Page 109 of Amber Gambler

“Lyle came back after the restaurant closed. He knew she would be alone and vulnerable. He took her to his house, locked her up, and had Armie ward her in.” Harrow kept tracing the outline of the ruins with a keen eye, as if he had seen or heard something. “That was why he burned the car. To get rid ofevidence of the kidnapping. Armie hadn’t planned on dying that night, and he didn’t want Lyle to get him caught.”

Which meant Ian had arrived at the restaurant to find Audrey gone and assumed she ditched him.

But Farah hadn’t believed Audrey would disappear and had begun searching for her friend that night.

“He ran over you in it. The auction car.” Audrey wasn’t exactly asking. “He kept babbling nonsense about it. About you.”

“I can imagine.” I had heard most of his opinions on me later, in person, and I wasn’t interested in asking her for a rundown. “Committing two crimes in the same car was asking to be caught.”

Almost wistfully, Harrow asked, “Do you think so?”

“Lyle was a half-crazed murderer—make that just plain crazy—too stupid to put his years on the force to good use helping him get away with his crimes. That’s what I think. He didn’twantto get caught. He was a bad person, Harrow. I’m sorry, but he wasn’t leaving clues for the authorities to follow in the hopes they would stop him before it was too late.”

“Damn.” Audrey flinched on his behalf. “You could have just saidno.”

“Why keep you alive?” I aimed my candor at her. “I’m glad they did, but I don’t see the point.”

Damn it.

I hadn’t meant it to come out so harsh, but Harrow had a talent for bringing out the worst in me.

“No. I get it. I thought I was dead too.” She tilted her head. “Armie called me ‘a necessary component’.”

“That sounds like he needed you for something else.” I considered what I knew about Ankou, about how he intercepted prayers and was forced to fulfill them to the letter, if not the intent, of his victims. “You’re smart enough to appreciate thepower of leverage. Who did you tell about what you saw and heard?”

“Farah.” She shut her eyes as a lump of guilt caught in her throat. “I told Farah.”

“No one else?”

“I don’t—didn’t—trust anyone else.”

“I lived under the thumb of a guy like Ian once. He had ears and eyes everywhere. Even on his own people.” A memory threatened to surface, but I drowned it before the details crystalized. “Maybe especially on us. The ones he didn’t want to get away. He paid his spies well enough they didn’t mind turning on their friends. Can you think of anyone who might have overheard you? Someone who traded with Ian regularly? A kid, or kids, who needed to remain in Ian’s good graces more than the rest?”

“No.” She raised a hand to her mouth. “There’s no way.”

“You have someone in mind?” Harrow studied her. “You can tell us.”

“Little.” Her gaze bounced between us. “She was Farah’s shadow.”

“She’s human.” Harrow thought about it. “Ian only tolerated her for Farah’s sake.”

That might have been true at the start, but I got the feeling he kept her around because she was good at her job. Her stowaway act hit different when I reflected on it. Had she been spying for him even then?

“We need to find her.” I got the feeling she hadn’t gone home when we gave her a lift. “Question her.”

But first I needed to get a demigod perspective on prayers, bargains, and delivery fees.

Harrow took Audrey home with him.

I was surprised I let him go. I hadn’t been certain until I was sitting on the path with my arms around my groggy brother that I would. I hadn’t even drawn blood. Even if he went about it the wrong way, Harrow had given me a lot to think about. Oh, I was still going to punish him. I only had to determine its severity.

“Do you believe her?”

Kierce had gathered Matty against his chest and carried him back to the truck. Carter would have done it had she not gotten distracted by a phone call. Me? I was happy to let anyone with superstrength help. It sucked that I couldn’t use spirits to lift heavy objects. Or reach items on the top shelf.

Honestly, I had a ton of short-girl problems spirits could solve if only our bond worked that way.

“Her story fits what we know to be true.” Carter sank into Matty’s couch on the opposite side of Kierce.

---