"Kobe," she murmurs to herself with a grin that splits up the scar on her cheek over her dimple. "That could describe a lot of jobs. School counselor, social worker, preacher."

Venus has had experience with a lot of them.

"Good people don't last long here." She casts another look back at the hallway, and that smile falls. "Either they die or they get, you know. Twisted. Steve doesn't seem like the kind of person to twist, though."