Hit List(80)

He nodded.

“Cool, but the odds of actually finding them close enough to track are pretty remote after all this time,” I said.

“They are, but it’s still a plan.”

“I don’t have a better idea,” I said. I thought about it and then said, “You take some of the men with you, track the bad guys. If you actually find a workable trail, call me.”

“Why won’t you be with us?”

“I’m going to the hospital to talk to Karlton. I need to let her know that her life isn’t over.”

Edward moved me a little away from Newman so we could talk privately. “Since when do you have to hold the other marshal’s hands?”

“Since Micah became the head of the Furry Coalition, and I saw what a difference it can make to have another shapeshifter to talk to when you first find out. Having someone on the other side say, ‘Look, I’ve got it and I’m doing okay.’ It helps.”

“You feel responsible for what happened to her,” he said.

I shrugged. “A little, but I know it will help to talk to me and some of the guards.”

He studied my face. “I don’t like splitting up.”

“Me either, but I’ll have good men with me, and so will you. I’ll check on Olaf, too. I didn’t mean to break him.”

“I didn’t think he’d try you, and that was my fault.”

“What made him feel the need to try his luck with me like that? It was worse than last time.”

“I think it was the rumors about all the men, and that you’re as fast and strong as a lycanthrope.”

“A combination of boyfriend and work jealousy,” I said.

“Yes.”

I shook my head. “Has he decided that I’m not his little serial killer pinup now?”

“I don’t know.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Great, just what we needed on this case.”

“Olaf came into town asking about the rumors of new men in your life. He asked specifically about Cynric.”

“Why especially Sin?” I asked.

Edward looked at me. “Sin?”

“He’s seventeen, and Cynric sucks as a name for a teenager.”

“But Sin?” Edward asked.

I shrugged again. “If he were a different kind of kid he’d be a pale person in black, writing death poetry. I’m not real happy with the nickname either. But what is it about Cynric that bothers Olaf?”

“I think it’s the age.”

“Because he’s a teenager, or the age difference between him and me?” Edward said, “Your guess is as good as mine. He wouldn’t talk about it, but he asked more questions about Cynric. He wanted to know if the rumor that you’d moved a teenage boy in with you as a lover was true.”

“He asked it like that?” I asked.

Edward seemed to think about it, and then nodded. “He asked, ‘Is it true Anita has a teenage boy living with her?’ I said it was, and then he asked, ‘Is he truly her lover?’ Again, I said yes.”

“Has he ever asked about any other specific lovers before?” I asked.

“No, just if you had as many lovers as the rumors say you do; to that, I said, no one could be fucking that many men.”

“You didn’t want to tell him how many men I was sleeping with,” I said.

“Part of Olaf’s hatred of women comes from thinking they’re all manipulative whores. You weren’t having sex with anyone when he met you, so that helped him not have issues with you. I thought it was probably good to leave numbers of lovers vague.”

I couldn’t really argue with his reasoning, but... “Do you think I’ve gone over some magic line in Olaf’s mind? Am I not his girlfriend anymore, but just another whore that he’ll want to kidnap, torture, rape, and kill?”

Edward took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes with finger and thumb. He shook his head. “I don’t know, Anita, honestly I just don’t know.”

“Well, crap, that could complicate things,” I said.

“And you broke his wrist, so he’s going to be trying to prove that you’re not better at this job than he is; almost any man would.”

“I didn’t mean to make it worse, Edward.”

“I know.” He looked at me, his blue eyes pale and tired under the shade of his cowboy hat. I still couldn’t get used to the fact that “Ted” wore a cowboy hat and Edward didn’t. Edward didn’t like hats. He put his sunglasses at the back of his shirt, rather than the front. They were less in the way for shooting back there.

“What do you want me to do about him?”

“Hell, Anita, I don’t know. If he’s decided you’re just another whore, then you can never, ever work with him again. And he may try to go after you for real.”