Page 178 of Dead Beat

“Be ready,” Darlington replied.

The air was cool and welcoming after the heat of the kitchen.

“Look,” Alex said, eyes on the trees. A flock of barn owls had gathered in the uppermost branches, dozens of them rustling and staring with their strange eyes.

“If I were one to put store in omens, I might be very, very concerned.”

Mira had liked to point to crows and clouds and claim they were full of hidden meaning. Alex had never believed, but looking up at all those dark eyes and clicking beaks, she felt a lot less sure.

Alban Reed was getting out of a sleek blue Audi. Charlie Girard was with him.

“He your idea of backup?” Alex asked.

“Do I need backup?”

Darlington held up his hands. “Let’s just remember we’re all on the same side here.”

“Shall we head indoors?” Reed asked. “It’s cold and getting colder.”

“And I want a look inside this place,” Girard said. “When was it built?”

Darlington ignored the question. “Better for us to chat out here.”

Reed smiled. “If you say so.”

He could afford to be magnanimous. He was about to get everything he wanted.

“Is it okay to talk Lethe business in front of your friend?” Darlington asked.

Girard laughed. “Yeah.”

But Darlington waited for Reed’s assent, and Alex had to fight a grin. She liked seeing Girard put in his place.

“Please,” said Reed. “Speak freely.”

“You know we had to put a pause on rituals,” Darlington said, “that there’s evidence the societies have been operating without any real oversight.”

“I do. I can’t say I’m not concerned. If we have real proof on specific society transgressions, we can certainly consider suspension. But I think we’re going to have to accept that we don’t have the manpower to ensure they all walk the straight and narrow.”

“Alex has solved the problem for you. She can guarantee none of the societies will perform rituals without the express permission of Lethe in the future.”

“I’m impressed,” said Reed skeptically. “I didn’t realize you were such a diplomat.”

“I’m not,” Alex said. “I’m more of a blunt instrument. Right, Charlie?”

Girard shifted uncomfortably, but he said nothing.

“Then what was the order of the day?” Reed asked. “Blackmail? Bribes? Is that why you had me fill the Lethe accounts?”

“Love that line of thinking,” said Alex. “But not necessary. I closed the nexuses.”

Alban Reed’s eyes actually bulged. “You what?”

“That’s not possible,” said Girard.

She had done it when she stood at the gate to hell, in the moment before she sent Golgarot back to his own realm. She had reached across the spokes of the Wheel, sensing the seven nexuses created by the Wheelwalker who had come before her, and one by one, she had shut those doors.

“We are the shepherds,” Alex said. “A pamphlet told me so. But how many sheep have died or gone missing on our watch?”