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I smiled at him faintly. “Seeing vampires everywhere?” I asked.

“Not so far, no. Which is thegoodnews, doc.”

I nodded slowly, my eyes back on the passing landscape.

“And you know, this probablydoesall make sense,” Black pointed out. “Or it will, very soon. We just don’t knowhowit makes sense yet.”

“The missing piece.” I took a sip of my own wine. “Is that what you’re waiting for?”

“Something like that, yes.”

I stared out the window at a view of distant mountains, a vineyard spread out before us, edged by trees in bloom. Why was I so unwilling to let this go? It was like some part of me justcouldn’t.It felt too important, somehow, like we were on the edge of something.

I didn’t look over when I began to speak.

“So, just so I have this straight… you and Nick’s theory is, Brick found out about Rucker’s implants and decided to takeover that technology for himself?” I watched Black’s eyebrow arch, my voice neutral. “Brick decided to use Jem to obtain prototypes, and to help him take over Rucker Enterprises? Partly as a fuck you to Jem himself, of course, but maybe in the hopes of forcing Nick back into the fold?”

Black studied my face, his gold eyes a touch wary.

“More or less,” he said. “Yes, doc.”

“Maybe Charles was in business with Rucker already, and Brick found out,” I suggested. “Or do you think Rucker got access to seer tech some other way? Maybe from someone in Charles’ camp who was selling to the black market?”

At Black’s silence, I turned back to the window.

“And then, what?” I continued mildly. “Brick doesn’t juststealthe implant… he venoms a Prometharis scientist to implant Jem, instead. Jem starts acting weird as fuck to Nick, leaves Nick in Santa Cruz, among other things. And again, instead of just venoming Rucker to sign everything over to him, or simply to run the company for him to disguise his involvement, Brick has JemshootRucker. Is that it?”

When Black only looked at me, I frowned. “Then… what? Brick orders Jem to start hunting down anyone who knew about organic technology and trafficked seers?”

Black clicked softly under his breath.

He took another long swallow of the red wine.

He didn’t look annoyed, exactly, more like he didn’t want to do this anymore. The conversation had run its course, in his mind.

I considered letting it go, but again, I justcouldn’t.

“So,” I continued. “Brick decides to move on to Frasier and Ungerman. But he doesn’t send Jem to kill them right away. No, he waits untilyouask Jem to talk to Fraiser about something totally unrelated. Once you do, Jem offers to go to New York… presumably because Brick makes him, correct? And all of this isbecause… why? So Ben and Rory can’t tell anyone about Aura or the implants? So does Brick already know about Aura, then?”

I waited for Black’s answer.

When he still didn’t give me one, I wrung my hands together in my lap.

My voice sounded tight to my own ears.

“And howdoesAura fit into all of this?” I asked. “Is she just an extra guinea pig for Brick to experiment on? Why would Brick need that, if he already has Jem?” I paused again. “Why not just take over Prometharis, now that Rucker is out of the way?”

Black leaned over the table. He laid a warm hand over both of mine. His voice deepened, even as it grew more gentle. “Hey, doc. I’m the first to admit… we don’t know a lot of this yet. Wecan’tknow a lot of it yet. Not until we catch up with them.”

“But do you see how none of this makes sense, when you put Brick at the center of it?” I asked, my eyes darting between his. “Even the list of victims. Even in Paris, just now. This isn’t about the implants, not really. It’s about seer trafficking. It’s about Aura. Silver? Rory? Rucker? Ben?That’sthe connection, Black. You said Ben was on those sex tapes you found in Rucker’s house. The ones with Aura. We can probably guess Rory was on them, too.”

I studied his face, looking for an understanding I couldn’t find in my own mind. I thought about Aura, about the recordings they’d found, and my jaw clenched.

“And again, why kill Rucker at all?” I asked Black. “Why not simplybiteRucker, and use him as cover? If Brick wanted control over Rucker’s companies, isn’t Rucker far more valuable to him alive?”

“I don’t know, doc,” Black repeated.

“But you have anopinion––”I began.