Dead of Night (Ghosts & Magic #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

distraction."
    I shrugged. "Cats are harder to keep in line than people. Talk about a disaster." Not that the slightly decomposed feline couldn't be useful at times. That just wasn't one of them.
    She sat and stared at the computer screen for a few minutes, not saying anything. When the tension had gotten thick enough, I broke it with capitulation.
    "I don't have to do it."
    She turned the chair and motioned for me to kneel down at eye level. "You had to do it the minute you took the card. Welcome to the big time, Conor. They've been tracking its movement since it left the hotel."
    Damn me for thinking I was smart again. "Oh. Shit."
    "Yeah. If that isn't bad enough, they'll probably think I'm the one who took the job. Mr. Black's failure of a daughter trying to get in his good graces."
    "I'm sorry, Dannie. I didn't know."
    She laughed. "How could you? You're a small-time thief and a so-so hitman. You should just be glad none of the Houses know you're a necro." She licked her lips and held the card up again. "I was pissed at you before you came home. I'm even more ticked now." She let loose a huge, heaving sigh. "What's done is done. I'll get my due once you finish the job, if you survive. Did you get any kind of data dump?"
    I nodded, pulling the glasses from another pocket. She took them and put them down next to the laptop. "I'll transfer the data so we can both review it. You need to go clear out as much as you can keep in the van from the basement. We'll have to burn this place down."
    "Burn it down?"  
    "I swear, Conor. How the hell did you graduate medical school?"
    "Come on, Dannie. You know the treatment takes it out of me."
    She rolled over to the counter and opened one of the drawers, pulling a small, thin cable from it. "How long do you have to finish it?"
    "Forty-eight hours."
    She looked even more unhappy. "Right. So, what do you think they're going to do in forty-eight, if the job isn't complete? They're going to come looking for you, tracing your steps backwards. One of those steps leads to this house, and an invalid in a wheelchair who can't defend herself. The kill team won't care whose daughter I am while they're putting a bullet in my brain."
    She plugged one end of the cable into the laptop, the other into the specs.  
    "First, you're hardly unable to defend yourself. Second, you're assuming I'm going to fail?" I hadn't failed to finish a job yet, even if one did wind up a little sloppy from time to time. She had no reason to think I couldn't do it, and it was starting to make me equally angry that she didn't believe in me.
    "I'm not assuming anything. I hope you're flawless. That doesn't mean I'm putting my life on it, not when I don't have to. We can torch this place and set up shop somewhere else, after the job is done. Next time, you'll be smarter."
    "Now you're making a huge assumption." I smiled, my anger rescinded.  
    "There's a jug of kerosene in the basement. Get your toys out of here and then dump it over anything that'll burn."
    I felt like garbage for forcing her out of the house, but what I could I do? She was right, what was done was done. I was grateful she was handling it with the same grace and efficiency that had made her such a good ghost. I reached out and took her hand on my way by, giving it a quick squeeze before leaving the kitchen. She returned the affection and added a small smile.  
    Pissed, but always dependable.
    There was a plain white door tucked under the stairs to the second floor, which led down into the basement. I pushed it open, and then reached up and pulled the string on the fixture that illuminated the steps. They were simple wood planks, old and cranky, and they complained with every step I took to the bottom.
    Once there, I hit the other light and glanced around. The basement stayed cool most of the year on its own, and a huge humidifier kept the air dry, which meant I didn't need to stick all of the bodies in freezers. Instead, I had them lined up along the