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I glared at Finnegan Lane, who sat on a stool across froan looked every bit like the s investray suit draped over his solid fra wool coat His starched, tailored sage shirt brightened his eyes, which were the slick green of a soda pop bottle His walnutcolored hair curled over the collar of his coat His thick locks had a sexy, stylish, rumpled look that had taken Finn at least ten minutes, two mirrors, and several squirts of product to obtain

In addition to being an Lane was also the son of my mentor, Fletcher Finn was like a brother to me and one of the few people I trusted since the old man’s murder Finn was also my handler now, for lack of a better word He didn’t like my decision to retire, as it robbed hi fee, but he understood why I’d done it That I was honoring Fletcher’s wishes Besides, Finn had plenty of other less-than-legal sche in aelboith his clients ere even erous than he was

"Besides," Finn continued in a matter-of-fact voice

"You can’t kill the reporter Nobody wants hio, there’s no one to pay your rather substantial fee Re"

Finn took another sip of his coffee I drew in a breath, letting the rich caffeine fus Fletcher had drunk the same chicory coffee when he’d been alive, and the fa Finn was right I couldn’t kill the reporter for doing his job No matter how much trouble he’d just caused ht, so I won’t kill him," I said "How about you ruin his credit instead? Call in his es," Finn scoffed "Dime a dozen in this city, penny ante, and not worth the trouble"

He drained the rest of his coffee and stared at me

"What about the kid, the would-be robber? Did you knoas Jonah McAllister’s son when you broke his wrist and threatened to slit hiills?"

"It wasn’t a threat so ed

"And no Didn’t matter to me who his daddy was then, and it doesn’t matter to me now"

Finn swiveled around on his stool and looked at the rest of the restaurant Just before noon on a Tuesday Despite the gray clouds and cold, rainy weather outside, I should have had at least twenty custoet their barbecue fix on, and the phone ringing off the hook with takeout orders Instead, a lone woman huddled in a booth in the back of the restaurant, out of sight of the storefront s A young girl who looked all of eighteen, nineteen, tops

Nobody else sat at the long counter or in the booths

Not a single person stood outside staring in through the s, and no one had called for takeout Not even irl had co, not even the h the mail slot and scurried on to the next stop on his route as though this were a house of lepers

"And you wonder why you don’t have any customers," Finn murmured "Jonah McAllister’s put the word out that you are persona non grata And I’m sure the story in the newspaper didn’t help ht not have cleaned up the blood yet"

"What does McAllister think he’s going to do?" I asked "He can’t keep people away forever The food’s too good Even if he could, I still wouldn’t starve"

"Thanks toskills," Finn not so humbly stated

I rolled my eyes "Yeah, thanks to your skills If Jonah McAllister thinks a couple of days of lousy business are going to intiainst his loser kid, then he needs to think some more"

"Jonah McAllister doesn’t knoho he’s dealing with," Finn replied "If he knew you were the assassin the Spider, he’d probably just borrow a couple of Mab Monroe’s giants to try to kill you before you could testify against his son"

"Former assassin," I corrected "And let Jonah McAllister send sooons after me We both know exactly how that would turn out"

Finn snorted "Yeah, with their blood on the floor of the restaurant"

I grinned "C’ood work"

"Deadly work, perhaps You kno I feel about the word good" He shuddered

Like an Lane was firmly entrenched in the shady side of life, with ulations, married women, public indecency laws Finn fucked around hatever and whoht Even when he did, he always found a way to wriggle out of whatever le he currently found hirease on a hot skillet He preferred to tackle proble his pants up while he ran away fro husband was hot on his trail

Me? I went at ht on - and knife point first Another reason Fletcher Lane had trained h Finn o years older than me

Finn held up his empty cup and let out a lohistle between his teeth A h the double doors that led to the back of the restaurant

The dwarf clenched a battered silver coffeepot in her stubby fingers The one she always kept warain, Sophia wore her usual Goth outfit - black jeans, a black T-shirt, and black boots Today, dainty silverstone hearts hung froed and clashed like cymbals as she walked

"Sophia? Pretty please?" Finn srunted, but the corners of her lips, crian Lane could char his skills on every fe, old, pretty, toothless

Didn’tthe part of the old-fashioned, charentleh Sophia Deveraux wasn’t iain, he’d had thirty-two years to wear her down