The room was so quiet, I could hear the splash as he topped up on the hard stuff — eighty-proof Zubrówka.
Bene was the first to speak up. “Hey, Mina. Do you have your phone on?”
“Yes,” she said. “Why?”
“I’m half expecting Gordon to call. He always seems to when bad things go down.”
Mina pulled her phone out of her pocket, then shook her head. No calls, apparently. Or, notyet?
When she laid it gingerly on the coffee table, everyone stared at it in anticipation.
“What are you implying?” I demanded, taking offense.
Gordon was my caring and generous godfather. He might be involved in a few off-the-books deals, but I couldn’t believe things were as dire as Mina made them sound.
Bene shrugged. “Just observing that Gordon calls at the damnedest times.”
Roux rubbed this chin. “Apropos Gordon… When Gen visited him, he mentioned sending a replacement crew here.”
“Yeah — the guys he brings in to bump us off because we know too much,” Bene joked.
I huffed. These guys saw conspiracies everywhere.
Struck by a brilliant thought, I pulled out my phone and hit speed dial.
“Why not take the initiative and call him, then?” I put my phone on speaker setting, letting the beeps of Gordon’s number echo through the room.
Mina practically jumped off the couch. “Don’t!”
“Why not?” I demanded. “Let’s get it straight from the horse’s mouth.”
“But—” she started.
“Allô?” Gordon came on the line.
Everyone leaned back like it was a grenade instead of a phone.
“Hello. It’s me, Gen,” I said cheerily, ready to disprove their unfounded paranoia once and for all.
“Oh, Gen. What a coincidence. I was about to call you.”
My jaw dropped, and Mina shot me a look that screamed,I told you so!
“Oh? What about?” I managed, hoping it would be something innocent. An offer to host Thanksgiving dinner, maybe, or questions about what I wanted for Christmas.
“Unfortunately, it’s a rather urgent and perplexing matter,” he said.
As urgent and perplexing as Claudette’s death?Mina’s dubious look asked.
“I have just returned home from an evening out to find my home broken in to.”
I gasped. Gordon was a powerful and respected warlock. Maybe even powerful andfeared. He also had a bear-shifter doorman to watch over things.
So, who would be audacious — or crazy — enough to break in to his apartment? Who had even a remote chance of succeeding?
Celeste,Marius mouthed to Mina.
“That’s terrible,” was all I could say. “What about Fabian?”
