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"Thanks for tour," I said

He nodded, but before he could turn and leave, someone behind us said, "Matthehy has the schoolrooht? Is there a problery, and for a moment I froze Not because I feared the sudden rise of tension in the room, but because the voice was all too familiar This was the woman who’d spoken at the warehouse-the croho controlled both the zombies and the hellhounds

Matthew turned around and I followed suit, knowing I had little other choice If I walked away, it nizing er She’d have seenJoe, and even if crows had bad eyesight at night, Liander hadn’t changed my looks that much

Still, I’d trusted his work in the past and it had never led me astray, so I carefully set my features into a look of cool curiosity

The wo, with a shock of black hair and yellow eyes that looked oddly inhuular, and her ht

And she was in a wheelchair Just like the woman who’d confronted Mike

We had yet another connection

"There’s no problem, Ms Hardt," Mattheered "Hanna told me not to book the room at all Apparently a special has been requested, but she’s not entirely sure what night"

Jessica Hardt-the other owner of Meinhardt’s-grunted softly, and so that reseer coaze slipped to me, and she frowned suddenly "Who are you?"

"CC Buttons, lad I had the modulators She’d heard nized the sound of it

"She’s on trial for tonight," Matthew explained "Aiven a week off work, at least"

Jessica continued to frown, her sharp gaze racking the length of ainst the arm of he chair, the movements as brusque as her voice "Do we know each other? Because you look familiar"

"I’ve only just arrived down in Melbourne, but I have worked other clubs interstate Perhaps you’ve seen aze went back to Matthew "Open the schoolrooo talk to Hanna"

And with that, she rolled away I let go of the breath I’d been holding, and glanced at Matthew "What’s a special?"

Matthew griet his rocks off by watching younger girls sie, so Hanna tends to allow it Jessica doesn’t like it, though"

Which made me wonder what else Jessica didn’t like Because there was a tightness about her that suggested a wo about?"

"Eighteen We can’t legally allow anyone younger than that, but the girls who do the specials are usually our less experienced dancers"

And I was betting they weren’t dancers at all, let alone eighteen Martin Shore’s girlfriend had said he’d met his last lovers here, and that one of thee

I nodded, then asked, "While I think of it, do you have a stripper na here?"

He frowned "I don’t think so Why?"

I shrugged "My old boss asked me to say hi if I ever ran into her, that’s all"

"Sorry, I don’t think she’s ever been here Not that I can re past the nanowire to scan his thoughts I could see no lie Which didn’t mean Vicki hadn’t been here, just that he didn’t know about it

He walked away I stood there for a h the various scents for any hint of the ic that had been in the warehouse or the homes of thethe heavier scent of hu a shower in the bathrooht have been the TV given it o male voices I could hear

There was no fa seemed out of the ordinary or suspicious Not to lanced around the rooain, and saw the discreetly placed ca watched, which ood idea I turned and headed for the costuht have see the art with Ben’s A in heels and s so hard it felt like my face would crack, I was bone tired and ready for sleep

I slungover my shoulder and headed for the back exit The bouncer stationed there gave ht out there at this hour? Or would you like someone to walk you to your car?"

"I’ll be fine, thanks"

He nodded and stepped aside as I walked through "Be careful, then"

I sh, it was raining and I didn’t have a coat I did have a woolly hat, and I shoved that on, tuckingit down over y sweatshirt, although the e, and not exactly war street in the hope of finding a taxi near one of the nightclubs If not, I could always head back down to Spenser Street and catch a bus, because the trains didn’t actually run at this hour

When I was out of earshot of the club, I pressed the button inme a car on this one"

"Your character is not the type to own a car, Riley, and the Directorate cannot control the weather," Jack said dryly "How’d things go in there?"

"Tryout ell, I earned lots of money, and they’ve asked me back on a per?"