EIGHTEEN
“You’re going to stay here,” Strike said when he dropped his hand from between her shoulder blades.
“I’m going to stay here,” she repeated, scanning the rundown apartment he’d brought her to.
It wasn’t in a block she knew, but it was in a city she recognized because it was the one their story had started in.
“That’s what I just said.”
Strike turned away from her and she grabbed for him, bounding around to get in front of him. “No, I mean, if I’m staying here, where are you going?”
“Business, baby,” he said. “You’re going to be safe here.”
A toilet flushed and the door on the right opened to allow someone to come into the room. “Buddy,” she said and the hulk of a guy smiled at her.
“You look real pretty in daylight.”
It was barely daylight still, and she wasn’t sure if he
