Leather & Lark

Lark and Lachlan plan to investigate a club that is run by Bob Foster, Ethel’s business rival and the man they suspect of being responsible for the murders of Nina and Damian’s associates. Before they leave, a FedEx truck arrives, so Lachlan has Lark start his car while he takes care of the packages. A steamy audiobook is playing, and Lark texts Sloane, who says that she advised Lachlan to read a romance novel in order to better understand and relate to Lark. Lark keeps the doors locked until Lachlan figures out what she is listening to. He is mortified and turns off the audiobook. They flirt and banter on the drive to Foster’s club.

Lachlan is concerned about their mission to retrieve files from the club, and he warns Lark to be careful. The club is packed, and they slip to a staff door and enter the office. They take photos of everything they find, and they also locate an invoice recording cash that was paid to a contracting company. Someone comes down the hall, talking on the phone, and Lachlan pulls Lark into a storage closet.

Lark starts to panic in the confined space, but Lachlan whispers to her and holds her, and her fear soon turns to desire. As the other person leaves, Lachlan opens the closet, but they remain inside it. Lark tries to kiss Lachlan, but he tells her that they cannot act on their feelings until she forgives him because, as he says, “otherwise, this won’t work, and I want it to work” (254).

As they return to the club, Lark receives a text from Sloane with a link to an article about the investigation into Dr. Louis Campbell’s disappearance. Sloane implies that she knows what Lark has been doing, and she tells Lark that she still loves her. Lark is relieved that Sloane accepts her completely, and she tells Sloane that she would like to talk with her soon.

Lark and Lachlan talk on a deserted patio, and Lark reveals that her father, Sam, was killed in a home invasion after her mom hid her and her sister in a linen closet. This is how her fear of small spaces began. She admits that that night was the last time she ever asked God for help. She thanks Lachlan for his help with Dr. Louis Campbell, then suggests that they go home, but Lachlan drops her off because he has to go to Leander’s. After Lachlan drops her off at their apartment, she starts writing a new song.

Lark has been preparing for a new show for weeks, and it is the night of the show. Conor has investigated the information that Lark and Lachlan found at Bob Foster’s club and notifies them that all the payments checked out; ergo, Foster was not the one who paid a killer to murder Nina and Damian’s associates.

Lachlan gives Lark a gift: a small leather harness made of black leather and decorated with stars and admits, “I want to make this marriage into one you can be proud of, no matter what it looks like or how long it’s meant to last. I don’t want it to be something you regret” (266). Lark also has a gift for him, and she goes to her room and returns wearing the harness and holding the gift in her hand. He tells her that she is stunning, but he does not want to compliment her into forgiving him. Lark gives him the present but tells him to open it only after she has given him a signal from her position on the stage.

They go to the bar at which she is scheduled to perform her music. Lark sings a song that she has written about Lachlan, and the lyrics state that she has forgiven him. As he listens, Lachlan realizes the depths of his feelings for her. When she begins playing the cello, she signals Lachlan to open the present. It is a remote that controls the vibrator that Lark is wearing, and he uses it until she has an orgasm. Then he disappears.

Lark leaves the stage, and when she cannot find Lachlan, she misinterprets his disappearance as rejection and goes to the bathroom to cry. Suddenly, Lachlan bursts into the bathroom and demands to know what she’s doing. Lachlan tells her that he has been waiting for her in the dressing room and has texted her. Lachlan asks her if she really meant what she said in the song. She reiterates that she forgives him. She wants to have sex, but Lachlan tells her, “The first time I fuck my wife is not going to be in the bathroom of some bar” (292). Before they leave, they retrieve Lark’s cello and guitar. As Lachlan is getting Lark’s guitar, Abe Midus appears and tells Lark that she gave a wonderful performance and says that her music is a wonderful tool to “escape from darkness” (295). Lark is unnerved, and Abe thanks her for the inspiration before leaving.

As Lachlan and Lark drive home from the bar, Lark purposefully takes the longer route to torture Lachlan. He carries her to the bedroom and tells her to undress but to continue wearing the harness he made for her. Lachlan reminds her of their safety signals if their activities become too intense, and they have sex repeatedly until the early hours of the morning. Afterward, Lachlan says he will take Bentley for a walk, but Lark invites him to come back to her bed to sleep. When Lachlan wakes up, Lark is making breakfast.

Leander wants Lachlan and Lark to come over, and they bake muffins for him. Leander is “taken with Lark in a way that a gem collector might obsess over a rare diamond” (310). When they get to Leander’s office, Lachlan questions Lark on who could be after both the Montagues and the Covacis. Lark mentions his associate Stan Tremblay but then immediately discounts him because Stan helped to clean up after Sloane when she killed Verdon. They search Stan Tremblay’s name and find out that Stan Tremblay is already dead. He was the killer’s latest victim.

Lachlan and Lark return to the apartment, and Lark admits she’s feeling frightened because she knew Stan Tremblay better than the other people who were killed. Lachlan tells her that he loves her bravery, and Lark realizes that she loves a lot of things about Lachlan. After they have sex again, they get ready to visit Stan Tremblay’s vault. First, however, they meet Conor, then go to the medical examiner’s office. While Conor triggers a fire alarm, Lachlan and Lark get to Stan Tremblay’s body and cut off his thumbs and index fingers; this is the only way they will be able to access his vault.

Conor tells them over the radio that someone has called the fire department. Lachlan cuts out Tremblay’s eyes, and Lark and Lachlan leave the medical examiner’s office just as the fire department is about to arrive. They now have the items they will need to access Tremblay’s vault, but if they fail, it could take them weeks to get the information. The killer strikes every 40 days, and that delay would be disastrous.