Page 8 of Deathtoll

If he’d come on assignment, he would have a packet of information from his client. He would knowexactlywhat his next steps were.

“Wasting my time.” He looked past the cemetery, watched the morning light glinting off windows of houses people thought would keep them safe. He didn’t know any of them.

“Never even heard of Broslin until Mordocai’s death,” he told the cat, which was clean and had a collar, not a stray. Hanging around the cemetery for fun. Asael almost liked the damn thing. “I don’t suppose you knew Mordocai or what he was doing here?”

Mordocai had moved to the self-proclaimed Mushroom Capital of the US under the alias of Fred Kazincky, retired mechanic. On an assignment he never completed. According to an online article, Fred Kazincky had kidnapped a woman, but was caught.

“Last time he called me, he said he found a gift.”

Had to be something he’d seen here that reminded him of their time together. Something he thought would get him back into Asael’s good graces. But what? The shop windows on Main Street brimmed with mushroom-shaped mugs and mushroom-print shirts. What on earth had given Mordocai the idea that Asael would be interested in anything fungi related?

Didn’t matter. Mordocai had never bought that gift. Never sent it.

“He was killed,” Asael told the cat, then added the bit that nagged in the back of his mind. “The cop who killed him, Murph Dolan, disappeared immediately after, witness-protection style. Except, he wasn’t a witness to anything.”

The cat looked at him with slanted yellow eyes and an expression ofbeats me.

Beat Asael too, and he loathed not knowing, loathed that all he’d learned since he’d arrived in town could be summarized in two sentences. “Dolan’s girlfriend, Katherine Concord, disappeared with him. Then, three years later, as if nothing happened, they returned.”

Right after Asael had sacrificed another one of his identities and convinced the authorities that he’d died for real, at last.

Was he too paranoid to think there could be a connection?

The cat rubbed its head against his shin and purred.

“Has to be a coincidence, because the only other option is impossible: that those two left because they felt in danger here. Mordocai was dead and buried. They wouldn’t have run from him.”

“Did they expect revenge? Who did they think would be coming?” His fingers tightened on the railing, rust flakes digging into his skin. “Did they run fromme?”

Except the theory presupposed that Mordocai had talked about him,betrayedhim—an unthinkable breach.

“If he did…” Asael told the cat. “I’m going to burn this town to the ground just so I can dance in the ashes.”

Then he added, “But first, Murph Dolan and his damn girlfriend.”

He knew just where to find them.

Chapter Three

Kate

Kate would have liked a little longer grace period before she had to face Murph again, but she wasn’t going to get it, so she pasted on a smile while Murph dropped a distinctive pink bag from Sweet Beginnings on her desk.

“Assorted bonbons. Gluten free. In case you’re running low on chocolate.”

Her stomach turned. So weird and stupid.Chocolateused to be her favorite word. She pushed the bag a little farther away from her nose. “Thanks.”

Swear to Saint Bean of Cocoa, if she was coming down with a chocolate allergy, she was going to sue the universe.

He watched her with that expression he often wore lately, as if he was at the end of his rope regarding what to do with her.

He took up a lot of room in her office. A LOT. In the small space, it was impossible to look away from him.

“I ran into an old friend the other day,” he said. “Tommy used to work in construction, hurt his back a while ago, so he took a desk job, managing a granite shop in Wilmington. He could probably hook you up with some heavily discounted countertops. Let me know if you need his number.”

“Kitchen’s all done.” Kate paused to adjust her tone. She sounded put out with him, which she wasn’t. “Are you going to Finnegan’s with the guys tonight?”

“Staying here. I’m applying for another grant.”