“I get it,” I said. Cody looked up at me from his dwindling plate of ribs. “I’m curious. As an adult, do you have full control?”

He glanced around. The café was emptying and no one was seated near us. “Depends on your willpower and self-discipline.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah.” He gave me an unexpected grin that it’s only fair to describe as wolfish, sending a shiver down my spine and setting my tail a-twitch. “Twenty-nine days out of a lunar month. The chief would never have hired me if I didn’t. Do you?”

I sighed with regret. “Me? Not even close.”

Chapter Fourteen

Fourteen

After dinner, Cody insisted on escorting me home.

“I want to take a look at that Dumpster,” he said in a pragmatic tone when I objected. “And I’ll sleep better knowing at least you got home safe. You’re in the thick of it now, Daisy Jo.”

“Oh, fine.”

We poked around the Dumpster behind the apartment. No one was lurking back there. Cody shone his flashlight beam on the dented lid to examine it. I had to warn him not to step in the puddle of dried Mogwai puke that obscured the boot print, but I showed him the photo I’d taken of it. Across the street, a handful of guys were playing a late game of pickup basketball beneath the streetlights over the court, the ball thudding rhythmically, a poignant reminder of Cody’s younger days.

“Looks like it may have been a peeper,” he said. “I still don’t like it. You’re sure you won’t stay at your mom’s tonight?”

I nodded. “No way I’m putting her in danger.”

“What about the other friend you mentioned?” he asked. “The one who helped out with the naiads?”

“Yeah, um . . .” The memory of Lurine’s coils wrapped firmly around my waist was a little too fresh. I felt my face grow warm, and cleared my throat. “For reasons I’d rather not go into, no. Not tonight.”

Cody gave me a dubious look. The light above the side door that opened onto the stairway leading to the apartments upstairs did him all kinds of favors, casting shadows on his chiseled features, glinting on a new growth of stubble that I very much wanted to touch again. Plus, he still smelled good. “Okay. You’ve got my number?”

I clasped my hands behind my back, concentrating on willpower and self-discipline. “Yep, sure do.”

He shrugged. “Then I’ll see you at the station in the morning.”

I waited until Cody was out of sight to open the side door . . .

. . . and froze.