Page 24 of Your Final Resting Place

“Adam Vex.” Her mouth pinched around her sour voice. “The demon and the vampire.”

“Who also have names, Noreen.” I joined her on the porch.

She sniffed, and lifted her chin. “May we speak inside, Mr. Vex?”

“It’s nice out here.” The sun had set during our ride back to the hotel, and the air was cooler than of late. Plus, I’d had my fill of enemies inviting themselves in only to cause headaches.

I gestured at the porch chairs for her to sit, then sat beside her and took a few quiet moments to soak up the hotel’s evening atmosphere while she fussed about getting comfortable. Zee and Victor loomed nearby, reluctant to leave.

“Mr. Vex.”

“Noreen.”

“This is a delicate matter . . .” She eyed my two chaperones.

“I’ve had a tough few days. My shoulder aches. I’m all out of patience. Say your bit now or leave and go on your merry way. Either way, I’m struggling to find the heart to care.”

She tutted and lifted her heavy bag onto her knees. From inside, she took a folder and handed it over. “These are copies, of course.”

Still a little confused as to why she was here, I opened the file. Photographs of Gideon Cain spilled out: Gideon Cain meeting with Agatha; Gideon Cain outside a trailer at a Brink Security Dine and Fight event; Gideon Cain at the aquarium lab. “What is this?”

“This is everything Agatha de La Cour’s lawyer sent me upon news of her demise, with instructions to give a copy to you.”

“Oh.”

Why would Agatha give what I assumed to be her “insurance policy” to me? Unless she’d always suspected Gideon would kill her, and I was her vengeance? Except . . . we’d kinda killed her first. Oops.

“The information in there is . . “ She took a deep drag of air and sighed out hard. “Well, it’s career-making or potentially life-ending. If Mr. Cain realizes I have this, I doubt I’ll be around much longer. Do you have a cigarette?”

“A . . . what? No.” I skimmed the documents, but they made little sense to me. Victor then reached over my shoulder and collected the folder from my hands.

He proceeded to flick through them. “Hm.”

“Do you have a cigarette?” Noreen asked him.

“No. And neither should you, if you cherish your health.”

“Oh, I don’t smoke.” Noreen tittered a frantic laugh. “I just . . . It feels like I should.”

She was clearly worried. Maybe even scared. “You didn’t have to bring this to us. We wouldn’t have known if you’d just hidden it away.”

“Why would I do that, when you’re the only one in this city who stands up to him—to Cain, I mean? Nobody else has the balls, Mr. Vex. I’ve done some things, twisted a few stories, did as he told me for long enough. I’m afraid of him. I admit it. But you’re not. So you’re either mad, or more powerful than you look.”

A little of both. “Well, uh . . . thank you.”

“I am going to run this story, Mr. Vex,” she said with fervor. “But if it doesn’t go to press . . . if I disappear, you know why, and it’s up to you to finish this—finish him.”

Noreen Greene had been working for Cain this whole time, but she hadn’t wanted to, and that made all the difference. “We’ll see what we can do.”

“Shit is about to become real, Mr. Vex. Gideon Cain owns this city. There’s nowhere to hide.”

“Actually.” I smiled. “Our rooms are sixty bucks a night and you’re guaranteed a safe stay.”

“And there’s free apples,” Zee added jovially.

Apples? “Uhm.” I caught Zee’s confident grin. “No, uh . . . Is there?”

“Isn’t there? Then where the fuck did the apples in my room come from?”