through which she manifests.
She has asked one thing of me, only one thing.
Looking through the looking glass,
I know what I must do.
Thirty-One
“I can’t leave you alone for a second,” said Tariq that evening when Harper told him about last night’s encounter with Asher at her apartment.
They were dining at Passionfish in Pacific Grove. The restaurant boasted sustainable seafood and an extensive, oddly affordable wine list. The tables were small and intimate, the lighting low and atmospheric. Murmured conversations and tinkling silverware and glassware surrounded and cocooned them.
Harper knew Tariq was trying to make light of what happened, but his eyes shone with anger.
“Asher’s in custody?”
She nodded. “Last I heard.”
“Bastard’s rich,” Tariq said. “He’ll make bail soon enough.”
“Probably. Ellen already called a locksmith to fix my door, and he’ll put another dead bolt on while he’s at it.”
Tariq gave a curt nod but wasn’t happy. “Maybe you should come stay with me.”
She smiled. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not sure you and I are ready to move in together.”
“It wouldn’t be like that. You know what I mean. Just until things settle down.”
“Thank you, but no. I suspect Asher just sort of lost it, given everything that’s been going on.”
“You really think that’s all it was? I don’t.”
Harper wasn’t sure how to respond because in truth she didn’t think so, either.
“You said he was asking about a journal?” Tariq continued. “What journal?”
“The one that was on a workbench in the basement. Delilah had combined her modern journal with an old one she and Asher found as kids in Soren’s laboratory.”
“You took it?”
“He said I could have it when we were in the bar, remember? He only changed his mind after. Anyway, it’s in Ellen’s safe.”
“What’s so special about this journal?”
“I’m not sure. There are a lot of recipes and instructions for making tinctures and tonics, that sort of thing. Various botanical extracts, some pretty gnarly anatomical drawings.”
“Doesn’t sound like anything worth killing over.”
“We don’t know that Asher’s killed anyone, Tariq.”
“I’ll rephrase. Why would an old book of recipes inspire him to break into your apartment and attack you?”
“That’s a good question. I haven’t found anything particularly noteworthy in it other than the fact that Delilah was messing around with microdosing with some scary poisons. I’ll work on it more tomorrow, and Naomi’s going to take a look at it, as well.”
Tariq raised his eyebrows. “The Nemesis? Good for her.”
“I know, I was surprised, too.” Harper smiled. “Turns out,Naomi’s not that bad. I mean, she still doesn’t like me much, and she’d rather have a chemical engineer on the faculty than a historian, but she’s smart. I thought she might be able to tell me about the contents of the journal from the perspective of a lab scientist.”
