“Ha! I’ve got a dragon keeping an eye on him. Let him argue with Sam.”
He probably would. Lily’s grin spread even wider. “Yeah, but Li Qin is there, too. Even Cullen won’t argue with her. You just can’t, somehow. Have you called Rule yet?”
“I don’t—yeah, wait. Nettie’s signaling me that she’s got him on the phone now. She called Isen already. It’s a clan thing,” Cynna said apologetically, as if she were responsible. “The Rho had to hear first.”
“I guess.” Isen had declared clan-offense, after all. Lily wasn’t sure that made up for not telling Rule first, but Rule probably wouldn’t agree.
She paused to look around. She’d reached the street where her car was supposed to be, according to the patrol officer T.J. had coerced into bringing it to her. Where . . . Oh, there it was.
Things were looking up. She updated Cynna briefly on the investigation while she climbed into the oven that was her front seat, wincing when she touched the steering wheel. She got the engine started—and with it, the a/c. “Um . . . could I ask you a personal question?”
“Sure.” Cynna was still riding the cheerful wave.
“Why did you decide to marry Cullen? I mean, as opposed to living with him. Was it for the baby?”
“Yes and no, and I’ll give you more if you tell me why you’re asking.”
No mistaking the curiosity in Cynna’s voice. “I’m not having doubts,” she said firmly. “I know that marrying Rule is right. I just don’t know why.”
“Uh . . . because you love him?”
“That’s true whether I marry him or not.” Lily grabbed her headset, touched the RECEIVE button, and slid it on so she could drive. The car wasn’t anything like cool yet, but the steering wheel wouldn’t burn her fingers now. Probably. She slipped the phone into its dashboard holder and said, “With the mate bond, we’ve already got the forever thing. So why marriage, when it’s going to cause who knows how much trouble with the clans?”
“But you’re not having doubts.”
“It’s more like I need to get everything lined up.”
“Like in your closet.” Cynna chuckled. “Okay. I don’t know if it will help, but I married Cullen . . . well, two reasons, really. He needed the forever promise, so I wanted to give that to him. And I wanted us to be a family. An official family. We’d be the baby’s family without that piece of paper, but we wouldn’t be each other’s family, if you see what I mean.”
Lily had more family than she wanted sometimes. Cynna had no one. No family at all, save for a father she’d never known until a few months ago—a father who lived in another realm. “That makes good sense. Excellent sense.”
“So did I help?”
“Yes.” Not that everything had clicked into place. Lily didn’t have Cynna’s craving for family. She wasn’t convinced families were made only with official sanction, anyway. So Cynna’s reason wasn’t her reason, not exactly. But it gave her a line to tug on—just like with an investigation, really. She felt that little stirring that said she was headed in the right direction. “It did. I . . .” Her phone beeped. She glanced at the display. “Ida’s calling. I’d better take it.”
“Okay. If you need me to Find something, though—” Cynna interrupted herself with a yawn.
Lily chuckled. “Maybe later.” She accepted the call. “Lily Yu here.”
Ruben’s secretary was one of those people with a voice that didn’t match anything else about her. She spoke crisply, which fit, but the voice itself should have belonged to a torch singer or a longtime smoker. “Interpol is sending you information on a Chinese man who is suspected of performing multiple hits over at least a decade,” she said briskly. “There is no photo, but there is a composite sketch which is included as a JPEG file. Would you like me to send that to the state and local law enforcement agencies with a description, noting that he is a person of interest in this investigation?”
“Yes. Hot damn. Yes.”
“Very well. He is thought to have used various names, which will be listed in the file you receive. They believe he’s been using Johnny Chou most recently, though that was over a year ago. His preferred style is a single knife-thrust to the heart. Shall I contact Homeland Security to see if they have any record of him entering the country?”
“Absolutely. Though without a photo . . . will they have any way of checking records for him?”
“The facial recognition software won’t work with a sketch. You are correct that it’s a long shot, but they should be made aware.” She paused. “I apologize for not having extended your original search to include international agencies. You are new to this work. I should have offered you more direction.”
An apology from Scary Ida? Lily automatically responded with the kind of formality she might have used with Grandmother—had Grandmother ever done something as outrageous as apologize. “If you want me to accept your apology, I will, but I’m aware that the failure was mine. Thank you, Ida.”
Ida cleared her throat. “I would like to ask a favor.”
The mind just kept boggling. “Sure.”
“Agent Weaver was kind enough to allow me to be a hostess for her shower, even though I was unable to attend. And then this—this terrible thing happened. I’m reluctant to contact her myself when she must be terribly worried, but I am anxious for her. Would you let me know when you have news about her husband?”
So Lily got to share the good news first with, of all people, Ida.
Once she ended that call, she made another. To Rule. He picked up right away. “You heard?” she said.
“I did, and God and the Lady bless Sam for it.”
She laughed. “That’s very ecumenical of you. Cynna said Cullen used a spell Grandmother taught him.”
“Hmm. Yes, I think it was the spell Cullen traded his unlocking spell for, several months ago. This was when she told him about the Chimei.”
Lily contemplated that in silence for a moment. “No,” she said at last. “Grandmother is many things, but she isn’t pre-cognitive or prescient or any of that fortune-teller stuff. It has to be coincidence.”
“Madame Yu may not be prescient,” Rule said slowly, “but what about Sam?”
“Why does that creep me out? Ruben doesn’t creep me out.”
“Maybe because you know that Ruben doesn’t see specific, detailed events that are months or years in the future. He doesn’t manipulate the rest of us to meet those events in a specific way.”
“Oh, geez, yeah, that’s it. You think Sam could have known that much, that far ahead?”
“I have no idea. But the possibility creeps me out, too. I’ve decided not to think about it.”
Probably a good approach, she decided. “How’s Toby?”
“Busy. Excited. He and several others in his age group will be sleeping under the stars tonight. Supervised, of course. They left with Travis a couple hours ago.”
“He’s doing okay, then.” Toby had been through a lot, including being kidnapped by a nutcase who thought she could put her dead son into Toby’s body. He’d been in a drugged sleep during the rescue, so he hadn’t seen the woman killed—which was high on Lily’s list of things to be grateful for.
For a while, Toby had clung to Rule, feeling safe only when his father was near. Once they got to San Diego, though, he’d seemed to relax. “He’s felt safe at Clanhome. I hate to think that’s changed.”
Rule thought Toby was finding his footing, although, as he said, it was impossible to know what a nine-year-old was thinking. But he considered it a good sign that Toby was so keen on the hike and campout. “Though he’s annoyed that he can’t go visit Cullen yet. Ah . . . he hasn’t heard about the fire. You know what Clanhome’s like—people don’t have the news on 24/7. I . . .” Rule paused. “I feel guilty for not leveling with him.”