Law enforcement would have intervened. Hotel staff would’ve called the cops. Maybe it was one of Lyon’s watchers…I’d just committed criminal trespass, willful imprisonment, assault.
My phone buzzed again.
She’s alone. Orrin’s on his way.
She….Something clicked into place, and I replied:
5’7, dark hair, hands in pockets?
The dots pulsed, then:Can’t see hair, but otherwise. Who?
I put the phone away. The less Arabella knew, the less likely she was to get involved.
Neutral ground, a crowded public place. I headed west, at a pace Orrin couldn’t maintain.
On Tenth Avenue, a dog run stretched beside a set of handball courts. Although the sun was barely risen, the run was busy, animals full of energy, humans drinking coffee and watching. I lingered at the fence, in full sight of a dozen people.
My stalker came to stand beside me.
Bianca Lindqvist had made only a passing effort at disguise. A hoodie over her head, a KN95 with a clown’s smile covering her mouth—the sort of thing you’d wear to intimidate someone. Or kill them.
Her hands were in her pockets. I couldn’t see Arabella yet.
“My team spotted you,” I said. “They’ll be here soon.”
The look in her eyes matched the cartoon smile. “Are you afraid of me, Jessica?”
“No. But it’s bad form to shadow another family’s operation.”
“It’s bad form to snitch about Helshire.”
I hesitated. This wasn’t the accusation I’d expected.
“I’m not a snitch,” I said.
A bored sigh. “You told your family about the Hefnd, just like I thought you would. Predictable Jessica.”
“I don’t care about your little murder club, Bianca.”
She cocked her head, staring at me. As if she expected me to cut myself again to prove my honesty.
“If it wasn’t you, then why did your family burn down Halcyon Hall?”
A sharp sound escaped me. “What?”
“Nothing burns like that on a rainy night, not without help.”
I tried to shut out the yapping from the dog run, gathering my thoughts. “Why would my family do that?”
“Because you told your elders about Hefnd, and they think we killed Peter, because we’re chaotic and out of control. My aunties think you’re going to war with us!”
I shook my head. “There’s no war. No one thinks you killed Peter.”
“Then who the fuck burned down Halcyon Hall? The Daisy Singers?”
“I did.”
Bianca went silent for a moment. “On your own? Not for the family?”
