Page 97 of Devil and the Deep Blue Fish

“Not a doubt in the world,” Galen said grandly, and Ellery was reminded that, with a few blithe words that morning, Galen had pretty much changed the entire direction of a business he and Jackson had built from the ground up.

But it hadn’t been abadthing, either.

“Sure,” he said, feeling weak.

“You worry too much,” Galen said, his usual arid condescension back in place. “I, for one, am looking forward to the outing. It’s going to be quite… stimulating.”

“Sure.”

HIS MOTHERfound him a few minutes later, sitting on the edge of his and Jackson’s bed, staring into space. Billy Bob was on his lap, and Lucifer was trying gamely not to slide off the bed next to his hips.

“Stop that,” his mother said tenderly to the black cat. “And come here.” With an almost absurd gentleness she lifted the sleek black cat into her arms. “Aren’t you getting chonky, yes? These boys need to feed you two something less fatty.”

Ellery stared at her. “Chonky?”

“Rebekah’s children use the word frequently,” she said, sitting next to him and, disconcertingly, resting her head on his shoulder. “What are you thinking?”

Ellery let out a small laugh. “Galen has completely rewritten our business plan, and he wishes tocaravanup to Sonora so he can be a distraction once we get inside.”

“Which one of these things bothers you more?” she asked, with nothing more than curiosity.

“The trip to Sonora,” Ellery said with a small smile. “Businesses fail—or succeed. I think he’s right. Ours has potential to grow. But what we’re going to do in Sonora is—”

“Dangerous,” she said, apparently not bothered. With a sweet smile, she allowed Lucifer to rub his whiskers against her nose. “This cat is a charming creature,” she said, using her opposite hand to scritch the base of his tail. With a stern scowl, she chastised Billy Bob, who was currently drooling and nursing on Ellery’s shawl-collared sweater, which he was wearing over his pajama bottoms. “Why can you not take lessons?”

The battered Siamese mix’s purring filled the room.

“It would help,” Ellery said, smoothing Billy Bob’s whiskers back with his thumb, “if Jackson wouldn’t call him terrible names.”

“Like what?”

“Like no-thumbs-having motherfucker,” Ellery replied, smiling a little.

As if recognizing those words for the terms of endearment they were, Billy Bob’s purring amped up a little.

“You and Jackson,” she said, “have created a good life together.”

He glanced at her, surprised. “I think so,” he said.

“I think expanding your business is a good idea. While not every case is as large as this one,” she gestured with her chin toward his dining room table, where their laptops both sat in a sea of scanned copies and paperwork, “I think even the small ones you take on help change people’s lives.”

Ellery thought of Killian and Lewis’s friend Nicky, who seemed like three hundred pounds of muscle with an extra twenty of pure good will.

“I hope so,” he said.

“A law firm based on helping people and finding the truth is a good thing,” she said.

“Well, yes,” he agreed.

“Who were you thinking of as your third partner?” she asked, almost idly.

“Galen suggested ADA Arizona Brooks.”

“Hmm….” She stood, Lucifer still cradled in her arms. “A decent suggestion. Make sure she wouldn’t mind sharing an office. Your kitchen table is impossibly small, Ellery, and if I’m going to be bicoastal, I would like a place to work.”

And with that, his mother exited his room, back into the paperwork fray that might help stop a couple of monsters, and Ellery stared after her.

And then he picked up his phone again and called ADA Arizona Brooks to fill her in on Henry—and ask her if she wanted to switch sides.

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