The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond by Amanda Glaze

Author:Amanda Glaze [Glaze, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Published: 2022-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

Edie flew to her feet. Fast. Too fast, considering the dizzying aftereffects of the Veil. She swayed to the side. Laws reached out a hand to steady her, but Edie spun away before he could touch her.

Ruby.

Ruby was dead.

Violet had sensed something was wrong, but Edie had dismissed her concerns. They hadn’t even looked for her. And now Ruby was—

“I must admit, Miss Bond, that I now understand why you keep this part of your act off the stage.”

Edie blinked at the young man before her. It was dark in the room, with only the soft glow of the chimney lamp to stand against the shadows. But she could still make out the mocking challenge in his face. Could hear the lazy confidence behind his words.

Because he thought this was all a joke.

He thought she was a joke.

Ruby is dead.

“Why are you here?”

For a second, Laws seemed taken aback by her abrupt tone. But he quickly gathered himself again. “I could ask you the same—”

“No,” snapped Edie.

Ruby was dead. But she’d asked something of Edie. She’d asked her to hurry.

“You followed me here for some reason,” Edie continued, her tone icy and brisk. “You will tell me what it is, and then you will leave me be. I’ve done nothing wrong, and see no reason for you to stalk my every—”

“You broke into a crime scene, Miss Bond.”

“I didn’t break in.”

“No,” agreed Laws. “First you stole the key.”

It took considerable effort to keep her face blank. So that’s how he knew she’d return here. She’d been so sure he hadn’t noticed her slipping the key into her pocket earlier this afternoon, but she really should have known better. His hawk eyes missed nothing.

But none of that mattered now. Ruby was dead, and she’d asked her to hurry.

Hurry to where, she had no idea. But she wasn’t going to figure it out with Laws Everett’s too-observant eyes fixed on her. She needed to get rid of him. She needed time alone to think while Ruby’s plea was still fresh in her mind. Oh, how she wished she’d never met him. Wished she’d never sought out his help that day at the—

Edie gasped.

The black gates.

“Black gates,” said Laws, his voice confused. “Black gates of what?”

Only then did Edie realize she’d voiced her thoughts aloud. Cursing her carelessness, she turned on her heel and yanked open the office door, pausing only for a moment when she belatedly remembered that she’d locked the door behind her.

“As a key was not readily available,” Laws said from behind her, “I’m afraid I was forced to pick the lock.”

But Edie was past caring about locks and keys. Without another word, she strode through the open doorway and barreled out into the hall, her mind whirring with the implications of her realization.

Could the black gates Ruby had spoken of be the heavy iron gates Laura de Force had spoken in front of? The asylum gates Edie had inadvertently returned to only this afternoon, that had sent a shiver up the back of her neck?

And there was something else Ruby had said.

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