Snowflakes & Fire Escapes Read Online Free PDF

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    As if on cue, Holden glances at his watch from where he’s sitting on the coffee table in front of me, like he’s worried he’s already overstayed his time. “I should find a hotel for the night.”
    “You can just stay here,” I say, motioning down the hallway behind me. “You know where the spare room is.”
    “I shouldn’t,” he says. “There are rules.”
    “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure there are also rules against drinking and driving on the job.”
    Our situation has never exactly been by the book, so nothing was ever really set in stone about how he’s supposed to deal with me. In general, inspectors and witnesses aren’t supposed to fraternize, but it’s kind of hard to keep things strictly business when he took the reins as my temporary guardian.
    He stands up, but instead of heading for the door, he takes a step further into the living room, turning toward the hallway. He pauses there, staring down at me. “Why’d you cross out of the city limits this afternoon?”
    I shrug. “Looking for a change of scenery, I guess.”
    He doesn’t look like he buys my answer, but it’s the truth.
    “Get some rest, Gracie,” he says. “Tomorrow will be a better day.”
    I offer him a smile in exchange for that piece of shit advice, knowing he means well. He might even actually believe it. He reaches over and gently squeezes my shoulder in a silent sort of ‘goodnight’ gesture before making his way back to the guest bedroom.
    I sit in silence once he’s gone, staring at the clock on the wall in the darkness.
    It’s almost midnight.
    Tomorrow doesn’t look so promising.
    ***
    My black comforter was spread out on the fire escape. I lay on my back on top of it, my knees pulled up, bare feet flat against the metal. Cody lies beside me, wedged against the railing. It wasn’t very comfortable, trying to lay out here together, but neither of us complained.
    Out loud, anyway.
    His soft sighs of exasperation told me how he was feeling. The scowl on his face was deep tonight. Fall had come upon us quickly. I had to head back to school the following week—my junior year at the private all-girls catholic academy my father insisted on sending me to—while Cody started his senior year at a local high school. He should’ve graduated the year before, but a string of suspensions derailed that. He jumped from school to school, getting kicked out for fighting as soon as he got admitted, before having no option left but to resort back to public education.
    Even then, they had a hard time finding one to admit him. He would have to travel to Queens every morning for classes, which might turn out for the best, considering his reputation in this neighborhood.
    “Do you ever wonder why they call it Hell’s Kitchen?”
    I wasn’t sure what prompted the question as it flowed from my lips. I could hear the bustle of the neighborhood below us. Somewhere, in those streets, my father was running loose. So was Cody’s, for that matter.
    I didn’t know what they were doing.
    I wondered if Cody did.
    “There’s a story on the street,” Cody said, “that it got its name because the neighborhood is the worst part of Hell … the hottest part. Hell’s Kitchen. I don’t know how true that is, but it sure as shit fits, considering Cormac runs the place.”
    I would’ve laughed, but I knew he wasn’t joking.
    “So does that make my father one of Satan’s minions?”
    “That’s one way to put it.”
    “Is there any other way?”
    He paused. “No.”
    I stared straight up in the sky, mulling over his words. Cormac had probably hundreds of followers. The police called them the Hellions , a nickname the younger generation embraced. My father, on the other hand, scoffed at it, calling it insulting. He had been around since the beginning, since the day Cormac took control of Hell’s Kitchen. According to Cody, he was Cormac’s right hand man.
    It was a dark night, cloudless and cool. It was as if a blanket of black lay