“The kind that pays a lot of money and might get you killed.”
He grinned. “Right up our alley, then.”
He walked off.
“What was that all about?” Louis-Cesare asked, coming up behind me.
“Thinking about hiring the team to help me go get Dorina.”
“And you trust them with that?”
I shrugged. “You know how it goes. Where else am I going to get a bunch crazy enough to go in there?”
He smiled slightly. “I suppose so.”
I looked back at him, but didn’t turn around, because he’d started to give me a shoulder massage and it felt good. “You don’t mind?”
“Why would I mind?”
“It’s just that, you and Tomas—”
“That was over as soon as Christine died. I need to explain that to him, but talking to the man for more than a minute without wanting to belt him—”
“He does have a certain charm.” I paused. I didn’t want to ask if we were all right, but I needed to. “Like me?”
He kissed the top of my head. “Later.”
Now what did that mean?
Not that I could blame him for not wanting to get into personal matters right now. Zheng was on a tear, which in his case, meant dragging the freshest of the bodies around and yelling. “Damn it, find me a bokor!”
“I thought you didn’t want one?” Sarah said.
Zheng snarled at her, and she put up her hands. “Okay, okay. We’re going. We’ll be by to pick up that reward tomorrow.”
“What reward?”
“The one you’re going to pay us to keep our mouths shut.”
They left.
One of Zheng’s braver boys edged up. “Sir, by the time a bokor could get here, the mind will have decomposed to the point—”
“Do it anyway!” he growled. “Not that we should have to. If that bitch Ranbir isn’t dead, I swear—”
“Did I hear someone take my name in vain?”
I looked up, and so did everyone else, to see Ranbir himself coming down a metal set of stairs from what looked like an office. Only, if I’d been him, I’d have been headed back up, instead,
because Zheng was Not Feeling It. But Ranbir tripped happily downward anyway, a small leather pouch in his hand.
“Nice of you to join us,” I said. “Your team just left.”
“Yes, I know. I was waiting for that.”
“Too ashamed to face them?” Zheng demanded, with a sneer.
“No, I thought you might want to decide this without an audience.” He held up the bag.