Pike glanced at the guard looking over my paperwork. “I’ve run into a snag,” he said softly, lips hardly moving. “No one wants to see her, that part is fine. I’ve downsized her staff to a bare minimum. About two-thirds of her heavies have gone back to their original masters, and all but the most insistent of her hangers-on. The remaining are at Piscary’s where I’ve set up residence.” He paused. “I can still smell lily.”
“It’s your imagination,” I said, a memory of Nash on the table rising and falling.
The guard tapped my paperwork even and gestured to the next double door. This one didn’t need a card to unlock it, and I felt better.
“And Stef’s apartment building?” I prompted.
“Was never really needed,” Pike said as he rocked into motion beside me. “So yes, the original tenants are back in their old leases. Stephanie is apparently still at your church.” He turned to me. “God knows why. I wouldn’t feel safe sleeping with a demon across the hall.”
I smiled as we followed the guard, pleased. I’d never really gotten to know Stef before being incarcerated, but what I’d seen proved she was well worth knowing.
“That’s good,” I said when I realized Pike was waiting for a response. “Not bad for six weeks. See if you can get the rest of her heavies to leave.”
Pike shook the USB into his hand and threw the envelope away in a passing bin. “Those who are left are mine. I’m keeping them,” he said as he fingered the small flash drive. “Which brings up my next question. What did you want with fifty-six acres of unusable, toxic land outside of Cincinnati?”
Fifty-six acres? I thought, then blinked, figuring it out. The abandoned property at the edge of Cincinnati. “Fifty-six acres?” I said slyly. “I thought it was more.”
“It is.” Pike’s frown was far more angry than I would have expected. “But it’s the fifty-six lots that have to be dug out and the soil removed and disposed of that are costing me hundreds of thousands. Maybe millions.”
I grinned. “She bought them?” I said, delighted at Pike’s fist-clenched annoyance. “Capital.” I grinned.
“You did that intentionally,” he muttered, and my smile widened.
“Me? Naw,” I lied. “I was looking into all my options as I apartment searched. I had no idea that Constance would buy it out from under me. I mean, who does that? Out of spite? Just to be mean?”
Pike reached to open the door for me, and I froze as the delicious scent of frustrated vampire washed over me. “Well played, Ms. Morgan,” he whispered in my ear, and I stifled a shudder as feeling went straight to my groin. “Be careful. The game isn’t over yet.”
My chin lifted, and I shoved the sensation deeper until it vanished. Breath held, I pushed past him, slowing when I found myself an office away from the lobby of Cincy’s local jail. There was one more desk to get by, but I could see past the big one-way glass to the lobby and, beyond that, the sun-drenched parking lot. Late March had shifted to early May, and I slumped at a sudden wash of regret. I’d lost six weeks of sun, six weeks of wet knees in the dirt, six weeks of rain, and fog, and moon, and stars . . . meaningless conversations over breakfast with Jenks and dinner with Trent. Little things, but the stuff life was made of.
I frowned at Pike’s soft, knowing sound and, blinking fast, I scanned the oblivious people waiting in chairs to visit their loved ones. “I’m sure Constance can put a spin on her generous purchase to make her look less the fool and more the city benefactor,” I said as I followed the guard to the exit desk. “Make it into a park or something.”
“I suppose,” he grumbled, making that same odd sound when I spotted Trent and Jenks in the waiting room—and I smiled.
“Hey, thanks for the escort,” I said as the guard flipped through my paperwork before signing it and spinning it to me. “My ride is here.” I smiled at the guard. “Sign here?” I asked as I took a pen from the cup and reached for the cover-our-ass paperwork. A quick scrawl of my name, and I straightened, so ready to feel Trent’s arms around me that it hurt.
Jenks must have heard me through the one-way glass because he had come to hover before it, hands cupped around his face as he tried to look in. He’d been popping in and out of my cell for the last six weeks with renovation reports, and I could hardly wait to see the back end of the church with its new kitchen and the three-sided back porch where the living room had once been. Trent, too, had risen, standing at his chair as he clearly tried to end his phone conversation.
Trent . . . Flushing, I tried to smooth my hair, sensation spilling through me as I headed for the door. “Well, I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure,” I said, jerking to a halt when Pike pinched my elbow. My suspicion narrowed as I looked at him. His eyes had a nice rim of brown, but I didn’t like that the guard who had accompanied us had turned, intentionally not watching.
“What,” I said flatly, and at the window, Jenks began spilling a threatening orange dust. Trent ended his call, and the no-magic disk hanging in the lobby began to glow a sickly purple in warning.
Grimacing, Pike pulled me a few steps from the desk. I went because it was easier than hitting him. “As I was saying . . .” Pike pulled me closer until my entire side tingled. Oh, there was air between us, but that didn’t seem to matter. “We might have a problem your smart-ass attitude can’t handle.”
I looked at his hand still holding my elbow, then him. “Let me guess.” I arched my eyebrows and gave a little tug to no avail. “Constance might be biting you, but you’re not sipping the dust anymore, and it’s beginning to show. Losing some speed? Not able to hear Takata’s hidden track?” His grip eased in surprise, and I pulled away.
My elbow felt cold, but I didn’t touch it. “A week or so of her denying you might be expected as punishment, but you’re right. It could be a problem, one I might have a cure for.” I gave Jenks the “few seconds” gesture, and he buzzed back to Trent. “I need to bring someone else in on this.”
Pike predictably frowned, but he hadn’t said no. “Magic?” he scoffed, and I shook my head. Magic could come close, but he needed the real thing.
“I know an old undead who might be willing,” I said, and his expression became doubtful. Peter’s master, or, far safer, Ivy’s mom. She hadn’t been in line to be the city’s master vampire, but she’d probably want to have a card or two in the game for when Ivy crossed over. My smile faded. I would have asked Nina, but she hadn’t been dead long enough to instill him with the proper strength.
“Good,” Pike said, his relieved exhale surprising me. “I’ll give you time to work, but sooner is better.”