Fallen by Susan Kaye Quinn Page B

energy transfers from the kids—she used to mentor Valac, and he used to work for Madam A. But that she saw it happen… “And you think Candy was somehow involved? I know she’s at the very low end of the sleaze range, but…”
    “She had to be involved,” Ophelia says. “The debt collectors I saw—they all belonged to Candy. And they were definitely in the wrong ward, doing things they shouldn’t be doing. When I asked her if they were still on her list, still in the Agency, she looked funny at me and started purring on about how wonderful it was to have collectors like me. Collectors she didn’t have to worry about washing out or ending up dead.”
    “So… she was trying to kiss up to you? To keep you from telling anyone at the Agency?”
    Ophelia peers at me. “Who would I tell? For all I know, her dirty business goes straight up the chain at the Agency. And besides, when have you ever had Candy praise you without needing a shower to get the slime off afterwards?” She shudders and clutches her arms tighter across her chest. “It was a warning. To stay out of it. Then she bumped me up to ER medical transfers in another hospital on the tail end of the east side. About as far from that peds ward as she could send me and still have me in her district. Whatever I saw, I was supposed to just forget. And I was happy to forget. I don’t want to know all the dirty business Candy has her red claws dipped into. But I should have known she wouldn’t leave it at that.”
    “So she sold you out to Kolek to get rid of you.” My fist presses against the door. Selling us out to the mob is bad enough, but doing it to cover up illegal transfers from kids… my stomach is a hard rock of hate. If I ever get out, Candy’s going to get a very special visit from me.
    Ophelia shakes her head. “I knew she might try something. I’ve seen Candy send perfectly sane debt collectors to The Retirement Home. And there have been others who have simply disappeared, supposedly captured by the mob. I didn’t ask why. Those aren’t the kind of things you can look at too closely without getting burned yourself. But I should have known. I should have requested a transfer to another city and gotten out of Candy’s reach. But when she sent me to you…”
    I frown. “You thought you were getting a second chance.”
    She nods. “I never thought she would sell you out, baby. You were just getting started. She couldn’t have had anything against you.”
    “I was washing out,” I say, and strangely, that time feels a million miles away. Like whatever cracked loose inside me last night, when I refused to transfer out that boy, moved me to a different place. A stronger place. One where I can’t imagine why the drowning abyss had captured me before.
    “She must have thought you were hopeless. She can’t stand collectors who make her look bad.” Ophelia turns her dark eyes to me. “She wasn’t sending me in there to rescue you—she was killing two problems at once. I should have seen it coming. I should have known better than to go anywhere near another collector, even a guppy like you.”
    “Thanks,” I say, but it’s light. I was spiraling into the darkness before Ophelia came along, and Candy would have washed me out soon enough. “But like I told you before, it’s not your fault they came after me.”
    “I’m not so sure,” she says, eyes downcast. “And it’s just dumb luck that you escaped.” She sighs. “You have some kind of guardian angel looking out for you.”
    “I thought that was supposed to be you.” I lean in to kiss her, but she dodges me and presses a hand to my chest, firmly pushing me away and putting a few more inches between us.
    “I am not your guardian angel.” Her lips purse tight, and her serious face beats back any thoughts of kissing, in spite of her hands lingering on my chest. “You’re sweet, baby. Too sweet. And you’ve got some kind of lucky star following you around. But you can’t