5 Chapter 5: Covering Their Asses

“I want to delete any pictures you’ve taken of this place,” Deke said. He held out a hand that looked like it could lift weights and field-dress a deer.

Whitney eyed it for a moment. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“You weren’t on the guest list.”

“How do you know?”

“I know.” His caveman demeanor was starting to wear on her.

“I’m not giving up my phone.”

In a motion so swift, she didn’t see it, he grabbed her purse and unzipped it. She snatched at it, but he put it out of her reach while he dug into it. He pulled out her phone, handing the purse back to her.

“This isn’t right,” she protested.

His steely gaze came back to her face. “You are dealing with people’s livelihoods here. All is fair in love and war.” He handed her the phone. “Unlock it.”

“No.”

“I’ll drop it off the side of the building.”

She believed him, and since it was a company-issued phone, she unlocked it before handing it back to him. The paperwork for a new phone would be a nightmare. Then, there would be a meeting with her father about taking care of company equipment.

He went through her pictures, but she hadn’t taken any. She probably could have told him that, but she suspected he wouldn’t have believed her.

“Put it back in your purse,” he demanded.

She did as he said. “Talk to me. I can do this story without revealing your locations.”

He grasped her arm and nudged her towards the door. “No.”

“Come on, Deke.”

He paused, staring down at her with eyes so dark, she couldn’t see his pupils.

She would not be cowed. “Just a few questions. I don’t have to mention names.”

“Your whole column is about mentioning names.”

She should have been excited he’d taken the time to read her column. She wasn’t.

They were at the door, but he didn’t stop. He led her down one flight of stairs and waited with her by the elevator.

Admitting defeat—for now—she said, “I can find my way out.”

“I’m making sure you get there.” He stared straight ahead as they rode the elevator down to the first floor. The doors opened, and he ushered her out. He paused at the door. “Kel, don’t let her back in. I don’t care how charming she is to you.”

The bouncer grunted. Deke left her on the sidewalk. She stared at Kel, who ignored her. That wasn’t how she’d wanted it to go. Sighing, she pulled out her phone. Guess it was time to call it a night. She’d have to figure out another way to get the information.

She was not done with Grotesque. Not by a long shot.

She strode to the closest corner, punching in the necessary information for Uber to find her and drive her to her apartment. She paced as she waited. This part of town was dark, with no streetlights, which made her nervous. As a seasoned city girl, she knew not to lurk in the shadows.

Noises made her look up. She could still faintly hear the music from Grotesque.

Something was in the sky.

Something was falling. Off the side of the building.

She ran a few steps away, and something hit the sidewalk where she’d been standing. She let out a yelp, which turned to a scream when she realized what it was.

A body. A person who had probably jumped from Grotesque.

A firm hand grasped her from behind. Kel growled at her, “Get inside.”

“But I’m not allowed.”

“Get inside,” he said, and he shoved her in.

The sound of the body hitting the ground was one she never forgot.

***

“Shit,” was all Deke could say when Kel brought Whitney back up to the bar. He trusted Kel, so there had to be a good reason the reporter was there again. This wasn’t good, and it was probably why he’d had a bad feeling about doing a second event that week.

Whitney’s pale skin was even paler.

“What happened?” Deke said.

“Something—a body—fell from the sky. He must have jumped off the building,” Whitney whispered.

“Someone get her a drink and keep her away from our other customers,” Deke said—not that he was in charge, but he’d somehow brought Whitney into their world, so he felt responsible.

Kel led her down the steps as Deke trailed behind. Once she was settled in a room on the top floor, Deke took the steps two at a time to street level. He didn’t hear any sirens, so no one had called in the incident. With the warehouse district in a state of flux, only the Grotesque patrons would be there right now. Things were working in their favor.

With little searching, Deke found the body.

Trent walked up behind him. He shined his cell phone flashlight on the body. “Holy crap, Deke.”

“What?” Deke knelt to get a closer look. He didn’t recognize the person. It was a male, carrying some extra weight.

“It’s Josey Cane. He’s the personal assistant to the Governor of Pennsylvania.”

Why were things always coming back to that office? Their bouncer, Aileen, had gotten involved in a case that had roots in the Governor’s office—and goblins.

Deke sniffed. “He isn’t a goblin.”

“Nope, but he was goblincided.”

Deke eyed the remains. There was no doubt the person had been dropped from a tall height, which was the goblins’ favorite way to kill someone when they wanted to send a message. Was this a message to them? They’d been involved in the death of the Goblin King, but Deke had assumed they’d cleaned up well enough for the goblins not to know that—or at least, not to be sure.

“What is it with that office?” Deke asked.

“I wonder if he was involved in some dirt, and that’s why he was killed,” Trent said.

Deke shrugged. “What do you want to do? Clean the place up? Move the body?”

“Don’t move it. If it’s a message to us, then we don’t want the goblins to know we’ve done anything with the body.”

Deke rose and motioned to the roof. “What about the group of people up there? We need to close up shop and get them out of here.”

“No cops come to this part of town during the night. I think we have time to get the customers out of here. Most of them are a little drunk, and we’ll make sure they don’t head this way. No one’s walking home from here.”

“But we have to break down the place.”

“We might have to abandon it—at least temporarily,” Trent said.

“We’ve never had to do that. I knew we shouldn’t have done a second stint this week.”

Trent squeezed his shoulder. “You might have been right, but let’s deal with the situation that’s happening right now, not the what-ifs. You need to keep an eye on Whitney.”

Deke had almost forgotten about her. “If she gets wind of who this is, she’ll go all reporter on us.”

Deke headed to the top floor via the elevator this time. Kel looked up as Whitney paced in front of the window. The relief in Kel’s eyes was amusing.

“You can go help the rest break down,” Deke said. “I’ll stay with Whitney.”

Kel might have left skid marks in his hurry to leave.

“What’s going on? Haven’t you called the cops?” Whitney said.