Ruinous Love Trilogy, #2
Leather & Lark
by Brynne Weaver
Contents
Chapter Twenty-One: Enucleate
Overview
Lark confronts fear over Stan Tremblay’s death while she and Lachlan deepen their bond and commitment. With Conor’s tech support, they trigger a false fire alarm to infiltrate the medical examiner’s office and collect Stan’s fingers and an eye to defeat his vault biometrics. They narrowly escape as sirens approach, securing what they need to unlock Stan’s records. Conor warns the killer may strike again in forty days, sharpening the urgency of their hunt.
Summary
Back at the apartment, Lark wrestles with fear after learning Stan Tremblay is dead. Lachlan reassures her, calling her brave, and their mutual vulnerability turns into a passionate reaffirmation of their partnership and marriage. They resolve to act despite the risks.
That night they meet Conor, who lays out a tight plan: trigger the medical examiner’s fire alarm, exploit the brief evacuation, and reach cooler two to collect biometrics needed for Stan’s top-tier home vault. The window is under ten minutes, with Conor suppressing automated calls only briefly.
After Conor trips the alarm, Lark and Lachlan slip inside, navigate to the coolers, and locate Stan’s body. Working against the clock, they sever Stan’s index fingers and thumbs for fingerprint access. Despite Lark’s history with Stan, she stays focused, and Lachlan notes her steadiness.
Under mounting pressure, they proceed to the iris requirement. Bracing through revulsion and gallows humor with Conor on comms, they enucleate an eye and store it in formalin. A delayed dispatch call accelerates the timeline, forcing them to pack up and run as approaching sirens close in.
They reach the van and secure the biometrics in a cooler. Conor believes the materials should unlock Stan’s records but warns that failure could cost weeks they don’t have. He estimates the killer may strike again in forty days. Lachlan vows to find the perpetrator and unleash retribution, while Lark, adrenaline surging, commits to the hunt.
Who Appears
- LarkNarrator; confronts fear over Stan’s death, reaffirms commitment to Lachlan, helps obtain Stan’s fingers and eye to access his vault.
- Lachlan KaneLark’s husband and enforcer; comforts Lark, leads the break-in, assists in taking Stan’s biometrics, vows vengeance on the killer.
- ConorTech ally; coordinates the operation, triggers the fire alarm, guides timing, warns of a forty-day window for the next killing.
- Stan TremblayRecently murdered associate; his corpse yields fingers and an eye needed to bypass his vault’s biometric security.