Emperor's End (The Ripple System #5)

by Kyle Kirrin

“Then she’s suddenly interested in an item she won’t name, but she really, really wants to know how long it’ll be before people get suspicious about the fact that whatever it is is now missing.” “Now you’re just reaching.” “Then she meets Erasmus and does the world’s most boring tour guide act to drive us away so she can get him alone.” “Not what actually happened.” “Then the last time we see the guy, she’s leading him into a windowless box of a building that’s full of pigs, and also the tour is gonna last two hours and we can’t take breaks so she clearly doesn’t want us inside. “Then he’s never seen again, but we’re expected to believe that he caved completely and left Bella here with House when his explicit goal was collecting the cat from the very beginning.” I paused. “That last bit was sort of weird, I’ll give you that. But she flat out said she’d never hurt another animal lover.” “As long as it could be avoided,” Frank corrected. “And by the way, she didn’t become interested in pigs until well after I made that comment about using them to dispose of bodies as a kid. And I didn’t hear any other animals bumping around in there.” I stopped in place in the center of the crowded room with people standing and drinking all around me. “That is… a much more convincing argument than I was expecting. But you can officially relax: House still can’t lie, man.” He was silent for a very long time. “Oh. Well damn, I forgot about the itchy teeth.” “Yup. And I’ve been watching her eve...