Serafina and the Virtual Man - By Marie Treanor Page 0,72
player’s thoughts and desires. And she’d got what she wanted, only now she wanted it to be more; she wanted him to be there all the time, when in reality, he’d never been there at all.
She threw herself back down on the pillow.
Or he wasn’t dead. Dale and Petra were hiding something, of that she’d always been certain. But hiding what? That they’d hired someone to kill Adam? Or that he’d never died at all? Hell, maybe they’d just forged his will.
Fuck, where was he? Dead or alive, where was his body? Somewhere in that damned, ugly house, she’d lay money on it.
If she had any.
Chapter Sixteen
Jilly had just made another interesting discovery when Sera erupted from Serafina’s inner office, her coat and bag over one shoulder.
“Going up to Mel’s to check her over for evil spirits,” Sera said cheerfully. “Want to come, Jilly?”
Jilly hesitated. Part of her longed for a jaunt away from all this, to visit the intriguing witch in her own habitat.
“No,” she said reluctantly. “There’s stuff I need to do here. Do me a favour, though? Ask Mel about the Ewans and witchcraft. And any spell that might have kept Adam’s spirit hidden here.”
“Will do.” Sera took a step nearer. “Jilly? You will be discreet, won’t you?”
“It’s my middle name,” Jilly said flippantly.
“I’m serious. If word gets out about your investigations, it’s going to piss off whoever’s gone to all this effort to cover it up. I don’t want you ending up in Australia.”
Jilly grinned. “You’d come and visit, wouldn’t you?”
Sera scowled. “Just be careful, will you?”
“‘Course I will.”
“And if you need help, Blair’ll be upstairs until I get back.”
Jilly opened her mouth to vehemently deny the possibility of ever asking the vampire for help. Instead, she stood up and took Sera’s arm, walking with her to the door of Serafina’s.
Outside, she blurted, “What if he isn’t dead, Sera? What if he’s still hidden in that house somewhere, alive?”
Sera stared at her, fingers frozen on the strap of her bag. “After five months? With a gunshot wound? And a stab wound? How the hell…?”
“She used to be a nurse,” Jilly interrupted. “Before she married Ewan and walked away.”
“Petra?” Sera chewed her lower lip and sagged back against the wall of the building while she thought about it. “Hardly proof, Jilly.”
“But together with the fact that you can’t reach him and that Dale didn’t kill him, it does make you think, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure what it makes me think.” Sera straightened. “You keep digging, and I’ll keep mulling while I talk to Mel.”
Jilly realised her whole body was going numb with the cold and glanced dubiously up at the filthy sky. “You sure you should be driving up there today? Looks like snow to me.”
“I won’t be late,” Sera assured her. “And if the weather gets bad, I’ll stay the night at Mel’s.”
Jilly nodded and slithered back into Serafina’s, rubbing her upper arms. A customer followed her in and was seized upon by Elspeth. Jilly sat down at her desk and called up the plans of the Ewans’ house on her laptop.
Fifteen minutes later, someone else entered the office, and Jilly glanced up to see her brother Andy strolling across the room.
She blinked. “No. I haven’t got any money.”
“Aw, come on, Jillian,” he wheedled. “I’ll pay you back.”
“When? After your next offence?”
He stopped in front of her desk and lowered his voice. “Look, I need to get out of Edinburgh. Axel knows it was me.”
“Told you he would. Which of your close friends grassed you up to him?”
“She did, before she ran away.”
Jilly raised her brows. “You’re not thinking of joining her, are you?”
“No,” Andy said, with just enough regret in his voice to make Jilly think there might eventually be hope for Andy. But then, she’d been thinking that for most of her life. “I don’t think that’d be a good idea, but I do need to get out of here until Axel calms down. Just give us the bus fare to London.”
Jilly glared at him with derision while she thought. “Does he know where you live?”
“Not yet, but it’s hardly top-secret information.”
“Well, hole up there just now and don’t go out. I’ll think of something.”
“Jillian, for f—”
“That’s it, Andy, I’m up to my ears in other stuff. I’ll get to it, all right?”
She realised Elspeth was watching over the rim of her spectacles. Jack had his coat on, ready to go out on some errand or other, but he was watching too,