Page 56 of Blood and Bonbons

I snorted, not believing a word of it.

“Miles had this scrotum, and he was looking for the book,” she said, getting serious. “I think the two might be connected.”

“I thought the book was just old stories.”

“So far, yes. But there are a lot of pages I haven’t read.” She gave me a pointed look. “Hint. Hint.”

“I am not touching that thing.” I dug the book out of her bag instead. “Tell me what I’m looking for.”

“I’m not sure. This ballsack and the book are around the same age. So something that ties them together?”

“Not everything your brother does has to have meaning behind it. Don’t forget he also had the coordinates to a strip club on his phone.”

“You’re right. Maybe some of this is random. But until we know for sure, I’m following up on every lead.”

“And we already followed up on the strip club one, right?” I said, needing her to agree with me.

She shrugged. “Getting kicked out isn’t much of a follow-up. Unless we get something out of the book or the ram-bam-thank-you-ma’am balls, I’ll need to go back and look around.”

I groaned at her and opened the book. While she continued to work the scrotum-from-hell gently, I read stories about weird deaths and abductions.

“Half of these read like the original fairy tales,” I said after a few minutes. “Dark and disturbing. What happened to happy thoughts?”

“Happiness is new age thinking. Back then, it was survival and suffering. You might want to remember that when dealing with Lord Cross.”

“Take your own advice,” I said, shooting her a dry look. “I’m noticing a pattern. A lot of these stories have notes about towns. I paged through the book and found a drawing of stones.”

“Yeah, I saw that too. Keep reading. Maybe we’ll–holy sheep balls! This thing is huge.”

There were folds in the four-inch-wide strip Vena had been carefully unrolling. Her nose was inches from it as she poked at the layers.

“No wonder it’s taking so long to soften. I think it’s been folded in half lengthwise twice. This thing’s at least, what? Twenty inches? Can you imagine the sheep this belonged to? How did it walk?”

“Your fascination with sheep scrotum is concerning.”

“You have to admit this is impressive.”

“I’ll admit I was starving a few minutes ago before you started feeling up dead sheep balls.”

She frowned. “Well, I opened it somewhat, but the oil didn’t touch the inside. It’s as dry as a mummy.”

“Mummy testicles. Thanks, Vena. I’m never eating again.”

She grinned as she oiled the dry skin, getting her fingers into all the folds.

I closed my eyes and willed myself not to barf all over the book.

“You can open your eyes,” she said moments later. “I’m going to let it soften again while I get ready. I need black bottoms and black shoes, right?”

“Yes. Shepard will give you the shirt, tie, and apron.”

She washed her hands and headed to her bedroom. I set the book down and went to the kitchen to clean up the plate from earlier. Vena’s phone sat near the oiled nastiness. As I walked past it, the phone lit up with a message. I was about to holler for Vena, but the few words I had accidentally read made me look closer.

I’ll trade information about Miles for the ring.

My stomach sank as I glanced at Vena’s door then back at the phone. The number didn’t come up as one of Vena’s contacts, and only a few people knew about the ring and Miles.

Vena would go crazy when she saw the message, especially since I’d returned the potential bargaining chip. Yet, I couldn’t keep it from her.

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