“What do you mean?” I asked. What connection had I missed?

“Whatever job you are on now,” he said. “The people who hired you probably knew the job would take you up against someone they didn’t like—and knowing your reputation, they’re assuming you’ll fight hard. Maybe even kill the person coming at you.”

Oh, so he didn’t think they were actually connected. I scrunched my face. “My reputation?”

“There are whispers that you’re known as one who kills first and asks questions later,” he said. “Not a bad rep to have in the shadow world, but in this case, it might have worked against you.” He took my hand, lifted it to his mouth, and turned it over so he could kiss the underside of my wrist. He opened his mouth just enough that the tip of his tongue laved that sensitive spot, reminding where his tongue had been not that long ago, which sent another rush of fire coursing through me. “Let me know if you need me. And try to stay out of trouble.” He paused. “And stay away from any goblins.”

“I’m—”

He held up his hands, stopping me. “I know, the job isn’t with a goblin, but be careful. If they are out and about . . . they are trouble. Okay?”

“I’m not promising anything.” The defiant words slipped out of me, and he let out a growl that made me shiver and my fingers itch to tangle their way back into his hair. “But in this case, I’ll mosey off by myself.” Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Robert would be with me. “Come on, Robert. We can go on another date. Then I’m not all by myself as per our agreement to not go out alone.”

Robert swayed around the side of the house, making his way to my side.

Crash’s laughter followed us as we left the yard. I took note that the Sorrel-Weed house was exceptionally quiet. Good. I didn’t want anything to do with Matilda’s monstrous boyfriend. I shivered and picked up my pace. Robert kept next to me easily.

“We need to find a hiding place where nobody would think to look,” I said, considering my options. There weren’t many, off the top of my head. We could try burying the stuff like we’d buried the fake fairy cross, but I doubted that would work again.

Who could help me think of a place? Only one person came to mind. I swung back around the side of the house and found my feet heading to the front door.

I let myself in and stood in the entry way and called up the stairs. “Gran, I need to ask you a question.”

“Quiet, I’m trying to sleep!” Alan shouted from my room. Duck me, that man was going to make me pull my hair out!

I snapped my fingers multiple times, hoping it worked at a distance.

A sigh rippled through the air. Gran appeared at the top of the stairs, her image wavering. She seemed thinner than before. Could ghosts lose weight? “What do you need?” she asked, her voice faint.

Her eyes locked on me, and I found myself fidgeting with the bag on my hip. “I need to hide . . . something for a job.” Why wasn’t I just telling her that it was the goblin’s stuff? No idea, but I found my mouth unable to speak. “But I need to be able to keep an eye on it. In case someone comes for it. I don’t want to leave it here in the house, I feel like that’s just asking for another kick in the ass. Same thing with keeping it on me. If someone’s really coming after me, then I can’t have the stuff on me.”

Another sigh and she flickered to life at the top of the stairs, just a quick image of her in one of her old-school dresses. There and gone. “The Sorrel-Weed house. Hide it in the room that Matilda haunts. You can put whatever it is in the desk.”

Bile rose up my throat. “Yeah, but I’d have to go into the house then. I don’t want to go in that house.” Sure, I sounded like I was ten years old again, so sue me. That place freaked me right out of my big girl panties.

“Yes.” Her words were soft and sorrowful, which cut right through me. “Yes, but whatever it is that you hide would be safe there. The darkness would keep any goblin out—they’re afraid of it.”

Safe.

I wasn’t sure that safe was a word I’d put together with the Sorrel-Weed house, but darkness, I’d agree with that. “You sure? I mean, you don’t have another suggestion?”

Please, please, please, please.

Gran didn’t answer and didn’t even attempt to reappear. I sighed. “Okay, thanks, Gran. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”

A whispered “love you too” floated back and I smiled as I turned and left the house again.

“I hate you!” Alan shouted.

“DITTO!” I roared back and slammed the door behind me.

14

I sighed as I let myself out of the house and down the steps. Gran’s suggestion that I hide Grimm’s stuff in the Sorrel-Weed house next door made my skin try to crawl right off my body and run down the street. As plans went, it was a logical one: goblins did hate the dark, and the Sorrel-Weed house was about as dark as they came. But I hated that I was going to have to go into the house that terrified me so.

Robert waited for me on the stone path that led to the gate, swaying side to side. So lost in my own self-pity and fear, I didn’t see Charlotte, our neighbor’s daughter, until she shouted to me from across the street.

“Hi! Breena. I said hi twice, didn’t you hear me?”

Her call startled me, and I turned to see her waving from the top step of their house. “I’m going to New Orleans with my auntie and uncle now!” Her smile was missing just one tooth which made her all the more cuter. She was a sweetheart and seeing her always made me wish for things that would never be.

I waved back, forcing a smile to my cold lips. “Did you get cookies from Eric yesterday?”

“Yes, he sent me off with bags of them. See you in a few weeks, I hope.” She hurried down the steps, ponytail bobbing, and I watched as she slid into the backseat of a dark blue SUV.

They pulled away from the curb, and she waved at me as she went by, both hands going as hard as she could. I grinned and waved both hands back at her. “Nice kid.”

Swaying beside me, Robert lifted a hand and pointed at the small figure tucked into the side of the brick house that Charlotte and her mom lived in. The shape reminded me strongly of Grimm. Was it another goblin? Maybe one that could help?

“Good call, Robert,” I whispered. And checking out the goblin gave us an excellent reason for not going straight to the Sorrel-Weed house.

Of course, I was procrastinating—who wouldn’t when the task they’d assigned themselves was to enter a house of ghostly darkness that was freaky as hell? Besides, it was important to deal with the goblin situation head on. Suzy and I had been inseparable prior to her powwow with Eric yesterday, and there was no doubt in my mind that she’d been triggered in an attempt to take me out.

I hurried out of our yard and across the street toward our goblin neighbor. “Hi, have you lived here long? Bridgette, right?” Wasn’t that what Charlotte had said her ghost was named?

The goblin startled and pinned herself against the wall, blending almost perfectly with the bricks. “You can see me?”

“Why do people keep asking me that?” I muttered.

“Well, it’s not usual to be able to see goblins when we are trying to stay hidden.” She ran long spindly fingers through her short shorn black hair as if she could tuck it behind her larger than life ears. Interesting that she was flying so far under the radar that Charlotte thought they had a ghost, but Grimm had been staying in a hotel. Maybe he hadn’t been trying to hide as much as Bridgette? “But . . . yes, I’ve been here a few years. Just over ten.”

I stepped a little closer and she gave me some side-eye. “Do goblins live in the city often?”

Her shoulders slumped. “No, I was removed from the hive. I didn’t conform well.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Didn’t like getting told what to do?”

She tipped her face and gave me that side-eye again. “Maybe.”

I crouched, then gave up and lowered my butt to the ground so I could lean against the brick front of the house. “My name is—”

“Breena O’Rylee. I know. I’m Bridgette.” She held out a hand and I shook it. “The shadow world here in Savannah is all in a twist because of what you’ve done the last few weeks. Like you woke everyone up to the badness that’s still out there. Reminded them it’s not all cookies and ice cream.”

I blinked a few times. “I’m trying to help.”

“I know. Most of us do.” She smoothed her long fingers over her clothing. The cloth shifted color depending on where she stood, giving her an even better camouflage. Cool. I’d have to ask Gerry if she had that kind of material for a second set of work clothes for me.

I thought about asking Bridgette to read Grimm’s pages, but I didn’t know her well enough. But I could ask her about goblins in general and maybe get a read on whether Grimm was on the up and up. “Are there many disputes between goblins about family heirlooms and such?”

“Oh, shit, all the time.” She sat in front of me, crossing her legs under her. “It’s a pecking order, so someone is always trying to move up the ladder to the top. Mostly with the men, but it happens with the women, too, from time to time.”

Interesting. So that part of Grimm’s story checked out. “In the past, did goblins have much to do with—” I paused and whispered the word, “—vampires?”

Her eyes went wide enough that it was all I could see when I looked at her face. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” There might not be a connection, but a lot of things had started happening at once, and I had to chase all the angles. Plus, if there was a vampire at the Marshall House, it could have had something to do with Grimm, or the council members’ interest in him.

My thoughts shot straight to the no-face council member, Bruce. Yeah, he was my first pick for secret vampire. That guy gave me the damn heebie-jeebies.