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“You found love in a brothel?” He chuckles, drinks his drink.
“She’s not a courtesan.”
“Oh, apologies. Who is she exactly?”
“No one.” I shrug a shoulder, going for casual.
“Hm. I’d love to meet her sometime.”
Over my dead body.I think it but manage not to say it.
“Well, anyway, Craven’s been dealt with. He was a bit lax in his hiring practices, wasn’t he?” Does this mean he knows who Blue truly is?
Jericho clears his throat. “To what do we owe the pleasure of our invitation, Councilor?”
He sets his drink down and checks his watch. “It was good to have you both participate in the charity event the other night. It’s rare we get to see the St. James brothers at Society events. Why is that?”
“No particular reason,” Jericho says with a shrug of his shoulder.
The Councilor turns to me, that false smile on his face. He is enjoying this. “Ezekiel, I know you’ve been growing the family business in Europe. Good for you. I am curious, my counterparts in Amsterdam never even knew you were in their beautiful city. Why is that?”
I swallow more of my drink. “I didn’t realize attendance was taken.”
“Well, you know we’re a tight-knit group. Most members, with very few exceptions, you being among those, are born into The Society. Perhaps you should make more effort to integrate.”
“Perhaps.”
Jericho clears his throat.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t invite you to chastise you. I just, well, honestly,” he starts, looking around as if checking for spies hiding in the bushes before leaning forward, forearms on his knees. “Did you know most comings and goings from the IVI compound are recorded?” he asks, then holds his arms up, palms toward us. “For our members safety of course. Nothing sinister about it.”
“Of course,” Jericho says.
I swallow the last of my drink and hold my glass up to Reeves who refills it.
“As a Councilor of The Tribunal, I am privy to all security recordings. In fact, I have taken it upon myself to view them on a regular basis and my fellow Councilors have come to rely on me to do so.”
“Must get boring,” I say.
“On the contrary. Incredible the things people get up to when they don’t know they’re being observed.” His eyes narrow, and he momentarily drops the fake smile. “The night of the charity, there was an,” he pauses as if searching for the right word. “Unfortunate incident.” He turns his gaze to me. “I believe you may know something about that, Ezekiel?”
I raise my eyebrows in confusion. “Do enlighten me.”
He draws a deep breath in, picks up his whiskey and sips, then sets it down. He faces us squarely. “One of my men was found dead in a staff room.”
I pause for a beat, trying to muster up an expression of surprise. “Oh?”
“Bleeding out, to be more direct. Quite the mess.”
“We hadn’t heard anything,” I say. “Isn’t proper procedure to put the compound on lockdown in such a case? For everyone’s safety, of course.”
Irritation flares in his eyes. “I mentioned I’m the first to study footage.”
“You did,” Jericho says.
“Let me cut to the chase, gentlemen.” He studies both Jericho and I before turning his gaze squarely on me. “I know what you did, Ezekiel.”
I don’t say a word. Instead, I wait. I meant what I said to Blue. I’m not afraid of this monster because I, too, can be monstrous.
