Page 11 of Cheater Slicks

“I want to understand too.” I wedged myself between them. “What was that all about?”

“Never you mind.” Jean-Claude booped the end of my nose. “Come on and see Vi.”

Had he rushed me to her bedside, I would have felt better about my chance of success. That he lingered to chat told me he wasn’t holding on to much hope of curing his longtime patient and friend. But his realm was healing the living, and mine was raising the dead. It seemed to me Vi and Matty were stuck between. With each of us working from the opposite end of the spectrum, I hoped we could meet in the middle faster.

Down a long hall painted in the dark greens of a nighttime forest, he led me to the master suite. The bed dominated the center of the room, an antique larger than a sedan. Head on her pillow, Vi rested under a lush velvet quilt. Her chest rose and fell, and her eyes flicked back and forth behind her lids. I crossed to her, caught her wrist in my hand, and tested her pulse. Slow but steady. She could have been sleeping.

Leaning down, I rested my palm against her forehead and shut my eyes to search for a spark within her.

“She’s not there,” I murmured, as if I hadn’t believed it until witnessing it for myself.

“I told you that much,” Rollo grumbled from the doorway without so much as ahello. “I wouldn’t have come for you otherwise.”

Since we left at the end of the workday, it must be nearly three o’clock in the morning. That gave us maybe three hours before dawn forced the spirits into their graves for the day. Not much time, but I was wired and so was everyone else. No one was going to sleep anytime soon, so we might as well be productive. “Who wants to get a start on canvassing the city?”

“Pascal and I will take Bourbon Street and fan out from there,” Josie volunteered. “That okay with you?”

“Sure.” I bit down on the inside of my cheek. “Just stick together, okay?”

Without the ability to see spirits, Josie was limited in what she could do to help. Matty’s soul could stand in front of her face and yell, and she would be none the wiser. She could, however, protect his body. The promise of her watching over him while Pascal scanned the sweat-drenched clubs and smoke-filled bars for errant spirits made it easier to let them out of my sight.

“I’ll go with them.” Pedro stared down his brother. “Keep them out of trouble.”

With those two, that was a big promise to make, but I was certain he was up to the task.

“Kierce and I will begin here on Chartres.” I doubted we’d get lucky enough to stumble across the missing souls right outside Vi’s door, but we had to start somewhere. “We’ll work outward as far as we can before sunrise.”

“Good luck with that,” Rollo told us then strolled down the hall, returning to his office.

“Don’t be too hard on him,” Jean-Claude confided after the door shut behind Rollo, and the antique lock snicked like Rollo didn’t trust me near his things. “Poor boy is exhausted down to his bones.”

Yeah, well, that made two of us.

“He’s already been out tonight,” Jean-Claude continued on. “He got in just before you.”

“Okay, okay.” I kissed his cheek. “I’ll cut him some slack.”

“That’s all I’m asking.”

As the remaining four of us shuffled into the hall, Jean-Claude sank into a chair beside Vi’s bed.

Badb, for her own reasons, elected to stay behind with him. Probably because he had made the mistake of complimenting her. Before he knew it, she would have him wrapped around her claw and her claws wrapped around one of the cookies on the tray next to him.

The ride down in the elevator was cramped, and our groups began to scatter after hitting the sidewalk outside. Until a breeze sent a vine tickling the side of my arm, and an idea blossomed. “Josie.”

Glancing over her shoulder, she slowed her walk. “Hmm?”

“Can you ask around, see if the plants know anything?”

“I can try, but plants are very self-involved. They’re more likely to tell me if there’s a cursed patch of soil causing root rot than anything Matty specific.” She marshaled a smile. “I’ll do my best, though.”

Armed with fresh purpose, Josie marched off in one direction, and we took the other.

Three blocks later, I decided Kierce had brooded long enough and interrupted the silence. “What’s on your mind?”

Ever since Rollo materialized in his living room, Kierce had been oddly quiet. I wasn’t sure if it boiled down to him not liking Rollo, which, okay, same. Or if there was something else weighing on his mind.

“Many things.” He attempted a smile but didn’t quite manage. “Do you think we’ll find Matty like this?”

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