Fear Her Wrath III: It Runs on Blood

Chapter 18

"So... you knew Izzy was Corinne Montagnese, right?" I asked.

Ben snorted and covered his mouth. I waited impatiently for him to finish chewing.

"Oh yeah. You know, there are benefits to being plugged into the school rumor mill. You should give it a try. You find out all kinds of interesting stuff."

"And you were part of Izzy's conspiracy to keep me from finding out?"

"Izzy's conspiracy?" he said. "I like to think of it more as me, Ellie, and Izzy's conspiracy, but I guess if you're the daughter of a mafia boss, you're gonna be a little self-obsessed."

He grinned at my evident annoyance.

"This is serious, Ben. I'm not mad at you for not telling me, it's just... that wasn't all I found about Izzy this weekend."

I glanced around the restaurant to make sure no one was listening. Most of the other patrons were Hmong, and though we'd gotten a few looks when we first sat down, nobody seemed to be taking much interest in Benedict Vang's date with his red-haired girlfriend. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

"There was something in Izzy's bag," I said in a whisper. "I was snooping around, and..."

I slid my phone across the table so Ben could see the mask. He looked down at the picture, blinked, then suddenly became very serious.

"Well, that makes things complicated," he said.

"Yeah, no kidding," I said, slipping my phone back into my pocket. "And, uh, not to be overly critical, but knowing that Izzy was Don Montagnese's daughter would have been a pretty big clue."

"Sorry," he said, and he almost looked like he meant it.

"You're forgiven," I said. There was pause.

"So what now?"

I looked down at my bowl of Hmong sausage and sticky rice and shrugged.

"I don't know. Even if they weren't all trying to kill me, there's no way the cops would help me bring in Lucian Montagnese's daughter."

"Corrigan would."

"Corrigan, as you well know, is not in my good graces right now."

"She seems to be making your dad pretty happy," said Ben with a smirk.

"Gross."

"You're just mad your dad's dating a younger woman. And you know, she actually looks pretty good for—."

I kicked him in the shin before he could finish.

"Anyways," I said threateningly. "I still don't know why Izzy's doing this. Like, she's obnoxious, and kinda selfish, and has serious impulse control issues, but..."

"You don't think that adds up to murdering prostitutes," said Ben.

"It doesn't!" I said earnestly. "And I'm not just saying that because she's my friend. Maybe she's like Simon, and she's got, like, an evil alternate personality, or..."

"That would be a pretty crazy coincidence," said Ben.

"Yeah, well, I'm starting to get used to those," I said crossly. "And speaking of which..."

I'd just noticed that Ellie G was squeezing past the other patrons and making her way over to our table. I looked at Ben, who shrugged. Apparently he hadn't summoned her either.

"Heyo," said Ellie, pulling up a chair. "I was just passin' by. This looks like a date, so I promise I won't stay long, but you two have got that, like..." She lowered her voice. "...serious vigilante business look. What's up?"