now dark outside, and the SBLE team had secured the private room where Ms. Phelps lay. She was still in a magical trance and had betrayed no trace of awareness of what had been done to her.
The smell of coffee lured Ella farther down the hallway to the nurse’s station, where Jose obligingly handed her a cup.
“Thanks.” She smiled at him. “I needed that.”
“You’re welcome. Where’s lover boy?”
“Who?”
“You know, tall, dark and dangerous, who looks as if he wants to devour me whole every time I talk to you.”
“Oh, him.” Ella shrugged, then sipped at her coffee. “He’s standing guard.”
Jose leaned against the desk. “What’s going on with Ms. Phelps?”
“She seems to have had some kind of fit.”
“What kind of ‘fit’?”
“They’re not sure. That’s why she’s being kept in isolation.”
“I saw her this morning at the staff meeting, and she looked fine.” Jose shook his head. “Whatever happened, it sure seemed to come out of nowhere.”
“I know.”
“Ella?”
She turned back to Feehan, who was waiting patiently behind her.
“Sorry, boss. Emergency caffeine refueling.” She nodded at Jose. “Thanks for the coffee.”
Feehan walked her over to a seating area by the elevators and sat down beside her.
“I wanted to ask you something in private.” He looked around and then settled his gaze back on her. “I talked to a couple of the staff on this floor earlier, and they told me the strangest thing.”
“What?”
“That the last person they saw going into Ms. Phelps’s office was Vadim.”
“So?”
“Could it have been him?”
“Boss, you were with us most of the day. We only parted when we went down to the ER with Brad’s parents. I was there the whole time with Morosov. He certainly didn’t sneak away and do this to Ms. Phelps.”
“Are you quite certain?”
“Sure I am. Do you think he bespelled me? He needed to be one hundred percent present in the ER to do the magic required to convince the Dailey family that Brad’s face looked the same as it ever had.”
Feehan scratched his thinning hair. “It does sound a little farfetched, doesn’t it?”
“Look, whoever this Adam dude is, he wants Vadim to take the blame for his actions. This is the second time he’s pretended to be him.”
“But why? Liz thinks—”
Ella sat up straighter. “What’s Liz got to do with it? Is all this coming from her?”
“She’s seeing a lot of connections between Vadim and Adam in her Fae-Web.
“So? He said they shared some of the same bloodlines. Doesn’t that account for it?” Feehan studied her carefully and she felt herself blushing. “
“She also insists that you and Vadim are, um, closer than you admit to being.” He held up his hand. “I have to say I found that part a bit difficult to swallow, until I noticed how vigorously you’ve been defending him over the past couple of days.”
“Do you think he’s controlling me with his magic?”
“God forbid, just that you might be—” Feehan was beet-red now and struggling to meet her gaze,”—
“You think I’m like a sex-crazed teen who will do anything to protect her man?”
“Um, yes.”
“Wow.” She stared at Feehan for a long moment. “Well, that was ballsy.”
“I know, I can’t believe I said it. But Ella, I’m your boss. I don’t want this team imploding during an important investigation.”
He’d impressed her. Who’d have thought it? Now she had to decide how to respond. There was only one answer.
“I suppose I should tell you something important.”
“What’s that?”
“Morosov is my Otherworld-approved mate.”
“
“I have the paperwork somewhere, if you want to check it out. I’m not infatuated with him, I’m mated to him. That means my empath gifts are working just fine, and I’m in no danger of going nuts next week. It also means I can connect with Morosov’s mind, and he isn’t the killer.”
Feehan kept gawping at her.
She waved her hand in front of his face. “Boss? Are you okay? I’m telling you this in the strictest confidence, because I don’t want you imagining all this other stuff is a problem. You know me, I wouldn’t lie to you and compromise a case.”
She supposed at this point she should vouch for Vadim’s integrity too, but she didn’t want to inhibit him. He definitely was hiding stuff. Hopefully she’d said enough to keep Feehan happy at least for a while.
He reached for her hand and awkwardly patted it. “Well, I’m very pleased for you—I think. Vadim is...”
“Well equipped to deal with me. I think that’s what you’re trying to say, isn’t it?”
His smile was wary. “Something like that.”
“Seriously, boss, Morosov and I want to solve this case. If I thought he was the murderer, I sure as hell would tell you.”
“Then what do you think is going on?”
“I think this Adam guy is trying to draw attention away from himself and onto Vadim to confuse us. And it’s working. But at least this time we’re better prepared for when Adam comes back.”
“He’ll be back?”
“You have to assume he’ll want to complete his task and force Ms. Phelps to kill herself.”
“Hopefully we’ll be able to stop that this time.”
“
She slammed down her shields. “I’m sure we will. Shall we go back now?”
Feehan left her at the door to Ms. Phelps’s room, and she braced herself for what lay within. Vadim was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed. His expression wasn’t encouraging and his eyes were narrowed to icy blue chips. The temperature in the room dropped below freezing, and a couple of black feathers swirled in the air.
“Ms. Walsh.”
“Morosov.” She gestured at the bed. “No change here, then?”
“No.”
She sighed. “For God’s sake, stop sulking. I had to tell Feehan something. Between him and Liz, you were starting to figure as a shoo-in for the killer.”
“So you told him we were
“It was better than telling him about your connections with Adam and the Otherworld sect, wasn’t it? I had to choose the lesser of two evils.”
“Our mating is an ‘evil’ now?”
“Don’t split hairs, you know what I mean.” She glared at him. “I thought you’d be pleased. You’re the one who’s always complaining that I don’t take it seriously or want to tell anyone.”
“You didn’t share the news because you were
