“So she’s still in the park?”
“To the best of our knowledge, yes.” He made another visual sweep of the area, mentally cursing the fact that he and Peter had been there when the call came through that one of “their” cases had suddenly come to the attention of the mortal police.
Why hadn’t he left Wales two days ago, after arresting the man who had killed Gwen? The memory of that day rose up in his mind again, just as it had done approximately every hour for the last two days, the sight of the broken, bloodied body on the rocks before him driving him to do the unthinkable—steal time.
His shoulders slumped.
“You’re not still brooding over what happened, are you?” Kiya’s voice penetrated both the soft night air and the dark, twisted cloud of his thoughts. With a gesture of surrender, he plopped down on the blanket next to her, leaning his arms on his knees while staring glumly into the darkness. Pools of artificial light drove away some of the night, but the park was too big, and it was too late to find someone if she wished to stay hidden. “Gregory?” Kiya gently patted his arm.
“If I am brooding, it’s because I have every right to do so. If Peter ever wishes to disguise himself as a fish, he would be absolutely indistinguishable from a piranha. He certainly chewed me up and spat out my shredded remains just as good as any piranha.”
“That’s because you did something seriously illegal,” she said with a calmness that pricked his skin. He liked Kiya, he truly did, but he didn’t always appreciate her frankness. Not where his slipup was concerned. “Not that I think stealing a little time here and there is a big deal, especially since you saved a woman’s life while doing so, but still, you knew the rules about Travellers joining the Watch when you signed up.”
“I did, and I make no excuses now. I’m simply saying that when Peter found out what I’d done, he could have taken down a full-grown bull moose in about ten seconds flat.”
She laughed. “Now you’re being a drama queen, and that’s the last thing I ever pegged you for. Peter’s been very good to you, and you know it.”
“I do know it. He didn’t tell the Watch what I had done. He covered up the incident with Gwen. He read me the lecture of my life and came close to tearing off actual strips of my flesh with his tongue, but I’m still employed, and for that I’m truly grateful.”
She gave him a long look out of the corner of her eye. “Peter never told me just exactly why you saved that lady’s life. You didn’t know her, did you?”
“Not then, no.” He thought of how the light from the electric torches had shone in Gwen’s black hair. There was something about her that went beyond the appreciation that a mere buxom, pretty woman stirred in him. She was . . . mysterious. There were hidden depths in her, an undercurrent of tension that she tried to belie with light banter and smiling eyes, but he was no stranger to female wiles, and she was up to something. Just what that was, he had no idea, but he was a bit surprised to realize how determined he was to unveil her secrets one by one.
“So why did you?”
“Hmm?” He stopped worrying over whether or not his interest in learning more about Gwen bordered on unhealthy (the last thing he wanted was for her to consider him a stalker of sorts) and focused on what Kiya had asked. “Oh, Gwen? I didn’t really stop to think about it, to be honest. I simply reacted. And that’s why Peter was so furious with me: I stole the time as a gut reaction.”
“It’ll be all right,” she said, patting him again. “You’ve been a Traveller all your life, and you only just started having to rein back unauthorized time stealing. You’ll get used to reacting without automatically going into rewind mode. And to be honest, Peter isn’t a saint when it comes to stealing time. Sunil is proof of that.”
Gregory stopped brooding over the hell that was his life and looked around again, this time searching not for a short, round woman but for the slim young man who had formerly been a ball of golden light. “Where is Sunil?”
“He saw a carousel and couldn’t resist it. I’m so glad he got his body back. Being confined to a ball of light was hard on him when he has such . . . such . . .”
“Joie de vivre?”
She nodded. “That’s what comes from being killed when you’re only eighteen, I guess. As long as you’re here keeping me company instead of looking for that sweet little woman—”
“Gwen?” How did she know that he fancied her? Did it show? He slid a covert glance down to the fly of his jeans. No, all was well there. Not that he felt he was sporting an erection. Usually he had a warning of such things, and although he was perfectly willing to admit that Gwen could probably cause that result in him with very little effort on her part, all he’d felt while she dragged him across the park was a pleasant tingling that swept up his back and inner thighs.
“No, not the woman you saved. The other one. The kidnapper.”
Guilt drove him back onto his feet to resume the visual scan of the area. “What on earth makes you think a woman who sells magic to mortals as well as kidnapping them is sweet?”
“She looks nice. Did you guys ever consider that maybe there was a perfectly good reason for her taking this old lady out of her home? Maybe she was a friend and promised her a night out watching the fireworks. Or maybe she wanted to do a random act of kindness, and getting the woman out and about was that act. Or perhaps—”
“Perhaps she has a history of illegalities where mortals are concerned, and this is simply the latest in a long line of transgressions.”
Kiya got to her feet as well, stretching before shaking out the blanket and folding it into a square. “I just think that maybe Peter and you are jumping the gun a bit. All you heard on the police scanner was that she was seen driving off with the woman. Maybe the old lady called her and asked her to take her somewhere?”
“The nursing home would hardly be likely to call the police and say she’d been abducted if that was the case. Ah, there’s Peter.”
“I think you should take another look at what’s going on,” Kiya said, turning to smile at her husband. “There may be more there than you think.”
That was certainly the case with Gwen, at least. Why had she dragged him across the park? Had she been hiding from someone? Had she been nervous about being alone? Was someone threatening her? He dug through his memory of the cases he’d read up on in the last few months, but came up with nothing regarding Gwen Byron.
“No luck?” Gregory asked when Peter was within hailing distance.
“None. It’s an impossible task. I walked half the park, but everywhere I looked, there were a hundred possible hiding spots. If she’s here, we’ll never find her.” He stopped next to his wife, smiling down at her with obvious affection.
“I’ve come to exactly the same conclusion.”
Kiya leaned into Peter, kissed him, giggled when he squeezed her behind, and handed him the blanket while announcing, “I’m going to go see what Sunil is up to, and perhaps ride on the carousel, too. I haven’t seen one in donkey’s years, and if there’s one thing that living with a former-animus-now-turned-lich has taught me, it’s to embrace whatever life gives you.”
Both men watched as she walked off to the bright section of the park where a couple of carnival rides were running, their garish lights and tinny music enticing many people into nighttime revelry. Gregory smiled at the besotted expression on his cousin’s face, giving him a nudge with his elbow. “You’re going to be the one who’s arrested if the local coppers see you with that leer on your face.”
Peter grimaced, then smiled. “You have to admit she’s a sight for sore eyes.”
“She’s very pretty, but I prefer my women dark rather than strawberry blond.” That hadn’t been the truth until a few days ago, but it was perfectly natural that now and again a man’s tastes changed.