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Madame Hebert, hopefully, had the answers I needed to resolve that dilemma. Then, on to the question of my mysterious grant benefactor—and who was behind the corpse poker party.
Woe to anyone in my path! I had crises to resolve and a rather incredible incentive to do so sooner than later.
Chapter Eighteen
Eli cameinside the apartment with me, only to find Ally and Iggy sharing a laptop screen. Files were stacked on my breakfast table. I made a mental note to get a desk for Ally’s use. I felt securer knowing she was safely ensconced in my home.Renfield.
“Boss!” Ally had the proud smile I’d seen when I liked her blood cocktails, but she was waving a file. She hopped up and charged me. “I have Mrs. Hebert’s address in Houston. And I have a lead on the grant.”
I accepted both her hug and the file. Briefly, I wondered if that hugging was part of why my friends found her so irritating. I allowed Ally liberties that typically took years to acquire.
“I bribed a few people,” Ally announced proudly. Then she pointed at Iggy, who stood the moment Ally had bounced out of her seat. “And Ignatius hexed one!”
I hadn’t realized until then that Iggy could still hex people. Magic, at least the sort most people practiced, required a pulse. It was why so fewdraugrcould hex anyone—although my grandmother was an exception. She was the only one I knew of, and her mastery over it was why she was extra terrifying. My family tree was, apparently, a messed up one even back when Beatrice was breathing.
“I have questions, Iggy.”
He smiled. “I exist to teach you, Hexen. Literally, in fact, which means yououghtto have questions. Perhaps, you ought also to stay here to hear the answers.”
“Killers to catch, questions to ask.” I shrugged.
“How well I remember,” he murmured. Then, he asked, “And how were the mutton shunters?”
“The . . . what?”
“Police,” Eli offered quietly at my side. “Master Blackwood is peppering his answers with 1800s phraseology to appear mysterious or perhaps subtly remind you that he is of another era.”
Iggy laughed, clearly caught off guard.
“Subtle stuff is not great with the boss,” Ally whispered loudly. “She’s the most direct person in the world, which makes her engagement to a faery super fun to study.”
I stared from one to the other. Then I handed the file to Eli and headed into my fight space to collect a few things. I tossed a few daggers on the bed, a bag of hand-crafted salt rounds, and started to pack an overnight bag.
“Need a place to stay tonight, Ally,” I called out. “Fae friendly.”
“On it,” she sang back. “New delicates in the bureau drawer.”
I winced. “Woman!”
“Your underthings were positivelypedestrian, Boss.” Alice sounded horrified, as if boring knickers were a mortal sin. “Prince Eli deserves better things. He’s a faery.” She said the last word in a whisper as if that were a secret.
I waited for Eli’s usual objection to being called Prince Eli, but he was grinning and reading the file, clearly pretending he couldn’t hear us.
“New knickers are okay,” I allowed. Then deciding to stir things up, I asked, “None of those little see-through nighties, though, right?”
“Three. I didn’t include red because it would clash with your hair but—”
“I’ll retire to my room,” Iggy announced, positively scurrying out of the room.
I wasn’t sure if he was scandalized or lamenting his own lack of a woman in need of fancy knickers. I waved at him as he departed and called out, “Thank you for assisting Ally. If you want to consider me educated now—”
“Ha! Nothing so simple as that, Hexen.” He looked over his shoulder at us before vanishing into the guest apartment.
“The money is coming from a bank within the city,” Eli said after perusing the file. “An account owned by Bayou Protection.”
“And they are owned by a company owned by a company whose letters of incorporation are routed to an attorney,” Ally finished. “Layers. Don’t you think I’m done, Boss. I’ll get the owners’ names one way or another.”
Her hand dropped to her purse where I knew a gun that looked too big for her petite self.
