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"Oh, and I used to date the witness who found the first body," I added

"Interesting"

I let out a s of a descriptionshit dato fuckfor another suation of the Symbol Man murders, and that case had not exactly been wrapped up nice and neatly Sure, the Symbol Man had been stopped, but I’d ended up dead for a while, and my aunt had ended up in an arcane coet her out of

Her full lips twitched " ‘Interesting’ is more concise"

"Stick withlike a pro" Then I made a face "Do you know of an easy way to find a suuised hope "Are there any de?"

She raised one dark eyebrow at me as amusement flashed in her eyes "No"

I couldn’t help but sh it dashedhopes "Okay," I pressed, "is there a way to ask other de the to seriously consider the question "In theory, yes, but in practice, it is nigh impossible," she said "The demons are divided into nu dyna which lord they serve Si a question would require pay a deenie who’d be at your beck and call nowas a contest and a contract--first to show you orthy to even call the demon by the level of skill used to create the portal and otiate the terms of whatever service the su had a price and failure to abide by the terms--for either party--was a terrible breach of honor If the su party, they usually ended up dead There were no bad demons--only poorly worded contracts

"So, I guess there aren’t too lumly

A smile curved her lips "It is possible that you could pose the question and accept free response However, that has its own drawback"

"Ifor hih I didn’t know of any other summoners in the area, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any As far as I knew there were only a few hundred in the world, but even that was siuess We tended to be pretty private about our activities, for obvious reasons

"Maybe the presence of the de to do with the two deaths" I paused in consideration "Maybe it’s all a giant coincidence"

"I doubt that," Eilahn said, and I had to chuckle She wasn’t the type to snoith pointless reassurances or allow ood thing But there were times when I could have used so "If it had wanted to kill you," she added, "it likely would have been a harder fight"

So why the fuck hadn’t it? My arrabbedEilahn had e to thunkof hts of self-injury I read it with a growing sense of relief "Ha! Since I’et another car" It would probably be a total pile of crap, but it would be a pile of crap for which I didn’t have to pay a note or gas or insurance

I stood and drained the last of et my neheels," I told Eilahn

"I ith you," she said "TooI am unsettled"

That was the first ti less than total confidence There went the last of my comfortable delusions

Chapter 5

The motor pool for the Beaulac PD was only a few blocks away Well within walking distance We’d barely er shout from behind us

"Kara! Ellen!"

We turned to see Officer Tirin that stretched from ear to ear "I found her!"

I looked at hirin widened, if that was even possible "Wait right here! She’s inI felt rooted to the spot "Okay," I said "You get to break his heart and tell hi cat"

The deh She was a fast learner