Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies

from the assassin business.
    loved them all. The more violent they were, the better. Jo-Jo finished cleaning up Violet and threw the bloody
    “Anyway,” I said, finishing my story. “We left the rag into the trash can. Finn slipped Violet’s glued together dwarf’s body for Sophia to dispose of and brought the glasses on her face. Then he leaned back and gave her an girl here. once she’s awake, I plan on asking her some appreciative glance.
    serious questions about Fletcher and where she heard the
    “She cleaned up good, didn’t she?” he said in an admirname Tin Man .”
    ing tone.
    Jo-Jo stared at the girl. A frown made the blue mud
    “She’s unconscious, Finn. At least have the decency to mask on her face crack. She hadn’t bothered to wipe it off leer at her when she’s awake,” I said.
    yet. “She looks . . . familiar. What did you say her name Finn laced his hands behind his head and grinned. “I’ll was again?”
    be sure and do just that.”
    “Violet Elizabeth Fox.” I plucked the girl’s driver’s liJo-Jo washed her hands again in the sink. She grabbed cense out of her wallet and passed it to Jo-Jo. another rag to dry them off, then turned to me. “Now,”
    The dwarf scanned the laminated card. Her frown the dwarf drawled. “You want to tell me who this girl is, deepened, and bits of blue mud flaked off her cheeks and and why someone was beating her?”
    settled on her pink housecoat. “She lives up on Ridgeline I filled Jo-Jo in on everything that had happened the Hollow Road.”
    last twenty-four hours, starting with Sophia and I foil“Do you know her?” Finn asked. ing Jake McAllister’s attempted holdup of the Pork Pit, to Jo-Jo shook her head. “No, but I’m pretty sure I know Violet Fox coming in and asking for the Tin Man, to the the crotchety old bastard who’s her grandfather.”
    shooting, to Finn and I tracking her down and saving her from the dwarven hit man.
    “So that’s where Sophia went in such a hurry,” Jo-Jo Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 108-109
    12/17/09 9:32 PM
    Web of Lies 111
    Since Jo-Jo was stronger than either Finn or me, she picked up Violet, carried the girl into the downstairs den, and arranged her on an overstuffed sofa. I pulled off Vio10
    let’s bloody jacket and shoes; then Jo-Jo covered her with a soft, warm quilt. The dwarf trudged into the downstairs bathroom to wash the blue mud off her face. I stepped through the doorway that led into the kitchen. Most people went straight to Jo-Jo’s salon when they came to the house, but my favorite room had always been the kitchen. A skinny room with a rectangular butcher’s block table set in the middle surrounded by several tall stools. Appliances done in a variety of pastel shades ringed three walls, while the fourth opened up into the den where Violet Fox snoozed. Runelike clouds could be Finn and I looked at each other. “Grandfather?” we asked found everywhere, from the placemats on the table to the in unison.
    dish towels piled next to the sink to the fresco that covJo-Jo nodded. “Warren T. Fox, of the Ridgeline Holered the ceiling. When I was younger, I used to lie on the low Foxes. The girl looks a fair bit like him in the face. I kitchen floor for hours and stare at the painting on the see it, now that the blood’s gone.”
    ceiling, pretending the clouds really were moving. one of
    “And who is this Warren T. Fox?” I asked.
    the few childish fancies I’d allowed myself after the loss of
    “He used to be a friend of Fletcher’s,” the dwarf said. my mother and older sister.
    “But they had a falling out a long time ago. Haven’t spoFinn was already in the kitchen, pouring himself a ken since, to my knowledge.”
    cup of chicory coffee. Jo-Jo always kept a pot on in case Jo-Jo stared at Violet, who was still unconscious in the Fletcher dropped by. Now that the old man was gone, chair. An emotion flickered in the dwarf’s pale eyes. ReFinn drank his share—and then some. I breathed in, engret. I wondered why. Jo-Jo shook her head. More mud joying the warm, comforting caffeine fumes that always mask flaked off her face.
    reminded me of Fletcher Lane. Then I went over to the
    “C’mon,” the dwarf said. “Let’s make the poor girl refrigerator, pulled open the door, and peered inside. comfortable, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
    “What are you thinking? Sandwiches?” Finn asked in
    *
    *
    *
    a hopeful voice.
    Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 110-111
    12/17/09 9:32