I took the bulk of the body’s weight, Faraday held the feet, and Sebastian, with his surgeon’s touch, kept the neck steady so the rigor didn’t break. The corpse was wrapped in a midcentury quilt from Faraday’s sitting room, which grew heavy in the driving rain.
The windows of the nearest house were lit up, which meant we’d see a silhouette if someone looked out at us. No one did.
Sebastian arranged the body on the back seat, matching its position in the narrow pantry.
“Where am I supposed to sit?” Faraday asked as Sebastian and I got in the front.
“You’re not coming,” he said. “You have to take India and Dutton to the Banner party.”
She huffed a little sigh. “While you’re having all the fun?”
Sebastian looked at me. Faraday was mine, after all.
“We handle the crime parts,” I said firmly.
“But you didn’t handle it. This problem of yours turned up on my doorstep…aftershe talked to you.”
I held up my hands. “This is all on me. But we’ve got it now. Go inside, get rid of that sweatshirt, and show up at the party. We’ll meet you there.”
Faraday stared at the body again, as if reluctant to let it go. I wondered if she was feeling the elation I had after Peter’s fall.
“Good work, everyone,” she singsonged and went back into the kitchen.
The rain was torrential now, and the tires on Dutton’s car were bald. At first we were silent, Sebastian concentrating on the road.
But I had to say something. “ ‘Bazzy’? Really?”
“Cohabitation creates familiarity,” he said. “You should know that, dear.”
“You killed her, didn’t you? Crystal was breathing when you got there, but youfixed it.”
He didn’t answer for a moment, negotiating a turn. We were taking a serpentine route to the Motorway Inn, along unlit back streets.
“Remind me, Jess—what was my other choice?”
There hadn’t been one. From the moment Faraday had assaulted Crystal, only this path remained.
“Does Faraday know you did it?”
“No, but that’s for the best. She’s proud of herself. You did a good job, incorporating her. She won’t crack.”
“I won’t either,” I said. The moment Sebastian told me there was a body, I’d turned into my old self. Competent, forceful, certain. Put a knife in my hand, adrenaline in my veins, and I was still that robot made of dangerous parts.
It feltgoodhere with Sebastian, doing what we were raised to do. This was everything that connected us—two prodigies improvising, untroubled by blood, unfazed by chaos.
Erasing Hiromi. With no family, all she had were friends to remember her. Now she had one less.
“This works for us,” Sebastian said. “We’ll tell the family Crystalshowed up asking questions, and we dealt with it. That’ll put a stopper in their doubts about you.”
I found myself nodding. Those old reflexes again. “And we leave Faraday out of our report.”
“Absolutely not,” he said. “You know we can’t lie to them.”
I stared at him. “They won’t trust her to keep quiet about a murder. They already think she’s a loose cannon!”
“Which she is.”
“You know what they’ll tell me to do,” I said.
