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"What makes you think e do is criuy hated it when he dropped the Mr So he did it often "I&039;ve done ti ring you fell into I bet your brother had a lot to say about that, didn&039;t he? Oh¡ªI don&039;tabout the law abider in the family The clean one Richard, isn&039;t it?"

Van frowned "Tell you what You don&039;t bring my family into this, I won&039;t drop a dime and turn in these houses you use to the CPD I mean, cops would love to come for Sunday dinner, I&039;m damn sure Wouldn&039;t need to ask &039;em over twice"

As Xavier&039;s face becaht, Gotcha

But then the ive you so no one else can"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Undoubtedly"

Van shook his head, unimpressed "Isn&039;t this a little early to invite me in? What if I&039;m not trustworthy?"

"You will be"

"Your faith insweet But the answer&039;s no Sorry"

He expected arguot was a nod

"As you wish" Xavier turned and walked back to the ot into his truck These boys were definitely weird

But at least they paid on time, And well

Across town, Vishous took fore was right behind hi into flesh and blood in the shadows

Shit, V thought He wished he&039;d taken a moment for another sarette He needed so

"V, my brother, you okay?"

"Yeah Perfect Let&039;s do this"

After pulling a little mind bend with the lock system, they walked in the front door The inside of the place se stench that coated the nostrils like paint

They skipped the elevator because it was in use and hit the stairwell When they got to the second floor, they headed past apartments C1 and C2 and C3 V kept his hand under his jacket and on his Glock, although he had a feeling the worst thing that could come at them would be a hall monitor The place was neat as a pin and QVC cutesy-pie: Fake flower bouquets hung on doors Welcome mats with hearts or ivy on them were on the floor outside each apartment Framed inspirational pictures of pink and peach sunsets alternated with ones of fuzzy puppies and clueless kitties

"Man," Rhage muttered, "someone hit this place with the Hallmark stick"

"Until it broke"

V stopped in front of the door marked C4 and willed the locks to shift

"What are you doing?"

He and Rhage wheeled around

Holy shit, it was one of the frickin&039; Golden Girls: Three feet high with a crown of kinky white on her head, the old lady was decked out in a bunchy quilted robe, like she earing her bed

Trouble was, she had the eyes of a pit bull "I asked you young ood He was better with the char a friend"

"You know Dottie&039;s grandson?"

"Ah, yes, ma&039;am We do"

"Well, you look like you would" Which was evidently not a compliment "I think he should o and he doesn&039;t fit in here"

And neither do you, those eyes tacked on

"Oh, he&039;shis lips together "Moved out, really Yeah, tonight"

V cut in, " &039;Scuse e shot hilare, V stepped inside and shut the door on his brother&039;s face If Rhage couldn&039;t handle the biddy, he could just swipe her h that would be a last resort Older hu, their brains no longer resilient enough to withstand the invasion

So, yeah, Hollywood and Dottie&039;s neighbor were going to get tight while V cased the place

With a sneer, he glanced around Man, everything smelled of lesser Sicky sweet Like Butch

Shit Do not think about that

He forced himself to focus on the aparth obviously by its former occupant And Dottie&039;s taste had run toward flower prints, doilies, and cat figurines She fit right in with this building

Chances were good the lessers had read about her passing in the paper and had copped her identity Hell,out here after he&039;d been inducted into the Society

V walked through the kitchen and out again, not surprised there was no food in the cabinets or the refrigerator As he headed for the other half of the apartht it was so curious that the slayers didn&039;t hide where they crashed Hell, ain, they wanted to encourage conflicts¡ª

Hello

V went over to a pink and white desk where a Dell Inspiron 8600 was cracked open and running He swiped his finger across thepassword protected up the wazoo Blah, blah, blah

Although lessers were all welcoht about their hardware Most slayers had a co Society pulled a lot of the sa maneuvers that V did at the compound So basically their shit was i he didn&039;t know theof ied the power line from the unit and the wall He stuffed the electrical cord in his pocket, zipped up his jacket, and tucked the laptop in close to his chest Then he went deeper into the apartone off with flower and frill shrapnel covering the mattress and the s and the walls

And then there it was On a little table beside the bed, sitting next to a phone, a four-e pill bottles: a ceramic jar about the size of a quart of e When the brother picked up, V said, "I&039;ot a laptop and the jar"

He hung up, palainst the hard body of the laptop Then he de how handy it was that humans didn&039;t line their walls with steel