Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies

over
    “Mmm-hmm.” Behind the counter, Sophia grunted to the counter.
    her agreement.
    “Uh-oh,” Finn muttered. “I know that look.”
    “I don’t care who she’s pissed off right now,” I snapped.
    “What look?” I asked, lifting up the cash register. Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 74-75
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    “That look. The one that makes you resemble a hibernating bear someone just poked with a sharp stick. The look that says you’re not going to let this go, even though it’s not your problem.”
    I put my hand over my heart and batted my lashes at 7
    him. “You know me all too well.”
    “But how are you going to find her?” Finn asked. “She didn’t exactly leave you a personal dossier.”
    My fingers probed the dark space under the cash register. There it was. I pulled out a scrap of paper from beneath the register. The girl’s credit card receipt from lunch. The one with her name on it. Violet Fox . Not as good as a dossier, but it was a place to start.
    “oh, I’m not going to find her,” I said in a sweet voice.
    “Don’t say it,” he pleaded. “Please don’t say it.”
    “Anything yet?”
    I held the piece of paper out to him. “I’m not going to Finn glared over his shoulder at me. “It’s only been two find her because you’re going to do it for me.”
    hours, Gin. Keep your panties on.”
    Finn just sighed and took another sip of his coffee. I glared back and stuck my tongue out at him. He grinned. “Don’t stick it out unless you plan to use it.”
    I snorted. “You wish.”
    “Always.”
    After I’d told Finn to track down the college girl using her credit card receipt, he’d gone to his office to get his laptop and some other supplies and tell the money men he was taking the rest of the day off. While he’d done that, I’d scheduled an appointment for a glazier to come fix the storefront windows in the morning. Then I’d sent Sophia home, closed down the restaurant, and driven to Fletcher’s house. That had taken an hour.
    Finn had shown up thirty minutes ago. Now he reEstep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 76-77
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    laxed on the faded plaid sofa in the den, while I puttered
    “Any luck with that?” Finn asked.
    around in the kitchen. Given all the excitement, I hadn’t
    “No.”
    had a chance to eat lunch at the restaurant, and I had Shortly after Fletcher’s funeral, I’d told Finn about a feeling it was going to be a long night. That’s why I’d the file and the secrets it held, including my real name—
    made chicken salad sandwiches on thick, honey-wheat Genevieve Snow. I’d let him sort through the information bread, along with a fresh fruit salad.
    and draw his own conclusions about everything else. InI put the food on a tray, along with plates, silverware, cluding what had happened the night my mother, Eira, napkins, and a pitcher of raspberry lemonade. Then I and older sister, Annabella, had been murdered by a Fire reached for my Ice magic. The cold, silver light flickered elemental. For a moment, orange flames filled my vision. on my palm, centered over the spider rune scar, and I The image of two burned husks of bodies flashed before dropped several Ice cubes into the two glasses on the tray. my eyes, and the air smelled of charred flesh. I willed the I took the whole thing into the den and set it on the cofmemory away. fee table.
    “You should let me help you with that,” Finn said. “I I sat cross-legged in one of the recliners and munched have contacts you don’t.”
    on a sandwich. Celery, apples, golden raisins, lemon zest, I shook my head. “No. Not . . . yet. I still don’t know and a sour cream–mayo dressing flavored the chicken how I feel about it.”
    salad, while the crusty bread provided crunch and con“About what?”
    trast. I alternated with bites of my strawberry-and-kiwi
    “About the old man knowing who I really was all these fruit salad, tossed with lime juice, vanilla, and just a hint years and not saying anything to me about it. About him of honey.
    collecting all that information about my family.”
    Finn also helped himself to a sandwich and some fruit, The spider rune scars on my palms started itching, the and we ate in silence. Finn’s laptop whirred softly as it way they always did when I thought about my dead, lost sorted through billions of bytes of data, looking for info family. A small circle with eight thin lines radiating out of on one Violet