Lucy made a face. “I wanted the best. Keele Investigations is the best in Illusion Town. The really annoying part is that I paid a fortune for that investigation. It cleaned out what was left of my savings.”
Veronica glanced at Gabriel and then looked at Lucy. She smiled a cool, satisfied smile. “You both stumbled onto the truth at the same time. That wasn’t a coincidence. It was a classic example of a psychic intercept. It happens that way when the vibe is right between two people.”
“Huh.” Gabriel appeared intrigued. “My mom told me the same thing. I thought she was just putting pressure on me.”
Veronica raised her brows. “Pressure to do what?”
“Get married,” Gabriel said.
Lucy cleared her throat. “To conclude my story, I was about to call you when I walked in on the scene in my apartment.”
“Thank goodness you arrived when you did,” Veronica said. She gave an elegant shudder. “Cassandra was going to inject me with that damn drug, take me down into the Underworld, kill me, and dump my body.”
Lucy looked at her. “I am so sorry you were put in harm’s way.”
Veronica gave her a serene smile. “No worries, friend. You saved me, and now I am going to get some excellent press. In fact, I have an interview with a journalist from the Curtain as soon as I finish here. He wanted to talk to me earlier, but I made him wait. It’s always good to make them wait, you know.”
Every man in the room except Gabriel gazed at her, transfixed.
Gabriel focused on Lucy. “Waiting is hard on the nerves.”
She blinked, unsure how to respond to the cryptic comment. She sensed he wasn’t referring to sex. Something else, something deeper, was concealed in the comment. Or maybe she was overthinking and overanalyzing his words. But the heat in his eyes was real.
Before she could give the matter more thought, Joe spoke up.
“Does this close out the Liquid Crystal Conspiracy case, boss?” he asked.
Gabriel sat back in his chair. “Thanks to the tracker, we’ve accounted for all of the members of the Blue Amber mercenary team. We’ve got Westover and his client, Keele, who was running the show. But there is one very big loose end.”
“What is it?” Joe asked.
“We need to secure the source of the liquid crystal in the Ghost City and make sure it’s under the control of the Guild. The government gave Coppersmith the exploration and mining rights to that entire sector, but they will need us for security.”
“If everything Keele said is true, access to the liquid crystal is blocked by a paranormal tornado,” Lucy pointed out. “You’re going to need a really good weather channeler to take down that kind of storm.”
Gabriel gave her his slow smile. “Luckily I know one who has the talent to do it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Lucy stacked her slippered heels on the balcony railing and took a sip of her brandy.
“Did you really call me a weather goddess this afternoon?” she asked.
“I did,” Gabriel said.
He was sitting beside her in the second lounger, ankles stacked next to hers. It was ten o’clock. Night cloaked the city, but the glow of the quartz ruins streaked the Dark Zone in green chiaroscuro. The paranormal buzz in the atmosphere was a pleasant complement to the brandy.
Dinner at the Hideaway restaurant had involved a cozy, romantic booth, an expensive bottle of wine, and no pizza. That was not a problem, because Otis was not around to complain. He had disappeared and was off doing whatever dust bunnies did when they got together at night.
Lucy swallowed some brandy and thought about Gabriel’s answer. “Did you mean it?”
“You can call down lightning to smite your enemies. Of course you’re a goddess.”
“Do you think I’m sleeping with you because I’m grateful to you for saving my life?”
“What the hell makes you ask that?”
“You’re in the business of rescuing and protecting people. I’m sure many of them are very grateful to you. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful to you, too. Even if you did abandon me to those Blue Amber rogues.”
“After which you rescued yourself.”
“With Otis’s help.”
“You stopped those two rogues cold in the Ghost City without my help, and this afternoon you rescued yourself and Veronica. I’d say there’s plenty of evidence that you can take care of yourself. By the way, you aren’t the first person I’ve pulled out of the tunnels. I’ve never slept with any of the others. Just you. Where are you going with this?”