When Darkness Hungers: A Shadow Keepers Novel (Shadow Keepers 5) by J.K. Beck Read Free Book Online Page B

probably wasn’t more than twenty-two, and looked like she could be part of a sorority group touring New York for the day.
    The girl laughed. The kind of genuine laugh that Alexis and Brianna often shared when they went out for drinks and gossip. “Not what you were expecting?”
    Alexis bristled, then forced herself to relax. The girl was right—she
wasn’t
what Alexis had been expecting. But what had that been? Some mysterious, shadowy figure? Some dark girl with hollow eyes who’d tell her thesecrets of the sewers and lead her straight to her sister’s killer? All things considered, the girl in the dress was a pleasant surprise. Assuming, that is, that she could help at all.
    “What makes you think I’m looking for you?”
    “I watch. I pay attention. And Marion told me you were looking for me.”
    Marion
. The old lady. Alexis hadn’t even asked for her name, more proof that Tori’s murder had thrown her off her game. Any other victim and she’d never have let a witness go without getting a full ID. And yet with Marion, she’d chatted the old lady up and then moved on. Maybe Gutierrez was right; maybe she needed to get the hell out of New York. Except she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Not until she had a lead on the bastard who’d killed her sister.
    She focused on Leena. “So why was I looking for you?”
    Leena didn’t laugh, but her mouth curved up in amusement. “Because I know things.” She shrugged. “I don’t always tell what I know, and I don’t always get it clear in my head. But I’m legit. Hell, call the NYPD if you don’t believe me.”
    “You’re a psychic.”
Shit
. Like Alexis needed that kind of bullshit.
    “And you’re a skeptic. That’s okay. Give me your hand.” She stuck hers out again, then left it hanging in the air. She raised her brows, waiting for Alexis to take it. Fine. Whatever. She took Leena’s hand. She wasn’t sure what she expected—Sparks? A tingle in the air? A booming voice from the heavens? None of that, but there was something about Leena’s face. As Alexis watched, the girl seemed to lose color, then a momentlater she yanked her hand away and wiped her palm hard on the material of her dress.
    “I’m sorry,” Leena said. She sounded breathless, like she’d just run sprints. “Your sister. Oh, God, your sister.”
    Alexis was already falling before she realized that her knees had buckled. She grabbed for the railing, but found that Leena had a hold of her arm. “How? How did you know?” She hadn’t told anyone she was looking for her sister. Just that she was with the FBI. That she was working a case.
    “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have blurted it out like that.” She licked her lips. “Marion was right to tell you about me. I can help. Or, at least, I’d like to try. Can we talk?”
    Alexis, who’d never believed in bullshit supernatural stuff, nodded immediately. “There’s a deli,” she said, nodding across the street.
    “My shop isn’t far from here. But we need to go somewhere else first.” She paused, lips pressed together as she studied Alexis’s face.
    “What?” Alexis demanded, suddenly afraid that Leena had changed her mind. But she couldn’t have. Alexis wouldn’t let her. This was the first lead she’d had—if you could even call it a lead. But it was a door. An opening. Something. It was all she had, and she wasn’t about to let it go. “What’s wrong?”
    “You need to meet someone. Someone who knew your sister. I—will you trust me? Will you let me take you there? Meet him first, and then afterward you can ask me whatever questions you want?”
    It was a ridiculous way to proceed, and everything in her agency training told her she should very firmly tellLeena that this wasn’t a damn scavenger hunt, and that Alexis wanted to know what was going on right then. But all she did was nod. She had to know, and if that meant taking a risk and following some girl who maybe,
maybe
, could get into people’s heads,