Page 35 of Roses and Murder
It was a trust thing. No one would do business with you after that. You couldn’t get supplies and people wouldn’t buy from you. Because we wereallcheating on our taxes and we didn’t need some arsehole bringing that to anyone’s attention.
Ollie and Ronan were fawning over me and I honestly needed that. Beck went back to help Neco because honestly, Goran was kind of useless and Neco might decide to kill him for that. I knew Neco had a code, but this was also a tense situation.
We were finally at the barn. I could hear laughter and music inside. I completely would have preferred being at some celebration than doing any of this, but I was so close to getting Mom the cure.
“Make yourself useful and go knock,” Neco growled. “These people don’t know us and won’t let us in because we’re from Guttertown.”
“They hate me more than they hate you!” Goran snapped.
“Yeah, buteveryoneloves me,” Ollie said, marching towards the barn.
Ollie wasn’t wrong. It was why he always worked the bar. It didn’t matter who walked through our doors or what kind of mood they were in, after two minutes with Ollie, they were butter in his hands and spilling all their drama.
Ollie was our best chance of getting into that barn without the crowd turning onus.Lovable, easygoing Ollie. I was already mad and bleeding. If these people laid a finger on Ollie, I was going to go feral. I’d already fought a serial killer and won. I could totally take on a barn full of most of Lower Cutwart.
Ollie went in and he took a while to come out. I was starting to get worried, but that was when the cavalry arrived. Trevils was there with Basselt on the back of his horse.
Basselt couldn’t get off the horse fast enough. If this situation wasn’t so shit, I probably would have laughed at the look on his face and how he was walking. Yeah, I would imagine since he could turn into a wolf and run, he didn’t really have a need to ride a horse.
Basselt turned to stroke the horse’s nose and thenthankedhim for the ride. Shit, were we supposed to do that? Could Basselt talk to animals? Could he talk some sense into our donkey?
“Shit, you got him?” Trevils asked.
I crossed my arms over my chest and walked over. Trevils wasn’t a snitch. He hated the Barons just as much as we did. He said he trusted the men with him, but I didn’t know them. I’d draw my own conclusions.
Trevils peered at the Ghoul and frowned.
“He’s dressed like a Baron, but I don’t know him. I’ve met all of them and the kids. I know the extended families that don’t have titles because they’ve sent for me to look into completely asinine things. I notice everything, so I pay attention to their kidsandtheir staff. I’ve never seen this man before.”
“You think he stole the clothes?” I asked. “Most of us have never met them. I wouldn’t know their kids from my arsehole. But if someone came up to me dressed like that, I’d automatically think they were kin to the Barons. I also heard him talk when he pulled a knife on me. Unless he’s faking, he’s got that pretentious accent like them.”
“He didn’t or someone would have had me digging into it. They outgrow their clothes or they fall out of fashion and they stop wearing them. They have rooms bigger than my house full of clothes, but their servants do inventory on everything in the house every few months because they are paranoid the poor people they employ are stealing from them.
“They double check their work just to make sure they aren’t hiding something. I’ve been called to investigate missing shoes, jewelry, combs, but this man is in his twenties. If he stole clothing recently, no one asked me to look into it, and trust me, they would have.”
I heard this absolutely evil laugh. The Ghoul was awake again and Neco looked ready to hit him again. Maybe I was stupid and should let him, but I’d been dragged, kicking and screaming with my mom used as blackmail, into this serial killer mess and I guess I just needed to know why.
I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night unless I knew what caused a man to dothatbecause I didn’t think it was all Black Paranoia. The Madame said all it did was amplify what was already there.
And if I had any hope of my plan actually working, I needed every detail I could get.
“Don’t hit him. Hold him,” I said.
Because honestly, between Beck and Neco, he wasn’t going anywhere.
“I wasgiventhe clothes. I’m going to be given everything else when I’m done,” the Ghoul sneered.
“You sure about that? You haven’t even been given the cure for Black Paranoia,” I said.
“You were one of them. I saw you go in and I was eventually going to kill you. Then you fell into my lap. You weren’t supposed to fight back.”
I snorted.
“I’m honestly shocked no one else did.”
“Do you know who my father is?”
“Don’t really give a shit, but I’m pretty sure you’re going to tell me.”
