When the Gold Weeps

Bonus Excerpt

Lynx slammed the door to the interrogation room, making Fox jump. “What the hell were you doing there tonight?”

Fox winced, hands on his lap refusing to meet his eyes. “Elise said she had an anonymous tip-”

“What tip?”

“An anonymous tip. I mean, you could ask her yourself.”

“I’m asking you.”

“She said someone rang her saying something weird was going down at the factory and wanted to check it out. Neither of us knew what we would find.”

“And what did you find?”

Fox looked up at him, the same puppy dog eyes he used on their mother, which’d always worked wonders, of course. Well, they weren’t kids anymore.

“Could you stop treating me like a criminal?” Fox muttered.

“You broke into a gold factory and set it on fire! You should be happy I’m not arresting you on the spot! Tell me exactly what you thought you were going to find there tonight.”

“Gold?”

Lynx drew a sharp breath. He didn’t have time for this, didn’t have the patience, shouldn’t even be here. This was his brother and Lynx was losing it which was precisely why he shouldn’t be interrogating family, but after the fiasco that was tonight, he deserved some answers now, damnit! “Did you even know I was up on the walkway?”

“Not until you screamed at me, no.”

“I was after a man on the walkway with me. Did you see him when he ran?” Lynx wasn’t at all sure what he wanted the answer to be—if Fox could identify Midas, that made him a target.

“No. I was too busy being shot at.”

Well, then Lynx had nearly died for Fox and lost Midas on the exact same night just to pay for his brother’s antics and nothing else. Splendid.

Fox must have seen the look on his face, because he snapped, “The factory floor was a literal burning furnace at the time!”

“And whose fault is that?” Lynx asked, making Fox cringe. “You nearly killed yourself! And Elise too! Let’s not even talk about my life you’d put in danger and the fact that because of you, I lost a fucking serial killer.”

“He died?”

Lynx closed his eyes, counted to five. Thank both their lucky stars they were at the station full of watchful witnesses because he could have throttled him. “No, Fox. He ran. I lost him in the car park because I had to come back into the fire for you.”

“Oh.”

“So you’re saying you broke into a factory for no particular reason except for some insubstantial ‘tip’ someone else got and burnt the place down, and you have no information to offer me. You found nothing. Who’s to say you weren’t creating a diversion?”

Fox blinked. “What? I-”

“I know you weren’t. Couldn’t imagine a stupider way of getting rid of evidence,” Lynx said with a shake of his head. “Fox, I’ve got higher-ups to answer to, colleagues watching, a report to write for this case. I can’t be suspected of covering up for you, and others at the station are going to ask questions if you get involved. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

The blood drained from Fox’s face. “But Lynx, I did find something. There was a room, an empty room and-”

“An empty room? Are you messing with me?”

“No! I used my magic on it and I saw you.”

“What?”

Fox hesitated. “I saw you strapped to a chair with a gun.”

“You’re saying I was a hostage in your vision?”

“Well, that’s one version I saw, I think…”

Lynx uttered the next words slowly. He’d had it up to here. “You think?”

“Look, I was scared, all right? I’m not like you. I don’t see bloody crime happen on a daily basis!”

“Who tied me there?”

“I don’t know!”

“How many people were there? Time of day? Was I in any kind of danger in your vision?” When Fox alternated between ‘don’t know’ and a shake of his head, Lynx threw up his hands. “You wanted me to listen. Well, I’m listening! What else can you tell me?”

“Nothing! That’s all I saw!”

Lynx buried his face in his hands with a despairing growl. A version of the future that Fox thought he saw that may or may not happen. He wasn’t sure whether to give Fox a medal for effort or thrash him. And even if it was true, what was he meant to do with that? He already knew Midas was likely to come for him—that it was a possibility was unnerving, but not surprising.

“Get out of my sight. Someone will take you to your cell.”

Fox looked up. “My cell? Are you insane?”

“You broke into a factory on a critical night to a very fresh case. I’m doing my due diligence by running a proper investigation before letting you go.”

“But I was only trying to help!”

Help? Now there was a joke.

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