City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

a boy.’ I nodded. ‘I hear what you’re saying. But all those incidents were out of our control in some way. They weren’t deliberately nasty.’

Monroe’s eyes met mine. ‘Are you telling me you’ve never had a bad day and said something horrible to someone for no reason other than the shit that was going on in your own head?’

I looked away. ‘Not that horrible. And you’d better not be excusing his behaviour.’

‘I’m not. If it were up to me, we’d already have thrown Fab out on his ear. But…’

I sighed. There was always a but. ‘But we still need him,’ I finished.

Monroe nodded. ‘The smart thing to do is to tiptoe round him so we don’t piss him off. Maybe we need to accept him for who he is and what he can offer, and stop worrying about the other stuff. We have no actual proof of anything. He could be completely innocent. His mouth runs away with him but that doesn’t make him the devil.’

I swung my head slowly towards him. It was usually me who stood up for others in the face of evidence to the contrary. It was most unlike Monroe to do the same. ‘No,’ I said slowly. ‘That doesn’t make him the devil. But it does make you the devil’s advocate,’ I accused.

He flashed me a sudden, heart-stopping grin. ‘Guilty as charged.’ He squinted. ‘We have no evidence other than hearsay that Barrett is anything other than an honest man who’s actually here to help us. He’s admitted that it’s not out of the goodness of his heart but because he wants his name to go down in history. That’s doesn’t make him evil.’

‘No,’ I said. ‘And yet…’

Monroe nodded. ‘And yet even without half a building almost collapsing on top of you, and what you overheard from those guards, there’s something else about him that’s not quite right.’

I was beyond glad that we were on the same page. ‘We’re probably being ridiculously unfair to the man. I thought when he arrived that we could manipulate him into doing what we needed. Instead I can’t shake the feeling that he’s up to far more than he’s letting on and we’re the ones being played.’

Monroe leaned in and cupped my face. ‘He was perfectly amiable when we were out today, and the notes you found in his tent were nothing but kind and selfless. If he brings in the supplies that he’s promised, maybe we should let things be. He’s an eccentric billionaire. There must be all sorts of weird shit going on in his head. We’re worrying about nothing.’

My lips brushed against his. I was no longer sure whether he was trying to convince me of Fab’s innocence or I was trying to convince him. ‘There’s certainly a lot of weird shit going on in my head,’ I told him. ‘Especially when you’re this close to me. Maybe I should ask Fab to add some whipped cream to that supply list.’

‘I don’t need whipped cream,’ Monroe murmured. ‘I’ve already got the cherry.’

I grinned. ‘Come on. Let’s find Lucy and get back home. After the stress of today, you and I need a little alone time.’

Monroe’s eyes gleamed. ‘We’d better hurry.’

I took his hand, half tempted to leave Lucy on her own for another hour or two and enjoy a bit of Monroe-and-me time. It wasn’t fair to her, though; she’d played her part in getting the rats to come to us after all.

I led Monroe to the house where Julie had deposited Lucy before our rodent deception. She was curled up in the cage, fast asleep. I’d barely taken a step into the room when she opened one eye, registered my presence and bounced up to her feet, squeaking with excitement.

I beamed. ‘Hey, little one.’

‘Charlotte.’ Monroe’s voice was strained. Alarmed, I turned and immediately noticed the flickering light emanating from the television set in the corner.

My mouth dropped. This was Lucy’s doing. It had to be. It had happened with the radio and now it was happening with the television. I hadn’t seen a working television set for a year.

I inched towards it to get a better view. The last thing I wanted was to disturb either Lucy or the television signal. I stared agog at the screen.

‘It’s some sort of quiz show,’ Monroe whispered.

‘We don’t need a quiz show. We need the news.’

He gazed at the images as the quiz-show contestants beamed widely and hugged each other. I guessed they’d just won something. ‘And sound,’ he added grimly.

From the corner, Lucy continued to squeak. She kept raising her paws and clawing at the cage, rattling the metal bars. ‘Look for a remote control,’ I said. ‘I’ll keep Lucy entertained so we don’t lose the signal. It must be her excitement that’s linking to the electricity.’

For a moment Monroe didn’t move. ‘If I wasn’t seeing this for myself, I’m not sure I’d believe it.’ He shook himself. ‘Remote control.’ He spun round and started searching among the detritus of the long-since abandoned house.

I crouched down by the cage. ‘Lucy! Lucy, Lucy!’

The little shadow beast continued to jump around. I reached out with one finger and she made as if to grab it. I pulled my finger back and grinned at her then I tried it again. This game would only keep her entertained for so long.

The bare light bulb over our heads started to flicker on and off like a crazed Morse Code signal. I started on peek-a-boo, covering my face with my hands, snatching them away and cooing at Lucy. She burbled and jumped, crashing her entire body against the cage on several occasions.

‘Try the sofa,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘Behind the cushions.’

Monroe abandoned his scrabble through a pile of old magazines and yanked the cushions away.

‘Anything?’ I asked.

He hissed. ‘Nothing.’ He got down on his belly and peered underneath the sofa; when I heard his sharp intake of breath, I knew he’d hit the jackpot. He stretched out one long arm and crowed