Page 59 of Cold Curses

I squinted, found a little shred of fabric at the blunt end of a tree root halved by the shoveling.

“Yo.”

I looked up, found Gwen peering into the hole.

“Evidence bag?” I asked, and after a moment, she tossed one down. I slipped the fabric inside the bag, put it into my pocket.

“Could use a hand getting out,” I said.

Connor’s face appeared beside Gwen’s. “What will you give me?”

“I won’t punch you for holding me hostage in a dirt hole.”

“Deal,” he said agreeably, and held out a hand.

I jumped up, caught it. He pulled, and I levered my feet against the walls, climbed back up into the city. And found a full crimescene team waiting. Floodlights were being set up and there were legitimate barriers around the hole now.

“What did you find?” Gwen asked.

I held up the evidence bag, and the fabric scrap gleamed in the streetlight. This actuallywasreflective.

“Probably something worn by the person that dug that hole and smashed the cornerstone,” I said.

“Good work,” she said, and held out a hand.

But I closed my fist around the bag. “You need to ask if anyone saw a fake construction crew. I’ll help.”

Gwen’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you want to get to the hospital?”

“Petra messaged,” Theo said. “Lulu’s in a room now.”

“I need to follow this through,” I said and, because they were friends as well as colleagues, added, “and I’m not ready to go yet.”

Not ready to feel helpless, I meant. Here, at least, I might do some good. And I could keep ahead of the avalanche of fear that was threatening to overtake me. I knew I was on borrowed time.

Theo put a hand on my shoulder, squeezed gently.

“Okay, then,” Gwen said, and her gaze shifted to Connor. “You’ll know when she needs to quit.”

Dawn, I thought. The rising of the sun was when I’d stop.

“Why don’t you come with me?” Gwen asked Theo. “We’ll look for cams.”

“Surveillance video,” he said. “I can do that.”

We left them to it and looked around. This was a mostly residential neighborhood, but I didn’t want to wake up humans in the middle of the night to ask them about roadwork. (Being Chicagoans, of course, they’d have opinions regardless the hour.) But I could see the glow of a convenience store a block away, and pointed it out.

“There,” I said.

“You could use some coffee.”

“If they have Leo’s in a can, I’ll take one.”

“Of course you will. Something’s bothering me,” Connor said as we started walking.

I snickered. “Just the one thing?”

“Just one thing about Dante. The rest of the list is plenty long. Why did he tell us about this? He has to know we’ll try to fix it—to put the system back.”