He glared at me, his blue eyes practically glowing with cold anger. “What makes you think I had help?” Kincaid finally said.
“Because Salina has water magic, and you don’t. You were just a kid back then, one who’d just been beaten to within an inch of his life. She wouldn’t disappear just because you threatened her. No, Salina wouldn’t leave town unless someone with real power told her to go—someone she thought could really back up a threat.”
Kincaid didn’t say anything, but I could see the agreement in his eyes.
“Phillip?” Owen asked again.
After a few more seconds, the casino boss sighed. “It was Cooper, okay?’
Cooper Stills—Owen’s dwarven mentor, the blacksmith he’d worked for, the one who had taken in Kincaid too. It made sense, and I should have realized it before now. Of course Kincaid would have turned to Cooper to help get rid of Salina. The dwarf had probably been the only person Kincaid had left after Owen had thrown him out.
I pulled my knife away, got to my feet, and held out my hand. Kincaid hesitated, then took it, and I pulled him up to his feet. His bodyguard started to come over to him, but the casino boss waved him off. He took a moment to straighten his suit jacket and tie before he looked at me once more.
“So now what?” Kincaid said. “Have I told you everything you needed to know? Can I go back to my lunch?”
I grinned at him. “Oh, Philly. You’d better put all that food in a doggie bag. Because we’re all going for a little ride.”
20
Kincaid managed to convince his giant guard that we weren’t really kidnapping him, and ten minutes later, the three of us were in Finn’s Escalade, which I was still driving. I thought about calling Finn and telling him what was going on, but I didn’t want to distract him from chasing down his leads on Salina.
Owen sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window, while Kincaid sprawled across the backseat. None of us spoke.
I left the Delta Queen and the downtown district behind and headed toward Northtown. Driving past all the immaculate estates of that area and then into the Appalachian Mountains north of the city, we soon left the McMansions completely behind and started winding our way up one of the picturesque two-lane roads that dotted this part of Ashland. Trees crowded up to the edge of the pavement, showing off their clusters of spring leaves and painting the world in a fresh green color.
“So tell me about Cooper,” I finally said. “What’s he like?”
Owen let out a harsh laugh, but a little of the tension eased out of his shoulders. “A lot like Fletcher, I’d imagine. A rough, gruff, tough son of a bitch who worked and pushed me hard but who cared a lot about me too.”
“He pushed all of us hard,” Kincaid said from the backseat. “Except for Eva. He was like a dwarven Santa Claus to her. He was always giving her candy and treats.”
Owen glanced over his shoulder at his former friend. “That’s because Eva was a cute little girl and had him wrapped around her finger. She had everyone wrapped around her finger, including you.”
A faint grin spread across Kincaid’s face. After a moment, Owen’s lips twitched up as well, and they actually smiled at each other, the two of them lost in their memories.
“He’s an Air elemental, right?” I asked. “I remember you telling me that before. How strong is he?”
Owen shrugged. “When I was a kid, he seemed incredibly strong, but he’s pushing three hundred now.”
“Middle-aged, then, for a dwarf,” I said.
Kincaid nodded. “And he works too hard. He always has. The man isn’t happy unless he’s at his forge pounding on something. Whenever I come up here to visit him, I always tell him to slow down, but he never listens to me.”
“You visit him?” Owen asked, the surprise clear in his voice.
“Of course I visit him. Don’t you?”
Owen shifted in his seat. “Yeah. I just didn’t think you would.”
Kincaid laughed, but the sound was low, harsh, and ugly. “Still determined to believe the worst about me.”
Owen didn’t respond.
Kincaid leaned forward and looked at me. “But if you’re asking if he could stand up to Salina, the answer is yes. I just don’t know for how long. Cooper is strong, but even back then, it took everything he had to get Salina to leave town. He should have killed her when he had the chance. We both should have.”
Owen didn’t say anything, but his mouth tightened, and that troubled look filled his eyes again. He didn’t agree with Kincaid about killing Salina, not even now, when he knew what she’d done to Eva.
I wondered what he would think of me when I did the deed for him.
My mind was made up. Maybe it had been from the moment Eva told me what Salina had done to her, but seeing the water elemental this morning, talking to her, had made me realize exactly how dangerous she was. I didn’t know exactly what she was up to with McAllister and her mysterious dinner party, but like the others had said, it couldn’t be anything good. She’d only been back in Ashland a few days, and she’d already killed two people and tried to off Kincaid as well. It was just a matter of time before she hurt someone else, someone Owen cared about. And I’d be damned if I’d let that happen.
I glanced at Owen, but he was staring out the window and brooding again. Yes, I wondered what my lover would think when I killed his ex-fiancée. If he would be glad she wasn’t around to be a threat anymore—or if he would hate me for it.
We rode the rest of the way in silence. I drove past Warren Fox’s store, Country Daze, and slowed down so I could take a good long look out the window as we passed. More than a dozen cars filled the parking lot, along with a tour bus, as folks stopped on their way to wherever to get a quick drink or snack or to browse through the mountain crafts and homemade jams, jellies, and honey that Warren sold. I smiled. Nice to see that Warren’s business had picked up since I’d gotten Tobias Dawson off his back. One of the many pro bono good deeds I’d done in the last several months. The only ones that seemed to matter to me anymore.
I kept driving up into the mountains. I’d just passed a moving truck and a smaller van parked on the side of the road, their giant drivers standing in between them and conferring about something, when Owen pointed to a turnoff up ahead.
“That’s it,” he said.
I turned and steered the Escalade onto a bumpy dirt track that seemed to lead into the middle of nowhere. We drove about a mile back into the woods and up a ridge. Tiny flashes of light sparked in the trees to my left, almost like fireflies winking on and off, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. It took me several seconds to realize the flashes were from bright metal shapes reflecting the sun. I squinted, but I couldn’t quite make out what the figures were before we rounded a curve and a large house came into view.
It was a massive structure made out of gray river rock, the kind that could be found in the waterways in and around Ashland and the surrounding mountains. The smooth stones fit together beautifully, while the house’s A-line roof looked like a blanket of coal that had been thrown over the rocks.
I parked the SUV, and we got out. Owen and Kincaid stood side by side staring at the house, memories filling their faces of all the good and bad times they’d shared here.
Finally Owen shook his head, as if banishing his thoughts. “Come on,” he said. “Cooper will be around back in the forge. He always is.”
Owen led me to the right, and we walked around the house, with Kincaid bringing up the rear. We stepped into the backyard, which was clear of the trees that crowded around the front of the house. More of the river rock had been shaped into flat stones and placed on top of the grass, forming a patio and a winding path that led over to a forge that was almost as large as the house itself. The forge was made out of the same gray river rock as everything else. Two sides of it were open to the air, and I could see a variety of blacksmithing tools hanging down from the ceiling and stacked on the tables inside. A fire burned low in the hearth, sending out wisps of smoke and adding to the growing heat of the day.