I was glad. I didn’t want to explain myself. My head was heavy with the talk I’d had with Sitri, with the deal I’d made and metaphorically signed in blood, what I’d given him and what he’d given me in return. I dragged my dread behind me like the Conduit’s golden chains, feeling the weight.Still,...
-- The Killing Floor Blues 10.Her name was Jenna Rearden, and she kept her hands clasped tight before her, like a penitent nun, to keep them from shaking. It wasn’t me she was afraid of. Not entirely me, anyway. This wasn’t long after I’d broken company with Nicky Agnelli. A heist went bad, shook...
The hash browns were lightly salted, crunchy, cooked just right. I could have done without the staring, though. “Swear to God,” Jessie said, cutting into a sausage link and scooping up a forkful. “If your hands go anywhere near your pants, this discussion is over.” Fontaine cast a rueful glance d...
I said. “Absolutely not. Not under any circumstances. Jennifer, you are not going to war with Nicky Agnelli.” She had the grace to pretend to be hurt, but not enough to keep from smiling. “What? Little ol’ me? Thought never even crossed my mind. All...
-- A Plain-Dealing Villain 22.Six hours later, I waited in the baggage claim at O’Hare in a stiff blue vinyl chair, idly watching a bank of monitors. Flights came and flights went, white block numbers flickering and shuffling by the minute. Every now and then, one of the conveyor belts in the vas...
A porcelain doll with her hands in her lap. She sat just the way they’d placed her and saw no reason to move.“Mari,” whispered a voice. Her drugged mind, moving at the speed of dripping molasses, struggled to place it. A girl. She’d known a girl once. What was her name? Hedy. No, that wasn’t Hedy...
At its peak, the White Cathedral perched like a great dove at the edge of a sheer cliff overlooking a dark and winding river as it opened up to the sea. As the streets sloped downward, though, the pristine glow of the city began to fade. The buildings grew more ramshackle, broken-down, huddled to...
Down in the lobby, the tables for last night’s wine tasting had been repurposed as a free-floating buffet, with baskets offering fresh muffins and single-serving boxes of cereal. “Eat up,” Jessie mumbled around the bagel half sticking out of her mouth. “Lot of miles ahead of us today.” I craned m...
I dove for the door. Carl’s pistol barked twice, streaking the room with white lightning. I scrambled around the corner as another pair of shots blasted into the wall and blew away chunks of stucco.The house swam in darkness, only the blinking of a digital clock painting the shadows a baleful cri...
-- The White Gold Score 6.Curtis led me to his den, a little sanctum in the back of his mansion. No phones, no windows to the outside world, just a marble grotto with a shag ice-white rug, a plush leather sofa, and a big-screen TV on the wall. A vintage Williams pinball machine flashed its lights...