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My phone rang, and I picked it up without thinking. “What?”
“A ray of sunshine this afternoon, aren’t you?” Razai asked. “What’s on your mind, Detective?”
“People are prejudiced dicks.”
“The incubus was totally set up,” he stated.
I slammed my hand on the table. “Thank you! The senator is a snake.”
“Absolutely. It’s hilarious that no one is noticing this. I bet they’ve been an illegal couple for the last year. That poor demon.”
“I doubt the sex was even good,” I added. “For the incubus, I mean. Even with Demonic power, you can only make up for so much.”
Razai’s delighted laughter sounded distant, like he’d moved the phone further away. Still, it made me smile.
Not that I’d admit that to him.
His voice was close again. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s secretly adventurous. Maybe he’s got an entire dungeon.”
“That is terrifying. I’d take the demon over a senatorial archangel’s sex room.”
“Same. I think—oh, shit. Let me give you a call back later. I’ve got to handle something. Stop doing that to Betty—”
The line went dead.
Oddly enough, I felt better. Who would have thought?
I didn’t hear back from Razai all day. Strange, since he’d never told me what he’d wanted to talk about in the first place.
When I passed his training area, he was managing a huge crowd of students, and all of them had practice weapons in hand. Everything from automatic weapons, pistols, bows and arrows, and knives.
Busy day for him.
I spent the evening planning strategies for talking to the victims. I’d emailed Castile, asking if he could force-arrange a meeting, just to get the kids into my office.
He’d replied with a flat denial. According to him, he’d pressed his authority with the victims and their families over the limit, and if he throws his weight around and tries to involve himself directly in their lives any further, he may very well be thrown out of the school.
“Jeez,” I sighed. “People are fucking vicious. Looks like I’ll have to weasel my way into their lives.”
I tiptoed through the maze of neon notes cluttering my living room and into the bathroom. Time to burn the day off my skin.
Two minutes in, my phone vibrated with a call. One quick check showed me Razai’s name. I ignored it.
He called three more times, but I held strong. The man could wait. This was the only time I’d ever been unavailable to him. He could just chill, couldn’t he?
This was the shower of relaxation. Of meditation. My life was a shitstorm of unsolvable puzzles and infuriating archangels. I deserved this peace and quiet.
In the middle of lathering my hair with conditioner, I thought I heard something from the living room, but the rush of water could have been tricking me. Likely my neighbor knocking around in their own room.
What I didn’t expect was the volcanic-level shout of, “Detective!”
My whole body spasmed in apocalyptic fear. The conditioner bottle fell from my hand and smashed onto my foot, which went sliding out from under me.
Panic filled me. I could grab onto the shower curtain and slow my fall, but then the shower bar would come down on top of me.
I made the decision to sacrifice my hip and slammed onto the porcelain with a wet slap and a thud. Water sprayed onto my face while I wheezed in agony. How had I managed to hit my knee, my head, both elbows, and my hip?
“Ow…” I rasped.
