He knew a lot about how the fae and the werewolves worked, and I knew he suspected that there were a lot more nasties still keeping quiet about themselves.
While Zee played with the electronics, Tony looked at me.
"How are you?" He smelled of worry, with a little of the metallic scent of protective anger.
"Really tired of answering that question," I replied blandly.
"How about you?" He flashed his pearly whites at me.
"Good for you.
Do you think Bright Future did this?" If our minds kept working this much in sync, I'd pity poor Tony.
"Sort of.
I think this is Tim's cousin's work," I told him.
"She's a member of Bright Future, but she didn't do this under their banner.
Everything was directed at me--not the fae." "You want to press charges?" I sighed.
"I'll call my insurance company.
I'm afraid they might force me to press charges in order to be reimbursed.
I can't afford to hire someone to repaint it unless I use my insurance, and I can't take the time off work to repaint it myself." I still had other things to pay for-- the damage a fae who wanted to eat me had done to Adam's house and car, for instance.
And Zee had told me he was collecting the rest of what I owed him on the business.
Fae cannot lie, and we hadn't had time to work that out.
"How about Gabriel's family," Tony suggested.
"There are enough of them, and they could work after school.
It would be cheaper than hiring professionals and ...
I think they need the money." Gabriel Sandoval was my man Friday, a high school student who came in weekends and late afternoons to do paperwork, answer phones, and do whatever else needed doing.
I had a sudden vision of the shop being overrun with little Sandovals hanging from ladders and ropes.
I'd let them loose in the office for cleaning, and it was almost hard to recognize the place--for a bunch of kids they were amazingly industrious.
"That's a good idea.
I'll have Gabriel call his mom as soon as he gets here." "Here," said Zee.
He turned on the little security monitor and flipped a switch.
The system that Adam had installed was slick and expensive.
It ran on motion sensors, so we only had to watch it when there was something moving.
Something first moved at 10:15; we watched a half-grown rabbit bop unhurriedly across the pavement out of sight.
At midnight someone appeared at the door of the garage.
It wasn't two people with spray paint, so I was pretty sure it was whoever painted a pair of crossed bones on my door.