Ruby lowered her lashes, swallowing the surprise in her eyes.
The silence in the room seemed to settle as a tacit answer.
“Come with me.”
Cassian led the way.
At the back of the restaurant, hidden in a quiet corner, was a secret spiral staircase that wound up to the second floor—private rooms reserved for special arrangements.
Cassian pushed open the door. The subtle scent of sandalwood drifted through the air, soothing and inviting.
Everyone took their seats.
“This is a recording Sylas left before he departed.”
Cassian pulled a voice recorder from his pocket.
Sylas’s conversation with the three witnesses played out slowly.
When the crematorium worker’s voice broke, on the edge of collapse, the expressions around the table shifted.
“Did Hanley threaten their families?” Ruby’s hands tightened in her lap. That was the first possibility that sprang to mind.
“I can’t say for sure, but it’s very likely,” Cassian replied with a shake of his head.
“Mr. Veyne wanted us to hear this recording because…” Fanny’s gaze narrowed, searching Cassian’s face for answers.
“Sylas left it for me before he left. Maybe it’ll help you.”
Ruby stared at the voice recorder, a tangle of emotions twisting inside her.
Sylas had once told her he’d briefly returned to the Cunningham family. But when he left that time, it was without a word. This time, though, there was something unsettlingly final in his departure—something that felt like a farewell.
She doubted he’d come back to Quinborough so easily again.
Sylas had said Cassian owed him a favor. Honestly, Ruby never really bought that; it seemed far more likely they’d struck some kind of deal.
A sour feeling rose in her chest.
“Looking into the two doctors and the nurse shouldn’t be too difficult,” Cassian said, meeting Ruby’s gaze. “They were probably just acting out of self-interest, and it’s unlikely we’ll find anything conclusive. I suspect that nurse never even pulled back the sheet on ‘Violet.’”
His eyes were dark and piercing, as if he could see straight through her.
A shiver ran down Ruby’s spine.
“Yeah,” she murmured.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Burn Me Once Burn With Me (Ruby Grayson)