Page 5 of Deadly Deception
“What the hell?” Brendon released Stella and took a menacing step toward me. “You put him back right the fuck now or I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Cody asked before I got the opportunity to whip out one of Pops’s charms and put this guy on his ass. “That won’t change the will, and it won’t change the fact that you’re a cheating jackass.”
Brendon’s neck burned crimson. Attention pulled from me, he turned to Stella and said, “Don’t listen to anything he says. It’s just sour grapes. Cody was always jealous. He—”
“Please, I wasn’t jealous of Stella.”
“You’re lying. I saw the way you looked at her.”
“Of course I looked at her. It was hard not to. That didn’t mean I was jealous of your relationship or that I wanted her for myself. It’s not all about you, Brendon.”
I decided it was time to point out an important fact that Brendon seemed to have conveniently forgotten. “Cody can’t lie, not while I control his soul.”
Brendon’s skin turned an unhealthy shade of red and his mouth opened, sputtering.
Arms hugging her chest, Stella stepped away from Brendon, shifting to look more directly at Cody. She didn’t flinch as she said more than asked, “He cheated?”
“Multiple times,” Cody answered easily.
Stella’s chin lifted defiantly. “Recently?”
“I’m not sure how long I’ve been dead, but he was fucking another woman in his room before I left the house. That’s why Ileft; it’s why I was on the road.” Cody’s train of thought seemed to drift. “I’m not sure what happened after that. I was on I-10 and…”
I was glad he couldn’t remember. Working with the police, I often needed souls to remember their final moments so we could punish the one who’d taken their life. This wasn’t the same, and I counted it as a blessing that Cody couldn’t remember the minutes before his death. At least he hadn’t suffered.
“You told me it would never happen again.” Stella turned on Brendon. “I’m calling Janelle to pick me up.”
“Stella, don’t you fucking walk away from me!”
My body tensed. I did not like that tone. My fingers gripped one of Pops’s charms, ready to activate it and temporarily paralyze Brendon if that’s what it took to stop him from harming anyone.
Without looking back, Stella threw up her middle finger and continued walking toward the road.
“Fucking bitch,” Brendon muttered while raking his fingers through his hair. “She’ll be back. I’ll buy her something nice and she’ll cave. Stella likes expensive things.” I thought Brendon was more talking to himself than me or Cody.
“I doubt that,” Cody said. “I don’t think your mom will lend you the money for something frivolous. She’ll be too worried about saving her pennies.”
Brendon growled. “What the fuck are you talking about? Your dad left everything to my mom and you. With you gone, it will go to my mom. She’ll have more than enough to—”
“That’s not how Dad’s will worked. Didn’t your mom tell you?” Cody sounded half confused and half delighted.
“She told me we were set, that—”
“You are notset. Dad left everything to me with provisions that your mom be cared for through a trust. That trust has a set amount. It should be enough to keep her comfortable, but notlive an exorbitant lifestyle. There’s certainly not enough in there to keep up with your spending habits. As for the rest…it was left to me, and I assure you, Brendon, I didn’t leave a cent in my will to you or your mother.” Cody’s wickedly crooked smile twisted his broken face oddly, making him more macabre than before.
Peace flooded our link. Cody’s soul felt better now than when I’d called him back from beyond the veil.
Easing into my heels, I said the magic words. “Cody Stevens, I release you. Go in peace.”
Chapter
Two
Franklin
On my way to the station.
I stared at Boone’s text and rubbed the tightness from my chest. I hadn’t liked this latest job of his, even if he took it as a favor to me. Brendon Devonshire was sketchy as hell. The circumstances surrounding his stepfather’s—and now his stepbrother’s—deaths pinged on my bullshit radar. Cody Stevens’s death hadn’t been ruled a homicide, and did truly appear to be nothing but shitty luck. His father’s death hadn’t been ruled a homicide either. But it never hurt to take a second look, and having a talented necromancer warming my sheets was damn handy sometimes.
