Shadow Thief - Eva Chase Page 0,65

plans lately.”

Her tone was teasing, but I winced inwardly all the same. “Not really. Honestly, all I’m doing right now is hanging out on my own.” Not a lie! Somehow I couldn’t feel all that victorious about it.

“No exciting news, then?”

“Still nothing. I promise, when I’ve got anything to tell, you’ll be the first to know.” I just wasn’t going to tell anyone at all until I knew men with gas and guns wouldn’t be coming for every person in the know.

Vivi laughed, which didn’t really make sense—I hadn’t told a joke. Something about the sound was a little forced. Apprehension pricked at me.

“We should get together for a proper hangout sometime,” she said before I could go on. “Come over to my place, pick another movie off our watchlist, order in Thai. We could both use some time to unwind, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” I said. “You know I’m always up for a movie-and-Thai night.” I paused. “Is everything okay with you, Vivi?” The bastards hadn’t harassed her in some way simply because they’d found out about our friendship, had they?

“What? Of course! Just missing that one-on-one time with my bestie. Hey, can you remind me how to get to that thrift shop on the east end you were telling me about? I was thinking of doing a little shopping after work tomorrow.”

It wasn’t an odd request, and I didn’t see how it could have been prompted by nefarious villains, but her jump from one subject to the next still struck me as awkward. Was she grasping at straws to keep us talking? As I gave her the directions, I listened carefully for any hint of background noise that might reveal more than she was saying, but my ears didn’t catch a thing.

“Okay, perfect,” she said when I finished, and let out another giggle. “So, you’re at home right now?”

I couldn’t easily explain where I actually was, so… “Yep. Just finishing up dinner, actually, so I should get going.” Save me from having to lie to my best friend even more. “Let’s say Friday for movie night?” If my life was still precarious by then, I could always cancel.

“Sounds good to me. Is there anything else I can pitch in with in the meantime? You really shouldn’t have to go it alone with, well, anything.”

Her voice had taken on that concerned tone. I winced—but I wasn’t actually alone in this mission, was I? “I know, Vivi. Thank you.”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you at the next meeting!”

She hung up without her usual “Ditto!” Of course, she didn’t always say that when we were signing off, maybe not even half the time, so it didn’t necessarily mean anything. Nothing about the conversation had been overtly weird. The tension of the past few days might simply be bleeding into all of my perceptions.

Still, a deeper restlessness gripped me as I returned my attention to Meriden’s house. Had the guys found anything? Had we walked into a trap somehow? Why the hell was I sitting uselessly out here with no clue what was going on with anyone who mattered?

My hand came to rest on the door. I knew that walking over there was a bad idea, but—if they had gotten into some kind of trouble—

I was still wavering between common sense and impatience when the trio shimmered into being around me as if they’d never left. None of them looked exactly happy, but they appeared to have returned in one piece.

“Well?” I demanded before they’d had a chance to speak of their own accord.

“He’s definitely living there,” Ruse announced.

Thorn’s mouth was set in its usual solemn line. “The back apartment. We have plenty of evidence of that, but nothing that points to where he might be spending his time otherwise—and he wasn’t currently there.”

Snap made a face as if that was his fault. “We do know what he looks like now. The impressions I picked up were mostly mornings and late at night. He might be wherever Omen is the rest of the time.” He glanced toward the others as if to confirm.

Thorn nodded. “We’ll come back tomorrow and see where he goes after he completes his morning routine. Then we’ll discover where this Meriden is carrying out his wretched work now.”

22

Sorsha

By the time we made it back to the apartment after picking up a drive-through dinner, night had fallen. The only light was the glow from the posts at the corners of the parking lot. The warm breeze carried a hint of