Chapter 24

I let out a massive breath of relief when the door to The Seven Deadlies closed behind us. I really hated that place, and if there was any justice in life, I’d never have to set foot in it again. Of course, I hadn’t seen a whole lot of evidence that justice abounded in the world. Call me cynical.

We drove back to Raphael’s place in silence. If I were anywhere near my normal self, I’d have been pestering Raphael for theories the moment we got into the car. As it was, I just waited patiently for him to get around to explaining what was on his mind. If I pestered it out of him now, we’d have to repeat it all for Saul anyway.

I’m sure Raphael noticed my abstraction, but he didn’t bug me about it, which was a nice change from hanging out with Adam or Brian. Not that I’d be hanging around with Brian anymore. I swear my heart stopped beating for a moment at that thought.

The tableau that greeted us when we entered Raphael’s house was … unexpected. From the tension in Raphael’s body, I knew he was concerned that somehow Barbie would have managed to betray us even with Saul to keep watch on her. He didn’t relax one iota when he saw Saul and Barbie cozied up on the couch together.

They were sitting close enough to give a sense of intimacy, and each had a glass with some kind of amber-colored alcoholic beverage on the rocks. Barbie’s body was angled toward Saul, and her smile was practically coquettish. Saul, on the other hand, wore the smile of a big bad wolf. A hungry big bad wolf.

They moved apart a little as Raphael and I joined them in the living room. Barbie stared down into her glass, a smile still playing around the corners of her mouth. Saul crossed his legs and—very subtle—rested his hand with the drink in it over his thighs. He and Raphael shared a hostile glare.

“I think it’s time for you to leave now, Ms. Paget,” Raphael said, his eyes still locked with Saul’s.

Barbie’s eyes widened, and she looked back and forth between Raphael and Saul. Once again, they were piquing her curiosity, which didn’t seem like a good idea to me. However, short of duct-taping both their mouths shut, I wasn’t sure what I could do about it.

“I’ll walk you to the door,” I said, giving Barbie a rueful smile. “I wouldn’t want you to perish of testosterone poisoning.”

Laughing, she put down her drink and touched her hand lightly to Saul’s shoulder. I was impressed to see that that touch was enough to distract Saul from his staring contest.

“It was great to meet you, Saul,” she said, a twinkle in her eye.

“The pleasure was all mine,” he answered, then took her hand and raised it to his lips like some old-fashioned courtier.

They were both laying it on so thick I wanted to gag. However, it might make life a lot easier for Dominic and Adam if Saul’s attentions were fixed elsewhere, so I had no objection to their flirtation.

“Don’t kill each other while my back is turned,” I muttered to the guys as I fulfilled my promise and walked Barbie to the door.

“You sure you don’t want me to stay where you and your friends could keep an eye on me?” she asked with a grin.

“Nice try,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“So you’re going to send me home without telling me how things went at The Seven Deadlies?”

“Looks like it,” I agreed. I was already putting way more trust in her than was strictly wise, but I was hardly going to tell her all about my demon troubles.

We’d reached the front door, and I politely held it open for her. Of course, I wasn’t lucky enough to have her slip out quietly without any parting words. She stopped in the doorway and looked up at me. The smile was gone, as was the sparkle in her eyes.

“Is he an illegal?” she asked quietly. There was no sense of menace or malice in her question, just honest curiosity.

My heart tried to jump up into my throat, though I attempted to make my face look confused. “Huh?”

Her lips twitched. I guess I hadn’t hid my shock all that well. “It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other,” she said. “Even if I were in the position to go blabbing to the police about it, I wouldn’t.” Her face softened. “Whoever he is, whatever he’s doing here, he’s a really nice guy.”

Oh, brother. “Nice” was not a word I could imagine associating with any of the demons I knew.

I didn’t know what to say to her. I wanted to ask how she’d known that Saul was a demon—we certainly hadn’t introduced him as such, and I doubted he’d told her. But I was sure she’d make more out of anything I said than I’d want her to. So I ignored the whole topic.

“Thanks for all your help tonight,” I said instead.

“Anytime. And you have my number in case you change your mind about the ice cream binge. I’m pretty sure that convenience store is open 24/7.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” To my surprise, a lump formed in my throat. The image of pigging out on ice cream while pouring out my heartache with an understanding girlfriend was more attractive than I’d ever have imagined. I closed the door and returned to the living room before I said anything stupid.

Raphael and Saul were still glaring at each other, and I would have thought they’d sat there immobile and quiet as statues while I was gone, except that the heightened color in their cheeks suggested an escalation of hostilities. Once again, I had the temptation to bang their bricklike heads together.

“Knock it off, you two,” I said.

Raphael was the first to break off the stare, sitting back in his chair and looking over his shoulder at me. “I was merely suggesting that you and Saul relocate to a more secure position, now that Barbie knows where you’re hiding.”

“And I was saying that just because he’s a traitorous, backstabbing liar doesn’t mean everyone is,” Saul retorted. “And her name is Barbara.”

Irritated as I was with the two of them, I had to swallow a laugh. So much for Saul’s undying love for Dominic! It seemed Barbie had wrapped him around her finger in the span of only a couple of hours. Color me impressed.

“Saul and I are staying here,” I declared, hoping that would end the argument. “If Barbie is going to screw us, it probably doesn’t matter where we are.” And personally, I thought the only person she was interested in screwing was Saul. “Now,” I continued without giving Raphael a chance to protest further, “let’s talk about next steps.”

I briefed Saul on what Raphael and I had learned when we talked to Shae, then turned to Raphael.

“I got the feeling you made more out of the information we learned than I did. Care to share your theory?”

I think he still really wanted to convince me and Saul that Barbie was going to stab us in the back, but he’s not an idiot. He had to see that there was no way in hell we were budging. His lips pressed together in a tight line momentarily; then he gave up the fight.

“Let’s see if you come to the same conclusion I have when I put all the related facts together in the right order. The story begins when Tim Simms goes to Shae and asks her to recommend someone who can discreetly falsify photographs that make it look like Jordan Maguire is cheating on Jessica. Shae helps him out, he gets the photos, he shows them to Jessica. He then whips Jessica into such a frenzy that in a jealous rage she helps him frame Jordan for hitting her.

“The state of Pennsylvania, with its ever-so-compassionate zero-tolerance policy, orders Jordan’s exorcism. Morgan steps up to the plate and performs the exorcism, successfully sending Jordan’s demon back to the Demon Realm.

“Then suddenly, she starts getting death threats, is sued for negligence, gets a gruesome package in the mail, and finally is framed for murder.”

“You’re forgetting the little part about Maguire dying,” I said dryly.

“No, I’m not. I said I’d put all the relevant facts in order.”

Naturally, I bristled. “I think the death of a human being is quite relevant!”

“In an abstract sense, yes, but not necessarily to this case.”

“What the hell are you—” My voice choked off as suddenly the facts, as Raphael had recited them, kicked into place. Could it be that we’d had the motive all wrong from the very beginning? “Abraham isn’t after me because Jordan Maguire died,” I said, probably sounding as stunned as I felt. “He’s after me because Jordan Maguire’s demon didn’t die.”

Raphael nodded. “We all know you’re an extraordinarily powerful exorcist, no doubt because of your unique genetic background.” He hurried on before I could make an issue of his part in my “unique genetic background.” “You can exorcize demons that ordinary exorcists couldn’t handle.” Here, he gestured at Saul. “So what if Maguire’s demon wasn’t just some garden-variety demon? What if he was one of the elite and powerful? The elite are less likely to walk the Mortal Plain than those of lower rank, but it does happen.

“Murder is virtually impossible in the Demon Realm unless there’s a huge power imbalance. That’s why Dougal had to get Lugh on the Mortal Plain to try to kill him.”

Saul laughed bitterly. “You found an effective way to murder my mother.”

Raphael didn’t rise to the bait. “Delilah didn’t have to keep pouring energy into you, so technically it wasn’t murder. Besides, I don’t think Dougal was going to convince Lugh to have his love child.”

“You dare to make jokes about it?” Saul cried, and the glow was in his eyes once more. If this was the best he could do at controlling his temper, it was a wonder he hadn’t killed someone and gotten himself exorcized within the first week he’d set foot on the Mortal Plain.

“Saul!” I snapped, knowing I had to seize control of this situation. “Raphael’s an asshole, and we all know it. Just accept that reality and deal with it already!”

For a moment, Saul turned that glowing, furious gaze my way. I felt a strange stirring sensation in my brain, which I sensed was Lugh getting ready to take control if necessary.

Anyone with a modicum of good sense would have been intimidated by the anger of such a dangerous demon, but I found good sense highly overrated. My pulse didn’t even ratchet up as I faced him down.

“You’re no good to Lugh or to his council if you can’t control yourself. Stop the temper tantrums, or I’ll send you straight back to the Demon Realm, and not even Lugh will argue to keep you here.” Right? I added as a mental aside to Lugh. He didn’t answer, but I could see from the way that Saul flinched that my reprimand did not fall on deaf ears. He didn’t apologize, but he hung his head in defeat and didn’t say anything else.

As if he hadn’t been interrupted, Raphael continued. “So my theory is that Abraham had some kind of terrible, long-standing grudge against Maguire’s demon. He probably had to bide his time for a long while until they were both on the Mortal Plain at the same time, in proximity to each other, and in an execution state.

“His plan seems to work like a charm, and his long-awaited revenge is on the verge of success. He knows Maguire’s demon is too powerful to be exorcized, and he’s just orchestrated the perfect murder. There’s no chance that he will pay the price for it, since no one in the Demon Realm can possibly know what he’s done.”

I found myself nodding along with the explanation. “And then I came along, and instead of the demon being burned to death in Maguire’s body, I sent him back to the Demon Realm.”

“Where you can bet he’s informed the demon authorities of what Abraham tried to do. And if Abraham ever sets foot in the Demon Realm again, he will be imprisoned for all eternity, since our laws on murder are harsh. So not only did you foil his plan for revenge, you also condemned him to imprisonment—or permanent exile on the Mortal Plain.”

I remembered Hillerman’s almost manic giggle when he’d faced my confusion over his motive. When I’d thought he was only human, my assumption had been that he was a bit cracked. I don’t know why I hadn’t allowed for the idea that the demon might be a bit cracked himself.

I was pondering what good our newfound information about motive would do us when Raphael’s phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, then frowned.

“Adam,” he informed us as he answered.

I joined him in frowning. Adam was supposedly staying as far away from this case as possible, and since he was at least slightly under suspicion—though it wasn’t clear suspicion of what—it didn’t seem like calling my hideout was the wisest move.

It didn’t take more than about two seconds for me to see that this was an emergency. Raphael’s face turned white, and his eyes widened. He dropped the phone and leapt to his feet, crossing the distance between us and grabbing me by the arm.

“Saul, stay here!” he ordered as he dragged me toward the door.

“What?” Saul and I chorused together.

“The police will be here any moment. You can’t be seen aiding and abetting, so stay here!” The last was a full-fledged bellow.

Saul looked as confused as I felt, but at least for the moment, he didn’t move. Raphael hauled me out the front door and slammed it behind him.

“What are you doing?” I gasped. His grip on my arm was so brutal my hand was falling asleep.

He didn’t answer, but we hadn’t gotten more than about twenty paces from the house before I understood. Three police cars were tearing down the street, sirens wailing. Raphael practically posed us under one of the streetlights, and before I could even blink, we were surrounded by shouting cops with guns.

If we’d stayed in that house even one or two more minutes, the cops would have stormed the place and found Saul as well.

“Still think Barbie’s pure as the driven snow?” Raphael inquired, but I didn’t get to answer, because I was being wrestled to the ground, even though I wasn’t resisting. And moments later, Raphael collapsed to the pavement as the cops Tasered him.