After a moment, Jonas cleared his throat. “I wanted to meet with Lucifer. I asked Jolene to arrange a meeting. She refused.”
“You want an alliance with him,” corrected Jolene calmly. “I told you that I couldn’t guarantee you an alliance with Lucifer or that he would even meet with you. The devil doesn’t ally himself with anyone. I told him that you wanted to meet him, but he has no interest in speaking with you. That’s hardly my fault. Yet, you blame me.”
“It’s brave of you to be prepared to, literally, make a deal with the devil, Jonas,” Knox told him.
Dario squinted at Jonas. “Why would you want to meet with Lucifer? What do you want from him?” At this point, everyone was eying Jonas suspiciously, including his sister, who seemed sincerely surprised by the news.
“That was my question,” said Jolene. “After all, Lou likes loopholes. Any deal he makes always has a catch – and it’s always one that makes the demon sorry they made the deal in the first place. That’s common knowledge. A demon would have to want something very, very badly to be prepared to make any kind of pact with Lou. I said as much to Jonas. I asked him just what it was that he was so desperate to have.”
“What did he say?” asked Thatcher.
“Just that I’d be sorry I hadn’t cooperated, which makes me think that it was very important to him or he wouldn’t be so resentful about it.” She looked at Jonas. “At the time, I thought you were full of hot air. Now I’m thinking that you might have had Harper hurt as a warning to me to do as you’d asked. You could have then later thought you could use Heidi to make me cooperate.”
Neck stiff and corded, Jonas lifted his chin. “I would never cause any harm to Harper or a child. I wanted to meet with Lucifer, yes, but that is my business. I don’t have to explain myself to any of you. And if you’re done making accusations, Knox —”
“I don’t recall accusing you of anything,” said Knox. “Do I consider you a possible suspect? Yes.” He glared at Jonas, but kept his voice pitched low and calm. “I don’t need to tell you what will happen if I discover that you’re behind all this.”
“I’m done here.” Jonas shot to his feet. “Let’s go, Alethea.” Looking a little lost, she followed him as he stiffly strode out of the room with their sentinels.
One by one, the Primes began to leave the room. Each said polite goodbyes to Knox, and all appeared to be in deep thought. He suspected that hearing Jonas wanted an alliance with Lou unnerved them a little.
Jolene was one of the last to leave. My gut says it wasn’t Thatcher. Everything points to him, yes, but that’s what bothers me.
Knox sighed. Last night, I was ready to kill him. But the more I thought about it, the more unlikely it seemed to me that someone so intelligent would continually leave evidence that led me right to him. I can’t afford to dismiss him as a suspect, though.
Of course not – this is Harper’s life we’re talking about. And I won’t dismiss him as a suspect either, but I don’t believe it was him. Jonas is known for parading his girlfriends around – he treats them like accessories. But I’ve not seen him with an incantor, yet he didn’t deny that he’s dating one. A pause. Did you notice how startled Alethea was to discover that her brother wanted to meet with Lou?
I did. I also noticed that it seemed to worry her.
Jolene shook his hand. “The meeting was certainly… enlightening. Take care of my granddaughter, Knox.”
“I will.” He nodded at both Jolene and Beck, and the two imps then left.
Finally, the last of the Primes came to the door. “Well, that was eventful,” said Dario. His brows lowered as he added, “I’m sorry to hear about what happened to Harper. You will kill who’s responsible.” The Prime, unlike many others, liked and respected Harper.
“Don’t doubt it. I don’t suppose Nora knows anything worth mentioning.”
Dario scratched his head. “Actually, she asked me to pass on a message to you: When it’s time to kill the child, don’t hesitate – no matter what.”
A cold finger trailed down his spine, and Knox and his demon stiffened. “The child?”
Dario shrugged. “She said you would know what I meant.” With that, the Prime left with his sentinel in tow.
Knox closed the door and turned to Levi, who was now perched on the edge of the long table. “Well?”
“Either Thatcher is an incredible actor or he has nothing to do with neither the attacks on Harper or with Heidi’s kidnapping. He was defensive and tried diverting your attention to others, sure, but he had a lot of people staring at him with suspicion. It’s only natural that he’d want to point out that others have motives to harm Harper.”
Knox nodded. “Jolene thinks it’s unlikely that the blame belongs to Thatcher.” He quickly told the reaper what Jolene telepathically said.
“She’s right that it’s odd for someone who treats girlfriends like they’re accessories to keep any relationship quiet. I don’t see what motivation Jonas would have for doing so. Even if it were she who wanted things to stay low-key, it makes no sense that Jonas would agree. He’d be more likely to simply move on to someone else.”
Knox rubbed at his jaw. “If we can find out the name of this incantor he’s dating, we may be able to figure this out.”
“Keenan and Larkin can look into it while you and Harper are on vacation. Do you think it’s possible that Jonas is our boy?”
“What I think is that someone would have to be desperate to be prepared to make a deal with Lou, and that makes me wonder just what Jonas must be desperate to possess.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
As the engine fired up and the aircraft began to move, Harper sank deeper into the leather reclining seat. Damn, she really did love the private jet. Black and sleek, it made her think of Knox with his dark designer suits and smooth polished shoes. The white and gray interior was business-like without being bland or insipid. Again, it made her think of Knox; it didn’t matter that he never wore much color, he could never be accused of looking plain.
The beverage cart creaked as the attentive stewardess appeared, smelling of hairspray and hand sanitizer. After giving Harper a bottle of water and preparing Knox a gin and tonic, she disappeared behind the curtain. Harper kind of liked her, especially since she never flirted with Knox – apparently, she was happily mated to the captain.
Levi and Tanner were in the cabin near the front of the craft, which meant Harper and Knox were alone when she opened her bottle and asked, “So, why don’t you tell me what happened at the meeting?”