Page 14 of Villains Never Die

“They’re scared,” Charles said. “They have no leads at all, and they can’t connect the two, um…Mr. Blackwell and the other one. They’re completely different.”

I wouldn’t share that I already found a connection, not when this little ass kisser might take it back to his bosses.

“Have the autopsies revealed anything interesting?”

He opened his mouth and closed it again before he said, “I don’t know anything about that.”

Rook strolled over, taking up an obnoxious amount of space and making Charles curl his arms around himself.

“You sure about that?” he asked.

“I’m just the office guy! They don’t tell me things like that! They don’t even talk about it in front of me!”

Rook smashed his fist into the poor kid’s nose and blood trickled out. I contained my shudder as it gathered on Charles’s upper lip.

“I told you we weren’t harming him!” I snapped, whirling to face him.

Rook shrugged. “Bet he knows something about the autopsies now.” He turned to Charles and grinned. When the kid hesitated, Rook raised his fist again.

Charles squeaked and raised his hands to defend his face. “They can’t figure out how the killer caught them or killed them! There was no trace of magic on the bodies, and there were no…what do you call it when they didn’t fight back?”

“They had no defensive wounds,” Rook supplied. I saw his eyes flit in my direction for half a second, searching for my reaction.

“Yeah, that,” Charles said. Blood crusted under his nose.

“Who are they replacing Blackwell with?” I asked.

“No one yet. They haven’t voted,” Charles answered, “but no one wants the job now. There is only one candidate so far. His name is Emmett Graves.”

I filed away the name to look at more closely later.

I reached into my breast pocket and removed a business card. “This is my personal number,” I said as I handed it to him. “If you learn anything else of value, please call me. I’ll pay you for it next time.”

Charles nodded shakily as we left.

“That was more information than I expected,” I said, strolling up the street under lamplight.

“You’re welcome,” Rook said.

I turned and glared at him. “Your interrogation methods are crude.”

“No, I just don’t throw money at every little problem.”

“Throwing money at small people with no importance makes my life easier,” I said. “If you think that’s the only way I solve problems, I’d be happy to tie you up in my basement so you can see my other methods.”

“Joke’s on you,” he said with a smile. “I like being tied up.”

“You think you’re incredibly clever, don’t you?” I growled. “You may have ruined the whole thing. He might not call me now that his nose is broken, even for the money.”

“I got you the information you needed.Weneeded. I’m a target too,” he argued.

“Maybe I overestimated your importance.”

I didn’t realize how quickly I walked, but he jogged a little and caught up, his strides falling in time with mine again. The breeze from earlier had died off, and now the stagnant air made me sweat under my suit, despite the season.

“It’s early,” he said. “Let’s go for a drink.”

“Not thirsty.”