Page 32 of Smokescreen (Knight & Daywalker)
Well that was helpful.
Though actually...“Can you drop me at my bike?” I asked Davin. “There’s no need to go see Wu Mei. She’s been out of town since before the murder, and frankly, I don’t doubt she was telling the truth. She’s paranoid, and apparently saw this mess coming a mile away.”
He frowned at the road, but turned in the direction of the beach instead of toward downtown. “That won’t please your mother.”
I sighed, slumping deep into the bucket seat and letting my head fall against the headrest. “Lots of things about this whole mess won’t please my mother. But she ordered me to look into it, so look into it I will, whether she likes the outcome or not.”
“Of course. You don’t have to worry that she’ll be bothered by you doing as asked. She raised you. She taught you to be who you are.”
It was good that he wasn’t looking at me, because as the statement washed over me, I was...that was overwhelming. I’d never considered it, but this was the second time in a day the guy had said I was like my mother, one way or another.
It made some sense, because even though she hadn’t always had time to have a child in her life, my mother had definitely been my main role model. She’dmadetime for me. Sometimes to a ridiculous degree, like renting out places that were usually only open in the daytime, so that she could experience them with me. Theme parks, animal parks, aquariums. Heck, she’d even suffered the big D for me, complete with teacup ride. Fortunately, they were open at night sometimes, since I doubted a company as big as that would make exceptions even for my mother.
It was odd, actually. While being an excellent mother, present and helpful and attentive, she had also been strangely distant. I was never sure if she was the best mother ever,or...well, no, I knew she wasn’t the worst. Sometimes I just wished she’d been a hugger.
I wouldn’t pretend that I had it hard, in any sense, but an “I love you” at any point wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Davin pulled into the parking lot next to my bike, and only then did he stop, cocking his head consideringly. “Where are you going?”
Interesting. Clever, even. I wasn’t sure whether to be impressed, maybe even a little charmed, or annoyed that he’d figured me out. As my mother had taught me very well, I hedged. “What makes you think I’m going somewhere?”
His expression was...well, it was the “don’t try to bullshit me” kind of thing I’d have normally found quite attractive. Or maybe I found it attractive anyway, and was just also annoyed I might have to explain myself. “If you were done for the night you wouldn’t have said take you to your bike, you’d have said take you to the shop.”
Huh. Thatwasclever. I was going to have to watch this one. “I have one more suspect I have to interview, but I think I should do that one alone.”
“This Whisper person? Is that a man or a woman?”
“No idea, but nope. I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for Whisper.” He continued looking at me quizzically, so I figured the best way to get rid of him was probably the truth, or some semblance thereof. “I’m going to question my mother, and I don’t think you want to be involved in that.”
His black eyes went round, and after a moment, he nodded. “That sounds like a good plan.”
I didn’t know why, since Mother hadn’t raised me to be a toucher, but I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for your help tonight. I appreciate it. I know you didn’t agree to this business thing to become an investigator, but you were helpful.”
He shrugged, but there was a tiny pleased smile hiding around the corners of his usually expressionless lips. “It was...interesting. Can’t say I minded making Forsyth’s evening worse.”
I was sure I failed to hide my evil grin at that. “Highlight of the whole night. Still, I’ll try not to drag you all over the place, usually. I know you’re the tech guy and investigating is my responsibility.”
“If we’re going to be partners, we’ve got to be here for each other,” he answered quickly. “Don’t think you’re not going to have to come with me to do installations, if only to run interference with arseholes like Forsyth.”
Which was a fair point. I was so looking forward to that.
“Let’s start with Doc.” I turned and got out of the car, but leaned down into the open door to meet his eye. “I think you’ll like him, he’s cool. I’m sure he won’t hate you for killing a vampire. But I owe him one for saving Twist’s life, so I said we’d come look at his place and maybe replace the speaker and gate system he’s got. He was hoping to get it connected to his phone.”
“Easy,” he answered, and didn’t sound the least bit offended by the notion of helping repay my debts. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Your first appointment to show the space next door is at ten in the morning, so I hope you’re ready for it.”
Fuck me, so did I. What was a shop rental even worth?
CHAPTER 13
Idrove faster than usual on my way to my mother’s house, mostly because if I had to be awake and doing businessy things by ten in the morning, I needed to be asleep, like...before whatever time it was right then.
Damned nocturnal vampires.
Twist was still in a food coma in my pocket, so she didn’t care where we were, and that was a very good thing. She was still recovering from being hurt, after all.
I rode my bike closer to the door than usual, parking right in front of the house, but my raven friend was there, like she was waiting for me.
“Hey jerkface,” she said.
