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But it seemed that Jon had just finished his doctorate and been hired as an associate professor at DePauw University, the college all of them had attended, so Tiffany had probably decided it was safe to start thinking about getting settled down and starting a family.

Judging by all the congratulations Caleb saw in the group, no one seemed to think it strange that she’d moved on so quickly.

Except it hadn’t been all that quick, had it? More than two and a half years had passed since that fateful night at Rubel Castle in Glendora when all the Greencastle half demons and quarter demons had been banished from this plane, even though it felt like the blink of an eye to Caleb.

Actually, scratch that. Every moment spent in Hell had been an excruciating eternity, and yet it was hard to remind himself that lives had moved on during those two years, and people were building the futures they wanted to see for themselves.

While he…?

Caleb wasn’t sure he wanted to think about that too hard. Yes, he’d gotten out of Hell and had begun to build a life for himself — a life on the surface that looked pretty damn good — but he was already beginning to understand that he didn’t want to continue in this same vein indefinitely.

And a whole lot of that depended on what Delia decided to do.

Deep down, he knew that wasn’t entirely fair.

She’d been nothing but friendly and supportive, and he knew he shouldn’t be looking to her to make his life complete, or whatever.

At the same time, though, he couldn’t quite bring himself to start dating anyone.

Delia knew the truth about him and accepted it, warts and all, while Caleb couldn’t convince himself that he’d ever feel comfortable enough with someone else to tell them exactly who — or what — he was, where he’d come from.

Luckily, he was saved from having to ponder that thorny topic any further, since the service manager paused in the door to the waiting room and said, “Mr. Lowe?”

Good thing he was used to answering to that name by now. He got up from the chair where he’d been sitting. “Yes?”

“Let’s go into the garage.”

That request sounded somehow ominous. He’d always gotten the impression that mechanics didn’t want people hanging around their cars while they were being worked on, but it didn’t seem as if the service manager had too much of a problem with him being back there.

He followed the man into the engine bay, where the Porsche was already being rolled off the lift where the techs had been inspecting the vehicle.

“What did you find?” he asked, and the service manager shook his head.

“Nothing.”

“‘Nothing’?” Caleb repeated. It wasn’t that he hadn’t heard the guy clearly, but more that his brain didn’t want to acknowledge that single word.

“There’s nothing mechanically wrong with the car,” the man said, enunciating each word clearly, as though he wanted to make sure they all adequately penetrated his client’s brain.

“We checked her from top to bottom. The brake lines are intact, and there’s plenty of brake fluid.

The traction-control system is working flawlessly.

So I don’t know exactly what happened to you yesterday evening.

All I do know is that it had nothing to do with the vehicle. ”

The news Caleb hadn’t wanted to hear, even though he’d known in the back of his mind that it was the most likely outcome. Of course the car hadn’t failed. It was a piece of engineering genius, flawless in every way.

No, this was all about demons sticking their ugly fingers where they shouldn’t.

Obviously, he couldn’t say anything about that to the service manager.

“The road wasn’t wet or anything, was it?

” the guy asked next. It seemed clear to Caleb that he was looking to give him some kind of out, a way to save face rather than admit he’d screwed up, that maybe his foot had hit the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal and he hadn’t wanted to cop to making such a rookie mistake.

“No,” he said evenly. “I was driving home from a poker tournament, and the thing just went haywire.”

Something about the service manager’s expression relaxed then. He’d probably been thinking that Caleb must have been drinking to make such a huge mistake, but since alcohol wasn’t allowed during competition, his explanation about where he’d been put the kibosh on that notion.

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with the car,” the guy said. “So you’re safe to drive it home.”

Driving it anywhere was about the last thing Caleb wanted to do. However, he could only imagine the raised eyebrows if he said he would prefer to leave it here.

But just because he wouldn’t abandon the thing here at the dealership, that didn’t mean he planned to keep it, either.

After thanking the service manager, he climbed into the Porsche and turned on the engine. The low, sexy growl of the motor made him want to rethink his decision, but he knew Delia was right.

The Cabriolet was too conspicuous…and that meant he needed to get rid of it.

A quick search on his phone located a used car dealership that specialized in exotic vehicles. He knew he was going to take a hit because of the way a car always lost value as soon as you drove it off the lot, but better to make sure it was well out of his life.

The guy at the used car dealership seemed a little skeptical that someone would want to sell a brand-new Porsche with barely fifty miles on the odometer, but even though Caleb only had the temporary registration, the title came back clean.

Ten minutes later, he was walking out of the man’s office with a cashier’s check for a hundred and twenty grand in his pocket.

But his main bank was open until one, so he took a cab over there, deposited the check, and then called a different cab to take him to the Mercedes dealership.

Nothing flashy, he told himself as he got out of the taxi, since his gaze immediately went to a red roadster sitting near the front of the lot. All right, it wasn’t quite as conspicuous as his late, lamented metallic green Cabriolet, but he was trying to be practical here.

All the same, he was buying a coupe, dammit. He wasn’t quite ready to settle for a sedan.

A salesman approached, and Caleb explained what he was looking for. After a few minutes of walking around the various vehicles, he decided a smoke-gray CLE would be a good choice. It was certainly a pretty car, but one that shouldn’t attract too much attention.

They took a test drive, although he’d already made up his mind. Still, it was good to note that the car was very smooth and had plenty of power, and should be more than adequate for his needs.

Plus, it was about eighty grand cheaper than his Porsche.

Even though he was paying cash, the paperwork still took about an hour. Finally, he was done and driving off in his new acquisition.

He could only hope it would last a bit longer than his previous vehicle. Having to continually trade in cars was going to get old real fast.

As he drove home, he wondered what Delia was up to.

It was hard to read emotion from a text — especially when you were communicating with someone you didn’t know very well — but it seemed as if Aaron was cool with her not being able to go to Cirque du Soleil tonight.

Drinks tomorrow is fine. I know it was sort of a gamble to expect you’d be free at such late notice.

They agreed to meet in the lounge at the Hard Rock…Delia figured they couldn’t get much more public than that…and the matter seemed to be settled.

She’d just put down her phone and was getting ready to transfer a load of laundry from the washer into the dryer when her phone rang.

Aaron getting back to her and saying he couldn’t make it for drinks tomorrow after all?

That didn’t make much sense, though. They’d been messaging the whole time, so she didn’t see why he’d suddenly decide to call instead.

When she hurried out of the laundry room and into the kitchen, she realized those worries had been for nothing.

The caller was Caleb.

“I took your advice,” he said without preamble, and she blinked.

“‘Advice’?”

“About the Porsche,” he explained. “The mechanics at the dealership couldn’t find anything wrong with it, so that means our little friends were having fun at my expense. Anyway, I sold it and bought a Mercedes. Nice and low-key.”

Delia wanted to smile at the idea of a Mercedes somehow being low-key, but she thought she knew what he was trying to say. “I assume it isn’t red or bright yellow?”

“Nope,” Caleb said cheerfully. “Dark gray. And it’s a mid-level model, which means there should be plenty of others driving around town.

I sold the Porsche at one dealership and then took a cab to buy the Mercedes, and it doesn’t look as if anyone was paying attention to what I was doing.

So I think we might have given them the slip. ”

She certainly hoped so. Spending half your time looking over your shoulder was no way to live.

“That’s good news,” she replied. “And I’m taking care of all my chores now, so I’ll be a complete free agent this afternoon.”

“Great.” A pause, and then he asked, “Do you want me to come pick you up?”

Maybe it would have been safer for them to take separate vehicles.

On the other hand, she wanted to see his new car — partly so she could determine for herself that it was as inconspicuous as Caleb claimed — and she had to admit there hadn’t been any sign of the demons poking around her house, or his new one.

Having him drive seemed innocuous enough.

“That would be great. What time?”

“I’ll come by around three-thirty, since I need to be at the casino a little before the official start time to sign in and do that kind of stuff.”

Delia knew she’d have the laundry finished by then — she’d slipped in the first load on her way out to her house showing — so she only said, “Sounds good. I’ll be ready.”

“See you then.”

He ended the call, and she put her phone back down on the counter. While they were speaking, she’d wondered if she should have said anything about Aegis Holdings and what Pru had been able to dig up so far.

Which admittedly wasn’t much.

All the same, there didn’t seem to be much point in mentioning any of it unless Aegis ended up making the highest offer on the house. And since Delia hadn’t heard a peep out of Evan Matthews for several days, it seemed much more likely that someone else would snap up the place.

As with so many other things in life, real estate was more of a waiting game than anything else. And until she had something concrete to give Caleb, she figured she might as well leave it alone.

With the last qualifying round coming up in just a few hours, she knew he had much more important things to occupy his mind.