Page 52 of A Shade Too Far
“What about Estrella? Did she know she was getting the gloves?” I placed the discarded jokers in the box. “Has anyone spoken to her?”
“Can’t,” Naveen said tightly. “Lonestars found her body Sunday morning. They estimated she’d been killed twenty-four hours earlier. Guesses as to whose invitation the dybbuk-woman entered Torres’s party with?”
“Dead end,” Emmett said. When everyone turned to him with varying looks of annoyance, he shrugged. “Like you weren’t all thinking that.”
“What’s your sense on Torres’s bodyguards betraying him?” Laurent said.
“I’d bet my life they’re loyal.” Naveen checked a note on his phone. “As was the guard who checked the invitation. Even from Miriam’s vague description, the intruder could be confused for Estrella. And as you said, fingerprint scans can be faked. We’ve spoken to Estrella’s inner circle. None of them know anything about this other woman. Or are claiming they don’t.”
“They probably don’t,” Tatiana said. “Whoever that Ohrist who killed Santiago is, she’ll keep her secrets close. Telling Estrella might have been necessary to her plans, but she tied up that loose end.” She frowned at her cards and abandoned the half-finished game.
“She wasn’t enthralled and then flipped to full possession during the fight either,” Laurent said. “The letter Santiago received, stealing the invitation, killing Estrella, this was methodic. A premeditated murder, and within the range of behavior of a dybbuk-possessed host.”
Even if that was the case, the dybbuk’s actions once free were all kinds of wrong. I should have sensed it and I should have seen the woman’s diseased shadow at the fight.
Above all, I should have been able to easily kill the dybbuk when it attacked me. My ease at dispatching them formed a rare solid corner of my house of cards. No longer.
“I’ll put out feelers among some people,” Tatiana said. “Find out if they’ve heard anything about a new hitwoman using dybbuks.”
“Why do you think she’s a hitwoman,” Naveen said, “and not someone with a personal vendetta over the gloves?”
“Killing Santiago in front of that crowd was designed to make a statement,” Tatiana said. “She was establishing herself in a big way. If she isn’t an assassin, then it’s some other criminal ploy.”
“Oh good, that narrows things down.” I gathered up the cards, stacking them in an orderly pile. “Zev won’t hand over the gloves either.” My pronouncement was met with three versions of “I told you so” and a golem snort. “But he did give me a way to get answers. Tatiana, what do you know about the Wise Brothers? Are they a viable option?” My leg bounced restlessly.
“I haven’t heard that name in years, but I can’t tell you much, aside from the fact they have a reputation for being the preeminent dealers in information.”
“Visa, Mastercard, ten years of my life…what payments do they accept?” I said.
Tatiana shook her head in frustration. “The most anyone ever told me about their visit was that they lost more than they gained. I suspect visitors aren’t capable of discussing the encounter after the fact.”
“That’s out, then,” Laurent said and placed a hand on my jittery leg.
“It’s the only way,” I protested, stuffing the cards back in the box.
“No, it’s not,” Emmett said. “Mr. BatKian has a vial that will let me tap into all knowledge.”
I blinked. How had he found out? Did Zev go behind my back and tell him? “You’re talking nonsense,” I said, hoping I could shut Emmett up and debating whether to have Delilah knock him out to keep him safe.
“Am not.”
“Great.” Laurent gave me a weird look and raised his hand. “I vote for that.”
“The vial isn’t an option,” I said.
Naveen’s eyes darted from me to my purse, and I put my hand protectively over the zipper.
“Jude didn’t tell you the vampire came to visit her a couple weeks ago, did she?” Emmett said.
I did a double take. It’s not like Jude had to report back, but didn’t I deserve to know about any follow-up encounters after rescuing her from Zev’s bad books? She’d promised she was through with all that.
“Is she working for him again?” I said in a light voice, vowing to throttle my best friend if she was.
“Get real. Mr. BatKian said he had something crucial he needed to know and offered her a lot of money to give me whatever was in the vial, but she refused.” The golem frowned and looked down at his fat bare feet. “It was before he hired Tatiana. I think he wanted a surefire way to get the gloves out of the vault.”
I tightly interlaced my fingers. “Did he threaten either of you?”
Emmett shook his head.
