It turned out it was also useful when you were doing the chasing.
Ledger cut across the litter-strewn plaza where the businesses kept their dumpsters and down the strip of pavement laid down the side of the run-down garage Edith had someone build for her car. He came out the other side on Bennicot, just a few storefronts behind Dale.
Something made Dale look back. His expression twisted as he saw Ledger, and he tried to run. But Ledger was faster than him. He caught up with Dale and grabbed him by the collar, a handful of fabric twisted around his hand. It arrested Dale’s momentum with a yank, and Ledger dragged him back into lockstep with him.
So notthatsurprising people mistake you for Bell,a dour little voice muttered in his head,is it?
Ledger could feel the phantom sting of his T-shirt collar, turned into a noose around his neck by Bell’s bony hand, and the hot anxiety that had filled his sinuses with pressure.
“I’m not Bell,” he said, his voice a little ragged as he tried to catch his breath. That had been easier when he was fifteen too. Dale tried to pull away from him, and Ledger dragged him back, an easy smile on his face for any passerby that gave them a second look. “I don’t want justice or payback or to shut you down. I just want answers.”
Dale snorted.
“The problem,” he said, “is the people whowouldwant payback.”
Dale’s shoes scuffed along the concrete as they walked. He had to take two steps to keep pace with Ledger, but he wasn’t out of breath.
“No,” Ledger said. He tightened his grip on Dale’s collar and dragged him into a side street. Dale made a strangled sound as Ledger slammed him into a dirty wall. “Your problem is me.”
“You already told me you aren’t Bell.” Dale twisted his mouth in a crooked sort-of smile. “So, trust me, the people you want to scare me into talking about are scarier than you.”
One of his contacts had rolled back under his lid from the impact. Without it, the exposed eye was an all-over milky gray with a stripe of papery red that spread across the white.
“You’re already dead,” Ledger pointed out. The observation made Dale flinch and look away self-consciously. “What are they going to do to you?”
“You’d be surprised,” Dale said bitterly.
CHAPTER8
DALE TURNED AWAYfrom Ledger and fumbled clumsily at his face. His fingers poked at his jaw, his nose, and up along his hairline as he looked for whatever had given him away.
“Your contact slipped,” Ledger told him after a second, his voice studiously bland. “Left.”
“Thanks,” Dale muttered.
He probably didn’t mean it. Ledger watched as Dale reached up and peeled his eyelid back to blink the lens into place.
“Did Bell—”
“Kill me?” Dale asked bitterly. “No. He didn’t. I did that myself. It seemed like a way out at the time. A get out of jail free card, but no one came to open the door.”
“Oh.”
The lens finally slid back into place. Dale didn’t bother to rub his eye after. For some reason, that made Ledger feel… uneasy. It surprised him. After all, he’d dealt with enough members of the unnatural world over the years. Most of his clients were warlocks—so, human enough to pass—but he’d done business with liches and werewolves and vampires, too.
Never mind whatever Earl was.
Dale was different from them, though. He wasn’t natural, obviously, but he wasn’t unnatural, either. Vampires and the ilk—theundead—were required to die properly before they were revived, whether it was by blood, a spell, or electricity. Dale hadn’t done any of that. He was just… dead, but his appointment with the afterlife had fallen through the cracks.
It happened.
Not often—Ledger knew of one other like Dale. She was up in New York, but she kept to herself and did her business by correspondence. It happened sometimes, though. They had all of the drawbacks and none of the perks.
It felt… sad. That might be worse than fear. Ledger was used to fear.
“Look,” he said. “I don’t want to cause you any problems, but I need answers. So either you help me or—”
“Or what?” Dale said. He pressed his lips thin against his teeth as he leaned into Ledger’s space. “And think about your threat because you’re going to need to bring yourAgame. Really sell it. Because the people Bell dealt with? They did.”
