head of a pit bull with the other. Grif wondered exactly what kind of business he was in. Five other men lingered behind him, watching darkly, and calling to one another in soft voices across the small lot as they lounged in the fractured sunbeams of late afternoon.
“That him?” Grif asked, turning back to Luis.
The kid thrust out his bony chest, but Grif saw the knowledge, and fear, skitter across his gaze. “That who?”
“The one who runs this ’hood?” Grif guessed. Why else house a business on the backside of this societal abyss?
“You don’t want to know who that is,” Luis answered, eyes hard.
Grif smirked. “Does the guy I don’t wanna know got a name?”
Luis just looked at him.
“I thought you said you knew everyone in Naked City, Luis. Don’t tell me you don’t know a hot dog like that.”
“I know enough not to be talking about him with the Five-Oh.”
“Fine. Then you can stay here and watch the car while I go ask him myself,” Grif said, turning away.
“Screw that.”
“Another bill in it for you.”
“I don’t need your money,” Luis called out, almost sounding tough.
“Mierda,” Grif said, and crossed the street. He halted in the middle of it, though, a bright movement catching his attention from the corner of his eye. Kit, he saw, had just finished a quick exchange with Dennis, and was headed Grif’s way. Actually, he thought, frowning as she zeroed in on him, she wasn’t just headed toward Grif. She was striding.
No, Grif amended, right before she reached him. She was barreling.
Slamming her palms into his chest, she sent him flying backward two full feet. To Grif’s surprise, and Luis’s hooting delight, she rammed him again, and would have done so a third time if he didn’t reach out and grab her wrists.
“Why did he do that?” Kit asked, jerking free. Her fists were clenched at her sides, and her eyes were filled with tears, but she didn’t wipe them away as she continued to stare him down with that accusatory gaze.
“They’re dead?”
“Why, Grif?” she asked again, confirming it.
“I don’t think Brunk knew—”
“Not him,” she said, with an impatient growl. “I mean it. Scratch. That fallen angel.” She spat the word out, made it sound like a curse. “Why did it taunt us about these two if it was already too late?”
The truth wasn’t much of an answer, but it was all Grif had. “Because that’s its job. That’s what it does.”
“Its job?” Kit echoed disbelievingly, and Grif had to admit it sounded lame.
Grif tried again. “It wanted you to feel this—”
“No! It’s more than that,” she said, pointing back to the trailer. “It could have led us here sooner, and I’d have felt exactly the same. Why did it have to wait until they were dead? Is it really that cruel?”
Worse, Grif thought, but said, “You know who else didn’t stop Tim’s death? His mother. She’s out pouring her paycheck into a one-armed bandit while he’s rotting on her floor. You know who else didn’t stop it, Kit?”
She looked at him, jaw clenching reflexively, but didn’t answer.
“Tim didn’t stop it. He did this to himself. Angels, even the fallen ones, aren’t responsible for every damned action.”
Kit looked away, then huffed, exhaling the last of her righteousness. “Well, Tim isn’t here, so I can’t kick his ass about it.”
“But I am.” Grif shoved his hands into his pockets.
She lifted her chin. “Sorry.”
“Yes, I can tell.” He put one hand on her ramrod-straight back, and steered her around until she was facing the other end of the street and could easily view the men clustered there. “There’s someone else who didn’t stop it, either . . . and I think we should go make his acquaintance.”
Chapter Nine
That was all he needed to say. Kit instantly snapped into her reporter mode, glancing back once at Luis, then at the small commercial building, the men—the attack dog—in front of them. She had an ability to put two and two together faster than anyone Grif knew, and she also understood this era better than he did. Sure, men who loomed over neighborhoods like dark clouds had always been around, but she might be able to see something in the situation that he didn’t. Besides, try to leave her behind, Grif thought, and tough little Luis would really have something to laugh about. They’d be safe enough with the heat poking around a few doors down.
He watched the six men straighten from their bored slouches as Kit and he approached.