Chapter 118

Detective Appelt's face darkened, a hint of red firing up around his irises. "Not if you're going to be crude. Your mother was a good woman."

I turned my back on him and strode toward the kitchen with Roseff's book, keeping my movements loose, when my body was anything but. I knew full well what my mother was like, but a sudden urge to hurt him, to lash out at him, tipped on the edge of my tongue. He'd proved he wanted nothing to do with me, so listening to him try to defend himself wasn't high on my Oh-This-Will-Be-Fun! list. At the same time, life and death had aged me some, made me tired of how hard it all was, even when I was just a normal slayer. Maybe it had been hard for him too.

Jacek and Eddie were already in the kitchen, leaning against the countertop by the refrigerator.

"Detective," Jacek said with a nod.

"Jacek. Eddie," the detective said.