call.
“Wrong number,” I heard him say, the phone’s bell ringing as he put it back on its cradle again.
I walked back down the stairs and across the yard to the driveway, then turned back to face the house. I gnawed my lip for a moment, trying to figure out my next move. Even in the dark, it was obvious the paint was peeling in sizable chunks away from the shingles. The roof looked awful, and the screen in the door was ripped across the bottom.
I glanced back at the garage. Paulie’s house was in pretty miserable shape—but he had a perfect vintage Mustang? If he couldn’t even afford to fix up the house, how could he afford to pay for the Mustang?
I didn’t know the answer, but I thought it was worth exploring. I pulled out my phone and sent a message to Jeff. “NO DICE AT THE CERMAK HOUSE. KEEP LOOKING AT THE CAR.”
I’d just gotten back into the car when Jeff called back.
“That was fast,” I said.
“We were on the same wavelength. I’ve been poring through databases since we talked earlier, and I’ve got nothing about the sale of the car. If this thing was actually sold—I mean if money exchanged hands—it was an off- the-grid sale.
The only way we’re going to be able to trace it now is if Cermak happened to tell you who sold it to him.”
“Negatory on that one. I guess that makes the car a dead end.”
“Unless you randomly bump into the guy who sold it to Cermak.”
“In a city of nearly three million? Unlikely.”
But he did give me an idea. While I couldn’t exactly cuddle up to Celina and ask her if she knew Paulie Cermak, I knew someone else who might.
I checked my watch. It was only eleven o’clock. I had time for a little trip east . . . and some Zen deep- breathing exercises before I got there, because I was going to need all the patience I could muster.
“Do me a favor, would you, Jeff? E-mail me the picture of Cermak from the video footage?”
“You got it.”
Once I’d received his e-mail, I put away the phone. I considered calling Ethan to give him an update, but the idea made my stomach roil. He’d just been on the phone with Darius, and I really didn’t want to know how that conversation had played out.
Ethan probably also wouldn’t have approved of my next trip. No—a visit to Navarre House seemed like one of those things for which it would be easier to apologize later than get permission in the first place, especially with a grouchy GP leader in the city.
Decision made, I pulled away from the curb. It was time to visit the Gold Coast.
I was halfway to Navarre House when the phone rang again. It was Jonah, so I flipped it open and nestled the phone between my ear and shoulder.
“Hi, Jonah. What’s up?”
“Just checking in. How’s the investigation progressing?”
“Well, we were able to ID the short man Sarah saw outside the bar. Found video with his car on it. Guy named Paulie Cermak. I just paid him a visit.”
“Get anything interesting?”
“Not really. He’s got a crappy house and a fabulous vintage Mustang. He’s not exactly shy about his work, but his story is that he’s a bit player. He says he’s got management running the show. The police didn’t find anything to pin on him, so I don’t think we’ll have much luck, either.”
“Any chance McKetrick’s in charge?”
“He seems to have no idea who McKetrick is.
He also says V stands for
“Truth?”
“The very same.”
“That’s awfully deep for a pill pusher.”
“That’s exactly what I thought.”
“Great minds and all,” he said, with an amusing tone in his voice. “You coming to the shindig tonight?”
“I am. You?”
“With bells on . . . and a fine Italian suit I have no choice but to wear.”
“Just be glad you only have to pull it out on special occasions,” I told him. “You guys get jerseys—we get fine Italian suits every night.”
He chuckled. “Very true. Hey, speaking of Ethan, a headsup—my story is that we met for the first time outside Temple Bar after the incident.”
“Fine by me. Have you talked to Darius this trip?”
“Not yet. I’ve been with the guards today. We were training. Why?”
“Just a heads-up, he’s kind of an ass.” I regretted the words the instant they were out of my mouth. Sure, Jonah had done me a solid, but did I really know anything about him? Other than his pretty-boy looks and ridiculous overabundance of graduate degrees?
“Well aware,” Jonah said. “He and Scott went a round about the jerseys, actually. Darius found them unbecoming of Housed vampires.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “That does sound like something he would say. I guess Scott won the battle eventually?”
“I wouldn’t say he won it per se. More like he wouldn’t give in and Darius eventually lost interest in the argument.”
“That’s a risky strategy with an immortal,” I said. “They’ve got all the time in the world to argue.”
“Speaking on your own behalf?”
“Me? Of course not. I’m not at all stubborn and completely flexible.”
“Liar,” he slyly said. “Well, I’ll stop harassing you and let you get back to it. Call me if you need me.”
“Will do. Thanks.”
I tucked the phone away again, a little weirded out by the phone call. It was nice of Jonah to check in—to work from the assumption V was a problem vamps needed to face together. All hands on deck, as it were, instead of the Sentinel going it solo.
On the other hand, the conversation had sounded a little . . . datey. He was checking in, asking what I was doing later. Maybe he hadn’t meant anything by it. Maybe he really was warming up to me and my various charms. But there was a flirty, friendly edge to his voice that I hadn’t heard before . . . and I wasn’t entirely thrilled to hear now. Flattered? Yes. But I didn’t need the complication.
I also wasn’t thrilled that I’d just given Jonah an update I hadn’t yet provided to Ethan. I didn’t like deception, especially not when it came to deceiving someone who’d saved my life once upon a time. I knew why I was withholding information from him, but that didn’t make it any more comfortable.
The irony? I’d railed against Ethan for withholding information from me. Not that it had stopped him, but it still drove me crazy. And here I was, doing the same thing. Were my reasons any better? Had his been any worse?
And although we weren’t a couple, the dishonesty felt wrong. Like a breach of the trust we’d earned, a kind of trust that went beyond Sentinel and Master. I was also missing out on using Ethan as a sounding board about Jonah and the RG. If there was any possibility he could be neutral, a second opinion would have been helpful.
But as a Master, he couldn’t be neutral. So as much as I didn’t like it, there was no clear path to the truth right now.
I nibbled on that conclusion for a while, working it over and over in my mind. I lost myself in my thoughts and the drive.
It wasn’t that vampires were antithetical to mansions. The vampire design aesthetic was far from chains,
