"Becauseyou are the spawn of Satan!"
Isighed and shook my head. He was loony tunes. You could see it in his eyes.Getting attacked by vampires and shooting me had been the last straw. He wasgone and there was no reasoning with him whatsoever. "Let him out, Chief."
"What?"
"Lookat him. He's literally insane." I motioned toward his cell.
"Well,I can't let him go! He shot you!"
"Andwhat are you going to tell the DA? That he missed? You know this can't go tocourt."
ApparentlyChief hadn't been thinking about it at all. I saw the little lightbulb go offin his head.
"Ofcourse not. I uh…fuck. What the hell are we going to do?"
"Thisis your job. Not mine. I'm just the target dummy."
"That'snot funny." He narrowed his eyes at me.
"Spaaaaaawnof Satan. Satin. Finish."
"Shutup," we both said to Materos.
"Boilme up. Put me in an oven. You know you're going to."
Hisramblings gave me a flash of brilliance. "Have him committed."
"What?"
"Well,fucking look at him. He got hit with all the draw fours and he's still notplaying with a full deck. Call a psychiatrist. Have him put in a mentalhospital." I paused to look at him. "Hell. I'll even pay."
"Why?"
"Idon't know. I mean between everything. Jimmy, his brother getting eaten bySquishy the Third, getting attacked by vampires… I feel kind of guilty."
"Andsometimes bad shit happens to bad people. It's called Karma, Dot. And it's abitch."
"Butso am I." I grinned at him.
"I'llmake you a deal. I'll make the call and have him remanded to a state-run facility. Either they can takethe cost out of his savings or the state can pay. You're not footing the billfor this asshole."
"Fine.But it was a good idea, yeah?"
"Yeah."He actually smiled.
"Whatabout the other body?"
"Whatother body?" He winked at me.
Chapter 16
"There. That's the last fucking one." I straightened up slowly inthe back of the delivery truck. Normally when we ordered stock, they shipped itfreight on a delivery truck from the distribution center in Syracuse. Unfortunately,our last order had been so huge we'd gotten the whole front half of aneight-wheeler. It was no small fucking wonder why Jason had snickered and said,"Sure," when I asked if he needed any help.
Hehadn't even let me use the old 'but I just got out of the hospital' routine,either.
Dargrunted as he took the last box of books and headed through the back door. Ijust slid them from the front of the truck to the back. He and Ellis hadcarried every single one inside First Moon Books. I probably shouldn't havecomplained.
Ihopped down off the back of the truck and almost collided with the driverwalking around the back at the same moment.
"Woah!"He gave a startled jump.
"Sorry.All done. She's yours again."
"Youknow, if you had a loading dock, they could have palleted and shrink wrappedall the boxes."
"Andmiss all this fun?" I laughed as he held out the bill of lading and a pen.
Isigned in the received box and handed it back to him without even looking atthe box quantity. He seemed honest enough. If anything was missing, Dar wouldlet me know and I could bitch later. "Thanks…"
"Mickey."
"Thanks,Mickey. Can I buy you a coffee?"
Hesmiled and tipped his hat. "I'd love to, but I have to get back and loadedup again. Maybe next time."
"Suityourself. Have a good one." I headed toward the back door, turned, andyanked it shut behind me as I stepped into the much warmer back room. Sighingin relief, I shucked my jacket and screeched.
Candacewas standing there holding out a warm cup of coffee for me. "Sorry, Lady."
"No,you're not." I returned her grin, took the coffee, and ruffled her hair. "Thanks,Sweetie."
"Welcome."
"Howcome Josie let you out of the pit?"
"Lunch."She leaned against one of the metal shelves filled with cardboard boxes.
"Whyaren't you eating?"
Sheshrugged.
"Everythingokay?" I narrowed my eyes at her in suspicion.
"Nowthat we have some help, we can actually take breaks. But Josie doesn't think weshould be away from the shop at the same time." So help me goddess, Candacepouted. My heart broke. I couldn't take the cute.
"Andyou're lonely?"
Shenodded and huffed, the blast of air directed upward, blowing a few loosestrands of her corn silk hair out of her eyes.
"Youwant to have lunch with me?" There was a moment of excitement, but thenshe eyed the chafing dishes full of Herb's finest with a bit of distaste. "Toomuch meat?"
Shenodded.
"Wantto go get a salad?"
"Canwe?"
"Sure.Come on." I held out my hand and grabbed my jacket with the other.
Shetook my hand and we headed into the store, not stopping until we were out thefront door. I eyed the diner. The last place in the state you wanted to go fora salad. Marge would probably flog you if you tried to order one and bring youa burger instead. In fact, I was at a loss. A fact that didn't go unnoticed byCandace.
"Comewith me." She snickered and pulled me toward the central square.
Asfar as I knew, there wasn't any restaurants there, but the few times I'dactually set foot in the area, I'd been fighting demons or vampires and notlooking for food. "Where are we going?"
"It'scalled Charlotte's."
Itsounded like a place that would serve salads. "Never noticed it before."
"Mostpeople don't. It's quiet. I like it." She grinned up at me.
Werounded the corner but stayed on the sidewalk instead of heading toward CityHall. Charlotte's Bistro was at the end. It was no wonder I'd never noticed it.You couldn't even see it unless you were standing in front of it. Candy openedthe door and the warm rush of baking bread wafted over you like a warm andfuzzy blanket. "Holy shit."
Candacejust nodded.
"Welcometo Charlotte's! Oh! Hey, Candace," a twenty-something or other walked outfrom behind the counter and hugged her. "Who's this?" She looked upat me after she pulled away.
"Thisis Lady." For some reason, Candace took a step back so Charlotte could geta better look at me.
"I'veheard a lot about you." She didn't frown, but it was pretty damn close.
"Youmust be Charlotte?"
Candacesnickered. "No. This is her daughter, Charlie."
Iblinked in confusion. "Really?"
"Really,"Charlie answered and held out her hand.
Themoment my fingers touched hers, her human seeming
