“Didn’t get no keys for her,” Nik said, scratching along his jawline and flicking water from his beard. “Don’t think you’ll need none to have a peek though.”
I nodded and glanced down between the dock and boat, scanning the shadowy water for any sign of the snake. Then I held my breath and leapt over the short distance.
“I’ll be in the office if ya need me.” Nik turned to walk away.
“Wait!” I reached a hand out toward him. “You can’t leave me here alone with that thing on the loose.”
“I done paid your toll. Haruna is a good girl. She won’t bite you unless you try to make off with one of ma boats,” Nik said without looking back. He waddled down the dock, leaving me frozen in place on the yacht deck.
My shivering grew worse and I hugged myself as I looked around, trying to remember why I’d felt so certain this was such a good idea. Jenni and I hadn’t found anything before, but her revenge mission and a pressing deadline from Grim hadn’t allowed for a very thorough inspection.
I climbed up the stairs to the second tier. The lower level had been a soul holding room, so I doubted there would be anything important to discover. Plus, I wanted to put as much distance between myself and the water as possible.
I ducked and stepped through a gap in the caution tape. The upper level room was quite a bit smaller than the soul hold, and the ceilings were lower. Short, wide windows spanned both the port and starboard walls, letting in just enough light for me to find my way around. An overturned chair lay in the center of the cabin. Cobwebs laced between its legs, as well as the legs of the desk against the port wall.
The two beds shoved up against the opposite wall were made up with musky, green blankets. I snorted, wondering if the new and improved Tasha, with her demon punk makeover, still took such care to tidy her bed.
I set my bag on the desk and rummaged through the drawers again, finding nothing more interesting than I had the first time. Then I walked over to one of the bunks and peeled the blankets back before flipping the mattress over to inspect the underside. I ran my fingers along the stitching, feeling for any hidden openings. Finding nothing, I propped the mattress against the back wall and knelt down to pat down the bedframe. It was boxy, like a daybed, and with the mattress out of the way, I now saw that it housed a long drawer.
My surprise was stunted by the fact that the drawer was empty. I dismantled the second bed and found its drawer empty too. Disappointed, I flopped the mattress back in place. A rustling noise made me jump, and I almost climbed up the wall for fear Nik’s pet had sought me out.
I peeked around the bed and squinted at the shadows along the floor where the light coming through the windows didn’t reach. My knee bumped the bedframe, and the sound came again.
I removed the mattress a second time and took a closer look at the empty drawer, kicking the toe of my boot on the front panel that had helped disguise it. The rustling noise grew louder as I pried the drawer open, jimmying it awkwardly from side to side until it slid away from the frame.
The floor beneath the drawer was bare. I ran my hand over the dusty boards, just to be sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, and then growled out a frustrated sigh before flipping the drawer upside down. A handful of crinkled pages were stuck to the bottom. Their edges were worn and curling under, and a piece of tape over one corner had popped free, likely the source of the noise.
I peeled away the tape from the other three corners and turned the papers over in my hands, hooting out a quiet victory cheer. Several of them proved to be a folded up map of Limbo City. It was an older edition, lacking the travel booths that had been added to the newer maps sold to tourists and factory souls at the Limbo City Welcome Center.
Several spots on the map were marred with tiny burn holes, as if someone had used a cigarette in place of a marker. It was hard to tell if they were accidental or on purpose. A few of the holes had been circled with something cakey and red. Lipstick.
I refolded the map and stuffed it down in my bag with Grace’s list. Then I flipped through the remaining pages, hoping for something more useful. A scrap of paper slipped from the pile and fluttered toward the floor. I snatched it before it landed and held it up to the window for a better look.
It was a faded receipt—the generic kind that came from stores too cheap to have their business information stamped above the date and time. Which narrowed it down to maybe a hundred businesses in Limbo alone. Great. On the back, a phone number had been scribbled down in blue ink.
Ah ha! I internalized my excitement, realizing it was much too early for a victory dance. It could be a number for pizza delivery for all I knew, but the fact that it was taped up with all of the other documents made me think I was onto something. I needed to figure out who the number belonged to and what their connection to Karen or Tasha was.
I tucked the rest of the pages and receipt down in my bag, deciding I had found enough to give myself permission to get the hell out of there. I poked my head past the caution tape across the doorway and shot a nervous glance at the dock and water below. Then I set my back in a straight line and walked very quickly down the stairs, hopped lightly onto the dock, and made for the ramp.
I took care to stay perfectly centered on the walkway, tucking my arms in close to my body, and I held my breath long after I’d reached the land, almost to the point of passing out, until I reached the shoddy little trailer Nik called his office. Only then did I glance back at the sea.
From the shadowy water beneath the ramp, two glossy orbs the size of basketballs observed me. I shuddered as I beat on the trailer door, quickly stepping back when it swung open.
“Ya find anything good?” Nik asked. He popped the pipe out of his mouth and licked his lips.
“Maybe. Think you could open up the gate for me?” I asked. My hands still hurt from my first attempt, and they were stained orange with rust.
Nik snorted and hobbled down the cinderblock steps again. A soft bubble sounded from the shoreline, and I looked back in time to see the black snake eyes sink below the surface of the sea.
“I think she likes ya,” Nik said, leading the way to the gate.
“I think she’d like to eat my face off,” I grumbled under my breath.
Nik laughed and pulled the gate open just as easily as he had the first time. “Gonna put that boat up for auction soon. I don’t think those girls is ever coming to collect her—and even if they did, I suppose I’d have to report them to the authorities.” He scratched at his beard and tilted his head to one side. “But I guess there ain’t no rule saying I can’t take their money first.” He gave me an obnoxious grin, his lips stretching unnaturally wide and showing off his tobacco stained teeth.
“None that I’m aware of,” I said, stepping around him and through the gate.
“See ya ’round,” he hollered as I made my way up the hill.
The gravel dust stuck to my boots and the hem of my jeans. With my hair drying to my face and smeared rust on my hands and clothes, I looked like hell by the time I reached the blacktop road. There wasn’t much more damage I could do until I cleaned myself up.
I hooked a left up Factory Bend Road, hoping I’d reach the travel booth up the way before the souls began returning from their lunch break at the factory—if they were even allowed to leave for lunch without a nephilim escort. Walking through the city looking like a vagrant was so not happening, even if it was more deserted that usual.
Chapter 12
“Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.” —Reinhold Niebuhr
I opened the front door of the condo to find Kevin standing in front of the refrigerator, sniffing at the leftover tomato soup Bub had made for me the night before.
“Put. It. Back.” I snarled.
His eyes bulged and he quickly obeyed, opting instead for a bag of carrots and a container of French onion dip.
I slid my messenger bag across the table, creating a sticky tr
ail of brine. A kitchen towel draped over one of the barstools caught my eye, but then I thought of Holly Spirit’s goading comment from the morning meeting and decided I really didn’t care if I left a few water stains behind. They’d go nicely with the hellhound shit on the rug. And maybe a pair of socks in the garbage disposal.
“What happened?” Kevin asked as he peeled open the container of dip.
“I think I found something.”
“Better you than me.” One side of his mouth twisted up as he scrunched his nose at my appearance.
I kicked off my boots and glared at him. “Where were you this morning? I tried to call.”
Kevin bit into a carrot before answering. “I went for a run in the park. Didn’t know how long your meeting would last.”
“Well, it’s over now. You can round up the troops while I take a quick shower.”
“What troops?” He stopped chewing, and I could tell he was thinking of Josie by the way his eyes glazed over. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat.
“Abe, Jenni… Bub,” I added, though I wasn’t really sure if he counted. Jenni wouldn’t want him involved, and I didn’t feel right asking him to stick his neck out for the jerks who’d almost left him to rot behind enemy lines. But his eyes were too good to not at least have him take a look at what I’d discovered.
Kevin licked a smear of French onion off his lower lip. “I don’t have Abe’s number.”
“Then call Ross. He’ll have it. God, do I have to think of everything?” I stormed off toward my room, but he hollered after me.
“And Jenni never answers her phone when I call. Maybe you should—”
“Ellen,” I shouted, before slamming my door.
Coreen lifted her muzzle from the bed and sniffed at the helljack puppies tucked in against her belly. Then she gave me a dirty look, as if I’d nearly woken them.
“Whatever,” I hissed at her. “The only sound that stirs them is kibble.”
One of the puppies’ ears twitched, earning me another glare. The little beasts were far too big for her to be coddling them the way she did. It surprised me from Coreen, the more reserved and disciplined of my hounds. Saul was probably hiding out under Kevin’s bed so he could get some quality nap time in.
I grabbed a fresh pair of jeans from my dresser and a gray sweater from the closet. The chill of the sea hadn’t left me, and I could feel it settling into my bones. Add in the nagging doubt that the map and other scraps of paper I’d found would yield anything useful, and my mood was quickly degrading. I knew it wouldn’t take long for everyone to arrive, so I hurried, skipping makeup and not bothering to dry my hair after I’d showered.
When I came back into the kitchen, Bub waited on one of the barstools at the breakfast bar. A bowl of steaming tomato soup sat before him, and he sipped it daintily from a spoon.
“I tried to tell him.” Kevin held up his hands.
“The chef always gets a free pass,” Bub said, patting a napkin to his mouth before leaning over for a kiss from me. My chaste peck was met with a displeased grunt.
“Hope you left some for me.” I turned away to open the refrigerator door. “I’m so hungry I could eat a—” my mind flashed to Nik and the entire chicken he’d devoured. “Bowl of soup,” I finished awkwardly as I spotted the plastic tub. There was just enough left for one.
Kevin gave me a quizzical look as I fixed my bowl and popped it in the microwave. He’d moved on from the carrots and dip and now snacked on a bag of chips.
“So what’s this Kevin says you’ve discovered?” Bub asked, pushing his chair back. He crossed an ankle over his opposite knee and rested an elbow on the counter.
I went to the kitchen table, where my messenger bag sat in a salty puddle, and dug out the folded map. The edges were damp and the ink bled through in places, but it was still in decent enough shape to work with.
I moved the box of files into one of the dining chairs and laid the map out, spreading it across the side of the table that wasn’t wet. Kevin stepped in beside me and ran a towel over the mess I’d made. I let him, not yet ready to have the conversation about my upcoming move to Tartarus and the sabotage plans I had for the condo.
“Did you get ahold of Abe and Jenni?” I asked him instead.
He nodded. “Abe should be here soon, and Ellen said she’d tell Jenni as soon as her meeting with the Fates was over.”
Bub tapped the end of his cane on a corner of the map as he joined us at the table. “I certainly hope the scorching happened before this came into your possession,” he said, frowning at the burn holes scattered across the page.
“Yeah.” I pointed out the lipstick circles. “And I think the marks were deliberate.”
Kevin hunched over the map. “Isn’t that where the apartment building was that you and Jenni burned down last summer?”
He frowned at one of the larger smudges of lipstick. The burn hole was pretty big, consuming most of the outline of a building. It wasn’t labeled, but it was on the right street and block. Jenni would probably have a better idea. Surely she had taken the same, boring History of Limbo City class that Josie had gone on and on about.
Bub poked his finger down at another smear of lipstick along the southwest edge of the island. “This one is the abandoned resort. It was deemed off limits after—” He gave me a tense smile and touched my shoulder.
It was still unpleasant to think about the day I’d discovered his involvement with the rebels. The fact that he hadn’t told me before going undercover and that he’d paraded around with a succubus to gain the rebels’ trust didn’t do much for me either. I was also chafed that the demonic harlot was still on the loose. I’d been too worried about Bub’s near-death condition to give chase when I exchanged Winston for his freedom.
I pushed the past out of my mind and focused on the map. It was doubtful that Tasha had updated the thing since she was outed as a rebel. The apartment fire and resort raid hadn’t happened yet, so the lipstick couldn’t signify compromised safe houses.
I redirected my attention to the smaller burn holes. There was one over Purgatory Lounge, and another in the park. I couldn’t name the others, but there were at least two dozen.
Bub’s lips stretched into a worried line. “Is this all you found?”
“No,” I said defensively, shoving my hand back in the messenger bag to retrieve the crumpled receipt. Bub sighed and gave me a withering look.
The doorbell rang out a series of hymnal notes, cutting off my would-be reply. Kevin left the table to answer it, snagging the bag of chips off the counter on his way.
Abe greeted us with a nod as he stepped inside the condo. He looked a little unkempt in his wrinkly white tee shirt and faded jeans, and his worn work boots made me rethink my earlier assumption about his post-guard occupation. The circles under his eyes suggested our gathering had interrupted his regular sleep schedule, and he didn’t look happy about it.
I pointed him to a chair on the opposite side of the table and then stopped Kevin before he sat down again. “Why don’t you start up a pot of coffee?”
Kevin huffed under his breath, but he didn’t say anything as he circled the breakfast bar and began digging out all the coffee fixings. Playing barista was a poor substitute for harvesting souls, but I was hoping a little detective work would be more to his liking.
Abe’s wings fluttered and his brow seemed to unfurrow a bit as the coffeemaker hissed and the smell of dark roast drifted over to the table. “Where did this come from?” he asked, nodding down at the map.
“It was hidden in a pair of rebel reapers’ abandoned watercraft. Jenni and I overlooked it before.” I turned the page around so he could read the street names and the few land markers that were actually labeled. The rest required a more thorough knowledge of Limbo City’s structure than I possessed.
Abe squinted at the map, his eyes falling briefly on each burn mark, lingering longer on the ones circled with lipstick. He dug his cell phone out of his pants pocket and
held it over the table, pausing to give me a questioning look. “May I—?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”
Abe clicked a few buttons on his phone, and then a beam of light projected over the table. It spread out to reveal a modern map of the city, although more finely detailed than the ones found in the tourist shops. It was probably issued to him through the guard. He moved his phone up and down until the streets lined up, revealing the building names near each of the burn marks.
I snagged a notebook out of my messenger bag and circled the table to sit beside him, quickly scribbling down addresses and business names. Kevin had been right about the burned down apartment complex. A black box filled the square outline on Abe’s light-up map. The burn hole had been blotted out, but the lipstick circle was still visible.
The caption under the box showed it was the former location of RIP Apartments. I didn’t remember seeing anything specifying the building’s name when Jenni and I had paid Tasha’s demon ex a visit there at the end of last summer. Of course, most of the apartments on the west side were run by slumlord demons or defunct deities who couldn’t even be bothered to keep up with building safety codes. And who needed to invest in proper signage when you could buy a three-dollar yard sign to advertise your vacancies?
I pointed at the black box marking the remains of the apartments and then at the abandoned resort along the southern coast. “We can skip these two. The apartments are gone, and the resort is more heavily patrolled now.” I decided to skip over the whys of each and cleared my throat. “We still have five other locations that Tasha marked more specifically—”
“How do you know it was Tasha?” Kevin asked, passing out mugs of coffee. “Didn’t she share her boat with Karen Durst?”
Ghost Market (Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. Book 6) Page 9