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There at the end, right before he was tortured to death by an Air elemental, Fletcher had wanted ht a little, as he had so eloquently called it After I’d avenged the old man’s death, I’d taken his advice and retired fro the Spider At least, I’d tried to I wasn’t having ht not kill people for et myself into a whole lot of trouble in the ood, innocent folks, deal with certain problems that had only one solution in a city like Ashland-one that involveda whole lot of blood Permanently

Finn took another sip of his coffee and stared at aze I rolled my eyes, walked behind the counter, and pulled a blue work apron on over o ahead and spill it," I said "You know you want to tellon with Mab since I didn’t rin spread over Finn’s face "Why, I thought you’d never ask"

He took another sip of his chicory coffee before he launched into his story

"So I’ve hadto my sources, Mab’s plenty pissed and sootten that close to putting her lights out for good"

"Fletcher did train me to be the best," I said in a not-so-hu "That he did, and that you are Which is why Mab was so understandably shaken up Well, that and the fact that you blew that giant’s brains out all over her face Apparently Mab was quite the mess"

A cold, hard smile curved my lips Poor little Mab, covered in blood I only hoped that next time it would actually be her own

"Anyway," Finn continued, "rumor has it that she’s holed up in her ht in any more reinforcements At least, none that I’ve heard of"

"What about the people ere there last night? The ones ere having dinner with Mab? Who were they?"

I toldthat had happened, including going up against Ruth Gentry, Sydney, and the other strange characters Mab had invited into her inner sanctu about who the guests were I’ll keep digging and see what I can come up with"

I nodded If anyone could find out about those people, it was Finn My foster brother had more spies in more places at his disposal than the CIA

Finn had already finished a late lunch of a barbecue pork sandwich, baked beans, and coleslaw, and was ready to move on to dessert So I dished hiht before closing, and topped it off with a big scoop of vanilla bean ice creaar in it to lock a person’s jaws and make him lapse into a diabetic coht that all the chicory coffee in his systear, fat, calories, and all the other things us mere mortals had to deal with

A few hout the afternoon, and Sophia and I whipped up their meals, but the restaurant was quiet for the ht’s cold temperatures hadn’t warmed up any, which meant that there was still plenty of snow and ice outside, withtoday, Catalina Vasquez and the rest of the waitstaff had called in to say that they couldn’t et to the Pit to work their shifts

Finn’s bank had also closed early today because of the weather so he stuck around and worked his sources while he inhaled a third piece of strawberry pie

Finn hung up his cell phone "Okay, now I’m interested Because nobody I’ve talked to has any idea who those people were at Mab’s mansion"

"Nobody?" I frowned "Nobody knoho those people are?"

Finn shrugged "Whatever Mab’s doing, she’s kept a lid on that part of it So far at least"

I put down the paperback copy of Medea that I’d been reading for the latest class I was taking over at Ashland Co lulls in the action at the Pork Pit was another habit that I’d picked up froe was a hobby I’d developed on otten, I leaned against the counter I had no real reason to think there was anything particularly special about the group of people Mab had been entertaining last night-except that Gentry and her girl, Sydney, had tried to kill ht Gentry hadn’t wanted to kill me-she’d wanted to march me back to Mab so the Fire ele for the kill shot, but only after she thought that I was going to stiff Gentry Still, so just didn’t add up, and I couldn’t figure out what it ht to Ashland by Mab as reinforce else? I didn’t know, but I illing to bet thatout the answer-fast

Finn and I sat there and threw out a few ideas, but neither one of us ca that seeive up, and Finn was ready to leave to see what else he could dig up froain and my baby sister, Bria, walked into the restaurant

Chapter 7