Chapter 45

 

Ralph broke the silence first. “Who do you suspect?”

“Not sure.”

“You’re lying. You have a guess. I can tell.”

I glared at his nose, which was back to being right near my ear. “How so?”

He moved so we were eye-to-eye and gave me a look that said I was a moron. “You, like every other being, smell different when you lie.”

Duh. Couldn’t argue with a werewolf nose. “Fine. I hate what I’m going to say.” The words dragged out of my mouth. “Monty’s the most obvious choice. He knew where we were going, he controls Dead Corps, he’s been undead for centuries.”

“You have no proof,” Freddy said, sounding upset. I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t want to consider Monty an enemy. The mere idea hurt too much.

“True. Just supposition. But we need to be careful and hyper-aware of what we say to and around him.”

“Could be someone else,” Ralph said. “Anyone could have been in the room with Monty, after all.”

“Yes, which is why it’s supposition right now and we’re not making an arrest.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Ralph argued. “Monty’s in a huge position of trust. Clyde and the Count would never have let him get to that position if he were a double-agent.”

“See, the thing is – if you’re a good double-agent, that’s the whole point. That you look just like you should to the side you’re infiltrating.” After all, I knew we had beings in deep cover – why wouldn’t the Prince have the same? Frankly, why wouldn’t the Prince have more agents infiltrating us, not less? Double-agents, like a good double-cross, were more the Prince’s side of things than ours, after all.

“So, Monty’s a suspect,” Jack said shortly. “Who else?” He shot me a look I was familiar with – he suspected someone near us of being about to try something.

I considered who in the car Jack didn’t trust. The answer was easy. But I wasn’t going to accuse Ralph of being a double-agent right here and right now, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that if he was, we’d tell him that we suspected him, and that would mean we wouldn’t catch him, because he’d be on guard.

So, I considered other options, while adding Ralph to my turncoat suspects list. None of the options, Ralph included, made me happy. But then again, finding out one of your friends is actually your enemy is never fun. “Clyde.”

“Why?” Ralph sounded shocked. “He had to be rewrapped! How’s he a suspect?”

“He runs Necropolis Enforcement’s day-to-day. And yet, the Adversary made it in without issue, did his thing, and escaped. I just think it’s a possibility that he had inside help, and if he did, then Clyde’s the best choice.”

“The Count, too,” Sexy Cindy said, her voice low. “I mean, if you’re looking for who it would suck beyond belief to be on the wrong side. Martin and Black Angel One and Two, too. They were with us and angels can talk in their minds and all.”

“Yeah.” The downside of knowing we had a deep cover operative about as deep as you could go meant the other side could as well. I’d been happier back in The Pleasure Palace.

“All the angels, any angel, by those standards,” Freddy said, sounding dejected. “Even Jude. He’s supposed to be blocking the bad guys and yet all the minions are on the plane, right?”

“Right.” I wanted to throw up. “Cotton.” Suggesting him didn’t give me any pleasure. “Though I think he’s unlikely.” But ghosts had the ability to follow you without your knowing it. Not for too long, but a short time could be enough.

“Ken,” Jack offered. “He made the decisions about who to resurrect. And he screwed up Freddy and Cindy. Maybe he did that on purpose.”

My stomach was in knots. “You have a point.” My friends and my two ex-boyfriends were suspects. Throwing up wasn’t an option, neither were tears, but it took a lot of work to prevent both. I couldn’t even trust everyone in the car, since Ralph was a suspect, though thankfully Jack wasn’t going to say it aloud right now, either. Freddy and Sexy Cindy, by benefit of being resurrected by Ken could also be considered suspect. I felt quite alone and surrounded.

Ralph sighed. “Honestly, it could be anyone. Vic’s the daughter of the Adversary, Jack’s a human who’s adapting amazingly well…I could go on. I don’t think we have enough to know.”

Ralph had a point. “True. So, we work under the mole assumption and stay hyper-alert, but until we have something more, no friendships are destroyed by quick-trigger accusations. Agreed?”

The others all murmured their accord. We drove on, and I was sure the others felt like I did – like the world had just shifted again into an even scarier and sadder place.