After retrieving our phones and my laptop, I gave Nicola instructions that I’d get hold of her via Levi, and pressed upon her the importance of going about her normal routine until she heard back from me.
“I’ve survived him this long. I’ll be careful. And Ashira?” Nicola squeezed my hand. “I don’t know what happened to Adam, but if Isaac had anything to do with it? Mi dispiace.”
“Not your fault,” I said, my throat thick.
“Please don’t let the past dictate your future.” She looked out the window, her gaze distant. “Don’t wake up one day and realize you threw away your life, your happiness, because you were scared.”
You’re talking to the wrong person, lady. “Wouldn’t want that,” I said.
Once she’d left, I sank into my comfy desk chair, my head in my hands. Stupid fucking universe determined to shove me in Levi’s path. This wasn’t a romcom.
People always underestimated the wives and mothers. Had Nicola put the bamah, the scroll, and my father together, and come up with one private investigator with a vested interest? Even if she’d manipulated me into helping her, her relief at my agreement had been real. I couldn’t go back on my word.
I exhaled slowly. Suck it up, Ash.
Levi’s phone went to voicemail, so who did I want to call for his whereabouts? Evil or the lesser of evils? I wasn’t up to sparring with Levi’s pet dragon today, so lesser of evils it was.
I hit speed dial. “Hello, Miles. It’s your friendly neighborhood Jezebel.”
“And what had already been a stressful day has now devolved into an extremely shitty one. Wonderful,” he said dryly.
“Sadly, I think that’s less a function of how delightful I am and more an issue that you need to get a life. Where’s His Lordship?”
Silence.
“Hello? Miles?” I switched over to speaker phone, put my cell on my desk and clicked on my mouse to bring my laptop to life. What was a bamah?
“You’ve gone out of your way to avoid him for two months,” he said. “Why are you looking for him now?”
“We talked about your unhealthy interest in my life. Also, I haven’t gone out of my way to do anything where he’s concerned. That would imply a level of caring I no longer possess.”
There was a rush of static and a sigh. When Miles finally spoke, his voice was far softer. “Are you going to hurt him again?”
I scoffed to cover the pain that caused me. “If I told you, that would take the fun unpredictability factor out of it. Also, fuck you. I have a case that he needs to be advised on stat.”
According to Ye Wise Old Internet, a bamah was the Hebrew word for a place of worship. The angel feather had been buried at one of Asherah’s sites near the archeological dig that Omar Tannous had worked on. Did Nicola mean buried and not closed? Could there be another important artifact that Chariot believed was hidden at a bamah, like our scrolls? And what, if anything, did Deepa’s death have to do with it?
“Is this something I should know about?” Miles said.
“It is, but you’ll have to get in line. Levi should be told first.”
Miles chewed that over for a moment. “Come to HQ. And tell Rafael. There’s another matter to discuss with everyone.”
“You going to give me a heads-up on what?”
“Nope. Levi’s office in half an hour.” He hung up before I could protest the location.
It was just a room and I was a professional. Any memories I had of it were irrelevant, and nothing to do with the circuitous route I took to get to there.
House Pacifica was the same deep crimson color that it had been for the past two months. I turned into the parking garage, shifting uncomfortably. There was no proof it was a mood ring tied to Levi and even if it was, it wasn’t my problem.
Up on the seventh floor, I strode past the artwork hung on pale gold walls and leaned on the counter of Levi’s Executive Assistant’s reception desk.
“Verrrroooniiiiicaaaa,” I sang, enjoying her grimace.
The blonde woman, impeccable as always in a houndstooth skirt and cream blouse, stood up and crossed her arms. “You are not going to distract him. He has a very important meeting in ten minutes.”
“I know. I’m part of it.”
She groaned. “No. Go back to not speaking to him again. I liked that.” She fiddled with one of her pearl earrings.
I smirked and pointed at her hand. “You have a terrible tell. Never play poker. Admit it, Levi’s been a bastard without me around.”
“Miles doesn’t know when to shut up.” She flipped through a pile of documents, adding “sign here” stickers to certain pages. “Well, Levi isn’t here yet. Wait in the reception area.”
“Can I…?” My voice wavered and I cleared my throat. “I think I need a minute to acclimatize before Levi arrives. Can I wait in there?” Confronted with the prospect of going inside, my blithe confidence wavered.
Veronica had been there the last time I’d visited the office, after I’d learned of my father’s murder. She’d shown compassion then. I hoped she would now.
She peeled off another sticker, a muscle ticking in her jaw, and I braced myself for a “no.” Something of my dismay must have shone through because her stern expression softened and she relented with a nod. “Touch anything and die.”
“And give you the satisfaction? Hardly.”
I hesitated for a moment in the doorway, because Levi’s unique magic scent permeated the air. The last time I’d visited, there’d been Sherlock Holmes books on the coffee table and that stupid lock he’d been so excited to have me teach him how to pick.
Every trace of me had been systematically removed. Even the sofa where Levi had comforted me after I learned of my dad’s murder had been replaced with a model that was similar, but not quite up to the charm of the original.
I sat down on the memory-free furniture, my head bowed and my forearms braced on my thighs. Moving on was one thing, but Levi had erased me. Why was it so easy for him?
Irritating pinging sounds grew closer.
“Ark, enough,” Miles said outside the office. “That sound is drilling into my brain.”
“My unicorns don’t stab the cherubs as effectively if I can’t hear them impaled.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Miles said.
“One more level, babe,” Arkady replied.
“That’s what you said last night.”
His boyfriend gave him a lopsided grin as they entered. “As I recall, your patience was handsomely rewarded.”
I cleared my throat and both men looked over.
Miles blushed and glowered in equal measure.
“Aw, you look like the love child of Grumpy and Bashful,” I said.
“Shut it, Cohen,” he said, and sat down in one of the extra chairs that had been set out for this meeting. Dayum, his glutes were so tight they didn’t even sag over the chair like a normal person’s.
Arkady, his black hair pulled back and in a T-shirt that said “Morally Flexible,” backward straddled a chair and returned to the game on his phone, not bothering with eye contact.
Letting people into your life was a shell game, and trust was the little ball being shuffled around. It didn’t matter how smart you were, how closely you kept your eye on the ball; at some point, you’d lift up the cup only to find empty air.