Page 29 of Dropping Like Flies

“That doesn’t mean you can’t have an opinion. It would be nice if you could be useful for something other than raising the dead.”

He took another bite of the custard cream, the urge to knock it out of his hand almost overwhelming. Finally, after chewing that seemed to take hours, he swallowed. “I’m having a hard time picturing him chopping up a cucumber without finding it an upsetting experience, never mind chopping someone’s fingers off.”

I sighed. “Yeah. Me too.” I ran back over the conversation. “But he did threaten Rupert.”

Griffin snorted. “He thought it was romantic.”

“Romantic?” The lift came to a stop, and we both stepped out of it. “If you think that’s romantic, then you need to hang about with more people with a pulse.”

“I didn’t say it was romantic. I said he thought it was romantic. Dougie was seventeen. He probably thought the if I can’t have you, no one else can approach was the way to go.”

“And instead it got him a police interview.” I held the door onto the street open for Griffin so he could step through first. When he didn’t bother to say thank you, I wished I hadn’t bothered. “What did you think of the alibi?”

Griffin shrugged. “If anyone is going to lie for you, a mother would.”

“Would yours?” Griffin’s mother didn’t live in London, so I could count the number of times I’d met her on the fingers of one hand. Although we’d gotten along well enough on the few occasions when we had spent time together. I’d gotten along with all of Griffin’s family, his sister included.

“Probably.”

“Good to know. I’ll remember that for if you ever murder anyone.” My phone rang once we were out on the street, Lou on the other end of it. The conversation was fairly brief and left a nasty taste in my mouth and a cannonball in place of my stomach by the time I hung up. Something must have shown on my face, Griffin narrowing his eyes. “Anything I need to know?”

“Yeah. You need to pack an overnight bag.”

“Where are we going? I’m assuming it’s a case of we?”

“Manchester.” I didn’t respond to the other part, the sense of dread at being stuck with Griffin for that length of time refusing to go away.

“Any particular reason?”

“We have a meeting scheduled with a Professor Rafferty Hart.”

“And he is?”

“One of the world’s foremost expert on satanic symbols and their purpose, apparently.”

Griffin nodded slowly. “And what if there’s another murder while we’re in Manchester? Have you thought about that? Resurrection is time sensitive in case you’ve forgotten.”

It was the perfect out, relief surging through me. “You’re right. You should stay here.”

Griffin rounded on me, the scowl on his face making it clear I’d given the wrong answer as far as he was concerned. “Make up your mind, Ben. Which is it? I’m your partner and you don’t have time to be briefing me about any of the findings in the case? Or I’m your partner as long as it takes place in London? If they’re sending you rather than someone else, then I assume they think this guy is going to have some useful information.”

“I just do what I’m told,” I said.

Griffin snorted. “Since when? You never used to.”

“Since I got promoted.”

“Right.” Griffin’s voice was dripping with cynicism. “They made you chief inspector, and you immediately started toeing the line and kowtowing to your superiors. Bullshit, you did.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Griffin laughed. “I know you, Ben. I know the way you think. I know the way you react to things.”

His words lit a fuse. Only instead of fire, a pervasive coldness spread through me. How dare he pull the “I know you” card when he’d been the one to end it? The one who’d refused to have anything to do with me until fate had laughed in our faces once more and brought us back together. “You used to know me.”

“You think you’ve changed that much in three years?”

“If I didn’t do what my superiors wanted,” I said, infusing my words with a saccharine sweetness that I knew would grate on Griffin, “I wouldn’t have said yes to working with you, would I? I would have told them to get somebody else. Anybody else. Necromancers are rare, but it’s not like you’re the only one in the world. You’re not even the best one. You were just the one who was available.”

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