Page 5 of Cheater Slicks

“Mamaw called me to say she had found Matty in the Quarter. She told me to meet her at home so that I could anchor her. She planned to visit you, give you the details. I was picking up an herb order from Tiz, and I had my hands full. I didn’t ask the questions I wish now I had.” His voice turned rough. “I found her passed out in her workroom when I got home, maybe twenty minutes later, and called for Jean-Claude. He did everything in his power to revive her, but she was beyond his help.”

“Nice to know you didn’t consider me until you ran out of options.”

“This is bigger than our beef,maringouin.” He drew in a shaky breath. “Your brother and my mamaw aren’t the only ones who are…” He bit off his words rather than finish the grim thought. “There are more of them in the Quarter. All kinds. Souls who just up and left their bodies. I found out about them when I started looking for answers to help Mamaw.”

“The New Orleans angle still bothers me.” The obvious answer to why Matty and Vi had been targeted was their connection to me, but that wouldn’t extend to other New Orleanians. “This is sounding more and more like it’s a localized phenomenon. Except for Matty. He’s the piece that doesn’t fit. How did he end up there?”

“You been hanging out with gods,deathgods, and you have to ask how anything is possible?” Rollo slung a hateful glare at Kierce that made me want to poke his eyes out. “Who else could do this?”

“We don’t know that gods are involved.”

“Since you didn’t finish high school, I’ll give you the answer.” He stuck up his nose. Nothing new there. It had been a while, but I could probably still recall the names I had given each of his nose hairs. It had only seemed polite given how much time I spent staring at them. “Two plus two equals four.”

Kierce, who had remained on the fringes of the room, allowing me to work through things, glided forward in a subtle threat that he wouldn’t tolerate much more of Rollo’s spite aimed at me. “Mind your tongue, Rollo, or I’ll remove it.”

“Violent.” Josie clapped her hands. “Ilikeit.” She squinted at him. “I shall call you Danger Kierce.”

Unlike when she dressed him in overalls, waders, and a straw hat for funsies then knighted him Kountry Kierce, this version was, if anything, Kasual Kierce. Ugh. She had me doing it now too.

“He’s in jeans and a tee,” I pointed out, not minding the look one bit. “He always looks like this.”

All that was missing was his Hawaiian shirt, but Josie’s relentless teasing shamed him from leaving home wearing it. To punish her, I had placed an order online for several more, telling myself I was encouraging his newly discovered personal style, but mostly I just wanted to annoy my sister.

Two birds, one hula girl, you know?

“Danger Kierce is more than the right accessories.” She waggled her finger. “It’s a vibe. An attitude. A?—”

“Mary.” I snapped my fingers in front of her nose. “We need to focus.” I swept my gaze over Rollo. “How long after seeing Matty’s soul was Vi afflicted?”

“Within the hour.” Rollo rubbed a hand over his chest. “Like I said, she wanted me to anchor her when I got home so she could tell you in person, but she was gone before she got the chance.”

A sharp jab in my ribs reminded me I had to play interpreter to keep Josie in the loop.

“So, what I’m hearing is Rollo needs you. He came here, showed his ass, but I’ve got his number now. He’s pissed because heneedsyou.” Glee cartwheeled across Josie’s face. “Heneedsyourhelp.”

Squirming like a worm on a hook, Rollo swallowed his pride, met my gaze, and grated out, “Yes.”

Somewhere, in some hellish realm, maybe even Abaddon, blazing pits of fire froze over.

An overwhelming desire to needle Rollo into admitting—into a recording app this time—thatheneededmyhelp itched on the tip of my tongue. But Matty and Vi were more important than exacting petty vengeance for old slights. And, okay, fine, astral projections never came through clearly on recordings.

For all his faults, and they were legion where I was concerned, he had done me a good turn. To plead his case in person—well, sort of—took balls when he must have believed I would snub Vi as punishment for how he treated me. But, as usual, he overestimated his own importance. Especially to me.

Rollo wasn’t a factor in my decision. He didn’t enter into my calculations whatsoever.

Lord knew it would deflate his ego quicker than a fistful of nails stuck in a tire sidewall if I told him so.

I wasn’t sure why I didn’t come out and say it, relish knocking him down a peg, but I held my tongue.

There was no fun in kicking him while he was down. No. I would wait until he got back up to cream him.

“You talk to crows now, yeah?” Rollo invited himself into Matty’s apartment, perching on the arm of the couch to watch me pack necessities for my brother while Kierce readied a bag one floor down and Josie caught a Swyft to Carter’s place to collect her things. “I always said you were birdbrained.”

Then again, maybe I should rethink the tongue-holding thing.

“Hilarious.” I waited a beat to see how Badb would react, but of course she gave him a pass and not me. “What do you want?” I swept through the silent apartment, checking that I had turned off the lights and unplugged any questionable electronics. Already my thoughts had turned to my next big ask, and my gut clenched at what anowould mean for this trip. “You got what you came for.”

A promise from me to spend a week in the Quarter, determining the root cause of this soulless condition, locating the missing spirits, then doing my damnedest to return them to their bodies.

---