Thread of Death by Jennifer Estep Read Free Book Online Page A

couldn’teven begin to count the number of bullet holes that riddled his chest, tearing through his muscles before punching out his back. He looked like ground-up sausage meat.
    Still, I had to admire the cleverness of the person who’d hired him. With so many bigwigs at the funeral and so many bodyguards, the dwarf had never had a chance of getting out of the cemetery alive. Even if he’d managed to kill me or one of the crime bosses, someone—Finn, Kincaid, or one of the bodyguards—probably would have gunned him down after the fact. So I would have been dead, the sniper would have been silenced, and whoever had planned this whole thing would probably have been whistling as he walked out of the cemetery.
    I just wondered who had hired the dwarf—and how long it would be before he or she decided to try again.

     
    It didn’t take the police and coroner’s office as long as I’d thought it would to put the dwarf in a black body bag, cart him away, collect their evidence, and go on their merry way. I guess because what had happened had been so cut-and-dried—and seen by so many witnesses.
    No one asked me any questions, and I didn’t volunteer to give a statement. The lower the profile I kept, the better. It was bad enough every crime boss in the city had been here today and had seen me racing toward the sniper. I didn’t want the cops to focus their attention on me as well. Then again, they didn’t really have a reason to, since I hadn’t actually killed anyone today—for a change.
    Still, I stayed in the cemetery, with Owen and Finn by my side. While the cops worked, Finn had his ear glued to his cell phone, calling number after number, seeing if any of his many spies and snitches had heard any chatter about the sniper at the funeral. Just about the time the cops wrapped up their investigation, Finn did the same and snapped his phone shut.
    “Nothing,” he said. “Nobody heard so much as a peep about this before the guy started shooting this afternoon. Whoever hired the dwarf to ambush you did it real quiet like. But him shooting at the other bosses, too . . . well, it’s got everyone plenty pissed right now. They all want blood. At least, more than what was in the sniper.”
    I’d figured as much, given the lack of evidence Bria had foundon the body, but I nodded at my foster brother. “Thanks for checking anyway.”
    “I wish I could tell you more, Gin,” he said. “This worries me just as much as it does you.”
    I hugged him. “I know, and I appreciate your concern, but we’ll figure it out. This isn’t the first time someone’s tried to kill me, and we know it won’t be the last. But we’ll be ready for them, just like we always are. Just like the old man taught us to be. Capisce? ”
    Finn grinned. “Capisce.”
    He hugged me again, then walked over to where Bria was wrapping things up with Xavier and Roslyn. Finn was going to catch a ride back into the city with the three of them. That left me and Owen standing by ourselves. We were the last two people in the cemetery. Even the minister had left a few minutes earlier, along with Jonah McAllister, although the lawyer hadn’t been able to resist giving me one more dirty look before he’d gotten into his car and driven away.
    I shifted back and forth on my feet, not ready to leave just yet. There was one more thing I had to do—something I didn’t want an audience for.
    Owen picked up on my mood. “I’ll be by the car if you need me,” he said in a soft voice. “Take as long as you need.”
    I nodded, grateful that I didn’t have to put my feelings into words for him. Owen always gave me the space I needed, which was one of the many things I loved about him. He knew I needed to say my final good-bye to Mab, and he was going to give me the time to do it on my own terms.
    Owen headed across the grass, going back to his car, vanishing from sight, and leaving me alone in the cemetery. Even the dwarves with the shovels had gotten bored