Growling low under my breath, I turn to face him. “Do you really want to find out how well that will go for you, Andrew? I’m guessing I can protect myself better than you can muscle me.”

He holds up his hands. “You’re a part of this case whether you like it or not. And that wasn’t my doing. It had your name all over it, quite literally.”

“I can read, Andrew.”

Snow pelts down on him and he yanks his hood up. “Pig’s blood, Lilah? The Umbrella Man is dead.”

“Pocher might not have created the Umbrella Man, but he used him, he hired him to do his dirty work. Roger was eager and willing. And Pocher isn’t dead.”

“Then he knows about Roger, about what happened.”

“Does he know I killed him and you got rid of the body? Maybe. I don’t know. Let me go now and deal with this, Andrew. We’ll talk at dinner tomorrow.”

“If he saw me—”

“He’s not going to turn you in,” I say and I know he’s really worried. I know I’ve been hard on him. I worried for my badge after my beach attack, too. “That’s not how this works. If you’re a problem, he claims leverage over you or he kills you.” I lay my hand on his arm. “If he knows, if he believes he has leverage over you, you get to keep breathing. That’s a good thing.”

Worry, not relief, etches his face. “And what about you, Lilah?”

“There are reasons he can’t leverage me.”

“Kane,” he says tightly.

“Yes. Kane.”

“And if he starts killing brides until you bow down, then what? Because that feels like leverage and Kane can’t do shit about that.”

“Don’t go climbing up a cliff and jumping off just yet, Andrew. There’s one dead bride. Two birds. One stone. If this is Pocher—”

“If?”

“If this is Pocher, he declared war tonight. On me. Not you.” I change the subject because this one is going no place good. “Who is Jamie?”

He frowns. “Jamie? I don’t know. Why?”

“That’s who the victim was texting with tonight. A man, I assume, but it could be a woman.”

“Right,” he says. “I don’t know who that is, but I’ll find out.”

“You don’t have to work at it too hard. North already knows. He’ll tell you he doesn’t, but he does. And don’t ask how I know. I read people, just like Mom did.”

“Which we can assume got her killed, Lilah. You need to be careful.”