Kovit shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. If he were working with Fabricio’s dad, why would Reyes have refused to let him talk to you? I know Reyes worked with Tácunan, and you said Fabricio sold you to her. It doesn’t make sense.”
Nita opened her mouth, then closed it. He was right.
She frowned. “So, you think Zebra-stripes isn’t connected to Tácunan? But the timing—”
“The timing is weird,” Kovit agreed. “Why did your mother kidnap Fabricio?”
Nita shook her head. “I still don’t know.”
“Maybe they’re connected. The same thing that made your mother lash out at Tácunan made Zebra-stripes go after your father.”
“Those seem like very different consequences.”
He shrugged. “We’re missing information. We need to know how it started. It’s like walking in on the middle of a movie—you’re seeing Katniss bury a girl in flowers, and you’re seeing an old man rubbing his beard gleefully, but without knowing what The Hunger Games is, or the premise of the movie, just seeing those two scenes side by side makes it seem like total nonsense.”
Nita nodded slowly, eyes drying as her mind seized on something to think about, a problem to solve, a focus for her grief. “You’re right. We need to figure out the rest of the story.”
She let out a shaky breath.
His fingers, still linked through her own, squeezed her hand softly. “And someday we’ll find Zebra-stripes and we’ll slaughter him.”
Nita’s voice was hard. “Yes. We will.”
“It won’t make the pain go away. Not all of it. I know.” He swallowed heavily, and Nita was sharply reminded that he’d lost his parents too. “But I promise you, it’ll be all right.” His thumb stroked her hand, and her skin tingled beneath his touch. “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But it will be all right eventually.”
She closed her eyes and leaned her head on his shoulder, and didn’t deny his lie. Because it was a lie. They both knew that. But she wanted to believe him, just for a little.
Kovit’s fingers gently squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back.
Beneath them, the door to the pawnshop opened and slammed shut. Nita reached for a weapon, any weapon, out of sheer instinct before stopping herself.
A slamming pawnshop door did not a threat make.
Kovit flicked his switchblade out, and Nita felt a bit of relief. She wasn’t the only one who went for a weapon at every loud noise.
Diana’s voice rose for a moment, but her words were indistinct. Another door slammed and the heavy sound of boots marching up the stairs echoed through the room.
The door to the apartment slammed open, and Adair stood there, different features on his face flickering in and out, like his illusions had glitches and he hadn’t bothered to reset them. His nose became a literal bird beak before shifting back into something human, then flattening into two holes, like a snake. His skin rippled from white to black, smooth to scaled, ridges and spines appearing and disappearing like sheathed weapons.
He glared at them, and his shape stilled all at once, settling into the young man with black hair and swampy eyes Nita was familiar with.
“What the hell have you done?” he hissed.
Twenty-Two
NITA SWALLOWED and stared at Adair. His jaw was clenched, and even though his appearance had settled, Nita was far too aware that it was all an illusion of humanity, that there was something truly monstrous and very dangerous underneath.
“What did you do?” he repeated, words slow and quiet and far too calm.
Nita hesitated, eyes flicking to Kovit, but he just shrugged softly, knife still out. Finally, Nita said carefully, “What are you referring to?”
Diana rushed into the room behind Adair but stopped a step in, taking in the situation and quietly shifting just to the side of Adair. She cast worried looks at him, glanced at Nita and Kovit, and bit her lip.
Adair’s eyes narrowed, and the floorboards creaked ominously as he took a step forward. “You told me you were only going to be here a few days. Lie low, get some cash, and get the hell out of here. That’s what you said to me.”
Nita hesitated, then said slowly, “Yes.”
“You fucking liars,” he hissed. “You just murdered four people in an apartment building on Eglinton. How the fuck is that lying low?”
Ah. That.
“Look, just because four people died, doesn’t mean we did it.” Nita shrugged. “It’s not like there’s any way to tie it to me, or to you.”
He must have seen the online message boards where she’d posted as Scalpel. But that was all anonymous online, and while it might be clear in the industry what she’d done, there was nothing to tie any of that to Nita directly, and certainly not to Adair.
Adair took a step forward, and Kovit was beside Nita in a second, his switchblade low.
Adair ignored him. “There wouldn’t be, if you hadn’t been fucking filmed doing it.”
Nita froze, her eyes widening. “What?”
She played over her memories of luring in the black market traders. There’d been no security cameras in the building, and she’d cut power before she’d entered, so the outside ones were off, if they’d ever been working in the first place. There were no traffic cameras on the street, no other security cameras pointing at the building entrance. Nothing like that. What could possibly have been filmed?
Adair glared. “Have you seen the news?”
Nita shook her head.
“Well, look at it.” He crossed his arms. “I’ll wait.”
She hesitated a moment, not sure if he was serious or if it was some sort of sarcasm she didn’t understand, then pulled out her phone and went to the news. The first thing she saw was a WANTED FOR QUESTIONING bulletin with Gold’s face on it.
Below it was another WANTED poster with Nita’s face.
Her fingers tightened on her phone, and her mind lurched forward, first sluggishly, then faster, trying to pick apart what this meant.
There was a police bulletin out on her. People would be looking for her. Not black market people, regular people. Normal people.
All the people in Toronto.
Six and a half million people.
Nita had millions of new enemies. She had no idea who would recognize her. No idea who would see her and think, I should tweet about that girl or Aren’t the police looking for her?
Her fingers dug into the phone case, knuckles whitening from strain, and her throat was tight. She shouldn’t feel this betrayed. She didn’t know any of these people. They didn’t know her. But perhaps it was because they didn’t know her that they could so casually and ignorantly ruin her life.
She clenched her jaw. “Fuck.”
Kovit leaned over her shoulder and looked at the bulletin and the wanted notice. His voice echoed Nita’s. “Fuck.”
“Fuck,” mimicked Adair. “You got filmed running away from the scene chased by two armed people.”
Nita breathed in and let it out. Slowly. She was wanted for questioning. That was all. “They have no evidence on me. I could have been an innocent bystander. Running away from people with guns is normal.”
“Feel free to tell the police that after they question you.” Adair’s voice was frigid. “Tell me, did you lead them right here? Should I expect officers to come barging in to arrest you at any moment?”