Page 48 of Shadow Scorching

“We do. I’ve made two appointments for next week. One was a woman who says her sister is missing, and the other’s a man who says pixies are ruining his garden.”

“I doubt if they’re pixies. Pixies generally don’t bother gardens, so it’s probably some other kind of nature Fae or sub-Fae. Okay, you scheduled both?”

“For mid-week.”

“Is Orik here? Carson?”

“Yes, both are back in their office.” She handed me the mail.

I sorted through the opened envelopes. Nothing that I needed to worry about, so I handed the envelopes back to her. “Do what you need to with them. And can you call a staffmeeting at noon in the breakroom? We’ll eat lunch in. Penn’s coming in.”

“Will do, boss!” Sophia saluted me as I headed toward Dante’s office to ask about Tilly.

He told me she was awake, couldn’t remember anything at this point, and was starting to feel better with the blood transfusion for her anemia and the IV fluids that helped wash the razapahn out of her system.

“What did she say when she found out she’d been drugged?”

Dante ducked his head. “She doesn’t want to believe that Jet did it, but she’s starting to waver on the subject. She agreed that there weren’t many people who could have had access to her. She’s smart enough not to blame the waiters at dinner.”

“I’m supposed to talk to Jet this afternoon, so maybe I can lure him into a meeting,” I said. “I downloaded a voice changer app, so I’ll sound older and fragile.”

“Good, because you sound anything but that now.”

“We’ll see what happens. If we can get our hands on him, I plan on detaining him, with or without his permission.” I arched my eyebrows. “He’s not getting away with this.”

“Where, might I ask, do you plan on putting him?”

I laughed. “Oh, I have my plans. Trust me—there’s a reason I keep friends like Benny around. As a matter of fact, I have to make a call. I’ll talk to you in the breakroom at noon.” As I headed back to my office, I called Benny.

“Hey, I need a favor. And you know I pay well for favors,” I said when the weaselly goblin came on the line. “I need a secure place to stash someone without anybody else finding out about it. It needs to be secure, or I’ll come after your hide, and you know I carry through mypromises.”

Benny coughed. “I’ve got just the place. Let’s talk about payment.”

“Oh Benny, you never disappoint me. How about two hundred up front for one day, and more if we need more time?”

“I’m good. When will you need it ready?”

“Hopefully by tomorrow night. I’ll call you a little later. Make sure you pick up.”

“Will do, Legs. Talk to you later.”

As I stared at my phone, thinking about Benny, it occurred to me that sometimes, we had to walk on the outskirts of the law, in order to keep it from being broken.

Promptly at noon,we gathered in the breakroom. Penn had taken a Rent-a-Ride here, because it was still slippery enough that she didn’t want to drive. But we were all around the table, and everybody was in one piece.

Penn immediately handed Carson a necklace, with a carved wooden rune on it. The necklace smelled like bergamot and lily. He sniffed it, and smiled.

“I like this. I’d wear this as a cologne, if you made it for me,” he said, draping it over his head.

“I can make you some, if you like,” she said.

“Sure—let me know how much it costs,” he said, holding her gaze.

Penn blinked, then smiled and turned back to her notebook. “So, I’ve examined all the footage you sent me, and from what I can tell, we’re dealing with a revenant, a shadow person, and several lost spirits. We’ll need to take care of the spirits first, or they might unwittingly interfere with exorcising the other two. The way we’re going to do this is that I need the shadow man and the revenant distracted while I lead them through the Veil.”

“How do we do that?” Sophia asked.

“We’ll discuss that. I have parts for all of you, including Lazenti, to play. After I’ve freed the spirits, we’ll take on the shadow man, which means that the revenant still has to be distracted.” She sighed. “After the shadow man is gone, then we go to work on the revenant.”

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