“Exactly.”
Gabriel peeled off the elegantly cut jacket of his tuxedo. Lucy stared at the compact mag-rez pistol he wore in a shoulder holster.
“Good grief,” she said. “You weren’t teasing me after all. You actually do own a tux cut to conceal a gun.”
“Aiden ordered the suit, and he likes the old traditions.” Gabriel tossed the jacket over the back of a chair and began loosening the knot of his silk tie. “I told you, Guild bosses aren’t known for their sense of humor.”
She spread her hands wide apart. “Why didn’t you use it tonight when those thugs tried to grab you?”
“Two reasons. First, I wanted information and I’ve discovered guys like that are more likely to talk if they think they’re in control of the situation.” Gabriel unbuckled the holster. “The second reason is that mag-rez pistols are dangerous to use in a heavy paranormal atmosphere. Things were going well until you gallantly came to my rescue.”
“Sorry about that.”
“I was trying to make a joke.”
“Fail.”
Gabriel nodded. “I get that a lot.” He leaned down and opened the well-worn leather backpack he had removed from the rear of the limo. “What do you say we get some sleep?”
Otis bustled over to investigate the contents of the pack.
Lucy gave up. She was stuck with Gabriel for the foreseeable future. And she did owe him her life. Now he was trying to help her restore her professional reputation. She needed to learn gratitude.
“Okay,” she said. “Good idea. Big day ahead of us.” She paused a beat. “You’re a dual talent.”
“I think we’ve already established that. I told you, there have been strong psychics in the family for generations, long before my ancestors came to Harmony. The Joneses adapted quite easily to the paranormal vibe here. There are several dual talents in the family. For obvious reasons, we keep quiet about it.”
“Because people might doubt your mental stability?”
“Or be terrified of me. There are too many stories about dual talents turning into psychopaths. Much simpler to let people think I’m just naturally good at reading a crime scene. Which, to be accurate, is the truth.”
She folded her arms. “You’re not unstable.”
“No, I’m not. I might not possess a sense of humor, but I have it on good authority that I’m stable.”
“What is the authority?”
“My mom.”
“Well, if you can’t trust your mom—” Lucy paused. “This is probably none of my business, but do the members of the Guild Council who appointed you director of the Illusion Town Guild know you’re a dual talent?”
“Yes, but very few other people know.”
“Now I’m one of those people.”
“Yes. But I trust you to keep quiet about it.”
“Why? What makes you think I won’t blab your secret to the press?”
He shrugged. “I just know. Call it a hunch.”
Successful Guild bosses did not do things on the basis of a hunch. They were nothing if not strategic in their thinking. You didn’t get to the top of the Guild unless you were very, very good at strategy.
Before she could point that out, however, Otis suddenly emerged from the leather pack, chortling excitedly. She could not make out what he had in his paw.
He dashed across the floor and stopped in front of her. She leaned down.
“Sweetie, you can’t go around stealing things,” she said. “People get annoyed.”
An odd stillness came over Gabriel. “He didn’t steal it,” he said. “He’s just returning it to its rightful owner.”
Otis waved a string of black crystals.
“What?” Lucy bent down to take a closer look. “It’s my necklace, the one I wore to the wedding reception and gave to Otis hoping he could attract someone’s attention with it.”
“He did,” Gabriel said. “He got my attention with it. I was going to give it back to you that night, but they took you away in the ambulance, and, to be honest, I forgot about your necklace until I was in the middle of the Rainforest looking for that serial killer. I knew it wasn’t particularly valuable. Figured I’d return it when I saw you again.”
“You kept it in your go-bag all this time?”
Gabriel gave her a wry smile. “I think of it as my good-luck charm.”
“I didn’t know Guild bosses believed in luck.”