Page 20 of Insidious Monsters
“Oh God, oh God.”
You did good.
“Yeah, I did, didn’t I, and we made contact. Fuck.”
I faltered at the gravestone, gaze snagging on the fresh white bloom. Someone had been here again.
I stepped out of the rift, expecting to find Quentin standing in his habitual spot by the lamppost, but he wasn’t there. I spotted him across the street a moment later and he wasn’t alone.
Two guys in padded leather jackets stood with him, along with a little old lady with a blue rinse and spectacles.
“Quentin?” I crossed the empty road toward him.
The woman glared at me and pointed a bony finger my way. “That’s her. That’s the girl who killed those shifters.”
Oh, crap!
six
The old woman pushed past the hulking men to jab her finger at me again. “You murderer.”
“Excuse me?” I plastered a look of confusion and indignation on my face.
Good girl.
“There’s been some mistake,” Quentin said. “August is my ward. A rift walker. We only come here during the day to manage the rift.”
“Lies!” the old lady said. “I saw her.” She looked at me. “I saw you that night.”
Keep it together, August.
The guys looked uncomfortable. “Listen, Winslow, we’re just doing our job, following up on a lead. Janice called it in when she saw you two enter the trail.”
Ah, these were the Silent Trail’s answer to law enforcement. They obviously worked for this sector’s crime lords.
“And she thinks I killed someone?” I blinked up at the nearest guy. “She thinksIkilled shifters?”
He raked me over, taking in my petite stature. Doubt colored his features. “She does.”
Ask her what she saw. Exactly.
I fixed a confused frown on my face and turned to the woman. “What did you see. Exactly?”
Her lips trembled in indignation. “I don’t have to answer to a murderer.”
I caught the other enforcer’s eye roll. Okay, so they weren’t taking this seriously. Good to know.
“Answer the question, Janice,” the other enforcer said.
She made a huffing sound. “I told you. I saw her kill them.”
“How?” the enforcer asked. “How did she kill them?”
“She cornered them and then her monster swooped in and killed them for her.” Her eyes went wide. “He ate them up.”
Quentin froze, but the other two simply exchanged looks over Janice’s head.
“A monster?” enforcer number one said. “And what did he look like?”
