“All right. So that answers that. Good.” I smiled, and Tish head-tipped as if not quite sure what to do with approval.
“Why did you come to Ordinary?”
I didn’t think Tish was going to answer, but then Xtelle nudged them in the back again.
“I was working? Helping? I was helping a friend?”
“Okay, who’s the friend?”
They shook their head.
“What work were you doing?”
Another shake of the head.
“Who were you helping?”
Shake.
“Did you steal the god weapons?” Than asked and his voice dropped the temperature in the surrounding area by twenty degrees.
The ghoul opened and closed their mouth.
“You shall speak now,” Than invited, though it sounded more like a command. “I require it.”
“But here you cannot, can you, god?” they whispered.
Brave. Stupid, but brave.
“The god may not,” I said, “but I can. Where did you get the car?”
They wouldn’t look away from Than and even though they were wearing his face, I could see, maybe, the actual shape of the creature beneath it. The eyes were set farther apart, I thought, the mouth wider.
A woman laughed as she strode by with three dogs on leashes, a cell phone pressed to her ear. We were partially hidden from view behind the fence, but there was still a chance someone would look over and see me, two identical twin Reapers, and a talking pony.
Add cell cameras to the mix, and it was a very real possibility Vivian Dunn could find out something odd was going on here by scrolling through social media.
“We’re going to need to talk somewhere a little more private,” I said. “Come with me please, Tish.”
“What about me?” Xtelle asked.
“What about you?”
“Why aren’t I going somewhere private to talk to them? I know all the ghoul secrets.”
“You told me ghouls are acquaintances. Neighbors.”
“And you believed me? Really, Delaney, I thought you had to be clever to be a detective.”
“Why are you even here?”
“I ask myself that every day. I signed the contract. You said I had to stay in Ordinary, no backsies.”
“I never…no,” I said. “Why are you in this yard?”
She looked around as if just noticing she was not at Hogan’s house where she belonged. “This isn’t my house?”
“One, you don’t have a house. Two, no, this isn’t the house where you’re staying. And three, you know that.”
