Page 45 of Demons Dig Donuts

“He is a witness to the murder of Mr. Kalt,” Mr. Heiss drawled as he took his seat. He paused to give the twins a heated glare. “Do not touch the flesh bag.”

“What?” Absolis gasped as if offended “Us?”

“Us?” Vilanos echoed, equally upset. “You think we would do such a thing?”

“Yes,” Mr. Heiss said flatly.

“Let us begin,” Q. said, raising his hand. A stack of papers, folders, and assorted receipts appeared before him. “Here we have the last known assets of Mr. Kalt. Cash, stocks, several properties, and—” He paused as if reading something, though he’d made no effort to disassemble the giant pile. “A talking car?”

“Yes, sir! I have the title for it right here!” A large, hulking man bounded over to the table beside Q. He had on small glasses and a colorful floral sweater, and his skin was gray with an odd greenish tint to it. There were thick stitches peeking out from his dark bangs and a long stretch of them around his neck.

Ah, one of the Franks.

A Frankenstein.

Which was stupid, really, since Frankenstein was the name of the guy who made the monster and not the monster himself, but whatever. Given that this one was speaking in full sentences, Indy assumed he was the one called Francis.

Francis picked through the stack of paperwork and carefully withdrew a single piece of paper with a surprisingly delicate touch for one whose fingers were the size of sausages. “It is a two thousand and five Honda Civic Si. Her name is Lusthesthesix, but I believe she goes by Leslie.”

“Ah!” Q. smiled as if being reminded of an old friend. “How nice.”

While they continued to chat about paperwork and title transfers and other equally boring crap, Indy became aware the twins were staring at him. He wiggled his fingers in a little greeting.

“Love your hair,” Absolis purred.

“Yes, love it,” Vilanos said. “Such a beautiful color.”

“Yes! It’s so very flattering.”

“So flattering.”

Indy smirked, knowing they were expecting him to say thank you and therefore trap himself in some stupid faerie mess. He gave them a sweet smile as he replied, “I appreciate it.”

Absolis and Vilanos pouted, but there was something dark in their gaze that said they were more than a little displeased about it.

“I said leave him be,” Mr. Heiss warned.

“Just having fun, brother,” Vilanos said innocently.

“Yes,” Absolis agreed. “Just a bit of fun.”

“He must know about fae!” the woman behind Lou whispered loudly. “Good for him.”

“Oh, I know lots of things,” Indy teased. “Did you know werewolves love to get their bellies scratched? True story.”

Both Lou and the woman slowly turned to gawk at Indy as if he’d said he liked to eat babies.

“What?” Indy scoffed. “It’s true.”

Lou and the woman continued to stare, and the burning dog laughed hysterically.

“I told you to be quiet,” Mr. Heiss snapped.

“And I don’t listen very well!” Indy sniped back.

“Oh!” The woman clasped her hands to her mouth. “This certainly got more interesting, now didn’t it?”

The dog laughed harder.