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"Good" He frowned as he watched Miguel tap the inforuel You’re my lieutenant, not my admin, and this enormous house will need a housekeeper and staff, too How did Victor handle that?"

"Hu scowl "He had a crew in once a week"

"Well, on’t be doing that Put the word out, you know the routine Give preference to vampires withinto swear fealty in blood will be considered Appoint so, but you or Louis handle the final selection personally And I’ll want to choose the housekeeper myself"

"Yes, my lord"

"Do you have the photos?"

"My lord?"

"The composites from the videos I’d like to take a look"

"They’re on your co with Phoebe’s preli his chair around to the computer, which sat on an L-shaped extension to the desk Pulling up the relevant file, he scanned Phoebe’s report quickly, then brought up the grainy ies Only the woed of the ave away more than people knew That one, for example, had a very distinctive beak of a nose, and the next one a crude, ale of someone whose nose has been broken too many tiht not know him when they met at a party or a fundraiser, but he’d know theive the was over to rip out their throats

Chapter Seventeen

Eressional office She passed a few people she knew and there was syazes But there was a morbid curiosity, too, as if they feared--or ht here in the hallowed halls That wasn’t going to happen

Oh, Erieved She would rief was private, just as her final farewell thishad been private Mr Pettry, the funeral director, had been there, but he’d reround There’d been no prayers, no stranger froy to y over a woman he’d never known

Just Emround and then slowly, shovel by shovel, buried her

E, her tears hot despite the icy drizzle which had begun to fall, freezing every inch of exposed skin She’d waited until the last shovel full of dirt had been thrown, the earth packed down again, and the neat squares of sod replaced The two diggers had straightened then, glancing from her to the funeral director, accusto families

Mr Pettry had finally approached slowly, his footsteps crunching on grass that had already begun to ice over

"Ms Duquet?"

E it was tiraveyard workers

"Thank you," she told theer, no doubt, to be out of this aeather

"May I walk you to your car?" Mr Pettry inquired, hinting gently that it was time for her to leave, as well

Erateful for the support She’d worn the Jih for the uneven grass

She glanced down at the black pu the ht after all, about not wearing the an ankle, she’d count herself lucky She probably should have followed her first instinct and buried the daiven her Lacey had taken her designers very seriously Yet another reason she’d never had the rent o to the office at all today, but there were too er for a job like hers If she stayed out too long, Sharon Coffer ly, or at least male And Emma needed the money She couldn’t afford to lose her job, especially now The lease on the house she’d shared with Lacey had twoa new place andBesides, if she went home, she’d be surrounded by ht, when she could finally get down to the only thing thatthe vampires track down her friend’s killer And the irony of that last thought wasn’t lost on her, since it was vampires who’d been responsible for Lacey’s death It was like asking the fox to figure out who ate the chickens But Duncan wasn’t going to let the huet involved She had no doubt he’d do whatever was necessary to keep that froame in town, then Emma intended to make sure they played by the rules Because if they didn’t, then she’d do whatever she had to do to find justice for Lacey