All the Inside Howling (Hollow Folk #2)(31)

“You’ve been busy,” she said.

“Not really.”

“You found Samantha’s killer,” she ticked off one finger, “you were almost killed yourself, you witnessed a murder in the process, and you managed to queer up one of Vehpese’s finest young men.” She held up the four fingers she had counted. “You were so close to getting five, but I couldn’t think of anything else.”

“Queer up?”

“Majorly. Everybody’s talking about it. You’re lucky you found a murderer too. It’s nice to have two undying topics of conversation.”

“Glad I could help.”

“And you’re here because you need something. From me.”

“I missed your charming company.”

“Yeah, right, just like I missed having a big, hulking blond moron shambling around and screwing everything up.”

“I don’t shamble.”

“Your knuckles drag on the floor.”

“And I don’t screw things up.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she unwound the cleaning rag and stretched it taut between both hands. “What do you want? It’s been weeks since all that shit went down, and you’ve kept clear of Jigger Boss. I told myself you freaked out because this is where that kid kidnapped you, right? Just outside in the parking lot? Maybe he doesn’t want to come back. Maybe it’s too much. But you don’t look like it’s too much.”

“Did anything weird happen last night? At Jigger Boss, I mean.”

“That’s a strange question.”

“Someone told me there was a fight.” It was a lie, but I wanted to see if anything strange had happened.

Remy got a strange look on her face. “Austin?”

“Huh?”

Waving the cleaning rag in surrender, she said, “Never mind. Yeah, there was a fight. There was a group of boys in here. Fake IDs, but nobody cares because it’s slow and they’re local kids, just turn a blind eye, you know. Things started off pretty good, they were paying cash and drinking a hell of a lot, and nobody was going to look too closely unless they started trouble. Then another group showed up. Someone said something, I didn’t hear what, but the fighting went from zero to sixty in about five seconds.” She paused and cocked her head. “Who did you say told you?”

I shook my head. No one had told me. It had been a lie, just a shot in the dark to get her talking about anything that might have to do with River. But instead, I found myself ankle-deep in something I didn’t understand. “Who was here?”

“Oh no. I’m not getting dragged into the middle.”

“You’re saying Austin was here last night. And he got in a fight.”

Again the white cleaning rag flapped through the air. “Not one word. Not one. And if you say I told you, I’ll hogtie you and drop you in the river.”

I wanted to drag the rest of it out of her, but her face told me it was a lost cause. I shrugged. “Anything else?”

“Anything besides Stella Mahlonis buying six martinis and then returning them—right into the lap of that Nicholls boy, the middle one, when he was trying to pick her up?”

“God, that sounds awful.”

Her eyes were still narrowed, though, and she didn’t seem to hear me. It was like she was trying to pick my thoughts out of the air. She was almost as curious as I was, I realized, and that made me wonder even more: what was she hiding from me, and why was she so curious about what my reaction would be?

“Pretty awful,” she said, ten seconds too late. “Anyway, nothing else exciting. The kids in the fight got thrown out; Lawayne won’t let them in, not if he has anything to say about it. And he does.” Again, curiosity flashed in her face, and something else too: wariness, like she knew she was toeing the edge of a landmine.

“Huh. Anybody new?

“Come on. Did he—who told you?”

“Who told me what?”

“Jesus Christ. I’m not. I’m not walking into a slaughterhouse just because you hold the door open.”

“Forget it. I was just curious.”

“Right.”

“Anyway, I stopped by for something else. A favor.”

Remy batted at her frizzy bangs and her eyes fluttered. “Of course. I knew an honest gentleman would never be interested in the likes of me.”

“God help me. It’s no big deal. You can say no.”

“What do you want? How are you going to abuse my trust and confidence?”

“You said some kids were in here with fake IDs. I don’t have one of those, but—”

“You should get one.”

“—but I was wondering if you’d sell me something.” I fumbled the twenty-eight dollars out of my wallet. “I don’t know, some beer, or maybe—”

“You want me to sell you booze?”

“I mean—”

“Twelve dollars worth of booze?”

“Hey, there’s twenty-eight there. And if you don’t—”

“And you want beer?” She patted my cheek and clucked. “You’re not very bright, are you? You’re a little slow, a little simple, right?”

“Remy.”

She puffed air in my face and arched an eyebrow.