“He called the ambulance.”
“Could it be Fiona you sensed in trouble? Not Sean?” she asked, hopeful.
Broch shook his head. “Nae. It was Sean.”
Catriona’s phone rang in Broch’s pocket and he retrieved it to look at the screen.
“Speak o’ the devil.”
“It’s him?” Catriona snatched the phone from his hand and pressed it to her ear.
“Sean? Are you okay? We’ve been calling—”
“I’m fine. Are you still at my house?”
Hearing his voice, a wave of relief flooded Catriona’s body. “No. We’re at the studio. Someone knocked out Noseeum and grabbed Fiona.”
“I need you at the warehouse. The one down the street from Luther’s.”
Catriona scowled, finding it worrisome Sean had had no reaction to her kidnapping news.
“What’s wrong? Was there a break-in?”
“No. It’s Luther.”
“What happened?” As she asked, she heard the bark of a police radio on the other side of the line. “What’s going on?”
Sean released a ragged sigh.
“He’s dead, Cat. Luther’s dead.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Catriona and Broch arrived at the Parasol warehouse moments before the crime techs finished with Luther’s body. The big man lay on the ground, tinted broken glass scattered around him like ash, a pool of drying blood beneath his head.
Catriona covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes, willing the vision to go away. She had never seen Luther so still. She feared the image of him so broken would never leave her.
When she opened her eyes again she saw Sean standing nearby, his face pale. He spotted them and motioned them over.
“You made it.”
Catriona fought back the lump rising in her throat. “What happened?”
Sean stared up at the broken window of the warehouse as he answered. “Rune. Luther tackled him through the window.”
“Why?”
“To save me. To save us. Who knows? He was talking crazy before it happened. Like he knew it was coming.” Sean pulled Catriona to him and hugged her tightly against his chest. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t want you to see this.”
Catriona grappled with the idea of Luther purposely following Rune through the window. There had to have been another way. “I don’t understand. Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know.”
When Sean released her, Catriona felt something wet on her arm. Feeling for it, her fingertips came back red.
“Wha—?” She searched for the source until she saw Sean’s right hand was covered in blood, much of it dried, some still glistening. On the ground near his foot a little pool of the sticky liquid had collected, splash marks spattered on his shoes. She grabbed his wrist to inspect it.
“You’re cut.”
Sean looked at the gash on the outside of his palm as if he were seeing it for the first time.
“Glass,” he muttered, chin thrusting up towards the broken window.
“It’s deep. You should get it looked at while they’re here. You might need stitches.”
He didn’t answer, and instead motioned towards the parking lot with his other hand. “You two go find Fiona. I don’t want you messed up in this.
“But—”
“I have to stay and talk to the cops.”
“You can’t tell them about Rune.” Catriona grimaced as the words came from her mouth.
Duh.
Sean flashed her the withering glance she’d expected. “What? You’re saying I can’t tell them there’s a time traveler from the past hell-bent on destroying my family?”
“Yeah, yeah. Stupid.” She looked up at the window. “Rune fell too?”
Sean nodded.
“Where—”
“He walked away.”
“How?”
Sean sucked his tooth, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to say. Finally, he looked at her. “Near as I can figure? A rat.”
“I don’t understand.”
“His back was broken. I could see it from up there. Then he grabbed a rat that came sniffing after the blood and...”
Sean trailed off until Catriona couldn’t wait any longer.
“And what?”
“It was like he absorbed it. Used it somehow to heal himself. He was gone by the time I could get downstairs.”
Catriona stared at him, speechless.
“How is that a thing?”
Sean shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Catriona looked away and then turned back, realizing she had news of her own. “Someone took Fiona.”
Sean nodded. “You’d said. Sorry. What happened?”
“She tried to leave my apartment using Dr. Pete to clear the way.”
“What’s Pete got to do with anything?”
“I told the guard not to let her out. She used Pete as a key.”
“Ah.”
“From what we could get from Pete, someone shot him with a dart and he passed out. When he woke up, she was gone.”
“A dart? Like from a tranq gun?”
She nodded. “I guess. Or a blow gun. The dart wasn’t there anymore. Just the prick on his neck.”
“What time was this?”
“Around midnight? He was fuzzy when we talked to him. Broke his nose, too. Looks like he has a potato screwed onto his face now. We sent him off with the ambulance.”
Sean seemed to ponder on this new information. “It could have been Rune and his friend. They could have gotten there by then.” He motioned to the shattered glass around them. “After this happened, I spent a while looking for Rune before I called the cops. Searched Luther’s apartment. Followed the path he probably took to get here from his house. I told the cops I found him like this.”
Catriona gasped. “Without Rune, they’re going to think he jumped.”
Sean nodded. “I’m not sure I should dissuade them. Fewer questions.”
“But Luther would never—”
“I know. He’s got a niece in Florida. I don’t want to do it.”
Catriona fell silent.
“Whit kin we dae?” asked Broch.
Sean put a hand on his son’s arm. “Go. I mean it. I’ve got this.”
Catriona snapped from her trance. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. But keep an eye out. There was a short, Hispanic-looking man with Rune. Thick-bodied. I shot
