She swallowed hard at that. True though it may be, eternity was still a lot to grapple with.
“Maybe we can slow down the way we talk about it, too, huh?”
Dane laughed. “Sorry. I’m just excited.” Then he looked at her as if he wanted to bathe in her gaze. “You’re exciting.”
“I think you’re exciting too, so...” She held up the remaining half of her donut for another toast. “To excitement?”
“To excitement.”
Like the gentleman he was learning to be with her, Dane waited outside the door without protest so she could get dressed. Not that she would have been wholly against having his eyes on her, but it was the decorum of the thing. Besides, they might have fallen back into bed, and that was far from taking things slowly.
With coffee and breakfast already consumed, Aurora only needed to pop into the kitchen to grab her lunch from the fridge, but as they drew close, terse whispers filtered out into the hallway. Not wanting to interrupt but also wanting to get her lunch, she peeked around the corner to find Nathan standing in the doorway to the basement, his arms crossed across his bare chest, scowling at Ryan. Despite the dark circles under his eyes, Ryan managed to scowl right back.
Clearly, they’d had a sleepless night, judging by their demeanor, and it wasn’t the joyous kind of late night Kelly insisted on treating everybody to. No, clearly they were ankle deep in some kind of tiff.
“What is it?” Dane whispered as Aurora tiptoed back to him.
“Nothing. I hope.”
“Trouble in paradise?”
“Looks like it. Poor guys.”
When she strolled up the center of the Judiciary hallway, it was with genuine purpose. After her talk with Paul, and a sunrise visit from an incredible, patient man, she felt like a goddess.
Instead of chiding herself for her lack of humility, she reveled in it. And why not? One should allow themselves a good day every once in a while. After tying herself in knots for the better part of a week, she deserved it. Pulling open the door, she found the office empty—as usual at this hour—and took a moment to survey her little kingdom.
Further, she started to formulate big plans for the weekend ahead. The power pulsing under her skin let her know she was ready. Come Saturday, she was going to attempt her first real resurrection. The one that would make her family proud and earn her that coveted shawl. She could feel it.
Percival was the next junior to arrive, and he seemed almost surprised to see her there. Coward that he always was, he didn’t say anything.
“Good morning,” she offered brightly, daring him.
“Morning,” he mumbled.
One by one, the room filled up. If there had been chatter in the hallway, it stopped as soon as the door opened and whoever it was saw her there. Only Gotho looked genuinely happy to see her.
The rest kept their heads down and waited. When all were present and accounted for, Aurora felt like she could run the entire world. Standing with the last of the paperwork from the stymied Abernathy case, she all but danced to the filing cabinet in the corner, which, as it happened, was directly next to Heather’s workstation.
“Somebody’s full of themselves this morning,” the blonde witch muttered under her breath.
“What’s that?”
For what felt like the first time, Aurora was ready to counter whatever the other girl had to dole out, head on. Heather looked up, her eyes hard.
“I said, somebody is full of themselves this morning.”
“Is that a problem?” Aurora was brazen in her confidence, so much that Heather visibly bristled at it.
“I don’t know, Rory. Is it gonna be?”
“Can’t imagine why. I’m not going to be in the pit too much longer, so there’s no reason to go starting fights.”
That tiny bit of bait cut through the room like the crack of a whip.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cleon demanded.
“After my conversation with Mr. Keenan yesterday, I’ve got reason to believe I’m not going to be a junior much longer.”
“Oh, what? Did he give you a day’s notice before firing you?”
Eric shot her a toothy grin, and the whole room burst into laughter. The tension had broken and something in it rattled Aurora. The sound of their mocking laughter was just a little too fresh, and she reacted defensively.
“For your information, Mr. Keenan told me he recognizes the hard work I’ve been putting in, and today he will submit the paperwork to make me a full investigator. So, yeah. You could say he gave me a day’s notice that my time as a junior is over.”
“Wait, what?” Heather looked livid, and Aurora looked her dead in the eye.
“You heard me.”
“Whatever,” Dion chirped. “We’ll see what happens when he actually gets here.”
“Yeah.” Zander was ever quick to get on whatever train Dion was steering. “Let’s wait ’til the old tiger gets here, and we’ll see who has the last laugh.”
“Fine by me.”
She couldn’t wait. In her mind’s eye, she saw him coming through the door without its customary bang. Those usually impenetrable eyes warm, with just the twinkle of the friendship they’d shared. It was the dawning of a new era, and with an ally like him, this office would become a completely different place for her.
When the clock chimed nine, Aurora was looking over some fresh photographs of Finch. The slash on his throat upset her, but she focused on cultivating her critical eye, scanning the scene for anything that might point her in a useful direction. After all, she was bound to have a hand in solving this much larger case.
Even with this new focus, her eyes kept flitting toward the clock. And she knew she wasn’t alone. The room was wound as tightly as a spring with everyone anticipating the opening of the door. Ten o’clock arrived and neither Paul nor District Attorney Widarin had darkened the threshold.
They must be out on the case. We should get a call any time now, asking me to join them.
By noon, some light snickering had begun. Aurora’s confidence was wavering, but she held fast. A few days Keenan hadn’t arrived until after lunch, looking the worse for wear after whatever night he’d had.
The others liked to joke that he’d been out drinking, but Aurora always gave him the benefit of the doubt. He was an investigator, after all, so it seemed more likely to her that he had been on a stakeout. Now that she counted him as a friend, she was willing to give him even more slack.
“Still no word, huh?” Gotho asked when he ambled back in from lunch.
It was a question that didn’t need answering.
Still, Aurora was getting worried. The crime scene photos of Finch and Abernathy, their throats cut, kept popping into her head, followed by Paul’s face superimposed over theirs.
She had told him as much as she knew, and whatever jokes the others might make about his laziness, he was dedicated to his job. What if he’d taken it upon himself to start the investigation in earnest? And what if that had ended the same for him as it did for Finch and Abernathy? The thought of it made her so sick that she tucked the pictures away and tried to forget them.
Am I responsible for Paul’s death?
The question rang over and over again in her head, growing louder with each passing minute. The closer the end of the day came, the more certain she was that he’d been hurt. She’d given him enough information to put him on the trail but not enough to protect him from whoever was out there.