Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

shower after I ate something, and then maybe take a quick nap. Getting up early when Abe called had really screwed with my sleep schedule.
    I’d just tugged my dusty shirt off and headed to the closet for a fresh one when the bathroom door opened behind me, and Sadie said, “Hey, Gideon, do you have an…extra, uh…” She trailed off to a strangled halt.
    I sighed, grabbed a clean shirt and pulled it on fast. She’d seen me shirtless before, when she insisted that I strip to prove I wasn’t marked by Milus Dei, but she’d only seen the front. My back was worse. I was definitely marked, but my tattoos were a poor attempt to cover the scars.
    The Valentines really hadn’t liked me.
    “Were you going to say towel?” I asked without turning, reaching for my gym bag at the bottom of the closet. “Think I’ve got one in here.” I dug around until I found a faded blue bath towel in the depths of the bag and turned, preparing to toss it to her.
    She was right behind me.
    I flinched. “Jesus Christ,” I said, handing her the towel. “Are you always this quiet?”
    “Yeah, I am. Part wolf, remember?” She stared at me for so long, I thought I’d sprouted horns or something. Finally she said, “Are you ever going to tell me what happened to you?”
    “Probably not,” I said automatically, cringing at how cold I sounded. I didn’t mean to come off that way. But the few times the subject had come up, I’d learned that if I didn’t dismiss it with authority, people would keep pushing. And things would get ugly.
    She made the hurt in her eyes disappear. “Okay, then,” she said. “Thanks for the towel.”
    As she walked away without another word, I mentally kicked myself. That probably hadn’t been the best way to handle it.
    Sometimes I really sucked at being a person.
    I crossed the room and plopped down on the bare mattress on the floor, ignoring the puffs of dust that swirled up around me. The rest of the bed that’d been left in this room wasn’t worth salvaging and had been hauled to the burn pile in the basement. I closed my eyes, thinking maybe the nap should come first. I’d be up all night regardless of whether I got more sleep.
    My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I groaned aloud. So much for sleeping.
    It was Abe. I’d talked to him briefly earlier, just to reassure him that the murders were done. Hadn’t told him the killer was currently hanging around my front yard, though. Reun might be strangely eager to turn himself over to Daoin, but I suspected he wouldn’t be so compliant if the cops tried to arrest him, now that he wasn’t comatose. “Hey, Captain,” I said as I picked up the call. “Shouldn’t you be off duty by now?”
    “Yeah, I should. Except the new chief has some concerns about the three bodies we just found, who all happen to have matching tattoos and matching crap carved into their chests, just like the Central Park vic.” He paused, and I could practically hear him scowling. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Gideon, but didn’t somebody who sounds a lot like you tell me this guy was done?”
    I frowned. “You’re not wrong,” I said. “Where’d you find them?”
    “In a goddamned church. Place is a bloodbath.”
    “Great.” Well, at least it sounded like Reun’s work. Maybe he’d killed them before he took down the guy in Central Park, and the bodies hadn’t been found until now. The good news was I could just go outside and ask the son of a bitch. “Listen, I might have a lead,” I said. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll call you back. Am I picking these guys up?”
    “Apparently they’re already en route to the ME. On account of this being a priority,” Abe said. “This new chief, Petrocco, he moves a lot faster than Foley did. You know I would’ve had you called in, though.”
    “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry about it.” It was only a little disappointing. I wasn’t concerned about the income, even though the NYPD was pretty much my only source for