Page 107 of Cold Curses

A flush rose high on her cheeks. “Yeah, Mom mentioned that.”

“I guess you two are officially an item now.”

“Let’s not go crazy,” she said, but looked like she found that idea very agreeable.

“What were the charades about, anyway?”

“Huh? Oh. Sorry. My brain is everywhere at once.” She closed her eyes, squeezed them. Opened them again after a moment. And when she did, there was alarm in her expression. She grabbed my hand. “Shit, the demon. Dante.”

“What about him?”

“He was at the Hyde Park battle when I was working on the mural. Or right before.” She tapped the side of her head with a fingertip as if trying to settle some pieces in a place.

“Dante? No, he wasn’t there.”

“Before you got there,” she said. “I didn’t know it was him, but one of the cops showed us a picture after they got us out of the alley, and I recognized him.”

That confirmed, if posthumously, that Dante had been aware of the attack before it happened and had probably set some of it in motion. Maybe he’d gone back when it was over, and that’s when he’d gotten the copper ash on his shoes. But I couldn’t think how we could use that information now.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll add that to his file. Maybe it will lead us somewhere.”

“No,” she said. “No. That wasn’t it. That wasn’t the important part.”

She let go of my arm, closed her eyes again, went back to kneading the blanket. For a good minute she sat like that, working to straighten out her memories.

And then her eyes popped open. And I didn’t like what I saw in them.

“Ariel’s boyfriend. No, ex-boyfriend.”

“Jonathan Black?”

“Him!” she said. “Him. He was there, too. At the mural building.”

I thought she must’ve been confused. “He was there?”

“Yeah, and he was talking to Dante. He was arguing with Dante?”

I wasn’t sure if the buzzing in my blood was anger or confusion, but I guessed that the buzzing was likely to continue for a while. “What were they talking about?”

“Demons,” she said, frowning as she looked away. “Something about demons and…Oh! They were arguing about the cornerstone.”

Just before she’d been hit, Lulu had told me she needed to talk to me about something, and there’d been worry in her eyes. I’d thought she’d been hit accidentally, maybe because the demon had been aiming at me.

But maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe the demon who’d shot her had heard what she said. And maybe they’d taken aim at her.

* * *

I was running out of Cadogan House a moment later, my Auto already on the way. I reached the sidewalk as it reached the curb, and I jumped inside. It was already programmed for Black’sPrairie Avenue house. I wasn’t sure what I’d find there, but I knew I’d find something.

Black had known the cornerstone had been destroyed before we did. How? Because he’d been involved? Because a demon to whom he had some connection—maybe the person who’d hurt him—had done it? If so, why hadn’t he just told us? Did he think that was too dangerous, or did he want to ride that wave of power?

I half-thought I’d find him dead inside the mansion, with the front door left open by the upstart so I could confirm what she’d done and that she had the power to do it. And I’d still have no leads.

I closed my eyes, put my head back, and tried to think.

The upstart was powerful, a demon with her own minions and the ability to destroy them if she wanted.

“Why hasn’t she shown her face?” I asked quietly.