Homicidal By Design [Hector Escaton]

Chapter 13

"And who might you be?" Maeve inquired from her position by the safe.

Izzy looked at Hector with false cheeriness, crossing her arms over her pinstriped blouse in a subtle challenge. Hector only assumed she was mocking him after his last menacing words to her. He scowled at her.

An uncomfortable amount of time passed before Hector realized Izzy was not going to answer the madame. She was going to take his threat literally, and usually he would be pleased with that, because his threats were always meant to be taken literally and seriously. But not when taking the threat literally meant that he looked like an idiot.

"She is an associate of mine."

Maeve deliberately looked between the two of them, an eyebrow raised. "For the sake of my personal agenda, I'm going to pretend like that was at all convincing."

Hector rubbed his beard, feeling like an outsider as the two women turned their attention toward each other. Izzy's face was that of measured castigation, and he wondered what she was really thinking.

Finally, Maeve relented in the silent battle of wills, squaring her shoulders. "I will give you the combination to the safe in exchange for some answers."

He gave a breathy, borderline-insane, chuckle. She wanted answers? She wanted answers from him? He had absolutely no answers. He had less answers than he thought he did last week. "You assume I have any answers..." He couldn't help but glance at his "associate"-the cause of this whole mind fuck. "This world is madness."

Izzy had the decency to remove her disinterested expression. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her jaw clenched; she was annoyed. Good. He hoped she was pissed off. He was pissed off.

Maeve held up a drawing. "I want to know about this."

Hector recognized the figure immediately. Izzy's sharp intake of breath told him that she did as well. Interesting. "This is a Shade, sacred native lore."

Maeve nodded, lighting a cigar and urging him to continue.

"They make figures of them." Hector decided he had told her enough to earn part of the combination and waited expectantly.

"60."

He crouched in front of the safe and entered the number. Maeve looked at him. "And what does the Shade do?"

Hector stole a glance at Izzy, just to see if she had slid back into measured impassivity. He was unnerved to see that she was tensed, her eyes boring holes into the floor. He turned his attention back to the madame. "You have seen this?"

She dodged. "What is it?"

Both women watched him intently. "The man who walks between worlds. They were sent from Hell to oversee our world."

Maeve nodded curtly. "47."

Izzy was no longer avoiding eye contact. She stared at him-her brow was furrowed and her mouth fell slightly open. A small thrill of victory coursed through him. See? He had some insights too. She wasn't the only one who could be confounding!

Casually turning his attention to Maeve, who sat provocatively on the safe, he smirked. "Was there anything else that you required of me?"

"Not that I wouldn't enjoy the sport of it, darling. But if I took that manner of interest in you, I believe your girlfriend would turn violent." Maeve's glance toward Izzy was more playful than mean. "She seems like a woman who knows how to stake a claim."

Izzy nodded amiably in response, propping a hand on her hip. Hector was acutely aware that something had just been understood between them... and he was not invited.