Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,63

were dark. “Yes, I managed to convince them that I was lonely for company who understood me. Although my being Ante-Fae put some of them off at first, and scared the hell out of a few others. But I secured an invitation to return.”

“If you need to, the four of you may return then. I’ll give you complimentary memberships for a month and I’ll alert the guards that you’re to be allowed unfettered access. But do not mistake my cooperation for friendship. I simply have no desire for my club to go public as the home of a serial killer. In exchange, you will keep all mention of Fire & Fang out of the news.” He leaned forward, his eyes once again clouding crimson. “Do you understand?”

I nodded. “We’ll keep the club off the official record. We have to move quickly. The killer’s been striking once a week, and right now, one of the Spooks down there could be lined up as the next victim. We’d like to keep the official number at five instead of letting it grow to six.” I glanced at Raven. “Did you find out anything tonight?”

“I met several people who might be nursing a grudge. But honestly, I couldn’t pick out any one in particular. Truth be told, they all seemed pleasant enough.”

“Sociopaths usually are,” Eldris said. “I know that from my days when I walked among the living.” He paused, then added, “Give me names, and I’ll have my guards shadow them if they come in during the week.”

Right then, I realized just how anxious he was to keep this out of the news. If he worked for KL-Type A, his job would be on the line if the news hit the streets. Perhaps, his life.

“I only know them by their first names, though I did manage to take pictures of them on my phone. I’m good at hiding what I’m doing.”

Eldris reluctantly gave us his phone number, and Raven texted three pictures to all of us. The men were dour looking, and one made me nervous by just looking at his eyes. They were dead. Flat, devoid of emotion. That was an alarm trigger right there.

“Who’s that?” I asked, pointing to the picture.

“His name’s Michael. He’s a necromancer, and he has a huge chip on his shoulder. He was bitching about one of the local guilds and how they turned him away twice because he was unfit for membership. He even said he wanted revenge.”

“But…the victims are—were—members of the Spooks. Why would he target members of a group that accepts him?” Yutani asked.

Raven paused. “I don’t know. Maybe the victims told him to shut up. Most of the Spooks tensed up when he started ranting. One of them, I think her name was Pam or something, told him to shut the fuck up, that they’d heard it before and he needed to get over it.”

“That could trigger someone,” Eldris said. He folded his arms. “Scorn from those who supposedly accept you has tarnished many a friendship. If I were you, I’d look into his background more. Hold on a moment and I’ll give you his full name.”

“You really do know the background of every single person who walks through those doors, don’t you?” I asked as he swiveled his chair and began typing away on his keyboard.

Without looking up, Eldris said, “I told you, we use facial recognition software. And when it doesn’t come up with a name, I have my own investigators. Every person who comes into this club is logged and filed.”

Raven snorted. “Blackmail. You use the information against them, don’t you?”

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it blackmail, just…persuasion.” He snapped his fingers. “Here we go. Michael Gould. By day, he works as a…a janitor? Well, that just goes to show that being a powerful spellcaster doesn’t guarantee riches. Michael worked for a tech company until he was fired for leaking secrets. He was blacklisted. After that, he couldn’t find a job in his field anywhere, so he took a job as a janitor in… How interesting.” Eldris looked up. “He works in the same building where his former tech company—Hi Rez—is located. I wonder if they know he has access to their offices at night. They close down at seven-thirty each day and he works the night shift. So he has keys to his old company, even though they unceremoniously showed him the door. How fascinating.”

“Wow. He could be stealing secrets from them still,” I said. “Do you think he’s capable