Gilded Cage

Chapter Twenty

Time had been kind to Xander Woolf. He still had all of his dark hair and just a few more lines on his broody face. Meaning, he was still as intimidating as I remembered him. His presence only accentuated the morbid feelings I had since this all ordeal had started. It brought me back to an empty classroom, scared, anxious and clueless.

The past really decided to come bite me in the arse.

"What can I do for you, Inspector?" I asked, clenching the door handle until my knuckles turned white. I needed something to anchor me to the present.

"It's actually Commander," he said. "I work at Scotland Yard now."

I wasn't surprised he had been promoted. Woolf was a great policeman; no matter what had happened with Selene and Byron, he knew how to do his job. I was more than sure he had never believed in our innocence for one second, but as Jamie had said, he didn't have enough evidence to accuse us of anything. Unless... someone actually told him the truth.

"Commander Woolf, then. How can I help you?"

"Let me come in, Benjamin. We have something to talk about."

Is he here to arrest me?

Now I was being paranoid. If he was here to arrest me, he wouldn't have come alone. But it wasn't a coincidence that as soon as Alexi disappeared Woolf, of all people, showed up at my doorstep.

"Do we?" I stepped aside, letting him in.

"Are you alone?" he asked, looking round.

I glanced at the stairs, hoping that James would be smart enough to stay in my office. I didn't have the mental strength to explain him to Woolf.

"Yes. I live alone."

It wasn't exactly a lie.

"You have a really nice house." For a professor was implied.

"I assume you're not here to comment on the architecture of my home, Commander."

Woolf stared at me with his unreadable expression. I felt him digging a hole in my soul. That man had the capacity to make me nervous with one look.

"Alexi sent me."

My jaw dropped. I didn't see that coming.

"Did you... talk to him?"

"Not exactly." He sighed. "Alexi came to me a week ago asking if I could find someone for him. I don't know how he knew I work for the Metropolitan Police now, but he did. He stormed Scotland Yard like he was the prince of the castle, making demands."

I smirked. Apparently, some things never changed. I could picture him, in all his glory, ordering people around and expecting them to do whatever he wanted. And people were going to do everything he wanted, because he was charming and charismatic, and because he was powerful enough to bring that place to the ground if he wanted to. Half angelic and half demonic; that was my Alexi.

"And you just did what he asked."

"Of course not. I refused," Woolf groaned. "But then he said that he could bring me the murderer of Allan Wilson."

"Wilson sat in the House of Lords. I imagine his case is being followed very closely by a lot of important people."

"And you'd be correct. I informed Alexi that if he knew something he had to tell me, or he could be charged for withholding vital information from the police. He just replied that he was friends with the Commissioner and I had to do what he asked if I wanted to keep my job."

Called it.

"So, you gave him..."

"Everything we had on someone called Albert Corbett. Does the name ring a bell?"