Despite my desire to retreat into my personal cone of silence, Adam demanded to speak to me after Raphael finished briefing him on the situation. There was nothing in the world that could force me to give in to Adam’s demand, except for the knowledge that not talking to him would be a form of cowardice.
“Please don’t tell me the situation is any worse than we already know,” I begged him.
“Sorry, love,” he answered, and he did actually sound sorry. “The late Mr. Keller ‘found’ a thumb drive belonging to Hillerman, and when the police looked at it, they found the letter Hillerman had sent to Brian, as well as the doctored photo.”
“Shit.” There wasn’t anything else I could add.
“Yeah. My esteemed colleagues have had some questions for me now that they’ve seen the photo. I told them it was a fake, but they’re starting to wonder about the times I’ve taken statements from you.”
“Shit.” A good, all-purpose cuss word always comes in handy.
“I don’t think they’re going to find anything that would hurt me too badly, but it does mean I have to step back even further in this case.”
Once upon a time, I’d been a bit shocked by Adam’s casual disregard for the law, but right now, I’d have loved to have that back. He’d kept me out of more trouble than I could believe, and I couldn’t help being terrified that I’d end up in prison without his help.
“I tried to talk to Maguire’s ex-girlfriend earlier today,” Adam said in what seemed like a non sequitur, “but I never managed to reach her, and now that I’m under a microscope, I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to be seen talking to her.”
Great. Now that the demon had fled his second murdered host, we needed information to help identify him more than ever. I doubted, however, that anyone in our merry band other than Adam had the requisite skills to question the girlfriend with any success. I glanced at Raphael and amended my thought: No one but Adam could question the girlfriend without getting us into even worse trouble.
Adam read my mind. “We need to get answers from her, see if she knows anything that could help us identify our rogue.”
“Are you suggesting I go talk to her?” I asked doubtfully.
His snort of derision would have hurt my feelings—or pissed me off—if I didn’t know how badly suited I was for the job, and how conspicuous I would be if I tried to approach the girlfriend.
“No, I’m suggesting we get Barbie to go talk to her.”
“What? Are you crazy?”
“Just hear me out. It’s very important to her to keep her nose clean. If she loses her license for some reason and can’t keep up her payments to The Healing Circle, Blair’s going straight to whatever crappy nursing home has an open bed. Barbie knows it’s in her best interests to keep you out of jail, since you can so easily take her down with you.”
“And just how does she know that?” I growled, although I knew Adam far too well not to guess the answer.
“Because I drew a picture for her.”
“In other words, you’ve already sent her on a mission to interview the ex.”
I could almost hear the smug grin on his face. “I didn’t think asking your permission would be in our best interests.”
“Asshole,” I muttered. “You know you’re just handing her rope she can hang us all with.”
“I don’t get the impression she’s anxious to hang us, even if it wouldn’t have such serious repercussions for her.”
I wasn’t sure how good a judge of character Adam was, but since he’d already had his little talk with Barbie, it wasn’t looking too likely that I’d be able to undo whatever damage he may have done.
“You’d better hope you’re right,” I said, resigned.
“I do indeed,” he answered, then hung up—as usual—without saying good-bye.
The evening was already majorly sucky even before Saul arrived at Raphael’s place, but the minute he stepped through the doorway, the tension that filled the air quadrupled in intensity. Raphael acted like he didn’t notice, calmly filling Saul in, telling him about the murder of David Keller.
Saul was quiet for a couple of minutes as he absorbed the story, then he nodded briskly.
“All right,” he said, “I guess I’ll go back to Adam’s place.”
“No, you won’t,” Raphael said, and that was all it took to get Saul’s eyes glowing.
I considered attempting to take on the role of peacekeeper, but I didn’t have Dominic’s bravery or tact. Instead, I took a couple of steps backward to put some space between me and them, and I scouted out my escape route should the fur begin to fly.
Raphael’s voice remained calm, and there was no outward sign that he was preparing to defend himself. “Adam’s now under some scrutiny himself. If you go stay there, they may become curious about your identity, and that would be bad.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Saul said, then tried to duck around his father to reach the front door.
Raphael stepped between Saul and the door. “Use your brain. If they can’t identify you, they’re going to be even more curious, and they’ll start asking Adam and Dominic some difficult questions. If they aren’t satisfied with the answers, they might even bring in an exorcist to examine your aura.”
For the first time, a hint of alarm entered Saul’s face. I clamped my teeth together to keep from blurting out a stream of expletives, because Raphael was right. If Saul acted like he was hiding something, it was certainly possible they’d call in an exorcist. Pennsylvania is one of the least demon-friendly states, and it was fairly routine to submit suspects to an examination by an exorcist. After all, if you locked someone up thinking he was just your average, everyday human, and he turned out to be possessed, you were pretty likely to find yourself with an escaped prisoner and a bunch of dead guards. All it would take was the slightest pretext for the court to order an examination—which was generally considered a minor inconvenience rather than a violation of privacy—and when the exorcist found Saul was possessed and he didn’t have any paperwork to prove it was legal …
“You don’t want to be declared an illegal demon in this state,” Raphael said, hammering home his point.
I’d exorcized Saul once before, and I hadn’t had any real difficulty doing so, but Lugh contended it was only because Saul hadn’t resisted, and because I’m a particularly powerful exorcist. But if the court were to order Saul exorcized now, when I was under suspension, would another exorcist be able to cast him out? Like I said, Pennsylvania is not demon-friendly, and we’re one of only ten states that executes illegal demons that can’t be exorcized.
Saul looked indecisive.
“Whatever you think of me,” Raphael continued, “I wouldn’t want you to be killed.”
Saul gave him an unfathomable look. “It’s too late to pretend fatherly affection.”
Raphael shrugged casually. “Does it require a great deal of affection not to want to see someone burned alive? At the moment, I can’t think of a single person I hate enough to wish that fate on. Even Dougal, who would not hesitate to do it to me if he ever catches me.
“Morgan can have my guest bedroom, and you can have the couch,” Raphael continued, as if everything were settled. “I’ll stay out of the way as much as possible so you don’t have to suffer my presence.”
Saul glanced at me. “Do you have an opinion, or are you just window dressing?”
“If you’re trying to get a rise out of me,” I answered, “then give it up. I’m tired, I’m scared, and the love of my life rejected me again. I don’t have any energy left for petty quarrels.” I turned to Raphael.
“Point me toward the guest bedroom so I can go collapse. You two work out your differences without me. Or don’t. I honestly don’t care.”
I must have looked as bad as I felt, because neither Saul nor Raphael argued.