Partly to spite Meiko, and partly to cut myself some slack since I had no idea what I was doing without Neely, I chose two. Five pieces of clothing total. Three baubles. Plus, one pair of shoes—flats—guaranteed to earn me a lip curl when she spotted me wearing them.
One of the most valuable lessons I learned from being a Haint, besides breathing was optional, was comfortable shoes trumped beauty every single time. There was a reason we dressed in full Southern-belle regalia, hair and makeup just so, but wore coordinating sneakers instead of the heels that were period accurate.
When the door opened an hour later and Meiko sashayed in to survey the results of her ultimatum, I stood as tall as one could in black flats. The black slacks emphasized my thinness, but the ruffled front of the white blouse gave the illusion of cleavage. A strand of red glass beads hung around my throat, and I paired it with a matching bracelet at my wrist. The coordinating jacket, also black, hung over the back of a chair, the red embroidery on the lapels peeking out just a touch. Makeup wasn’t happening, I would end up looking like a runaway clown if I applied it myself, but I had put a little effort into my hair.
After pulling the frizzy mass into a ponytail and deciding that wouldn’t do, I sacrificed a sock to the cause. I trimmed off its toe and scrunched it down until it formed a donut. From there, all I had to do was thread my hair through the hole, tuck as I rolled it down against my scalp, then secure the sleek bun with bobby pins. Not too shabby.
“You look…decent.” Meiko prowled a circle around me. “Where are your other selections?”
“This and that,” I said, indicating my second outfit, “are all I want from you.”
“It’s your money.” She twitched an elegant shoulder. “What do I care how you spend it?”
“Wait—my money?” Nails bit into my palms when I formed fists at my side. “How do you figure?”
“I used the debit card from your purse when I called in the order.” Smugness lent her beautiful face a cruel edge. “All of this is yours. Keep it, wear it, or burn it. I couldn’t care less what you do.”
While I didn’t mind paying for my clothes, I had no intention of stuffing a closet full of pieces handpicked for me by her.
“This is what we’re going to do,” I told her, slow and polite. “You’re going to return everything but what I’m wearing and the one other outfit I showed you.” Her lip peeled over her teeth, but I kept going. “Anything that’s nonreturnable will be tallied and billed to you. Not Linus. You.”
“You can’t be serious.” She fisted the sleeve of the nearest garment. “Have you seen the price tags on these pieces?”
“Oh, I’m sure they were the most expensive clothes you could have delivered on short notice. Just another way to stick it to me. Don’t worry, I get it. But here’s the thing. The money you spent? It’s mine. It’s not yours. I’m not Linus. I won’t allow you to play with me or my things, and I won’t let you spend my money as if it’s yours when I’ve bled and grieved and almost died to earn it.”
Meiko sharpened her scowl into claws she raked over me. “I was wrong about you.”
In a fit of pique, she shrank into her cat form and stalked off without finishing her thought. No doubt she hoped to leave me in suspense, but I didn’t care about her opinion of me. Not before this moment, and certainly not after it.
But I did wish we had put off this confrontation until after lunch.
Most days I did a good job of acting like the old Grier. Enough so people didn’t stare, didn’t ask what was wrong. But new Grier lurked beneath that thin skin, and she wasn’t someone I wanted off her leash.
Anger simmered in me, even when I laughed, even when I smiled, and one day it would devour me from the inside. What emerged would be the truth of what was left after Maud, after Atramentous, after Volkov. That Grier would make a merciless Dame Woolworth, a matriarch the Grande Dame would adore, and that more than anything had me tucking her deeper and deeper within me until I could act like everything was okay again.
While I waited on Linus, I texted Amelie a heads-up about Meiko’s prank. As my financial advisor, I didn’t want her to have a heart attack when the bill arrived.
Guilt tempted me to fess up about the accident while we chatted, but she would be livid I hadn’t confessed sooner, and I was too tired to face a lecture. A suffocating weight pressed on me every time she explained how much losing me had cost her, and her brother. When I was feeling uncharitable, I asked myself if they realized how much losing the old Grier had cost me. But mostly I was just lonely for the simplicities of that life.
The front door opened, and Linus entered wearing charcoal slacks with a matching jacket over a white button-down shirt. His dark auburn hair had been combed back and gathered at his nape, and he had slung a black leather messenger bag across his shoulders that matched his shoes. His glasses completed the look, and I had to shake my head. “I see why Meiko is such a smitten kitten.”
“Hmm?” Linus wasn’t listening. He was staring. At me.
Not about to renew the sentiment while he was looking at me that way, I said, “We’re having lovely weather.”
“Are we?” He sounded distant, thoughtful. “I haven’t noticed.”
“You’re giving me a complex, here.” I snagged my jacket off the back of the chair and shrugged it on as insulation between me and his intense focus. “Nothing’s hanging out? All my buttons fastened?”
“Apologies.” Linus wet his lips and tore his gaze from me. “This isn’t what I expected.”
“I wanted to look nice.” I smoothed my hands down my pants. “Now I see I was right to worry. You’re all GQ over there. Do you really teach dressed like that? Do you have a janitor assigned to your room just to mop up the drool between classes?”
“Thank you.” Swaths of red highlighted his cheeks. “I think.”
“Are you ready to go?” I grabbed my purse, checking for my debit card and room key before tucking my phone inside and zipping it closed. “We’re still visiting Neely first?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “I just spoke to Dr. Schmidt. We’re cleared for a half-hour visitation window, but that’s all they’re allowing for nonfamily members.”
Eager to go, I hustled out into the hall to wait while he locked up behind us. “Where did you run off to?”
“I rescheduled the meeting I missed last night for dusk.” He guided me onto the elevator. “The timing allowed me to add the identities of the vampires who drove you off the road into our database.”
As the numbers counted down, I couldn’t suppress a shiver. A database full of vampires who were out to get me. Not exactly how I imagined reemerging into Society. “Did you learn anything new?”
“I reviewed the security footage.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “They left within minutes of you exiting the building. We can only assume they made calls in the privacy of their room then followed the orders they were given.”
“Have you located their cells?” Cellphones were modern-day diaries, after all.
“They were recovered along with the bodies. They got greedy, sloppy. Hopefully, they left clues behind in their apartment for us to find.” Linus hadn’t been gone long enough to perform a search, so he must employ a team. Though, I suppose even Batman had his Alfred Pennyworth. “I doubt the Master would allow anyone so reckless in his inner circle, so odds are good we won’t unearth anything of consequence.”
“Have they lived here long?” I grimaced with the knowledge there were likely others whispering my secrets, camouflaged by the sheer volume of residents. “Did you recognize them?”