Page 150 of Icy Cold Death

The dial spun.

“WHAT. DO. I. GET. IF. I. KEEP. MY. YAP. QUIET. AND. LET. YOU. WORK?”

Bishop laughed.

“Oh, here we go. Negotiating with terrorists,” she said, knowing this wouldn’t end well. The dead had very short memories.

“MIND. YOUR. BUSINESS. PRETTY. GIRL. I’M. NEGOTIATING. HERE.”

Bishop just shook her head.

Tori knew what he wanted.

“I’ll give you one hundred dollars in gambling tokens to use on my phone when the case is over. If you annoy me, you lose them all.”

The phone app went nuts.

“LEGIT? BECAUSE. IF. YOU. TAKE. IT. BACK. I. WILL. GO. FIND. JULIAN. AND. REALLY. ANNOY. HIM.”

Tori just rolled her eyes.

“I won’t do you dirty.”

“CAN. YOU. THROW. IN. A. TRIP. TO. SEE. ELIZABETH? HER. HOUSE. IS. A. ROCKING. AND. I. WANT. TO. WATCH. THEM. DO. SOME. KNOCKING.”

Tori knew that was a bad idea.

“Nope. You know how Elizabeth feels about you being there. She has her own dead, and last time, you pissed off Charlie, and they had lights flickering for a week. You can’t tell her father you think she has nice knockers.”

The dial spun and Bishop wiped her eyes. She was laughing so hard she was crying.

Why?

She pictured it.

“ONE. TIME. I. MENTIONED. IT. IT. WAS. A. COMPLIMENT. HE. CHASED. ME. AROUND. AND. THE. OTHER. DEAD. DUDE. THREW. HIS. LOAFERS. AT ME. I. HAVE. FEELINGS. TOO.”

Tori knew Elizabeth would be divorcing her in the friendship court if her dead went to The Fort.

“No, Trey. It’s one hundred credits or nothing.”

There was silence.

Finally, the app came to life.

“YOU. NEGOTIATE. A. HARD. BARGAIN. I. WILL. TAKE. THE GAMBLING. TIME. IF. I WIN. MORE. CREDITS. I. GET. TO. KEEP. GAMBLING.”

That was a win for her.

“Deal. Now, hush.”

The app went quiet, but she could feel her dead beside her in the car.

Bishop loved her family.

That little display was one of the reasons why. Only, now, she was curious.

“You’re not the least bit freaked out that your car is having a conversation with you?” Bishop asked. “Because that’s generally a weird thing for most people.”

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