“Okay, spill. What the hell is going on? Why do I have all these guards? What were you doing last night? What happened with that demon? You came in all glassy-eyed and weird last night.” She shoveled a bite of waffle in her mouth and looked at me expectantly.
I started by telling her about my meetings with my grandmother and Osiris.
“So, who’s guarding you?” she asked.
I heaved a sigh. “I assume you’ve got the B team, and I probably have at least three members of the A team guarding me around the clock. I’ve spotted a couple of them, and it’s not a coincidence that they’re the same guardians who used to follow me when I was in high school and university.”
Kirsten smiled and nodded. “I remember.”
She noticed that I skirted around my meeting with Ashvial. “What aren’t you telling me? What happened with that demon?”
So, I told her. After all, she was the one who supplied me with the charm and the potion.
“And how do you feel about that?” she asked when I’d finished.
I thought about it. Really thought about it, and examined my feelings.
“I’m terrified,” I finally said. “For the first time, I understand how someone can become addicted to Rifters. My God, Kirsten, I’ve never felt that good in my whole life.”
She nodded. “Well, we’ve finally confirmed that you’re normal. Dani, that’s what demons do. That’s why we fought them—to prevent them from subjugating the whole human race. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, just something to be aware of. You’re too strong to allow him to take over.”
I allowed what she said to sink in. “You don’t think I’m a weak-willed demon slut?”
Kirsten laughed. “Not at all. A dumb fool sometimes, but never weak-willed or a slut. Finish your breakfast.”
“Thanks for the rousing vote of support.”
“Do you need a ride to work?”
“No, Novak’s going to pick me up.”
“Oh, well, I’d better get a little more undressed, then.”
Most people would have meant that as a joke, but Kirsten purposely dallied and answered the door in a bra and panties when Mychal rang the bell. She made a pretense of being embarrassed, yelled for me, and then ran upstairs. He still had a gobsmacked look on his face when I appeared a couple of minutes later.
Novak took me by the motorcycle shop, and I picked up my bike’s repaired rear wheel, then we went in to the station.
I didn’t expect to hear from Ashvial soon, if at all, so Novak and I dove into tracing out all the connections to our suspect list. He had a talent on the computer, and seemed to enjoy following a records trail, so I let him go in that direction.
I made an excuse that I had personal errands I needed to run, put my bike back together, and went back home. It was much easier to drop my consciousness into the matrix of the datanet when I didn’t have to pretend to type.
When I jacked in, I checked on Johansson’s accounts again. Most of them had a hold on them, the banks having been notified of his death. A couple of the large business accounts had multiple names on them, and those were still active. His oldest son from his first marriage seemed to have taken charge. I made a mental note to check on the Family and its inheritance structure. There wasn’t any standard model, and each Family had its idiosyncrasies.
But the main line of inquiry I wanted to pursue was Ashvial’s monetary dealings. With demons’ inability to comprehend human technology, and their lack of experience with human commerce, I knew he had to employ humans to run his financial affairs. And all human finances went through banks. I had no idea how they handled such things in the demon world. I had never asked anyone, but I had a vague idea that they sat on their hordes like mythical dragons.
Most banks and accounting firms were extremely reticent to divulge their client lists, so the first thing I had to identify was who he did business with. Hacking into the computers of the major liquor and food distributors in the area was fairly simple, and I soon identified his suppliers. From there, it was easy to find his payments and trace them back.
Ashvial contracted an accounting firm, but employment records also showed that he had a large internal accounting staff. Larger than should be needed by Lucifer’s Lair. He also had two banks, one used by the external accounting firm, and the other used by his internal staff.
Four hours later, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on. The internal accounting staff and the Caribbean bank they used did business with Martin Johansson, Fredo’s Fantasies, Dorothy’s Dungeon, and a dozen other similar businesses in the metroplex. Ashvial also did business with the Akiyama shipping company Johansson had connections to. Along the way, I found that Ashvial and Akiyama were the source of funding for Johansson’s investment in the North African casino.
Nothing of what I’d found could be used in court, and none of the Families would be pleased to have Akiyama’s and Johansson’s dirty laundry aired in public. But one Family would be happy to have the information. I picked up the phone.
“Hello, Grandmother. Are you busy this evening? Oh, I thought I might drop by for dinner and we could catch up. About seven? I’ll see you then.”
Chapter 32
I paid attention at shift change, and as a result, identified all of the day and evening crew guarding me. My grandmother and Osiris were more worried than they let on. My guardians were the best Findlay could field.
The Families were rich and powerful, but most people didn’t understand how they came to prominence. During
