Life after death is funny sometimes. One minute, I’m shopping for sneakers while sitting side by side with a mummy, the next minute I’m being dragged through a locked door by a walking skeleton and told to look around a dead man’s apartment.

When Jacky had announced that Louis Summer was dead and his soul was missing, my head had filled with a dull murk that lasted the entire drive to his apartment. I wasn’t mourning him or anything—it was the suddenness that left me feeling stunned. I was used to death being drawn out and anticipated. The fact I had been glaring at Summer only the day before, and now he was gone, was frightening.

I stood inside the front door of his apartment, hardly seeing anything.

“Emerra.”

I managed to focus on Noctis.

“Be careful not to touch anything,” he said.

“Don’t worry, Jacky. I kind of figured we weren’t supposed to be here about the time we came in without touching the door knob. Besides, I don’t think Summer’s going to notice we broke in.”

“This place is going to become part of a police investigation. Do you want them to find your fingerprints here?”

I jammed my hands into the pockets of my jeans and grabbed onto the material for good measure. “I take it we’re looking for the scroll?”

“We’re looking for anything that could explain two missing souls. Stay beside me. I’ll move everything around.”

“What about your fingerprints?”

“I don’t have any.”

For a second, I stared at the end of his jacket sleeve, hovering over the bones of his wrist. Then I shook my head. I could ask him about it later. I had enough to deal with.

We started with the coats hanging by the front door. Big Jacky turned out everything and checked all the pockets before moving on. Each shoe on the floor was inspected. Every letter on his side table was turned over. I felt like I should be taking notes. This was the ultimate system for finding something you lost.

Not that I had anything to lose. Except my—

Shoot.

I’d left my phone on the desk next to Iset.

“Are you watching?” Jacky asked.

I returned my attention to the drawer he was rifling through. “Jacky, why haven’t the police been here already?”

“The police aren’t aware that Summer is dead, and I’m not supposed to call it in. Darius says that if someone over a hundred years old reports too many dead bodies, it makes people uncomfortable. And if the scroll is here, I’d rather we find it first.”

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He shut the drawer, and we moved into the living room.

“Does that mean that you sensed Summer’s death?”

“It registered with me. Before I could figure out exactly who it was that had died, the soul was gone. I was there ten minutes later, but whoever else had been there had already left.”

“Do…do you want me to look at the body?”

“I gave Darius my word that I wouldn’t have you do that.”

Zap! Everything stopped. Brain function. Heartbeat. Lungs. Jacky’s words pinged around my cavernous skull like a drunk bat trying to find somewhere to roost. The optimistic part of me from that morning threw up its hands and left.

“Emerra?”

I forced myself to take a breath. “Sorry. Got distracted there for a second.”

“Nothing so far?”

I shook my head.

We made it all the way to Summer’s bedroom before I worked up the courage to say, “Jacky, why did Darius ask you not to show me the body?”

“I think ‘insisted’ would be a better word. He was quite adamant about it. Given his passion and the remote chance of you seeing anything, I decided it’d be wiser to capitulate.” He started repacking the box we had finished inspecting.

“Okay. Sure. Why did he insist that you not show me the body?”

“He said it would bother you. I believe he’s worried that sudden exposure to a gruesome death might affect you somehow.”

Jacky’s voice was off-hand. It was clear he had no context for the idea; he was only repeating the nonsense he’d been told by others. To be fair, it was hard to imagine him being ruffled by any kind of death. Big Jacky had probably seen them all.

The absurdity of it was almost enough to make me smile. Almost.

“How did Summer die?”

Noctis stood up and put the box back in the closet. “Sudden deceleration.”

“Huh?”

“Sudden deceleration after an eighty-five foot drop. Also, there were rocks. Redundant, I think. The impact alone should have been enough. But, I suppose, if you wanted to guarantee the skull wouldn’t remain intact…” He shrugged.

A violent shiver shook me from head to toe.

Maybe the vampire was on to something—but he could have asked.

“Did he jump or was he pushed?” I asked.

“We don’t know.” Noctis reached for the box in the corner. “This is the last one.”

The last box, in the last closet, in the last room, and we had found nothing. Jacky had warned me that we probably wouldn’t find anything, but I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

Noctis unpacked the box, one item at a time, and laid them out on the bed beside the box. It was a typical collection of junk that you might find in a college student’s closet. There was an old toy starship, an even older stuffed dog, a flint arrowhead that looked like it had been bought in a museum gift shop, a few pictures that Summer had never bothered to put out, and a pile of worn paperbacks. Their spines were cobwebbed with lines, showing how much they’d been read. Each one was a sword and sorcery fantasy.

The collection made me feel sad. Louis Summer may have been a jerk who died still owing me sixty bucks, but these sentimental treasures gave him a past and a personality I never would have seen otherwise.

Jacky pulled out a wadded up T-shirt.

Favorite band, I thought.

I was wrong.

Noctis unfolded the shirt, picked up the handgun, and laid it to the side like it was just another toy. He flipped the shirt around to make sure there was nothing else there, then he turned the box upside down and shook it.

“That’s everything,” he said.

And I swear he would have repacked it all without a second thought if I hadn’t grabbed his sleeve.

“You see something?” he asked.

“Do you not see the gun?”

He gazed down at the weapon, then turned his empty eye sockets to me. “What about it?”

“It’s a gun, Jacky. Those matter.”

“Lots of people in this country have guns.”

“Yeah, but those people aren’t involved in a murder investigation where the victim was shot in the chest! We need to tell Darius about this as soon as possible.”

“You can call him while I put everything back.”

“I can’t call him. I left my phone at the mansion.”

Jacky’s hand went to his jacket pocket. Then his pants pocket. His other hand joined the search. A few seconds later, he let his jacket fall back to his shoulders. As he straightened his suit, he cleared the throat he didn’t have.

“Exactly how urgent do you think it is to let Darius know about this gun?”