both, I never saw him break. He never wavered, not once,
“I’ll need to see the house in a bit. Make sure it’s as not even for a second. You would have never known anysecure as it can be.”
thing was even wrong with him.”
Not that some wood, nails, and a door would keep out Stella, the woman they’d both loved. The one who’d a giant, but every little bit helped. Even a few seconds’
ruined their friendship, then run off with another man. delay could mean the difference between the Foxes escapWarren lapsed into silence again, and his glossy eyes ing or not, living or dying.
dulled with old memories. After a minute, he shook Warren nodded, and we lapsed into silence again. his head and came back to himself. “Anyway, I know I
“I suppose I should thank you,” Warren finally said in don’t deserve it, but I appreciate your help, especially a gruff voice. “For wanting to help me.”
for Violet’s sake. She would have died last night if not
“You don’t have to thank me. Just do what I say, and for you.”
everything will be fine.”
I shrugged. “I would have done the same for anyone Warren stared at me. “You’re a lot like him, you know. else.”
Like Fletcher.”
Warren shook his head. “No, I don’t think you would I didn’t respond. At one time, I would have enjoyed have. You know there are some people who just deserve the comparison. Now, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be like killing. Something Donovan hasn’t realized yet. SomeFletcher Lane, with his secrets and hidden agendas. I still thing he won’t ever be able to admit to himself. His father couldn’t believe he’d known who I really was all these was the same way. He tried to help me out with Dawson years, that he’d compiled that file about the murder of some years back, but it didn’t take.”
my family, that he’d known Bria was alive and where she
“So that’s how you know Donovan. You knew his fawas—and that he hadn’t told me about any of it. ther.”
Why had Fletcher kept it from me? What had been the Warren nodded. “Daniel Caine, a fine man. Donovan point of hiding it from me? I thought I’d known Fletcher is too. But he’s not the one for you.”
better than anyone. I was his apprentice, after all. The He was more observant than I’d given him credit for. I one he’d taught all his secrets to. Now I wondered if I’d raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
really known anything about him—other than what he’d Warren glanced over his shoulder, but Donovan Caine wanted me to know.
was still talking on his cell phone, so he turned back to Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 190-191
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me. “I mean you and Donovan are on opposite sides. Alwatching him, frowned, and turned his back to me. Shutways have been, always will be. He’s not going to change, ting me out once again.
and he’ll never accept what you are, what you’ve done. I sighed. Warren T. Fox was definitely sharper than It’s just not in his nature, no matter how much he might he looked. Even worse, I had a sinking suspicion he was want to.”
right about me and Donovan. The detective wasn’t going
“And you’re telling me this because . . .”
to let it work between us, no matter how hot the sex had
“Because Donovan’s a good man, and you’re good too, been, no matter how bright the attraction still flared. My in your own way. At least you should be if Fletcher raised gray eyes traced over the detective’s lean body. you right,” Warren said. “At the very least, you’re good at A shame, really.
what you do.”
“The best. I was the best at what I used to do,” I corBy the time I followed Warren over to his house, made rected him. “But I’m retired now.”
everything as secure as I could, and walked back to the Warren snorted. “Right. Just remember what I said. store, it was well into the afternoon. My stomach growled, Don’t get too attached to Donovan Caine. Because it’s reminding me that the half of the barbecue sandwich I’d not going to end the way you want it to.”
eaten for lunch was long gone. So I perused the coolers in His eyes didn’t glow with power, and I didn’t sense the front of the country store. I picked up a cellophaneany magic trickling off him, which meant Warren T. wrapped bologna and Swiss cheese sandwich from one of Fox didn’t have an Air elemental’s sense of precognition. the coolers, along with a bottle of lemonade. Some chips Whether Warren had any magic or not, he was still oband a candy bar from the display rack near the counter servant enough to recognize the conflict between me and completed my gourmet meal. I took my items to the cash Donovan Caine.
register.
Finn murmured something, which made Violet giggle.
“You don’t have to pay for that,” Violet Fox protested. Warren’s head snapped around at the sound. He shuffled I slapped a ten-spot down on the counter. “Sure I do. off to glower at Finn and put an end to the younger man’s Keep the change.”
flirting with his granddaughter. This time, I could have I took my dinner out onto the front porch and settled offered him the advice of not bothering. Short of shootinto a rocking chair. one of the barrels made an excellent ing Finn with the shotgun, there was nothing Warren table for my food, and I dug in. The lemonade was far too could do. Flirting with the opposite sex was as natural weak and watered down for my tastes, and the bread was and necessary as breathing to Finn.
getting hard and stale, but smothering it with mayo made I looked past the trio to where Donovan Caine paced it palatable enough. Not the best meal I’d ever had, but back and forth on the floorboards. The detective saw me it would do. I’d hate to go to the trouble of breaking into Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 192-193
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Tobias Dawson’s office only to have my stomach growl Caine blew out a long breath. “I don’t know. I just and give me away to whatever guards he might have stadon’t know. But two months ago, I would have taken you tioned there.
in for plotting to kill someone. Slapped my handcuffs on I’d just unwrapped my candy bar when Donovan you and dragged you down to the station, no questions Caine stepped out onto the porch. The detective hesiasked.”
tated, then walked over to me.
“And now?”
“Care if I join you?” he asked in a low voice. Donovan looked out at the road, although I got the
“Sure.” I sank my teeth into the candy bar. Crunchy, impression he wasn’t really seeing it. “Now, I’m thinking slightly bitter almonds coated with dark chocolate. Defiabout helping you get to him.”
nitely the best part of my meal.
“Don’t sound so broken up about it, detective. Getting The detective stared out at the crossroads. An empty rid of Dawson is the right thing to do.”
coal truck rumbled by, stopped, and made the turn to go He shook his head. “No, it’s what you want to do. I’m on up to the mine.
just going along with you.”
“I got some info on Tobias Dawson,” Donovan said.
“Why?” I asked. “Why go along with me if it bothers
“And it’s not good. He’s a real piece of work, from all your conscience so much?”
reports. He’s got almost a complete stranglehold on the Donovan stared at me. Emotions flickered like candle mining in the area, so he pays his employees below-flames in his eyes. Guilt. Desire. Need. Weariness. Resigaverage wages. A couple of them tried to form a union nation. “I don’t know that either.”
a few months back. They all met with mining accidents Tires crunched on the gravel, and a classic convertible soon after. Roof collapses, equipment malfunctions, even pulled into the parking lot. The vehicle was as black as a cave-in.”
black could be, with a long body and swooping fins. De“Did you expect anything else? You saw Dawson spite its pristine, g
leaming beauty, the convertible always threatening the Foxes. He’s not a nice man.”
reminded me of a hearse. The top was up, but I didn’t Donovan ran a hand through his black hair. “But that need to see inside to know who was driving. Sophia Dedoesn’t mean it’s okay for you to just kill him.”
veraux had arrived. I got to my feet.
“And just because Dawson has money doesn’t make it Donovan tensed. “Trouble?”
right for him to intimidate people into getting whatever
“Relax, detective. I called a friend to come help Finn he wants,” I pointed out. “So which is worse—me assaswatch the Foxes, while you and I sneak off to Dawson’s sinating Dawson for threatening the Foxes or him telling mine.”
his brother to go rape and murder Violet just to send a Sophia opened the driver’s door and stepped out. message to her grandfather?”
The detective frowned. “Isn’t that your cook from the Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 194-195
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Pork Pit? The one who was working when Jake McAllister But Jo-Jo was almost as strong as Sophia—and she had her tried to rob you?”
Air elemental magic to supplement her natural strength.
“Yeah,” I replied. “She moonlights as a badass, just Even I didn’t know if I could take Jo-Jo in a fight. like me.”
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go inside where the others But Sophia wasn’t alone. The passenger side door are.”
opened, and a mound of bleached, white-blond curls appeared, partially covered with a sheer pink headscarf. Sophia had brought her big sister, Jo-Jo, along with her. Jo-Jo said something to Sophia that I couldn’t hear, and the Goth dwarf grunted back in response. Then the two women shut their car doors and headed toward us. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Sophia gave Donovan a flat, uninterested look, but Jo-Jo’s eyes lit up at the sight of the rugged detective. In addition to being a social butterfly, the dwarf was also a terrible flirt, just like Finn was.
“Well, now,” Jo-Jo asked, her pale eyes landing on Donovan. “Who is this?”
I stood and made the introductions. “Jo-Jo Deveraux, this is detective Donovan Caine with the Ashland Police Department. And vice versa. The Goth chick is Sophia, Jo-Jo’s sister.”
Jo-Jo held out her hand, as though she wanted Donovan to kiss it. Disappointment flickered across the dwarf’s face when he merely shook it instead.
“I asked Sophia to watch Warren and Violet while we check out Dawson’s mine,” I explained to the detective.
“And I’m here for moral support,” Jo-Jo chimed in. Donovan Caine eyed the dwarf’s rose-covered dress, pearls, high-heeled sandals, and manicured nails. No doubt he thought she wouldn’t be much good in a fight. Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 196-197
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ears and took up a position on the front porch steps to keep an eye out for Tobias Dawson and his men. I also made a quick circuit through the store and 18
picked up a few items I thought might be useful. Flashlights, rope, gloves, binoculars. I left a hundred on the counter to cover everything. Then Donovan Caine and I left the others in the store and got into his sedan. The detective sank into the driver’s seat, while I took the passenger’s side. Unlike most cop cars I’d been in, this one was clean to the point of being pristine. No fastfood wrappers, no empty soda cups, no trash or debris of any kind littered the inside. The car even smelled like Caine—clean and slightly soapy. or maybe that was just the air freshener dangling from the rearview mirror. EiFinn was still digging for info on Tobias Dawson, so I left ther way, I breathed in, enjoying the crisp aroma. Mmm. him and the Foxes in Sophia’s and Jo-Jo’s capable hands. Donovan started the car and looked at me. “Where Violet was happy to see the older dwarf again and started to?”
peppering her with questions about hot-oil hair treatI glanced down at the printouts Finn had given me. ments.
Finn hadn’t found much on Tobias Dawson yet, but he’d To my surprise, so was Warren. Jo-Jo must have known been able to find several maps of the dwarf’s mine—inhim and his parents better than she’d let on because the cluding the building that housed his office. old man pulled up two rocking chairs, and he and Jo-Jo
“Go to the stop sign and hang a left like you’re going proceeded to gossip about all the folks they knew up here back to the interstate,” I said. “There’s an old access in Ridgeline Hollow. Then again, Jo-Jo Deveraux was road that runs over the top of the ridge and overlooks more than two hundred fifty years old. I couldn’t imagthe mine. We can stop up there and see what’s going on ine how many people she’d met in her lifetime. Hard to below before we make our move.”
keep track of them all, but somehow she managed it. She Donovan nodded and steered the sedan out of the seemed especially chatty with Warren.
parking lot. He cruised to a stop, then made the approThat left Sophia with guard duty. I showed her the priate turn. We didn’t speak as the vehicle climbed up the various access points to the store and the house out back. twisting, winding road.
once we finished, the Goth dwarf stuck an iPod in her As the tourist sign at the crossroads claimed, it was a Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 198-199
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scenic stretch of highway, with dense woods that crowded land Police Department on the back. He offered the jacket to the edge of the road on both sides. A couple of weeks to me, but I shook my head.
ago, the fall foliage would have been magnificent. But
“You keep it,” I said. “You’re the one who brought it, the elevation was slightly higher here than in the rest of not me.”
Ashland, which meant the maples, oaks, and poplars had The detective shrugged into the jacket. I stuffed the already shed most of their colorful leaves. Still, I found maps Finn had given me into my jeans pocket so they the curving branches of the trees enchanting in their own wouldn’t get too wet.
way, ribbons of wood winding together to make artful
“This way,” I told the detective.
shapes.
I headed out of the clearing. The drizzling rain had Through the bare limbs, I spotted the creek Warren already slicked the assorted weeds and fallen leaves unFox had mentioned, the one that curved around the back derfoot, so I walked carefully and slowly. I didn’t need a of his house and flowed past Country Daze. I didn’t know sprained or broken ankle tonight. Behind me, Donovan that I’d call it a mere creek, though. The rushing water did the same.
stretched thirty feet wide in some places, tumbling over A sign at the end of the clearing read No Trespassing—
unusual rock formations. Gravel pull-offs on either side Dawson Mining Company, but I ignored it. Trespassing of the road marked popular fishing and wading spots. was going to be the least of my crimes this evening. We I glanced at the map again. “Take the next right.”
walked in silence through the wet woods for a few minDonovan nodded and did as I asked. utes before we reached the lip of the ridge. I crouched The smooth concrete fell away to cracked pavement as behind a tall pine on the edge, and Donovan squatted the car twisted and turned even higher onto the mounbeside me. Despite the rain, the detective’s clean, soapy tain ridge. Gravel replaced the pavement. It ran out into scent washed over me. Mmm. The smell made me want two hard-packed dirt ruts that passed for a road. Despite to turn to him, press my lips to his, and lower us both to the terrain, Donovan drove on. We went almost a mile the forest floor. Sure, the leaves and earth would be a little down the ruts before they ended in a small, wooded cleardamp, but I had no doubt Donovan and I could warm ing. The detective stopped the car, and we got out. each other up—in a hurry.
The air was even cooler up here than it had been Unfortunately, I wasn’t here for a quickie with the deat Country Daze, and it had started to drizzle again. I tective, no matter
how pleasurable it might be. So I raised turned up the collar of my black fleece jacket, hefted the the binoculars I’d brought along up to my eyes. Below coil of rope over my shoulder, and made sure I had all my me, the ridge sloped downward and then bottomed out, other supplies. Donovan reached into the backseat and forming a fat U shape. The ridge we stood on was the grabbed a navy rain slicker embossed with the words Ash- base of the U, while the rest of the mountain had been Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 200-201
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removed to form the open area. Ramps of dirt twisted about a lot of subjects, thanks to all the classes that I’d down either leg of the U, providing access to the topmost taken at Ashland Community College, but coal mining portions of the slope.
wasn’t one of them.
A variety of machines sat on the basin floor. Backhoes, But even from my high vantage point, I could hear bulldozers, and other machines designed to move earth—
the stone of the mountain. Growling, snarling, cursing, and a lot of it. others were just big, hulking, complicated muttering. The stone was supremely angry at the cruel brutes of metal with more arms, cranes, and buckets damage that had been done to it. once upon a time, this than I’d ever seen. Some of them were bigger than small must have been a lovely spot, with steep slopes, trees, and houses, but I had no idea what their names were or even rocky outcroppings as far as the eye could see. But now what they did. There were dump trucks too, with beds there was nothing left but stripped, bare earth, rock, and and wheels even bigger than the ones on the vehicle Finn machinery. The stone’s vibrations made me want to draw had used to run over Trace Dawson.
on my magic, to make the whole mine, the whole rest of Across the basin floor was the other end of the opthe mountain, crumble down and bury the men and maeration—the underground mine. A square black hole in chines that had been so cruel to her. But I didn’t have that the wall of the mountain, held open by concrete support kind of power, and it wouldn’t help Warren and Violet beams. Metal tracks ran into and out of the wide mouth. in any way. So I gritted my teeth and forced the feeling I supposed at one time the tracks had been used to help aside.
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