After Dark by Jayne Castle Page B

“Hell, even if you’d caught him, he’d have been out on bail by morning.”
    Emmett managed, barely, not to stagger beneath the blow. Olinda was no dainty pigeon. Years of wielding commercial-weight pots and pans and waiting on customers in her café had endowed her with a respectable layer of muscle.
    The sequined DISSONANCE HAPPENS T-shirt Emmett had glimpsed earlier when she had emerged from the stairwell glowed even more brightly in the lights of the living room. Tight jeans cinched with a glittering rhinestone-studded belt sheathed her full-figured thighs. She wore a pair of running shoes decorated with neon-pink shoelaces. Her long gray hair was tied back in a ponytail.
    Definitely not a woman who would go unnoticed in a crowd, Emmett thought.
    He nodded absently in response to her observation. “Yeah, probably.”
    â€œMan, that was one amazing ghost you threw at him, Mr. London,” Zane observed for what must have been the hundredth time. “You shoulda seen it, Aunt Olinda. It was huge. It filled the whole doorway—and we’re not even inside the Dead City.”
    â€œSorry I missed it.” Olinda winked broadly. “But don’t worry, Zane, my boy, one of these days you’ll be summoning ghosts that size yerself.”
    â€œMade the other guy’s ghost look like nothing,” Zane crowed.
    Emmett saw Lydia’s jaw tighten as she set a cup of tea down in front of Zane, but she made no comment on the battle of the ghosts.
    â€œYou’re sure you’re all right?” she asked Zane again. That man didn’t hurt you?”
    â€œHeck, no. I’m fine.” Zane ignored the tea. He could not seem to take his eyes off Emmett.
    Emmett stifled a groan at the unabashed hero worship in Zane’s gaze. Lydia was not going to like this turn of events.
    â€œLet’s go through this from the beginning,” he said quietly. “Tell me exactly what happened, Zane.”
    â€œSure. Like I said, I’d finished my homework and was just getting ready to go downstairs. I opened the door and there was this guy in the hall. All I could see was his eyes, on accounta the mask. Fuzz didn’t like him one bit. He started growling right off.”
    Emmett crouched down in front of him. “What did he say? Did he ask for Lydia by name? Do you think he knew who lived here or was he just looking for an empty apartment to burglarize?”
    â€œI dunno. At first he seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see him. Guess he’d figured there was no one home. But before I could ask him what he wanted, he summoned the ghost. I tried—” Zane stopped suddenly. “But I couldn’t do anything, y’know?”
    â€œIt’s okay, Zane.” Emmett put his hand on the thin shoulder. “A man’s got to work with what he’s got. You don’t have the strength or training yet to neutralize a ghost. So you did something more important. You kept your head. You didn’t panic. And you probably saved Fuzz’s life.”
    Zane looked up quickly. “Fuzz wanted to attack him, but I knew that if I let him go, the guy would fry him with that ghost. And I was pretty sure a UDEM that big would kill something as small as Fuzz.”
    â€œEmmett’s right.” Lydia stroked Fuzz’s ratty gray fur. “You saved Fuzz. If you hadn’t been here, I’m sure he would have gone for the burglar, and that would have been the end of him.”
    Zane looked at the dust-bunny perched on Lydia’s knee. “The sucker used the ghost to pin me and Fuzz in the corner. Then he started tearing the place apart. I figured he was looking for stuff he could sell, y’know? But he didn’t pay any attention to your rez-screen.”
    â€œNot surprising,” Lydia remarked. “It’s at least eight years old. I got it at a rummage sale a few months ago. I can see why a burglar would pass it