Read Online Crazy in the Blood (Latter-Day Olympians) by Lucienne Diver - Free Book Online

anything to trade,” I told him with a minimum of regret.
    “Perhaps not now,” he agreed, tail swishing like a cat’s, “but you will.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I have my ways.”
    “I’m sure you do, but I’m not dealing. No way am I going to promise you some undisclosed future thing for information of questionable use. Do you think I was born yesterday?”
    “Well, in the grand scheme of things—”
    “Forget it. Look, it’s been nice talking to you. Really. Glad you could drop by, but I’ve got work to do.”
    He eyed me. You’d think it would be hard to take seriously a foxy-face with cute little sticky-up ears. You’d be wrong. There was something about the expression, the stillness, the implied threat of those teeth, all of which seemed to be canines and wickedly sharp… “You know, I think you’ve made the right call, deciding to fight your addiction. I mean, fast-healing, nigh invulnerability, ultimately becoming immortal. Awful stuff. But the flipside—fever, withdrawal, hallucinations, death. Definitely the way to go.”
    “So, what? Apollo sent you to talk me into staying hooked?”  
    “Well, I am the messenger of the gods,” he answered helpfully.
    With that, he turned tail, literally, flicked it once and was gone. Just…gone.
    Or maybe I’d missed his exit, because right now all I could see was red. I was going to kill Apollo. As in dead . Deceased. Bleeding demised.
    I stomped over to my phone and lifted it out of the muck. I was just about to wipe it off with the hem of my shirt when I heard. “Stop right there!”  
    I froze.
    “Put your hands where I can see them.” It was the voice of authority.  
    Agent Holloway, I thought, or maybe Rosen.  
    Slowly, I raised my hands to shoulder level.
    “Turn around.”
    I did as he asked, figuring I could go all gorgon on his ass if he made for the cuffs. It was Rosen, and he had a weapon in hand, aimed straight at me, but he didn’t seem inclined to use it. He actually seemed satisfied in some weird way rather than angry, as if my presence confirmed something he’d suspected all along…like my involvement. At least he hadn’t seen Hermes. A fox-lizard might have been challenging to explain.
    “Do you people have motion detectors set up or what?” I asked, figuring that zipping my lip would only make me look guiltier. Strategy…sure thing. Certainly not poor impulse control.
    “ Or what ,” he answered helpfully. “You want to step out here, away from my crime scene so that we can have a little talk about tampering with evidence?”
    The question was probably rhetorical. Just to keep my mind off what I might or might not be stepping on as I complied, I argued anyway. “There was no tampering involved. You think I want to touch any of this? Besides, I’m sure the CSIs have been here and done that.”
    “The scene hasn’t been released.” Rosen lowered his gun, but it didn’t disappear into that spiffy shoulder holster that always kept the lines from showing beneath the Feds’ suits. Not that he was wearing the jacket right now—not in this heat.
    I reached the scene tape and debated which was more ignominious to try in front of the Fed—climbing over or going under. Finally, I opted for under and slid out toward Rosen, who stepped back as if I had the cooties. Hey, I wasn’t the one with sweat stains under my pits and halfway to my navel.
    “We don’t have anything to talk about,” I told him flatly once I could see the whites of his eyes. “I don’t know anything.”
    “If you weren’t connected somehow to these deaths, you wouldn’t be here.”
    I rolled my eyes. “I’m stunned by the brilliance of your reasoning. Oh no, wait, I’m not . Hello , private detective, a.k.a. snoop. It’s sort of an occupational hazard.”
    “ Hired snoop. If you have a client, you haven’t said,” he countered. Rosen was no slouch at staring contests. My eyes were going dry from the effort not to blink. There was a