached myself from the group and walked over to him, all the while feeling Andrew’s eyes on me. Well, he could look all he wanted. There was no reason I couldn’t talk to Micah as much as anyone else here.
“Hello, handsome,” I said lightly. And he did look very handsome. He was wearing dark jeans and a dark-blue button-down shirt that had a black pattern over one shoulder and part of the chest, with the sleeves folded up to his elbows.
I looked him up and down, then realized he was doing the same to me. Our eyes met, and heat flushed my body when he smiled at me. Andrew had set up low, seductive lighting using chic lanterns, and Micah’s gray eyes reflected the light beautifully.
“You look beautiful,” he said, accepting his drink from the bartender.
I leaned an elbow against the bar as I faced him, still feeling warm and tingly just from some eye contact. I still couldn’t reconcile how differently Micah acted toward me now that he set the record straight. Hell, I couldn’t reconcile how differently I was acting after hearing it!
“Thank you,” I said. I finished my drink and asked the bartender for another one. I was never a slow sipper; when I went drinking, I made the most of it. When I caught Micah’s gaze again, he was looking at me steadily over the rim of his glass.
“I have a sudden feeling of déjà-vu,” I said. “Of you and me standing next to each other over drinks.” Micah’s lips quirked in a smile as he lowered his glass.
“Yeah,” he said. He regarded me for a moment. “Can I be honest with you about that night, Selene?” His face was serious now.
“Of course.”
He looked down. “I wasn’t that drunk that night. I mean, I had a few drinks and we did shots, but I was only buzzed by the time we left.” Now my eyes widened. “I really wanted to tell you how I felt, but I didn’t know how, and you were giving me all the signs…”
“Yeah, I remembering not being subtle about wanting to get into your pants,” I said.
“And I protested,” he said. “Because I didn’t want you to want me only because you were drunk, and I felt like I was taking advantage of you because I wasn’t as drunk…”
“But I was relentless,” I continued.
The way Micah shifted and wouldn’t meet my eyes let me know that he did, in fact, feel as though he’d taken advantage of me. I took a step closer to him and touched the forearm he had resting on the top of the bar, lightly running my fingers over his bare skin.
“You know what I remember from that night?” I said softly, looking at my fingers on his arm instead of at his face. “I remember being so drunk the world was spinning, and all I wanted was for you throw me up against a wall and have your way with me. But that’s not what you did.” Now I made myself look at him and had to take a steadying breath. “You were attentive, and gentle, and it…it felt different than any other time I’d slept with someone. You were right, Micah, you did make love to me, and I remember every moment of it.”