She really should have known better—just like her mother before her.
She drew in a breath. “I’m—”
“There’s no need for introductions. I know exactly who you are,” I said, cutting her off.
Her face crinkled a faint bit in displeasure. I was ruining her shocking reveal. “You do?”
“Oh, yeah,” I drawled. “It’s not every day that you meet someone with the same three initials. M.M.M. Quite distinctive.”
Her eyes glittered. “Yes, but do you know what those initials stand for?”
“Of course,” I replied. “It was written down in Beauregard Benson’s little black book, so to speak. He might have been a sick son of a bitch, but he was an excellent records keeper, especially when it came to his drug empire and all of his buyers and suppliers. You were the focus of his most recent entries. Benson made several pages of notes, speculating on how you had perfected your Burn formula and wondering if you had ever tested it on yourself or your giant friend there. I have to admit that I’m a mite curious about that myself.”
She didn’t respond, so I gave her a winning smile and held out my hand to her to shake.
“But you’re right. It is so very nice to finally meet you in person,” I said. “Madeline Magda Monroe.”
31
M.M. Monroe didn’t like having her thunder stolen, not at all, but she recovered quickly. She leaned back, crossed her arms over her chest, and gave me a cool, assessing look.
“I’m sure that you know my name too,” I said, dropping my hand down to the table and mimicking her posture. “It’s Gin, like the liquor. I don’t think that we should stand on formality, do you? Not after all our families have been through together over the years.”
She smiled again. “Like the fact that you killed my mother?”
Mab’s was the face I saw when I looked at Madeline. She had the same cheekbones, the same nose, and the same curve to her lips as the Fire elemental, if not Mab’s coppery red hair and absolute black eyes. Finn and I had long thought that M.M. Monroe had to be some sort of relative of Mab’s, if only given the last name, and we’d considered the possibility that Mab might have had a child, even though Finn hadn’t been able to find any birth records. But it was easy for me to tell that Madeline was Mab’s daughter, one who looked to be about my age, perhaps a year or two older.
I shrugged. “It was no less than she deserved, since she killed my mother and my older sister and almost succeeding in doing the same to me and my baby sister when we were kids. Besides, you didn’t seem too broken up about your mama’s death at her funeral. From what I remember, you weren’t weeping and wailing. I can’t be sure because of that veil you were wearing, but I sort of imagine that you were smiling the whole time.”
This time, Madeline shrugged. “My mother and I didn’t see eye-to-eye on much. Things would have soon gotten . . . difficult between us, if you hadn’t killed her when you did.”
In other words, the two of them would have come to blows and most likely engaged in an elemental duel to see who maintained control of Mab’s empire. Yeah, I could see that happening. And I had to wonder who would have been left standing in the end. Mab had been extremely powerful, but Madeline seemed to have plenty of elemental juice in her own right.
“Either way, it hardly matters now, does it?” Madeline said, waving her hand and making a silverstone-and-emerald ring sparkle on her right hand. It too was shaped like her crown-and-flame rune. “My mother is dead.”
“And you’ve finally come to Ashland to lay claim to your inheritance.”
She smiled again, leaned forward, and steepled her hands together on the tabletop. “Something that I have you to thank for, Gin. My inheritance might have been tied up in the courts for years if you hadn’t uncovered my mother’s will during that whole nasty situation at the Briartop museum. For that, you have my thanks.”
I didn’t want her damn thanks. I didn’t want anything from her. But this was another part of the chess game between us, so I decided to match her move for move.
“What can I say?” I drawled. “I’m all for the truth coming out.”
Her smile widened, revealing a hint of teeth that were as white as her suit.
“Well, now that we know each other, why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”
I gestured at the giant, who was leaning against the counter by the cash register and keeping an eye on Sophia. Apparently, she knew how dangerous the Goth dwarf could be, although Sophia was completely ignoring her and still chopping onions.
Madeline gestured at the giant, who strolled over toward us. “As you noted before, this is my personal bodyguard, Emery Slater.”
Surprise surged through me. Slater? This just kept getting better and better.
“As in Elliot Slater, I presume,” I murmured.
The giant’s eyes were cold and empty as she stared me down. “He was my uncle.”
“And Gin killed him too,” Madeline said, clasping her hands together again. “Isn’t it funny how much family history there is among the three of us?”
“Oh, it’s just a laugh riot,” I drawled.
Madeline and Emery stared at me, but I focused on Madeline. She was the real threat.
“Well, I hope that you’ve enjoyed your time in Ashland so far. I’ve given you quite the tour of the city these past few days, what with you guys following me around in your car.”
Madeline blinked. Apparently, she hadn’t thought that I’d connected them with the black Audi.
“How long have you been in town? I know that you’ve been supplying Benson with his Burn pills for several weeks now. He was trying to reverse-engineer your formula, you know. But he couldn’t quite figure out what your secret ingredient is.”
She let out a pleased laugh. “Sounds like you’ve been investigating me, Gin.”
“Nothing so intense as that. You give me too much credit.”
“Oh, no. I haven’t given you nearly enough credit. You see, I had hopes that you would kill Beauregard, but I admit that I was doubtful about whether or not you could actually do it.”
So I’d been right about my strings being pulled and there being another player in this game between Benson and me. I thought back to the night that Troy had been murdered and how I’d seen the Audi outside the parking garage. And I realized exactly who Madeline and Emery had been following then.