Jenks had gone in and hadn’t come out yet. “I can’t tell you how glad I am you like to eat.”
I grinned, but my motion to lean against his car hesitated when the back door to Piscary’s loading dock banged open and Ivy came out, a sparkle of pixy dust on her shoulder.
“She’s up late,” I said, and Trent turned. “And . . . angry?” I added, though angry was an understatement. She looked positively pissed, her eyes squinting at me and her arms swinging.
“What did you say to Edden?” she shouted before she had gotten even halfway across the vacant parking lot, and my smile faded as I remembered walking out on him and why. “He left me a voice message yesterday, and I didn’t get it until this morning. I’ve never heard anyone sound that despondent and still be alive.”
“Yeah?” I said as she halted before me, squinting in the bright cold. “I told him to shove his lame-ass run.”
“He asked you for help and you dissed him?” Ivy said.
My arms had gone around my middle, and annoyed with myself, I forced them down. “The only reason Edden brought me in was because the FIB’s working theory is that a demon is behind the murders, just for the hell of it. He asked me to snoop around in my ‘unique circles’ and ask which demon did it. Damn straight I walked out.” Chin high, I waited for someone to tell me I was being too sensitive so I could get in their face and tell them otherwise.
But Ivy dropped back, glancing at Trent as her anger vanished. “Oh.” She hesitated. “Asking around isn’t so bad,” she offered.
“Yeah, Rache,” Jenks said. “Asking around is how runners get things done.”
Neither one of them was fully backing me, but Trent was at my side, and the memory of Al’s stoic anger told me I’d been right. “He didn’t ask me to ask around,” I said, proud I wasn’t shouting. See, I can learn. “He asked me to find out which demon was responsible. His entire department is assuming it’s a demon, to the point where they aren’t even looking anywhere else. We’ve been here for two months,” I said, including myself with my found kin. “And the first time the FIB runs into something they don’t recognize, they blame the demons.” I took a breath to slow my anger. What was it Trent did to defuse a situation? Oh, yeah. Agree with them using a qualifier.
“Maybe I overreacted,” I said, but it sounded sullen, even to me.
“No, you didn’t.” Ivy shot a look at Jenks when he opened his mouth to protest, adding, “Assuming a demographic is responsible for a crime because it’s easier than admitting you’re capable of it as well leads to worse corruption. Damn it, Rachel.” Ivy slumped. “I had no idea that’s why Edden agreed to let you interview Jack. I’m sure he didn’t realize . . .”
Her words trailed off, her extended hand falling helplessly, and my own anger eased.
“Yeah. Sure,” I said, but it felt as if I could’ve handled it differently now that I’d had time to cool off. “Look,” I said, squinting at Jenks, who clearly didn’t like Edden and me being on the outs no matter what the reason. “I’ll call him Monday, but I’ll be damned before I work in a department that thinks I’m there to drum up evidence on demons. I’d still like to talk to Jack’s wife.” I hesitated, glancing at Trent. “Whoever this is, I think they went after Al last night.”
Please don’t be Hodin, I thought, my gaze rising to search for a bedraggled crow. But what would Hodin get from setting couples against one another? Notoriety he didn’t want?
“No way!” Jenks rose up from Trent’s shoulder, and Ivy’s eyebrows lifted in interest. “Someone is trying to kill Al?”
And maybe me? I wondered. Al said he’d been having nightmares. He’d also said that Hodin had been known to work through dreams.
My hand dropped to my bag to feel my scrying mirror. Perhaps Hodin and I should chat now that my aura was back. “I’m working on it, just not with the FIB,” I said as I forced my hands from my bag. “Demons committing crimes are no longer considered tools anymore, are they?”
Trent shook his head. It had been one of the first laws to go, mostly because of the damage Ku’Sox and I had wrought from one edge of the continent to the other. I