Page 74 of Amber Gambler

With a gesture down at my side, I warned Matty we had company, and he alerted Little.

“This is Little.” Farah’s excitement waned at the reminder. “She lived with me and the others.”

“She’s precious.” Alyse patted Little’s head, though she couldn’t feel it. “Who is your friend, Frankie?”

“This is Kierce.” I took his hand to steel my nerves. “He’s staying with me for a while.”

“One presumes he has his own quarters.” Alyse studied him. “One can never be too careful.”

“One is being very careful, I promise.” I crossed a finger over my heart then called Little closer to where I stood, angling her to face her friend. “Who wants to go first?”

“Me.”She bounced on her toes. “I want to go first.”

“This is how it works.” I let her get a few more jumps in before I broke down the rules. “She can hear you, but you can’t hear her. I can hear both of you, so I’ll repeat what Farah says to you. Understand?”

“Yes.” She clutched her hands at chest level. “Did it hurt when you died?”

Not a surprising question, and the answer from Farah was just as bland. “She doesn’t remember.”

“Oh.” Little hummed. “Can you fly? Do you haunt people? Will you haunt me? I’d love a pet ghost.”

“You can’t keep people as pets.” Farah raked her fingers through Little’s hair, but it did nothing to untangle the mess. “Not even dead people.”

The girls went back and forth for a half hour before Little ran out of rapid-fire queries.

The temporary lull was my best shot at getting answers, so I pushed Little for details on Audrey in case I only got this one chance. I quickly learned she hadn’t been allowed to speak to Audrey after Ian claimed her, and since Little was human, she had no standing in the gang. Aside from Ian’s slip, which told us he thought Audrey was dead, we had learned nothing.

“You need to get home,” Farah told her through me. “Ian will be watching you.”

“Yeah.” Little scuffed her foot. “I don’t want to get in more trouble.”

“We’ll drive her,” I promised Farah. “We’ll make sure she gets back safely.”

“Don’t get caught,” Farah cautioned. “Ian’s always paranoid for days after cops come around.”

After facilitating their goodbyes, I left Farah once again in Alyse’s care, but I had no doubt there would come a time when she refused to stay put. The helplessness she found in death was chafing her, and I hadn’t helped matters with this visit. All I had done was remind her of what she stood to lose.

The four of us returned to the wagon in much lower spirits. I dropped Matty at the shop, wanting him as far from this latest case as possible, then Kierce and I returned Little to a place of her choosing. One that should protect her from discovery.

As we backed out of a defunct laundromat, I heard a faint rumble and checked the darkened sky.

Not the promise of an oncoming storm.

An engine.

A vintage one.

One that coughed and spluttered as it idled just out of sight.

Then again, maybe those ominous cloudsdidherald an oncoming storm.

Harrow sat behind the wheel of his Chevelle with only the rear bumper of my wagon visible from his vantage point. I could say that with conviction because I left Kierce in the wagon while I crept around the block to come up behind Harrow. As I strode toward the driver-side window, I popped my hand on his trunk in warning.

Sneaking up on a witch, even one whose first reflex was physical over magical, wasn’t smart.

Easy as breathing, Harrow pulled a gun on me. “Frankie?”

“What the hell are you doing?” I ignored the weapon. “Why are you following me?”

---