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flesh.”
    Derek just stared, speechless, an expression of utter disgust stamped on his face.
    “Is there a point to this demonstration, besides upsetting my stomach?”
    Saiman sighed. “You refuse everything I offer, Kate. It hurts my pride.”
    I crossed my arms. “I refuse because no matter what shape you wear, I know it’s you. And you don’t really want me for who I am. You want me because I said no.”
    He considered it. “Perhaps. But the fact remains: by refusing me, you are now my ultimate luxury. That one thing I can’t have. You won’t see me. You don’t return my phone calls. All my attempts to apologize for my behavior during the flare have gone unanswered. It’s very difficult to seduce a woman when she refuses to acknowledge your existence. I’m looking forward to having you to myself for an entire night.”
    “Fucking pervert.” Derek finally found adequate words to express his take on the situation.
    “I prefer the term ‘sexual deviant’ myself,” Saiman said.
    “When I get out . . .”
    I raised my hand, halting Derek’s promises of very painful and highly illegal things he would have liked to inflict on Saiman. “I’ll come with you to the Games.” Even if I would rather clean an outhouse. “In return, you acknowledge that Derek never broke into your apartment and you’ll surrender all evidence of him ever being present here. Don’t plan on a date. There will be no wooing, no seduction, and no sex. That’s my best offer and it’s not open to negotiation. If you choose to accept it, keep in mind that I’m still a representative of the Order, attending a highly illegal event. Don’t put me into the position where I feel compelled to do something about it.”
    Saiman rose, walked over to the room that served as his lab, and returned with a stack of digital printouts showing Derek in the cage in all his glory. He handed me the pictures, turned on a digital camera, and wiped the memory card clean.
    Derek’s mask slipped and beyond it I saw guilt. Good. I planned on cashing in on that guilt to get him talking.
    Saiman raised a remote, pressed a button, and the cage door fell open. Derek surged up and I stepped between him and Saiman before he could add murder to his list of transgressions.
    “I’ll pick you up at your apartment at ten,” Saiman said.
    THE GLASS DOORS OF THE LOBBY SHUT BEHIND US and I let out a breath. The sunrise was still a long way off, and the parking lot lay steeped in darkness, the night breeze cool and cleansing after the perfumed atmosphere of the high-rise.
    Derek shook his head, as if clearing fog from his skull. “Thanks.”
    “Don’t mention it.”

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    “I shouldn’t have gone through the window.” Derek measured the tower with his gaze. “I figured fifteenth floor, sure bet the window would be unprotected. But he’s got the whole place booby-trapped.”
    “He had issues with breaking and entering a few years back. That’s why I had to bodyguard him for a while.” A vivid image of a man with a pencil through his left eye orbit flashed before me, complete with bloody smudges of my fingerprints on the yellow shaft of the pencil. Thank you, dear memory, for once again attempting to sabotage my conversation. “Saiman takes his security very seriously.”
    “Yeah.”
    We reached my car. “There was a shapeshifter death on the corner of Ponce de Leon and Dead Cat.
    Jim was there and a Pack crew. Know anything about it?”
    A dark shadow crossed Derek’s face. “No. Who died?”
    “I don’t know. Jim wouldn’t let me get within thirty feet of the body.” I looked right into his eyes.
    “Derek, did you have anything to do with it?”
    “No.”
    “If you did, you need to tell me now.”
    “I didn’t.”
    I believed him. Derek had many talents, but lying wasn’t one of them.
    We stood by the car. Come on, boy wonder. You know you want to tell me what’s going