“You can call her right now,” I said. “We’re not going to hurt Damon. We just want to talk with him.”
“He used to live here,” she said. “He moved out when he started hanging out with…”
“A different crowd?” I asked.
“I don’t like them,” she said.
“You have a new address for him?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I have a new address.”
The addresswe got from Damon’s mother was in one of the gentrified areas of town. They had torn down almost an entire block of houses and replaced them with expensive apartment buildings and a little line of shops that sold things like artisan meats and gelato. It reminded me of where Nick lived, except this was anicearea and Nick’s apartment was in an area that had valets in front of every building and a private garbage company that made sure any litter on the ground was in a trashcan in minutes.
To be honest, I could see why someone who’d come into money would want to go from living where a pack fight was a common thing to an area where werewolf rights were discussed as a civil rights issue, something to be brought up in theory, not in fact.
Nick was clearly thinking the same thing, his expression suspicious as he looked up and down the street.
“This is a good neighborhood,” he said.
“This is an expensive neighborhood,” I corrected. “So Damon Griffith came into some money. I would bet my client isn’t the only one who’s had things go missing.”
“And no one wants to report it because people aren’t supposed to have fae artifacts.” Nick examined the street again.
That wasn’t strictly true. It wasn’t illegal to own a fae artifact, especially if it was an inherited item. The law knew the fae had been in San Amaro longer than humans. But, if during a policeinvestigation they found you with a fae artifact, then it was definitely going into evidence. After that, it got sent to some sort of government building that was warded only slightly less than the White House.
That was why most dealers of fae artifacts and curios were underground. No one wanted their valuable piece to suddenly become evidence.
“I don’t think Damon is a mover. Damon Griffith is a black-market acquisitions man,” I said. “I can see why his mom wouldn’t like his new friends.”
The black market wasn’t a place where normal people would find friends. Even me, who had a unique relationship with fae curios, only had a few people I would callacquaintancesin the business. Maybe one or two of those I could stretch tofriends.
I parked at a meter clearly only there to make sure riffraff didn’t park in the nice area of town overnight, and Nick and I headed to the building Damon’s mother had said he lived in. It was tall for San Amaro, and when we got closer, I realized it wasn’t apartments at all, but rather expensive condos that cost as much as some homes we’d driven past to get there.
There wasn’t a buzzer out front, so I tried the door and found it open. For a second, I thought we had luck on our side.
I should’ve known better. Luck and me aren’t on speaking terms.
“Can I help you?” a low voice asked.
I glanced to my right and saw a massive security desk with two men sitting behind it. Both looked like they used to be linebackers in high school or college, and one was eyeing me like he thought I was there to steal things. Technically, I was.
Or rather I was there to reacquire something Damon had stolen, which had the same feel asstealing, even though the ethics were a lot murkier.
“Yeah, Damon asked to see us. Can we go straight up?” I asked.
If you bluff, most people don’t call it. Confidence has the same effect as actually having a key or an invitation. Most people ignore that niggling feeling ofshould he be here? because you’re acting with the certainty that you should be there.
“Do you have an apartment number?” the man asked.
“208,” I said.
“Let me call up,” Suspicious Security Guard said.
His partner got out from behind the desk, standing in front of the bank of elevators with his arms crossed. This wouldn’t be as easy as I thought.
After a brief conversation, Suspicious said, “Mr. Griffith is not expecting you.”
Grinding my teeth, I forced a smile and reached out with some of my charm. “Yeah, but let us go up anyway. He’s going to want to see us.”
