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Back Autumn Bones Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. Roc Books by Jacqueline Carey
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-one
  24. Twenty-two
  25. Twenty-three
  26. Twenty-four
  27. Twenty-five
  28. Twenty-six
  29. Twenty-seven
  30. Twenty-eight
  31. Twenty-nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-one
  34. Thirty-two
  35. Thirty-three
  36. Thirty-four
  37. Thirty-five
  38. Thirty-six
  39. Thirty-seven
  40. Thirty-eight
  41. Thirty-nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-one
  44. Forty-two
  45. Forty-three
  46. Forty-four
  47. Forty-five
  48. Forty-six
  49. Forty-seven
  50. Forty-eight

Taking his cue, I politely notified her that a spirit had been unleashed, Pemkowet’s dead were restless, and the entire town was very likely going to be haunted in the near future. She took the news better than I expected. In fact, we left her in the process of brainstorming ways to tie our forthcoming haunted status in with the annual Halloween promotion.

I’ll admit, I was looking forward to Cody asking Stacey about her alibi—after all, she was a Cavannaugh descendant, too—just for the malicious pleasure of having to hear her admit that she, too, spent the night alone, because I knew for a fact that she wasn’t dating anyone at the moment, but Cody headed for the door without questioning her.

“What’s up?” I asked him in the truck.

“I had an idea.” He turned on the ignition. “There are a lot of Cavannaughs to question, and they stick together. I wouldn’t put it past Amanda to warn them to get their stories straight just in case. Back in the summer, your favorite ghoul said he could tell when people are lying as long as they’re not sociopaths.”

“You want to recruit Stefan?” The notion gave me an unsettled feeling in the pit of my belly. Or maybe it was just the venison sausage.

“He owes me.” That was true. Stefan credited me with saving his life, but it was Cody who’d done the actual saving. I’d just created the opportunity. “What’s the matter?” There was an edge to his tone. “I thought you’d gotten pretty cozy with him.”

I wagged my finger at him. “Ah-ah! You’re not allowed to get jealous over an unsuitable mate.”

He shrugged. “I just think you’re playing with fire when it comes to ghouls in general, and Ludovic in particular.”

“As opposed to whatever we’re doing here?” I said.

Cody smiled wryly. “You have a point.”

Thirty-nine

It was an uncomfortable meeting.

In a lot of ways, I was far more at ease in the Wheelhouse than I had been only a few short months ago. It was still a biker bar, still a hangout for ghouls and the skanks they fed on, but I’d learned to think of the ghouls as Outcast, the Outcast had learned to regard me with a measure of respect, and even the skanks were looking healthier. According to Cooper, Stefan’s prohibition against chemically induced emotions had sent a few of them to rehab. Now their only addiction was the ghouls themselves.