The fact that Loki shared my instincts about Morrow made me wary. I passed on the warning when I talked to Kanesha.

Morrow was going to work things out we didn’t want him to work out. I was absolutely sure of that. I wasn’t afraid of him. Just…worried he might cause me a headache.

No, if I was honest, I was more worried about headaches for Mike and Kanesha. Kanesha’s dad had been a crook, after all, and she never talked about her mother.

Which I maybe should have pressed on, but I cared for her too much to harass her about it.

Well, until now. “Kanesha,” I said across the dinner table. “I hate to ask it, but whatever happened to your mom?”

“She…” Kanesha sighed. “Killed herself. Drug overdose, we think deliberate although she never left a note.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. “Sorry.” It wasn’t surprising she hadn’t brought it up. Kanesha was the sort of person to see suicide as a personal failure rather than a mental illness, and this was her mother we were talking about.

“It’s ancient history. I just…I miss her and I’m embarrassed by her and…” A pause. “Why did you ask?”

“Agent Morrow.”

Mike stepped in. “Oh, not him.”

I turned. “What do you know about him?”

“He thinks all beat cops are poorly trained bigots. And he has no sense of humor. And he’s always looking for excuses to arrest everyone he meets. Which isn’t even really his job.”

“And he’s poking around Kanesha. That’s why I asked.” There wasn’t anything he could get her on, though. She’d never used drugs. Or touched alcohol when Thruor offered it.

Now I thought I understood more of why. She was terrified of ending up a junkie or, worse, a dead junkie. I vowed then I’d never press her on anything.

“Yuck. I’ll see if I can’t get somebody to find a nice juicy case to distract him. There’s so much here that crosses state lines it should be easy.”

“Be careful. Loki doesn’t trust him.”

“Loki trust a cop?”

I shook my head. “He trusts you.” I knew that was true. He wouldn’t have been in here otherwise.

“Was he the one raiding my beer?”

I grinned. “‘Fraid so.”

“Well, good. I can’t let you raid it.”

I hadn’t. I didn’t want him in trouble.

He turned to Kanesha. “Tell Morrow what he asks and don’t tell him a thing more. He doesn’t believe in anything that can’t be explained by the laws according to Morrow.”

Maybe that was why Loki didn’t like him, but I got the point. And the laws according to Morrow, I thought, defined a very narrow place.