Chapter 29 · White Out

Gia's scream is still vibrating through my skull when I snap the channel shut.

*Don't walk into this.*

Too late. I'm already ankle-deep in scum water at the back of the Cinder Point boathouse. Black waves hammer the limestone outside. In my fist is a stolen radio that just linked me straight to the devil.

My thumb slips on the dial. I drag it back to Victor's channel and hit raw static. A dry, scraping hiss, like someone breathing through clenched teeth.

I shove the mic right to my teeth anyway.

"I know you're sitting on this line. You want the ledger? Cut the games. Talk to me."

A click. Then a voice that isn't Victor's. Bored. Flat. A hired hand reading a script.

"Miss Kessler. Boss says patience looks good on you."

"Where's Danny?"

"He says soon."

"Your boss says a whole lot of shit that don't pay out."

A dry, nasty chuckle rattles through the speaker, then snaps into silence.

I squeeze the plastic until my knuckles ache. A sharp sting cuts into my palm. I look down. Thin red slit right across the meat of my hand.