“Was there something else?” Miss Dotha resumed her hunch. “I’m on the clock here.”
“No, ma’am.” I meekly backed out of the office—my office—and bumped into the counter. “Have fun.”
“She’s not so bad.” Arden straightened the flyers I knocked askew. “But also, please, come back soon.”
Laughing at her darted glances toward the back room, I left her to fend for herself. Miss Dotha might as well be a blood relative, as much time as the girls spent together. Arden loved her, even if Miss Dotha could be prickly.
The store hadn’t taken any time at all, so I popped into the smoothie shop to get my breakfast of choice. I hesitated but then decided to get Asa the same thing. I chose the daily specials for Clay, who would eat or drink anything you set in front of him. One of each. Both large.
When my order came up, I scratched an R in the foam near the bottom of my cup with a thumbnail. I felt ten kinds of stupid but also eaten up with curiosity. I had to know if I was off my rocker, and this was an eight-dollar sanity check. Not that it explained why he may or may not be playing switcheroo with me.
Armed with breakfast, I returned to the hotel for a debriefing and to dig into the files in person.
Negotiations had cost us time, but I couldn’t regret the precautions I had taken for Colby and me.
Clay met me at the door with a scowl I recognized as him shaking off the sedative effect of self-repair.
“Maybe this will help.” I passed him the first of his drinks. “Blueberry banana with granola.”
“Thanks.” He gestured me into their suite. “Don’t mind if I do.”
Asa sat at the table that was the reason for the suite, in my experience, with papers strewn about him.
“I got you my usual.” I presented him with the cup. “You seemed to like it well enough yesterday.”
“Thank you.” He accepted the offering then kicked the leg of the chair across from him to push it out for me. “I didn’t expect you to finish your errands so soon.”
“The problem with hiring good people and training them well is they don’t need you.” I placed my cup five or six inches from his, on my side of the table, then did my level best to ignore it. “I have a few things for Colby to do, but nothing major. I can be ready to leave from home within an hour.”
“You’re leaving Colby?” Clay traded out for his second drink. “Will she be okay with that?”
The alternative, parading her around in front of my fellow Black Hats, wasn’t happening.
Humans might mistake her for a hair bow, but other paranormals would sense her magic and salivate.
“Colby is safer at home than she would be with me on the road.”
Before we moved in, I warded the house like a fortress in case Black Hat caught up to us at home. Colby knew her way around our property. There were thirteen moth-sized emergency shelters, each six-inches square and protected by individual wards, in case the worst happened.
The target was on my back, which gave Colby an excellent chance of escaping while in her smallest form.
“She’s your ward.” Asa spread his hands. “You know best.”
Until he mentioned it, I hadn’t noticed how hard I was silently daring him to claim it was a bad idea. But that was my insecurities talking. I had done my best. I had planned for the worst. Now we tested it.
“I’m worried.” I sipped my smoothie. “I can’t put her in my pocket and carry her everywhere I go.”
Life would be simpler for me, but she wouldn’t really be living, and that was the whole point of all this.
Clay sat on the bed, a safer bet than the spindly chairs. “How much does she remember?”
“All of it.” I took another sip to wet my parched throat. “She won’t talk about it, but it’s in there.”
The burnt-black eyes of Asa’s daemon stared out at me. “Only a true monster preys on children.”
Monsterhad so many definitions. I didn’t disagree with his, but mine must be broader.
“Talk to me about the phone calls.” I accepted the bulky file from him. “You heard from the killer this morning?”