Along Came a Spider tt-3 Read online

  “Ah, but you’ve got it all wrong,” he said, casually draping his arm around my shoulders as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and leading me from the room. “The challenge was never the building but the gal inside.”

  I sent a sidelong glance his way, a tentative little spark of hope springing to life in the center of my chest.

  Chapter Seven

  Nicky never left my side the entire time I was in my apartment, his eyes constantly darting around, watching for even a ripple of movement in the air that might signal an attack. I quickly changed clothes and threw together a bag to take with me, then gathered up Sasha’s food and bowl. Last was my laptop and what I could salvage of the various notebooks strewn all over the living room.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind me staying at your house?” I asked as we loaded everything into the back of his Escalade.

  “Are you kiddin’ me?” he asked. “Forget about it. Like I’m going to let you come back to this place?”

  I shoved my hands into my coat pockets and let out a sigh, watching my breath freeze in the air and thinking about the attack on me the night before. “We really should talk to Nate and Red about this.”

  Nicky cast a guarded look my way as he slammed the hatch shut.

  I cocked my head to one side and narrowed my eyes at him. “You haven’t told Red that you’re back in town, have you?”

  “Let’s get going,” he muttered, ignoring my question.

  I followed him around to the driver’s side and stood in front of the door, my arms crossed over my chest. “Why not tell her you’re back? Why keep it a secret?”

  He zipped his leather jacket, apparently realizing I wasn’t going to be deterred until he answered my question. “It’s complicated.”

  I knew Nicky still cared about Red; that’d been clear in the images I’d seen in his thoughts while he was dying. And to see her so happy with Nate—his best friend, by all accounts—must’ve felt awkward at times. Hell, I could relate to that probably better than anyone. Complicated was an understatement.

  “Fine,” I sighed. “Just drop me a couple of blocks from headquarters then. I have to check in before someone notices I haven’t made it to work yet. Besides, I need to see what I can find out about our victim from last night, get an ID on the guy.”

  Nicky shrugged. “Don’t bother. I know who it is.”

  My brows shot up. “How could you possibly—” I didn’t even finish the question. “Who is it?”

  “Tim Halloran.”

  I blinked at him in disbelief. “The Sandman?”

  Nicky’s head bobbed impatiently. “Yeah, now can we get in the car? I’m freezing my nuts off out here.”

  Once we were in the Escalade and on our way again, I asked, “Why the Sandman?”

  “Not sure,” Nicky admitted. “I got a tip something was getting ready to go down here in Chicago, so I headed back.”

  “A tip?” I echoed. “How’d you get a tip on something like that?”

  Nicky shrugged. “I know a guy.”

  Of course he did. . . .

  “And you didn’t do anything to stop the vampires from killing him?”

  “There was nothing I could do by the time I found them,” he said, his words clipped.

  Tim “the Sandman” Halloran had been Nicky’s biggest rival and one of the most ruthless crime bosses among us. Unlike Nicky’s Outfit, which operated on a system of friendship and loyalty in exchange for protection and the occasional favor now and then, Halloran’s tastes ran to trafficking in fairy dust and financing Tale businesses in exchange for more than his fair share of the returns. And there was certainly no love lost between the two men. During the fifties, they’d had a full-out war going on between them, with Nicky’s Outfit coming out the victor thanks in no small part to the loyalty of those who were lucky enough to call him a friend. In spite of their history, I found it hard to believe Nicky would’ve just left Tim Halloran to die. Even so, I could tell he was hiding something, holding back on me.

  “I still want to take a look,” I insisted.

  “I’d skip Halloran and take a look at those vampire dames if I were you,” he said. “Those bloodsuckin’ broads had a Tale signature, Trish, but they weren’t from any idiom I recognized. What the hell is that all about?”

  “Wish I knew,” I admitted. “Unfortunately, I’m not going to find out any time soon. The Agency took them.”

  “Sons of bitches!” Nicky growled, something dark passing over his features.

  I blinked at him, startled by his sudden rage. “Nicky, I know it sucks, but—”

  “Sucks doesn’t even begin to cover it,” he snapped. He glared at the road in silence for a long, tense moment, then suddenly slammed his palm against the steering wheel. “Shit! I’m this close, Trish. I can feel it. I’m this fucking close to bringing down that bastard Dracula and making him pay.”

  “We’ll figure it out,” I assured him. “Right now, let’s focus on Halloran. When I was reading him I saw an image of a woman—

  stunningly beautiful with white hair and bright green eyes. Do you know who she is?”

  Nicky shrugged begrudgingly. “Sure. That’s Sophia—Halloran’s girl. She’s a shape-shifter from folklore.”

  I nodded. “Okay, good. Well, someone should probably let her know what’s happened, right? I’ll make the death notification and see what she can tell us.”

  “You can’t just go barging in to Halloran’s compound alone and tell his were-tiger girlfriend he bit the big one—or, more to the point, that a couple of vampire whores bit his big one before bumping him off.”

  “You’re right,” I readily agreed. “Guess you’re going to have to come with me.”

  Nicky’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. I could tell that making a death notification to the dead crime lord’s girlfriend wasn’t the kind of action he was used to taking. But he nodded. “Fine. Have it your way. But, you’re right—if I’m gonna start poking around out in the open I should probably talk to Red first.”

  “Where the hell have you been, you son of a bitch?”

  Nicky glanced at me, the look he sent my way conveying “I told you so” loud and clear. “Good to see you, too, kid,” he said, offering Red a grin. Then he nodded toward her belly. “You and Nate have been busy. Congratulations.”

  “Don’t try to turn on the charm with me, Nicky Blue,” Red hissed. “You couldn’t take five minutes to send me a fucking e-mail?”

  “So you could show up on my doorstep when you had no business—”

  “No business?” Red’s eyes went wide. “Are you shitting me? After all we’ve been through together? After I saw you lying there on the floor with your guts hanging out, you have the nerve to tell me I have no business caring what happens to you? Fuck you, Nicky! Get him the hell out of my office, Nate.”

  “Tess,” Nate admonished mildly before taking up what had become his usual perch on the corner of Red’s desk and turning his dark gaze on his old friend. “It’s good to see you again, Nicky, but I can’t say I totally disagree with her on this one. You want to tell us what the hell you’ve been doing for the last two years?”

  Nicky shifted a little uneasily, casting a furtive glance my way. “I’ve been here and there. You know.”

  “No, I don’t know.” Red leaned across her desk as much as her pregnant belly would allow, her blue eyes now bright with angry tears. “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been, you unbelievable jackass?” She snatched a tissue from the box next to her and swiped irritably at the tears spilling onto her cheeks. “Shit! Seriously? Now I’m crying? God, pregnancy has made me lose my fucking mind!”

  Nicky cleared his throat a couple of times, growing increasingly uncomfortable at the sight of Red’s tears. “I’m sorry, kid,” he said, his voice taking on a gentleness that made me bristle. “I never meant to worry you. I just had to get my head together. And, well, I’ve been doing a little moonlighting since I left town that’s been keepi
ng me busy.”

  She eyed him warily. “What kind of moonlighting?”

  “You know”—he shrugged—“some cleanup work like back in the day.”

  Red flopped back in her chair, her face going slack. “Like back in the New York days, Nicky?”

  “Somethin’ like that,” he admitted.

  I heard Nate curse under his breath before pegging Nicky with a look of warning. “Are you sitting here confessing to a crime, Nicky? You know we’d have to arrest you if you are.”

  Nicky spread his hands and leaned back in his chair. “I’m not confessing to anything. I’m just stating a fact. I had some things to deal with, so I’ve been doing a little work to clear my head.”

  “You promised me you’d never do another hit, Nicky,” Red reminded him, her voice barely above a whisper. She glanced at her closed office door before adding, “After you got shot, you said you’d stick to making a point in other ways.”

  “I have,” he insisted. “This had nothing to do with my own business.”

  Nate crossed his arms over his chest, his face going dark. “Seeing as how I never got any calls for a hit on a Tale, I’m assuming these were Ordinaries?”

  Red cursed a blue streak. “Perfect. That’s exactly the kind of headache we need right now.”

  “Trust me,” Nicky said, “all these guys had it comin’. Nobody’s gonna miss ’em.”

  Red ran a hand through her thick black hair, letting it fall around her shoulders. “So what does any of this have to do with Trish?” She jabbed her finger at his chest. “So help me God, Nicky, if you drag her into your bullshit . . .”

  We’d agreed on the way to headquarters that we were going to steer clear of Nicky’s vigilante alter-ego and the connection to Dracula, but we had to have some reasonable explanation as to why he would be helping me on an open investigation or Red would put the smack-down on both of us in a fairytale minute. “Trish needed my expertise on a case,” he said with a shrug.

  I glanced over at Nate, not surprised to find his bottomless black eyes on me, narrowed with a silent question.

  Red wasn’t nearly so subtle. “What kind of expertise?”

  Nicky glanced around as if expecting the authorities to come barging into the room at any moment. He leaned forward a little in his chair and hissed, “Insight into my business ventures.”

  “Tim Halloran’s dead,” I blurted, impatient with the euphemisms and innuendo.

  Red’s brows shot up. “How? When?” She then turned an accusing glare on Nate. “And how did you not know this?”

  Nate shook his head, clearly as baffled as Red. “Got me.”

  “He was the victim in the alley,” I explained. “Nicky got a tip about his identity from one of his associates and passed it along to me.”

  Nate nodded. “That guy’s soul was so traumatized by his death it was unrecognizable. I couldn’t tell who it was. Damn. Hell of a way to go.”

  Red seemed unmoved as she pegged Nicky and me with that look of hers that tells you to stow the bullshit. “And you two teamed up how?”

  “Nicky and I bumped into each other sometime back. And, well . . .” I paused, my heart suddenly in my throat as I thought about what Nicky and I had agreed to say. It was just a little too surreal to utter the words aloud. Fortunately, I didn’t have to.

  “And we’ve been hooking up for a while,” Nicky supplied. “I came by Trish’s apartment last night after I heard about the vampire attack.” He took my hand in his and raised it to his lips, his gaze locking with mine. My face was instantly aflame, no doubt confirming his insinuation, which was most likely his intention. Oh, man, he was good. . . .

  Red gaped. “Say what now?”

  “Trish was pretty shaken up, so she spent the night at my place.” Nicky smoothed the back of my hand with his thumb, setting my heart racing when that wickedly handsome grin curved his lips. And for a brief, blissful moment, I actually believed him, too. “Hell of a night, right, doll?”

  I swallowed hard and my voice was a little thready when I said, “To put it mildly.”

  Red cocked her head to one side, regarding me closely. Then she said, “Guys, I think you need to give me the room.” We all immediately got to our feet, but she added, “I meant guys as in gents. Take a seat, Trish.”

  I plopped back down in the chair, sitting on the edge with my back board straight. It hadn’t occurred to me until just then, when I’d heard the edge in her voice, saw the stern look in her eyes, that even though Tess Little was one of my closest friends, she was also my boss. And she was seriously unhappy.

  Nate and Nicky both glanced toward me as they sauntered from the room, Nicky looking a little apologetic. I gave him a smile that I hoped didn’t look as lame as it felt.

  As soon as the guys shut the door behind them, Red crossed her arms over her chest. “So, you wanna tell me what’s really going on?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I demurred.

  She gave me a knowing look. “You’re a horrible liar, Trish. And I know you’ve been lying to me for a while. I just didn’t know why. Now spill it.”

  “Really, Red—”

  “How long has this been going on anyway?” she cut in. “How long have you been sneaking around behind my back, trying to hide all the evidence?”

  Oh, shit. . . .

  She was totally on to me. Somehow she’d found out about the doctored reports, about my agreement with Nate. . . . Now I just had to try to keep her from taking off, half cocked, to go after Dracula.

  “Tess, it was for your own good,” I said, my tone as gentle as I could manage. “I was trying to protect you.”

  “Protect me?” she echoed, her eyes going wide. “Last time I checked I was a big girl, Trish. I think I can take it.”

  I sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s only because we love you that we didn’t want you to get hurt—”

  “Damn it!” She shoved back from her desk, her face taut with fury as she got to her feet and began to pace the room.

  I snapped my jaws shut and pressed my lips together. There was really nothing I could say to dig myself out of this hole. I’d known all along that Red hated being treated like she was a delicate little waif incapable of taking care of herself. She’d struggled for almost two hundred years to break away from the story that had haunted her. About the only thing she hated more than being underestimated was being lied to. And I’d committed both sins by hiding the intel on Dracula.

  “Please forgive me,” I said softly. “I never should’ve deceived you.”

  She waved away my apology, then sat down in the seat Nicky had vacated and let out a long, mournful sigh. “Do you love him?”

  My brows came together in a frown. “Huh?”

  She leaned back in the chair, scooting down a little so she could rest her head on the back. “Just be straight with me,” she said. “Are you in love with Nicky?”

  “Oh!” I gasped, a nervous little twitter of laughter coming out before I could stop it. “You’re talking about Nicky!”

  She turned her head to frown at me. “Yeah . . . Who were you talking about?”

  “Nobody,” I said in a rush, relief washing over me like a tidal wave. “No one. I mean, Nicky, of course.”

  Her expression became one of wary concern. “You feelin’ all right?” When I nodded and forced a smile, she went on. “Trish, I love Nate Grimm more than the air I breathe—and I’d probably suffer less without air than without him. The man is everything to me. But Nicky . . . Well, he means a lot to me and always will.”

  I nodded. “I know. He means a lot to me, too.” At least that part was the God’s honest truth. And it must’ve been enough because she suddenly laughed in a burst of mirth not unlike Nate’s.

  “At least this explains why you kept turning down all the insanely hot guys I’ve been trying to set you up with,” she said with a grin. “I mean, seriously? You said no to Achilles. Who does that? Most women would fight to the death for one
night with that guy.”

  “And he knows it,” I drawled, rolling my eyes. “No one will ever love Achilles as much as he does.”

  She chuckled, then smiled a little sadly. “Just be careful, okay? Nicky’s been through a lot. He’s not . . . Well, he’s not quite the same, you know? I can see it in his eyes. There’s a darkness inside that wasn’t there before—not even during the New York days.”

  There was a light rap on the door that brought our heads around. Nate poked his head in. “Everything okay in here, sweetheart?”

  Red pushed awkwardly to her feet and put her hands on her hips. “Other than the fact I’m so hungry I could gnaw my arm off, everything’s good.”

  “Well then”—Nate grinned as he sauntered in—“I guess I’d better take you home for lunch.” He pulled her into his arms and pressed a kiss to the side of her neck before murmuring, “But eating might have to wait. You’re looking damned sexy right now.”

  Red winked at me. “See what I mean? Love this man.” Then she leaned around Nate and called, “Nicky!”

  Nicky stuck his head in the office, looking uncharacteristically sheepish. “Yeah?”

  “I love ya, you son of a bitch,” she told him. “So I’m glad you’re back in town. But you break Trish’s heart, and I don’t care how off the grid you go, I’ll make it my personal mission in life to hunt you down and kick your ass. Are we clear on that?”

  “Crystal clear, kid.”

  “Good.” She jerked her chin toward the door. “Now get the hell outta here and go with Trish to pay a visit to Halloran’s girlfriend so she doesn’t end up as tiger bait. And let me know if you find out why those vamps were craving a Sandman sandwich.”

  I hurried from the room with Nicky, shutting Red’s office door behind me, but not before catching a glimpse of her and Nate in a passionate kiss. I sighed and glanced over at Nicky out of the corner of my eye.

  “Well, that went better than expected,” he mumbled once we were safely down the hall. “What did Red say after she booted me and Nate?”