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"You want me to stop?" Cody said, looking at my outstretched fingers.
Adam had slipped through the trees, out of Cody's sight. Now he rounded the rear of the SUV, his eyes blazing. I waved him back before Cody saw him. Cody swung again. I dodged and lifted my fingers in a knockback, but he charged and kicked my leg out from under me. As I went down, he kneed me in the stomach. Adam rushed forward.
"No," I said, wheezing and shaking my head.
Adam hesitated. I met his gaze and he pulled back behind the SUV, hovering there, waiting.
"No?" Cody said. "You don't like--"
Finally I was able to smack him with a knockback. He stumbled against the SUV.
"Getting clumsy?" I said.
He lunged forward. I hit him again, this one hard enough to knock him to the ground.
"I don't know what you're on," I said. "But it's powerful stuff, Cody. You can barely stand up. Now, what's this about me being a murdering bitch? You think I killed Tiffany? There's a commune full of girls who can testify that I was with them when it happened, so don't--"
"You might not have pushed the plunger," he said, getting to his feet. "But I know you had something to do with her death. You've been following us for days now. Tiffany said it had something to do with that Wiccan shit she used to be into. You stalked her and you harassed her. You lured her into the newspaper building--"
"I lured her? She called me. Check her phone records."
"She said you threatened her."
"Yes, I did. I threatened to take action if she didn't stop harassing me. She--"
"You lying bitch!"
He swung. I wheeled out of the way. But before I could launch a knockback, he slammed his fist into my gut. I fell, gasping and blinking. Adam ran toward us. Cody drew back his foot to kick me in the stomach. I hit him with an internal fireball.
He screamed and doubled over. Adam stopped. As Cody stumbled back, he saw Adam and realized he was trapped between us.
Cody grabbed the SUV door handle. Adam and I both jumped at him, but Cody was faster, swinging in and slapping the lock closed. Adam reached for the back door. Cody hit the button and all his door locks engaged.
Adam jangled the handle on the driver's side. The metal glowed red hot as he glared at Cody, desperately cranking the engine.
Adam glanced over at me. I was still winded and gasping, pain throbbing through my stomach. The whites of Adam's eyes suffused with red. He pressed his fingers to the door metal. Tendons in his neck popped as he concentrated.
The door shimmered, heat pouring from it. Then it disintegrated in a shower of ash. The safety-glass window dropped, hit the door frame, and shattered.
Cody sat there, gaping at the hole where his door should have been. He looked down at the pile of ash and glass below.
"That's what you get for buying foreign," Adam said. "Barely need to touch it and it falls apart."
Cody lifted his gaze to Adam's, slowly, as if just realizing that nothing now stood between them. Adam reached in, grabbed him by the shirt front, and hauled him out. Cody's arms windmilled, as he tried to grab something and hold on.
"Not going to take a swing at me?" Adam said. "It's different when it's a guy your own size, isn't it?"
He threw Cody to the ground. Cody started scrambling backward. Adam walked over and kicked him in the stomach, so hard even I winced. Cody yowled and curled up, gasping for air.
"Doesn't tickle, does it?" Adam said. "I've heard you can kill someone doing that. Try to run and we'll test that."
"What do you want?" Cody wheezed.
"First, leave Savannah alone. She had nothing to do with your wife's death. She's here investigating a murder--that's it. You just happen to be the prime suspect. So that's the second thing I want you to do. Confess. Probably too much to ask for, though, so we'll settle for you answering some questions."
I stepped forward. "Let's start at the top. What were you and Claire talking about behind the hardware store?"
"Go to hell, bitch," he sneered.
