The Epilogues: Part I: Badge of Honor (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 6) - Hailey Edwards (the best novels to read .TXT) 📗

He made love to her until her eyes slid closed, and then every time they cracked open before dusk.

Seven

I was sore.

And it was all Midas’s fault.

I don’t know what inspired him to prove sex was superior to Ambien, and I didn’t care. I felt amazing. Like I could climb mountains, swim oceans, leap buildings with a single bound. Except not today. I wasn’t sure if I could sit, let alone play Superwoman, until I got some ibuprofen in me. Maybe one of those inflatable donut cushions too.

“You’re walking funny.” Remy smirked at me. “I bet I can guess what you guys did last night.”

“I ran halfway across town to Lockdown to apprehend a suspect.” Not a lie. “Of course I’m sore.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Don’t mmm-hmm me.” I huffed. “I’m a happily mated woman, about to be a happily married woman. I do what I want.”

“In other words,” she said helpfully, “Midas.”

Cloaking myself in dignity, because I was sure I had a scrap of it tucked somewhere, I ignored her.

“We’re here, ladies.” The Swyft driver saluted us. “Have a nice night.”

“I’m sure we will.” Remy winked at him as she exited the car. “Nice is my middle name.”

I managed not to choke on my own spit at the blatant lie, but I couldn’t do more than nod to the man.

“Fancy hotel, right?” Remy planted her hands on her hips. “Wife-ing must pay well.”

“I don’t know what her husband does.” I hadn’t asked during our super awkward dinner. “Maybe she’s still practicing.” A detail she left out at dinner. “She’s a High Society necromancer. Otherwise, she couldn’t resuscitate humans with more money than sense.”

“Sense or cents?”

“Ha-ha.” I walked right into that one. “It’s not cheap to retain a necromancer for a resuscitation. Let alone one who was in training to be the POP at the time. The husband has—or had—money to burn.”

“Ask Bishop.” Remy set out for the side of the building. “He was digging into her financials.”

Several large grassy plants with lush tassels lined the side path she chose, and a few small shrubs too. An ornate drainpipe with dragon heads that vomited water when it rained anchored to the building, leading all the way up to the top.

Seeing that, I got a bad feeling about what she had planned for us.

“Your face.” She cackled. “You look like someone spat in your café mocha.”

“How are we going to hide what we’re doing?” I scanned the full parking lot. “People will notice.”

A metallic click had me searching out the cause as another Remy stuck her head out the emergency exit.

“The coast is clear.” The new Remy waved her arms. “Make it quick.”

“The door is on a delayed timer,” the Remy beside me explained. “Sixty seconds then it starts wailing.”

“Jerk.” I broke into a run and slid past the second Remy with a snarl. “You’re all real pieces of work.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Remy absorbed her other self after nudging the door back in place. “We know.”

“Did you have to pull my leg like that?” I rubbed my chest. “I had legit heart palpitations.”

“Heh.”

“So, that’s a yes.”

“Maybe.” She checked her phone, waited out the rest of the timer. “And…we’re good to go.”

The easy way Remy moved through the halls convinced me her other self had done a thorough recon.

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a room key then patted herself on the back. “Nice.”

“You really are your own mutual admiration society,” I marveled. “And yet…”

“It’s deserved.” She grinned, elastics on display. “Feel free to be impressed by me with me.”

Drawing on Four’s intel, she led the way to the elevators and mashed the button for the second floor. She exited the car after the chime and guided me down a long hall to a set of doors with do not disturb signs hung on their handles.

Remy swiped the card, and we entered the first room as if we had every right to be there.

“This is the first of the spare rooms.” Remy let me perform the search. “Neat as a pin and empty.”

“She’s not stashing anything in here.” I examined it top to bottom. “Let’s check number two.”

A text chime had Remy consulting her phone. “Hall’s clear.”

“Did you peel off again, and I missed it?”

“Nah. Four needs to recharge. Two’s out there.”

Trusting Remy, all the Remys, I exited the room. She used her card, what I realized was a master key she must have pickpocketed off a maid, to gain access to the next room. It was likewise empty, spotless, and showed no signs Sue had ever entered it.

After finishing my walk through, I was more confused than ever. “Another dummy.”

“One more left.” Remy’s eyes glittered. “Ready for the big time?”

“Not really.” The empty rooms gave me the creeps. “I don’t like what’s going on here.”

That didn’t stop me from following her out again, after Two gave us the all clear, or from entering Sue’s space without her permission. This room was utter chaos. Clothes on the floor, fast food containers stacked on every available surface. It smelled. Bad. Chinese didn’t keep without refrigeration, and she had elected not to use hers.

“Nothing about this fits the woman we met.” I couldn’t wait to get back out into the fresh air. “She takes care with her appearance, she’s organized enough to raise five kids with only her husband for help, and she’s smart enough to keep her head down rather than draw attention to herself.”

A scrapbook, the kind mega crafters created for each of their kids, sat open on the bed.

It was the most Sue item in the room.

“I’m not sure seeing and being seen in the city is what I would call keeping her head down.”

The OPA was tracking her, but Remy was our woman on the ground. “You have someone on her?”

“Usually Four takes point, but Three is filling in while she refuels.” Remy nudged me into the hall. “Sue is working the city in a grid, walking