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I put a hand on Nick's arm to stop him. The contact didn't dissipate the menace in his glare.
"Is Jamie working right now?"
His lip curled. I figured he was seconds away from growling at me.
"I'm not going to hurt him, Nick. You're asking a lot from us, especially when we have nothing to do with any threat against your brother. If you want us to figure it out, give us something in return." When he continued to stare at me, I added, in a whisper, "Quid pro quo, Nick."
Nick wet his lips, then nodded. "Investments," he said. "Jamie's selling investments."
Bingo.
"Forward the e-mail to me," I told him. "Use my old address."
He looked at me for a moment before nodding, then went to the door, pushing it to the side with enough force to rattle the industrial hinges. Papa Breck followed him out, without even a glance in our direction.
When Pennebaker slid the door shut again, my father and I both looked at Ethan.
"Is there anything I can do?"
Ethan shook his head at my father's request. "Thank you, Joshua, but no. We'll handle this one internally. I'll call the Masters together. If we could just borrow your office for a few minutes longer?"
"Of course," he said, then left us alone.
"Forward the e-mail to me?" Ethan repeated, eyebrows lifted.
"Jeff Christopher," I reminded him, "in my grandfather's office. He's a computer whiz kid.
He can help us, and he'll be thrilled to be asked."
There was doubt in Ethan's expression. "He's a shifter, right?"
I frowned back. "Yeah. Why?"
"As I'm sure you've discovered by now, shifters and vampires aren't exactly cozy."
"Sure, but isn't Gabriel Keene bringing his Pack to Chicago? This is the perfect opportunity to make inroads."
He considered the idea for a moment, then nodded. "Make the call."
Ethan massaged his forehead with the fingers of one hand, his gaze on the floor. "Jamie is not writing for the Chicago World Weekly; Jamie is selling investments. And although we believed we were the victims here, Nicholas believes that we've issued a threat against Jamie." He lifted his gaze to mine. "What do we learn from that?"
"There is no rave story," I concluded. "Or if there is, Nicholas doesn't know about it. He apparently knows about the raves, but that's a red herring." I shook my head. "No, someone's playing us against each other."
Ethan nodded his agreement. "A woman calls the Breckenridge house the day before we attend a party there and informs the Breckenridges of some vague threat. Nick asks you to meet him in the woods and raises this same issue. Today, before we arrive at another party, information regarding a more specific threat is sent directly to Nicholas."
"They discovered Nick was the point man," I said. "Whoever's behind this mess figured out he was the Breck to work through if they wanted to create chaos."
"Which is exactly what they've succeeded in doing," Ethan muttered. He crossed his arms and walked to one end of the office, then braced his hands on the back of a leather chair.
"Wait," I said. "The information about the story that first came from the Ombud's office - the stuff we talked about with Luc. How did they find out?"
"Anonymous tip," Ethan said. "The information was left at the office."
Damn, I thought. So much for that lead.
"Okay," I said, "then why Cadogan? And why the Breckenridges? We've been pitted against each other, although I have no clue why they'd put us together on the fight card."
"I'm aware of only one connection between us and them," he said, his gaze on me, intensity in his green eyes.
I put a hand to my chest. "Me? You think I'm the connection?"
"You're the only connection between our House and their family that I'm even aware of, Sentinel." Ethan crossed his arms over his chest. "And, unfortunately, I'm aware of only one enemy on your end."
There was a moment of silence as the pieces clicked into place.
"Nick said she called the House," I murmured, then lifted my gaze to Ethan. "Celina? You're thinking Celina?"
Ethan shrugged. "We have no evidence of that, of course, but would you consider it beyond her capabilities?"
"Creating chaos? Hardly. That's practically her calling card."
"Much to our chagrin. And this particular chaos has the added benefit of putting you right in the middle." Ethan shook his head. "That e-mail will have been sent by a Cadogan vampire. Someone who knows that I showed you the library - "
"More importantly," I interjected, "someone who knows what we said in the library, and someone who knows our social schedule. Someone who knows where we've been going, and who's set Nick up with bad information beforehand."
He stood up slowly, hands on his hips, and looked back at me, eyes wide. "What, precisely, are you suggesting?"
"There's only one group of vampires who know about the raves and Jamie's supposed story," I said. "Only one group who know about our excursions to visit the rich and famous."
I paused, wishing he'd reach the conclusion so I wouldn't have to say it aloud.
"Ethan, it had to be a guard."
Chapter Seventeen
LOVE BITES
That declaration got as warm a reception as you might have imagined. Ethan turned away and immediately flipped open his cell phone, unwilling to engage in a discussion about the possibility that our current havoc was being wreaked by one of his own bodyguards.
One of my colleagues.
Ethan called the House, updating Malik and Luc about the threat but offering no information about my group of suspects. As if nothing was amiss, the guards were put into full investigation mode, their assignment to identify any and all information regarding the purported threat against Jamie.
I was also in full investigation mode, and I'll admit that my suspect list was pretty short.
A woman had made the call to the Breckenridge house... and I'd seen Kelley arriving at Cadogan after spending the day somewhere else. Had she been the Cadogan vampire with a chip on her shoulder? The link to Celina?
Eager to solve the mystery, I borrowed the house phone and put in a call to the Ombud's office, updating my grandfather on the evening's revelations. I also talked to the man with the skills I needed.
"Jeff, I have a problem."
"I'm glad you've finally realized I'm your answer, Merit."
Okay, so the mood wasn't exactly light, but I couldn't help but smile at the comeback.
