“It was a draw, as you probably figured out when you opened the door.”
Luc managed a blush.
I didn’t figure there was any point in hiding the truth of the rest of it. “We went to see Caleb Franklin’s house, found a secret hidey-hole and a safe-deposit box key.” I pulled out the envelope, set it on the table. “We met a necromancer in Longwood Cemetery. Then we took a little visit to Hellriver. Discovered La Douleur had moved there—”
“Wait, La Douleur is in Hellriver now?”
We all looked at sweet and innocent Juliet, who was grinning wickedly. “What? I like cosplay. And you can’t beat La Douleur for cosplay.”
So many things I’d learned tonight. So many things I didn’t need to know. And yet I was compelled to ask. “English club?”
She grinned. “Sexy anime.”
Luc flicked away a fake tear. “Our baby girl is growing up. And she’s growing up weird.”
I smiled, appreciating the levity. “Anyway, La Douleur is in Hellriver,” I confirmed. “Run by a guy named Cyrius Lore, who’s got the Circle ouroboros tattooed on his arm. The Circle owns La Douleur, and they own Hellriver. Cyrius sicced a vampire on us, a battle ensued, which we won, at the point of a gun, a dagger, and two katanas. He admitted Reed’s got something big planned, something the sorcerer is involved in, something that’s got the sorcerer under wraps working on it. But that’s all we got out of him.”
Luc whistled. “That’s enough for one night.”
“Oh, but that’s only half of it. We then went to Little Red to talk to Gabe about Caleb Franklin. Long story short, Caleb Franklin was an enforcer for the Pack. Changed his mind, went to work for the Circle and Adrien Reed. He’s also Gabe’s illegitimate half brother, so Gabe let him defect from the Pack.”
Luc’s anger fired. “Gabriel Keene’s half goddamn brother worked for Adrien Reed? And he knew Reed’s connected to the Circle?”
“And has done not one thing about it.”
“No wonder Sullivan’s pissed,” Juliet said, and Luc nodded.
“Do you know what we could have done with that information?”
“I do,” I said. “And for his side, there’s loyalty and guilt in there. Gabriel would say he made the best decision for the Pack by kicking Franklin out, staying out of Circle business. Said it was a strategic decision just like the kind Ethan often makes.”
Lindsey winced. “Unfortunately, I can sympathize with that argument.”
“Yeah,” I said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “That’s what I thought, too. Ethan’s as strategic as they come, and he’d be perfectly fine keeping information from the Pack if it suited his interests.” Hell, he’d kept information from me because he thought he’d been protecting me.
“Damn,” Luc said, looking at the ceiling as he thought it through. “Where did they leave it?”
“I don’t know. Ethan threw a chair, shifter threw open the door, Berna pretty much threw us out.”
Luc’s gaze dropped to me again. “No shit?”
“No shit. They left on bad terms, but nothing specific was said about the alliance or whatever. I don’t know if this is a lovers’ spat or a total fork in the road.”
Lindsey smiled sympathetically, rubbed my back. “You’re mixing metaphors, English major.”
“The night has fried my brain,” I said, crossing my arms. “Quite a damn situation.”
“Yeah,” Luc agreed. “And as much as it sucks, we’re going to have to wait to see how it resolves. Puts Jeff in a helluva spot.”
“It does,” I agreed. “Right between the Pack and the Ombuddies. He won’t want to disappoint Gabe or my grandfather.”
Luc scratched his cheek absently. “I wish there was a flowers-and-candy equivalent of fixing supernatural disputes.”
“Ethan took Gabe a bottle of Scotch. But that was before his confession.”
Luc nodded. “We’ll have to let that be for the time being. Let’s get back to Franklin, Reed, the Circle, the alchemy.” He gestured toward the conference table, and we took seats.
“We don’t know who killed Caleb Franklin,” I said. “We know it was one of Reed’s vampires.” I slid the key from the envelope, placed it on the table. “We need to figure out, if we can, which bank this came from.”
“And that would normally be a job for Jeff,” Luc said, tracing a finger around the key’s square teeth. “Checking bank records for deposit box rentals in Caleb’s name.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Bad enough that it’s hacking, much less that our bosses are on the outs. But that can’t be helped. He’s the best guy for the job. Maybe go through Catcher?”
Luc nodded. “I can try that. You give him the details about what went on tonight?”
“Not all of them,” I said. “Just what went on in Hellriver. Ethan sent my grandfather a message. You want to fill him in?”
“I can do that.”
“What about Reed?” Juliet asked. “Any sense of what his plan might be?”