My Demon Husband novel · Chapter 7 of 32

Chapter 7: The Fine Print

I sat on the bottom step with the phone against my ear.

"Lacey," I said. "Can you get us into the records room?"

"Us?"

"Me and my husband."

There was a long pause.

"You know what, I'm not even going to ask yet," she said. "Monday. After closing. Bring snacks."

The records room is in the basement of the courthouse, under the filing windows.

It's every lease, notice and judgment the court has touched in ten years, in gray metal cabinets.

At five-thirty on Monday, Lacey unlocked it with her key ring and flipped on the lights.

Malphas ducked under the door frame.

Lacey looked at him, then at me.

"Okay," she said. "Explain."

"Greaves Holdings is killing its tenants," I said.

"That's a lot for a Monday."

"Every lease they've written for three years has something hidden on the back. When they evict you, it takes years off your life. That man on Friday was charged four months. He lost twenty-eight years."

Lacey looked at Malphas again.

"And what's he? Your expert witness?"

"He's a demon."

She laughed.

Malphas looked at the light bulb over the cabinets.

It went out. Then on. Then out, and on again, in time with her laugh.

She stopped laughing.

"Oh, I hate that," she said. "Do it again."

He did it again.

"Okay," Lacey said. "Okay. He's a tall drink of no, but okay. Which cabinet?"

We pulled every Greaves file in the building.

There were boxes of them. We stacked them on the long table and opened the first one.

Lease after lease. Same broker. Same blue ink with the hook on the G.

I turned the first one over.

The back looked blank for one breath.

Then the red scratches came up at the bottom.

This time they held still.

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