She sighed. “I would, but Nathaniel wants to see me. Werewolf business.”
“You think he’s going to chew you out for peeing on Finvarra’s shoes?”
She scowled, as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to her. Then she shook her head. “Nah, Finvarra is many things, but he’s not a snitch. Besides, he and Nathaniel hate each other. It would take an apocalypse for them to cooperate, and that’s how I like it.” She glanced at her watch. “I better go. Keep me updated.”
“We will.”
We were quiet on the drive back to my bar. After seeing the crime scene photos, all I wanted was to lose myself in work for the night and not have to think about it.
“What will you do with the reward money?” Evie asked.
“I like your attitude. Um, I’ll put it into the bar.” I wasn’t going to admit that I needed to pay off Nero. I wasn’t exactly proud of it. “How about you?”
She opened her mouth, and her expression turned to shock, her hands tightening on the wheel until her knuckles turned white. I followed her gaze, and my stomach sank.
My bar. Covered in bright graffiti.
Slut, whore,bitch.Along with plenty of other variations on the same theme. Nero. This was fucking Nero. He wanted his extra 35%, and this was a nice little warning.
We’d driven past this bar less than an hour ago. Whoever Nero had sent had done this in broad daylight.
Orin was standing outside the bar, hands on hips as he stared at the wall. I could practically feel his fury radiating from him as Evie managed to snag a parking spot right outside my bar.
A crowd was gathering, staring at the graffiti. “Move along, rubberneckers,” Evie snapped as she got out of the car.
Orin glanced at me, his expression tight. “I can grow some vines up the walls, but I’ll be useless for the rest of the night.”
We were short-staffed tonight, with one of our servers out of town for a funeral. And yet, the idea of leaving the graffiti visible…
The crowd of people had thickened, a group of human women now taking pictures. Just the kind of publicity I needed.
Evie elbowed her way through the crowd. “I got you,” Evie said. She raised her hand, her eyes narrowing in concentration. She said something under her breath, and the graffiti disappeared.
The crowd seemed to inhale as one. Evie turned to look at them, raising her hand once more, and everyone suddenly found something better to do, almost tripping over themselves to get out of the way.
“How the hell did you do that without a spell?” Orin asked.
Evie grinned at us. “Itisa spell. Kind of. It’s hard to explain. The graffiti is still there, but I’ve hidden it. It’ll stay hidden for a few days to give us time to figure out a way to remove it without needing to paint over it.” Her expression turned considering. “I may be able to help with that too.”
I threw my arms around her. “You’re amazing.”
She laughed, flicking her long hair over her shoulder. “You’re not wrong. Okay, Ireallyneed a drink at this point. And you need to tell me who would be dumb enough to deface your bar.”
I winced, glancing at Orin. He raised one eyebrow at me, then unlocked the door and held it open for us.
“Let me report this first. Maybe someone has a description of the guy who did it.”
Nothing would come of it. Nero would have either sent someone so scary, no one would admit to seeing the guy, or someone who looked like Martin—completely average with no easily identifiable features.
I called it in as Orin flicked on the lights. When I was done, I gazed around at the bar.Mybar.
“Drink?” I asked.
Evie nodded. “Surprise me.”
Orin shook his head. “I’m going to go check the stock.”
“Thanks.”
