Page 122 of The Thief

“You okay?” Bear checked her over again. While she regained her senses, he wiped blood off her face and said, “That’s my girl.”

Calvin opened the freezer and pulled out a pint of rocky road that he’d put in there earlier that morning. After getting a spoon from one of the holders, he stepped over the body and rested his forearms on the kitchen island. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes.” He took a bite of ice cream. “Mmm.”

Bear examined the charred burn on his left arm. The pain was searing, and part of his sleeve had burned away. While looking at it, he noticed over his shoulder a dark crater in the floor where Argento’s energy ball had almost hit Mercy.

That could have been her.

He shut his eyes to collect himself. “I’ll pay for the damage.”

“You bet your sweet ass you will,” Calvin agreed around a mouthful of rocky road.

“I’ll make sure the Regulators know you had nothing to do with this.”

Calvin looked over his shoulder at the Mage’s decapitated head, which faced the storage area. “No need to call anyone. Why don’t you two kids go home. I’ll clean up around here.”

Bear flicked a glance between Calvin and the carnage.

After another bite, Calvin coolly put the lid on the container and stood up straight. “Don’t look so surprised. This isn’t the first dead body I’ve seen.” He strode across the room and returned the ice cream to the freezer. “Do you think I lost my ear from a woman talking it off?”

“We have a body,” Bear pointed out. “We have to call someone.”

Calvin shut the door and surveyed the damage, hands on his hips and a look of indifference on his face. “I used to be a cleaner.”

Bear’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you pulling my leg?”

Calvin lifted the giant meat cleaver off the floor. “Why do you think I had this hanging on the wall? Decoration? Sometimes you have to get creative when disposing of bodies.” He set the cleaver on the counter. “I knew a guy who used a chainsaw. One time, it ran out of gas.”

Bear got up and limped toward Calvin. His hip was killing him; nothing a shift wouldn’t fix. “Cleaners just bag and tag.”

Calvin tied his hair in a knot with an elastic band. “Maybe the kind that works for the higher authority. I was the guy you called when you were in a pinch. It paid a hell of a lot better, but it was dangerous. Clients always think they’re too smart for us. We knew there was always a chance they might kill us to eliminate witnesses. That’s what made the job fun.” He scratched his grey goatee while staring at the body. “Next time you kill someone, don’t do it in my kitchen.”

Bear rested his hand on the kitchen island. “He attacked Mercy.”

“I didn’t ask. Not my business. The less I know, the better.” He kept staring at the body. “Fuck me. I might need one of your hairnets. Where the hell’s his hand?”

Bear finally realized why Calvin looked different—he was wearing a white tank top and plaid pajamas. “What made you come back?”

Calvin chewed on his bottom lip. “I’d just put my feet up to watch Doctor Who when the alarm on my phone went off like an air-raid siren. You can tell your Chitah friend I don’t appreciate him tinkering with my phone settings. I don’t like anyone bothering me when my shows are on, and that was one hell of a wake-up call.”

Bear rubbed the back of his head. “I’ll help you bury the body.”

Calvin barked out a laugh. “Are you out of your fucking mind? Most of the land out here is Shifter territory. Between wolves and coyotes and mountain lions, you got more noses sniffing around here than in a brothel. How long do you think it’ll take before someone digs this thing up?” He nudged the corpse with his foot. “We’ll close the kitchen tomorrow for upgrades and repairs. I’ll clean the fucking puddles, but I want you to come in early and give it a spit shine.”

Mercy limped over to Bear and sat beside him.

He threaded his fingers through her soft fur and gently scratched her ear. “I have room in my SUV. I’ll drive it out to a remote city and dump it.”

“For someone to find,” Calvin grumbled. “Trust me, this is my area of expertise. The higher authority has insiders all over. Police, morticians, CSI, garbage men—you name it. Leave your smoker with me tonight.”

Bear’s stomach turned.

Calvin joined him at the island and stared at the blood dripping down the side. “I sure as shit don’t want the Mageri’s Enforcers rooting around in my business. Look at him. He’s hardly forgettable. If someone puts the word out he’s missing, how long do you think it’ll take for them to trace him back to my bar? People saw him in here.” Calvin sighed, giving Bear the feeling that he wasn’t going to back down from this fight. “Look, I’ll buy you a brand-new smoker. Better than this one. It’s a drop in the bucket compared to what I’ll make this month.”

I have to be crazy for going along with this, Bear thought. But given the circumstances, a murder charge would be impossible to defend. “Do you know how to use it?”

Calvin gave him a peevish look. “If there’s one thing I can do well, it’s set things on fire. People still smell the barbecue in the air, so nobody’s gonna think a damn thing of it. I’ll haul it off myself and take care of everything. It’s gonna be a long fucking night.”

Bear heaved a sigh. “Fine. But if I find any unexplained meat in the freezer, I’m tossing everything out. Just so you know.”

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