Page 78 of Devil in the Details

“Let’s hope so,” he said.

Because right now, hope was pretty much all they had.

After coffee and a quick breakfast of bacon and toast, they both showered and got ready to face the day. Delia’s phone had been very quiet all morning, which she thought a little surprising. Usually by now, she should have gotten at least one call importuning her to show a house or reassure someone that their escrow was going as smoothly as possible, but everything had been dead silent.

Just luck, or were the Aegis people somehow messing with her phone?

She really didn’t want to consider that possibility, mostly because it would indicate that their network was much bigger and more powerful than she and Caleb had ever imagined.

As she headed out into the living room, she wondered if she should suggest a mindless activity that would use up a few hours, like maybe going to an outlet mall or seeing if there were any open houses nearby. She kind of doubted he was very focused on finding a new flip, but it would still be something to do.

But the doorbell rang just as Caleb emerged from the guest suite, and he sent her a worried look.

“You expecting anyone?”

“No,” she replied at once. “It’s not like I have company all that much anyway, but I would never have invited someone over today with everything that’s been going on.”

He frowned, even as she went to the door and peered out through the peephole.

Standing on the front step was Ty Carter.

At once, she opened the door. “Ty?”

“I need to speak with you,” he said.

A nice way to open a conversation, not even a “hi” or a “good morning.” Then again, she supposed if you had a long view the way an angel did, then those sorts of pleasantries might feel like a waste of time.

If he was even an angel at all.

“Come on in,” she told him, stepping aside so he could enter the house.

He took a few steps in, then paused as he spotted Caleb standing over by the fireplace. “You stayed here?”

“I did,” Caleb said imperturbably.

Delia noticed how he hadn’t added that he’d stayed in the guest room, but she decided not to say anything. Let Ty Carter think what he wanted.

“Good,” Ty said. “You were probably safer here.”

Which had been the whole point of the exercise, of course, but she supposed it was good to get outside confirmation that she hadn’t been jumping at shadows.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked politely. “A glass of water or some iced tea? I can make coffee, but — ”

Ty held up a hand. “I’m fine. This isn’t a social call.”

Which was already what she’d figured, but she’d still thought it best to follow the forms.

“Then what’s it about?” Caleb asked.

“The tournament, of course,” Ty said without hesitation. “We’ve been working on this all night, and — ”

“Which ‘we’?” Caleb cut in. “Those two guys I saw you with the other day?”

“Who it was isn’t the important thing,” Ty replied. “What’s important is that we’ve been tracking the convergence of energy at the competition. It’s very clear that the people coordinating all this plan to activate a sort of supernatural circuit powered by the energy they’re channeling through the tournament. Once the circuit is opened, they’ll be able to use that power to cause all kinds of havoc.”

Caleb crossed his arms, one brow cocked at an ironic angle. “Can you narrow ‘havoc’ down a bit?”

“No,” Ty said without missing a beat. “It is sometimes very difficult to understand the motivations of beings such as these. What I do know is that people — regular people, innocent bystanders — will most likely get hurt, possibly worse. So we have to do everything we can to keep the people at Aegis from completing the circuit.”

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