Page 85 of Tested
Her smile acknowledges my gesture. “Figured you wouldn’t parade in here on all fours if shit wasn’t getting weird.”
“You could say that.” I pause, sorting through what I want to say. Might as well lead with the big one. “Trajan and Connor got into it tonight and Connor left, maybe for good.”
Leaning forward on her elbows, she stares at me, hard. “I’m sorry, because that shit sucks, but you’re telling me your pack might be falling apart and you were still able to shift?”
I shrug, momentarily shy in the face of her intensity. “They are my pack, and if I’m going to hold us together, I needed to know I could shift even when one of them is supposed to kill the other.”
“Ballsy move.” Then she blinks, as if the last phrase just caught up with her. “Do I wanna…?”
“It’s a vampire thing.”
“Ahh.” She doesn’t ask for more, and I add that to the list of things I’m grateful for.
The bartender brings her a cup of coffee and asks me what I’m having. “Bring him a shot of tequila,” Lydia says. “He’s had a rough night.”
Tequila reminds me of Trajan, which makes me sad. The bartender doesn’t rush. When she sets the glass in front of me, there’s a lipstick mark on the rim.
Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
I wipe it off and take a sip. It warms me all the way down. “Thanks for this.”
“Strange that you should turn up like this. I meant to text you tonight but I got sidetracked.”
“Yeah?”
She stirs her coffee. “Been hearing chatter about those dead women, you know? There’s this weird dude with snake eyes who’s been saying he knows who the killer is.”
“Joey DelMarco?”
“That’s his name, yeah.”
“Last night he claimed he didn’t know who murdered them.”
Lydia set her spoon on the table, leaving a small puddle of milky brown. “Then last night he lied, because I’ve heard from a couple of people that he’s offering the name to the highest bidder.”
I toss off the whole shot of tequila and gasp as it burns its way down. “That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah it is. I heard the bidding’s up to twenty grand but between the kitsunes, the selkies, and the fairies, it’s only going to go up.”
“Shit. I guess he lied to us because he knew we wouldn’t pay him for the info.”
“Right.”
“To be honest, even though he denied it, I’d pegged him for the murderer. He says biscione can’t kill, but maybe he plans to pay the hitman with money from the auction.”
She takes a sip of coffee. “Or maybe he figures the money will give him enough of a head start that the hitman can’t find him.”
That makes me laugh. “The LAPD isn’t involved in this one at all, are they.”
“Nope.”
“And now there’s been another murder.” I tell her about the teargas and the body, in all its gory detail.
“Janet Edmonds…Janet Edmonds...” She stares into her coffee. “I did hear something about her, but I think what I heard was that her boyfriend Tommy got killed.”
That has me flopping back into my seat. “When did that happen?”
She shakes her head. “Last night or maybe the night before. I’ll ask around and see if I can come up with any more details.”
“Thank you.” It feels weird that Smith didn’t mention her boyfriend’s death, and I’m wondering if Connor knows. And then I start wondering if I’m just making shit up so I’ll have a reason to call Connor and talk to him.
We sit for a while longer. Lydia tells me about the time her pack nearly split up and how she managed to keep them together. There’s a lesson in there for me, something about the combination of strength and sympathy that might be very useful. In return, I offer to back her up, anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
“Don’t you worry about that,” she says, her grin broadening. “If we get into any trouble at all, I’m going to call on the biggest gun I know.”
She holds her hand out on the tabletop and I take it. “Whatever you need, boss lady.”
“Back atcha,” she says and squeezes my fingers.
