Page 19 of Hot Ghoul Summer

Gary whimpers and tries to back away, but he’s moving much slower. “It wasn’t me! It was the guy.”

“This is why I don’t believe you. And you’re too stupid to even ask yourself how I found you!” Theo doesn’t lower his weapon, but he pulls his phone from his pocket. A bright pink circle is flashing with white letters proclaiming, “Nicky’s Banking Bag.” “Tracer Tags. In case you lose your wallet, your purse—or your bag with that day’s deposits. Do you think my brother would have that much cash in his vehicle and not protect it? You were supposed to be his last stop, then the night drop, then home. You. Have. The. Bag.” Each word is punctuated by the gun shoving into Gary’s paunchy middle and broken ribs.

“I... I needed the money to get away from that guy.”

“There was no guy, and nothing you can say will make me believe that there was,” Theo shakes so violently that I’m tempted to go steady the gun. Or maybe the shaking will work in my favor. One more hole in Mr. Garmin would suit me just fine.

“Okay, I’m lying. I was trying to protect her, but I can tell you’re too smart for that. It’s out of my hands now.” Garmin puts his hands up and sighs.

“Her? A woman did this?”

“Martina. My stepdaughter. She loves her old man something fierce.”

“No!” I snarl, and my switchblade is suddenly in my hand, ready for work.

Theo pauses, blinking. “He was stabbed. Knives are women’s weapons...”

“Sexist as well as ugly,” I mutter.

“Exactly. I tried to stop her, I did, but... She saw Nicky coming at me on the pier, and she ran at him. Told him to leave her daddy alone, and he got rough with her—pushed her—and she came back like a wildcat. You know, I think she’s always had a little crush on me.”

If I vomit, it’ll probably alert them to my presence, invisible or not. I need to go over Gary Garmin’s scroll in much greater detail. I bet pathological liar is written on his list of worldly vices in big letters.

“So, your stupid little bitch killed my brother—and you just let her go?”

“I... I was afraid of her. She took out Nicky, and he wasn’t even beat up like me!”

“Well. The sins of the children can be visited on the father today,” Theo growls, and I hear the safety snap off.

“But I know where she is! I know where she is! 34 Silverlake Way in Erie!”

My stomach drops. My blade lengthens into a scythe. I’m going to have to kill them both.

“I’m sitting right here with you until I check that out—and if it’s true, I might let you go. But if you have any last messages you want me to tell your little girl, I’d pass them on now,” Theo taps a button on his phone screen, his heaving breaths perfuming the air with expensive secondhand whiskey fumes. “Because if I find her there... I’m not letting her go until she’s suffered. My brother was loved by everyone in his organization.”

“I doubt that,” I mutter, but I’m still in my ethereal state. No one notices.

“Yep. He was a great guy.” Gary wipes away a crocodile tear.

“Your little bitch is going to have a lot of very angry men who want her to pay for what she did to save your debt-ridden ass.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. She deserves it. Definitely.”

“Theo Cr—”

I never get to finish the name of the man whose scroll I’m after. Theo’s talking, but not to Gary Garmin.

“You hear that, boys? 34 Silverlake Way in Erie. Close by? Smart to keep around the perimeter of the lake, someone had to have seen something. If you see her, grab her—but I get to go first.”

He’s got an earpiece on. I didn’t notice it at first, but now I see it, a small beige insert that rests inside his ear. He must’ve pushed a button on the phone in his hand and someone answered—someone in his gang. Someone who could already be after Molly.

A sick wave crashes into me, making me turn back to my human-friendly form, just a pale, thin young man with curls that won’t settle and tired eyes that never lose their dark circles, no matter how long I sleep. I left Sera in charge. Sera can handle herself. The house is cloaked unless people have been told how to find it...

But I told Garmin. Garmin told Molly. I made it visible to her, but in my haste to leave this morning, or my haste to pull her in last night, did I get sloppy? Garmin was told the address of a protected dwelling by a Reaper. He passed it on—will that mean others can see it?

I sway on the spot, torn between staying to see Garmin and Cross’ interaction and getting home to protect Molly—just in case.

Oh, bugger it. In my line of work, “just in case” is a dead cert.

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