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“Oh, this is my date,” said Madison, pulling him closer. “Jimmy. James, I mean. He’s--” She hesitated as she glanced at Darius. “He’s not from around here.”

“Interesting.” Darius offered a hand. “You seem a bit underdressed, friend. Not that I’m one to judge people on that sort of thing.”

After a beat, he took Darius’ handshake with a confident laugh. “Oh yeah, the outfit. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m actually a billionaire in disguise. This is all a very delicate undercover operation.”

And to the man’s credit, Darius returned a laugh of his own, though it seemed more polite and uncertain than actually amused. Darius turned his attention back to Madison.

Their conversation meandered between pleasantries and probably a few veiled jabs at one another, but he wasn’t interested enough to keep listening. Instead, he scanned the crowd and tried to focus on the other conversations going on around him. Though, really, his search would be dramatically simplified if he could just spot one of those ethereal crows.

Then came the interruption that he’d been expecting for the last hour.

‘So how’s it going?’

‘Fine,’ he said.

‘You sure? ‘Cuz I can still book it on over there, if you need me.’

‘I don’t.’ Having a reaper following him around would just give his position away to any other servants here. But she knew that already and was probably just bored.

‘You find your lead yet?’ she asked.

‘Still looking.’

‘I really hope this one pans out. Why isn’t there just like a number we can call, huh? A hotline or something. You’d think someone called the Peacemaker would be easier to make contact with.’

‘You should tell her that after we find her.’

‘I know you’re being sarcastic, but fuck you, maybe I will.’