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Purgatory turns into phone calls.

I’m on the floor with my jacket and shoes off, and notecards in front of me, just to make sure I have my head on straight for this case, when Adams calls.“Ellis is in the hospital.Apparently,she saw his role on the committee that took that contract from Clyde as the biggest betrayal of all. She was going to kill him, but a bullet was good enough. She wanted him to beg forhis life.”

“How bad is he?”

“He had to have surgery on his arm, a pin in the wrist. He’s stable and stubborn enough to insist he be flown there tomorrow. He feels he can distract her from the other targets. He even wants to do a press conference.”

Ellis just earned a little respect from me. A little. We’ll see where that leads. “When are you coming back?”

“Tonight. I have depositions in the morning. Fucking Murphy was so obsessed with one target that he did some shitty things to end other cases.”

I notice how he doesn’t say “Society” over the phone line. He clearly knows the Society was all Murphy lived for, but just how much he knows is for later. “Ohand Ellis told me to tell you, everything he discussed with you still stands.”

In other words, Ellis still wants me to work for him and spy on Adams. And yet he trusted Adams to save his life? I’m going to need a lot of answers to work for any of these people.

My next few hours involve ME’s, the NYC chief of the police department who still wanted to know about Murphy since his murder happened on his territory, and my brother. “Soshe’s really here,” he says after I rundown what happened today.

“She is. How ready are you for her?”

“As ready as we can be. Why don’t we tell the targets to stay home?”

“If we do that, Elsa may go underground indefinitely and considering I’ve pissed her off, I need this to be her or me, sooner than later.”

We’ve just hung up when Kane calls. “I heard you were attacked by ice cream.”

“An ice cream sundae to be precise and it was excellent. When this isoverwe have to go to that ice cream shop.”

“She got too close to you, Lilah.”

“I got close to her. She had no idea I was there. And I’m going to the diner tonight with Jack to try to talk to some waitress who might know something about the mysterious other waitress. Kit and team need to stay outside.” I don’t wait for an answer. “When are you coming home?”

“It’ll be late. When I got out of my meetings, I hadten million dollar oil well start spilling. Be careful tonight.”

“I’m always careful.”

“You’re never careful.”

“No. I’ll start tomorrow.”

He lowers his voice and says something dirty to me in Spanish followed by something wildly romantic and then he’s gone. I start scribbling on my notecards. Be careful , I write.

Where was Ghost today?

I led him right to Elsa today.

But he did nothing.

Unless…she’s already dead?

No. He’d call me and brag.

My gut says Elsa and Ghost are both alive and following me and that can end only one way, and that’s bloody.Tonightcould be just another night Jack jabbers about horror movies while I don’t listen. Or…not.