Adair gave her a long, assessing look, his eyes flicking back and forth, swampy green to yellow. Then he smiled, slow and sure. “Deal.”
Nita didn’t like the way he said that, as though she’d given him far more than she intended.
Adair rose, and Nita followed suit. Their conversation was over, and Nita was left feeling deeply uneasy, like she’d made a terrible mistake.
Twenty-Seven
NITA LEFT ADAIR on the main floor of the pawnshop and retreated upstairs. The staircase creaked ominously with every step she took, and she wiped her sweaty palms on her pants, trying to brush away the lingering nerves from the last few hours.
Kovit was lying on the bed when Nita pushed the door open. He rolled into a sitting position when she came in.
“Hey.” His voice was soft.
She smiled at him, and a bit of the tension in her shoulders released, just being with him.
“What did you want to ask Adair?”
“I wanted to see if he could find anything about my father’s killer.”
Kovit frowned slightly, forehead creased in concern. “What price did he ask?”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”
He hesitated, then nodded and let it go. She sat down on the bed beside him, tired.
Kovit hesitated, and turned to her. “What happened with Gold?”
Nita shrugged. “Nothing. She came in looking for help, but couldn’t pay Adair’s price.”
“You don’t think she knew I was here, right?”
“No, she didn’t say anything to indicate that.”
He sighed, flopping back on the bed. “That was close, though. Too close.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Thanks for warning me.”
“Of course.” She really didn’t need Kovit’s Family trying to poach him back. Or kill him. She frowned. “Maybe we should just kill Gold. To be on the safe side. If she knows about Adair’s place, she might come back. And we have enough problems without risking her recognizing you.”
Kovit gave her a look. “I’m not killing her.”
Nita blinked, baffled. “Why not?”
“Because.”
“Because why?”
“Because I don’t want to,” he snapped. “I’m not some murder machine you can just switch on whenever someone inconvenient pops by.”
Nita flinched. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought it’s better safe than sorry. She’s been hired by Fabricio to kill me, and she’s been killing anyone in her way, including random bystanders. And you said you didn’t get along—”
“If I murdered everyone I didn’t get along with, the world would be pretty empty.” He sighed. “Besides. We worked together. I don’t necessarily like her, but I know her.”
Ah. There was the real reason. Nita had seen it before, with Kovit. With people he didn’t know, it was like they weren’t real, didn’t exist to him. He could torture them and feel nothing. But the moment he put a name and a face and a life to them, he saw them as people. And once that distinction was made, there was no going back.
Nita sighed. “All right.”
Kovit brushed the hair from his eyes. In the jungle, it had been so hot and there’d been so much sweat on people that when he’d brushed his hair back, it had stuck like pomade. But in the fresh spring air of Toronto, his hair just resumed its place in front of his eyes. He ran his hand through it, mussing it and tangling the strands together so it stayed out of his face.
“Need a haircut?” Nita asked with a small smile.
He gave a short laugh. “Probably.”
His smile was tired, and for the first time, Nita noticed the dark circles like bruises forming under his eyes and the tightness around his mouth.
“Are you okay?”
“Hmm, why?”
“You just look . . .”
He looked away, and in that moment she knew. He was hungry. And not for pizza.
At first she was confused as to why he’d be hungry—four people had just died, and not all of them peacefully. But then she remembered his weird metaphor with trees and how much emphasis he’d put on duration. He needed an extended period of time eating pain, not a bite here and there before people died.
He just shook his head. “I’m fine.”
She nodded slowly. “All right.”
She would have to trust he would tell her if it was an issue. Or he would get food. Either way, she didn’t want to bring up the idea of finding a new captive for him to torture.
She rubbed her temples. “Did you learn anything tailing Adair?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. He just went to the beach, bought six ice cream cones. No, I’m not joking,” he clarified when he saw her face. “Six. Then he sat on the waterfront pier with his feet in the icy cold water eating them.”
If Nita had ever needed more confirmation Adair wasn’t even remotely human on a biological level, that was it. Ice cream in icy cold water? No, that was him trying to lower his body temperature significantly. Whatever he was, he wasn’t a creature of the heat. It was spring now, but she wondered what he’d do in the summer. Toronto got hot.
“Did he do anything else?”
Kovit shrugged. “He put his earbuds in and listened to music.”
No, not music.
The bug.
She’d only just found out Fabricio was coming to Toronto. Adair must have been eavesdropping with the bug then.
Nita looked around the room. If she were Adair, where would she hide a bug?
She checked the light fixtures first, unscrewing lightbulbs and examining the lamp.
Kovit leaned over her. “What are you doing?”
She bit her lip, then typed it out on her phone: This room is bugged. Adair’s been listening to us.
Kovit’s eyebrows rose, and then he started hunting too.
They scoured the room, and it was Kovit who eventually found the bug, underneath the wall socket cover. Nita yanked it out and crushed it beneath her shoe. It made a satisfying crack when it fell apart.
She let out a breath. “Ugh. I wonder how much intel he got from us.”
Kovit rubbed his temples. “I don’t think there was much. He probably knows why we’re here and who we’re running from, and I suppose he’s learned a lot about Fabricio and some about my Family, but I don’t think it’s life threatening.”
“All the same, I don’t like him knowing who our enemies are. He’s in this business for the money, and you can never trust people like that not to sell you out.”
Kovit shook his head. “Nah, he’s in this business for the dead bodies and the information. The money is just enough for living, but I don’t think he cares too much about it.”
Nita raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“Adair almost always takes payment in information over money when he can. Have you noticed? He’s more concerned with staying abreast of what’s happening in the world than he is about almost anything else.”
“Why?”
Kovit shrugged. “Why not? Kelpies aren’t on the Dangerous Unnaturals List, but they will be one day. Everyone knows it. Information gives Adair bargaining tools that money doesn’t. Bribes can be refused, but blackmail is hard to ignore. I wouldn’t put it past him to be selling things he finds out to INHUP in exchange for keeping his species off the list.”