Page 60 of Devil in the Details

Maybe Caleb’s shoulders lifted ever so slightly. It was hard to say, because he’d reached for his slice of pizza at the same time. “I’m going to pull a Yoda here and say you shouldn’t try. Just…let it happen.”

Easy for him to say. Also, Caleb Lockwood was about as opposite from the little green Jedi master as any person could possibly be, but she thought he had a point.

All right. She closed her eyes, mostly because she thought the fewer distractions she had preying on her mind, the better. Yes, she could still smell the rich scent of melted cheese and crisp pepperoni, but it wasn’t too intrusive.

Of course, she’d always completely sucked at meditating since she could never get her hamster wheel of a brain to let things go and Zen out, so if that was a prerequisite for reading other people’s minds, then she was doomed to failure before she even got started.

But that wasn’t a very healthy point of view to maintain regarding the situation, so she did her best to banish it as well.

For a fraction of a second, her mind went utterly blank. And in that blankness, she thought she heard a whisper of a notion, one she was pretty sure hadn’t originated in her own brain.

I really hope that guy isn’t an angel.

That was it, come and gone before Delia could barely begin to grasp the words. Still, she was almost positive that had been Caleb, not her.

“Were you just hoping that Ty Carter isn’t really an angel?” she blurted, and Caleb sat up in his chair, eyes widening slightly before he got control of himself.

Then he smiled.

“Yes, I was. So…you picked up on that?”

“I guess I did.” She hesitated, wondering if she should press him on the issue, and then figured the hell with it. “Why is it such a problem if Ty is an angel, or part one? Wouldn’t he be an ally?”

“It would be nice if that were the case,” Caleb replied. “But even if you put aside the problem of him helping a quarter demon like me, angels aren’t always the most reliable beings in the universe. They like to stand back and observe, which I suppose makes sense when you’re someone who takes the long view but isn’t so great if you need some immediate help.”

Delia supposed he had a point there. “But you don’t think he’s consciously interfering.”

“No. In his own way, he might be trying to help. I just don’t think we can rely on him.”

Well, she hadn’t been planning to. “It’s fine,” she said, and Caleb lifted an eyebrow.

“Really.”

“Sure,” she replied, and found herself grinning back at him. “After all, we beat these demons before…and we can beat them again.”

Chapter Fifteen

While Caleb was glad to see that Delia remained undaunted, he wasn’t sure whether he shared her entirely optimistic view of the situation. There were so many threads going on here that he was pretty sure all it would take was one sharp tug, and the whole thing would unravel.

But since she seemed cheerful as he said good night and then remained in the doorway to make sure she got safely in her car, he didn’t say anything else. Once he closed the door, though, he found himself frowning.

All of the men they’d investigated had been involved with the poker tournament in some way. True, Aaron Sanchez had claimed to only be there to watch and help out a friend, but that could have been a convenient lie. And Ty had washed out pretty early on, making Caleb wonder why the man…part angel, whatever he might turn out to be…had been there at all.

Unless he’d played in the tournament simply to provide himself with an excuse to hang around even if he wasn’t competing.

That theory didn’t make a lot of sense, though. It wasn’t as if the competition was closed to spectators, so Ty Carter could have been there simply as an onlooker and no one would have paid him any particular attention.

But maybe he’d wanted to be an actual competitor so he could see how Caleb operated up close. Maybe he’d needed to find out if Caleb was using his power to win.

In that case, Mr. Carter would have been sorely disappointed. Even though Caleb had been tempted from time to time, he hadn’t used one iota of his demonic abilities to influence the cards. Was that why Ty had allowed himself to be disqualified so soon? Had he learned there wasn’t much to see, so he didn’t need to hang around?

Maybe.

Or maybe angels were just crappy poker players.

But Caleb had to admit that things had been quiet enough today, and Delia hadn’t reported any weirdness at work, either, so maybe they didn’t have much to worry about. For all he knew, Paul Reeves was a sort of watchdog, either in league with the demons or unconsciously influenced by them, and they were standing back because when he was playing in a tournament, he wasn’t off at a different casino winning way too much money through magical underhanded means.

Although if their real intent was to keep him away from the gaming tables, one would have thought they would have tried to drive him off when he was making the rounds yesterday, still winning, if not nearly so much.

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