13
“Maybe just one more.” Gemma reaches into a velvet bag, fishing around for another amethyst.
“If I have any more protection charms on me, it’s going to be obvious,” I tell her as I pull my hair into a braid over my shoulder. It’s nearing the time to go to meet this mysterious Mr. Trent for lunch. I’m only a little nervous, which might be a bad sign. I don’t want my anger to cloud my judgment, but dammit, I’m pissed.
Though, can you really blame me?
I’m sitting in the kitchen, nibbling at the food in front of me, and Gemma is scurrying around the house trying to charm anything she can find to help protect me.
“It’ll be fine,” I assure her, though we both know I can’t promise that. “I’m going to be in a public place, and I’ve already set up a meeting with Nick for an hour after I’m meeting Mr. Trent. So if I don’t show up…”
Gemma nods, face relaxing just a bit. “Another cop will know something is up.”
“Right. And you know all the details of this meeting. If Mr. Trent does something to hurt me, he’ll get caught.”
“He doesn’t seem to care about consequences, though.”
I take another bite of food and push my plate away. My phone rings, and both Gemma and I freeze.
“It’s Nick,” I say before I answer.
“Ace, hey,” he says. “I know we’re meeting up soon, but I figured you’d want to hear this sooner than later.”
“What is it?”
“I looked into the names of those kids you gave me. Two are dead and two were reported missing.”
“Shit.”
“My thoughts exactly. And all these kids have murdered parents?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re onto something big here, Ace.”
“I might be.” I close my eyes, cringing. “Just…just keep this between us for now. I’m still working out the theory. I’ll explain things better later.”
“Sure, I won’t say anything. Though I do wonder about your thoughts on one thing.”
“What one thing?”
“It can’t be the same killer. The first murder was a hundred years ago.”
“Yeah…I, uh…” Fuck. I’m floundering. As nice as it would be to have another cop helping me gather intel on these sorts of things, I can’t very well just come out and say it. I’d sound crazy for one, and two, I don’t want to get anyone else involved if I can help it. No one innocent needs to die.
“I’m still trying to see the connection,” I finally say. “I’ve got to go run some errands. I’ll see you later. You have the files, right?”
“Yeah, I got ’em. See ya, Ace.”
I hang up and rub my forehead, trying hard to keep my inner zen. I really don’t want to burn down the kitchen right now. Gemma worked really hard to get it spotless this morning, which served as a distraction from her nerves.
“That didn’t sound good.” She sits across from me at the table.
“It wasn’t. I sent Nick the names of those kids and he said two are dead and two are missing.”
“Jacques was right, then. The demon has been after the children all along.”
“Yeah, which means Evan is in danger.”
