Page 18 of Devil in the Details

They both had secrets...and they both knew it.

The dealer began shuffling for the next hand. Caleb’s stomach butterflies had transformed into something else entirely — the pure, clean excitement of competition. No powers, no shortcuts, just his wits against the other players...even if some of them weren’t playing entirely fair.

He could win this thing. More importantly, he could win it right.

Chapter Five

Delia’s phone rang, and she lifted it from where she’d set it on the counter at Caleb’s old house. The broker’s open house was due to start in ten minutes, and she hoped no one was calling to cancel. The more people here to look over the place, the better the chance that one of them would have a client who thought it was absolutely perfect.

But she recognized the number on the screen right away.

Caleb.

“How’s it going?” she asked, since she knew he was at the tournament.

“Great,” he said. “We just played the first three hands, and now we’re taking a break. There’ll be two more after this, and then that’s it for the day.” A pause, and he added, “I won my first two hands.”

“You did?” she responded, then hoped she didn’t sound too surprised.

“I did,” he said, and now his voice was clearly amused. “Straight-up regular playing, no hanky-panky.”

By “hanky-panky,” she assumed he meant he’d accomplished those wins through pure skill and none of the same powers he’d used to amass his current fortune.

“That’s great,” she told him. “I knew you had it in you.”

“Did you?” he returned, his voice now teasing. “You were sounding pretty doubtful a couple of days ago.”

“Just doubtful about you doing something so public,” she said at once. “It had nothing to do with your skill as a poker player.”

“Good to know.” He paused there for a second, then asked, “What time are you going to be done with your open house?”

“Around six, probably.”

At least, that was her best guess after holding dozens of these over the years. Sure, there was always that one agent who turned out to be a real chatty Cathy and wanted to stay behind, but mostly, brokers came to these things to get the information they needed and then headed right back out again.

“Serendipity,” Caleb said. “I should be done around the same time. Want to meet for dinner somewhere?”

Probably smart of him not to come by the house. Although she hadn’t noticed anything odd today when she’d come by to set up and make sure everything looked picture perfect, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching the property. If that turned out to be the actual case and not just her nerves getting to her, then much better for him to stay far away.

Before she could respond, he added, “I noticed something weird this afternoon during the game, and I wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Weird” was a general word that could have meant almost anything, but in this context, she had to believe Caleb was talking about some kind of demonic activity.

“Oh?” she managed.

“I’m not totally sure,” he said. “Still, I thought it would be better to get together and discuss it.”

“Where would you like to meet?”

“At Battista’s,” he replied, naming a restaurant that wasn’t too far away, one they’d already gone to once before.

Well, she’d never been one to turn down some carbonara.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s aim for six-thirty, just in case someone decides to hang around after the open house is officially over. I could kick them out, but — ”

“But you don’t want to offend someone who might bring you a client,” he finished for her. “It’s cool. Then I’ll meet you at Battista’s at six-thirty.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

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