Page 25 of Devil
His message was no longer ambiguous, and Devil understood every word. She might not have a family in the traditional sense of the word, but not only had she found her own, she’d found something infinitely sacred—connection. To her friends, to her home, to her town.
A little something inside her heart settled as she watched a cat slink across the road and disappear into the bushes across the street. His name was Charley, and he belonged to Roberta and Doug, who lived next door. They called for him every night as soon as the sun went down. He only occasionally listened.
A small smile settled on her lips. “Yes,” she said. “I am most definitely blessed.”
* * *
“There’s only one connection I can think of,” Nora said before taking a sip of her coffee. It was eleven in the morning, and they were sitting on Devil’s back patio. Darius had joined her for breakfast but then left a little before ten. She’d half expected him to insist on staying, but instead, he’d simply said he had some calls to make and a few things he needed to look into. Both of which he felt more comfortable doing at his own place.
“Between?” Six prompted. It was just the four of them. Gavin and Joe had decided to spend some time trailing Nadia and Sonia. Nobody thought they’d discover anything useful, but at least it was giving the men something quasi-interesting to do.
“Between the Lam sisters and Nadia and Sonia,” Nora clarified. When she had everyone’s attention, she continued. “The only link I can find between two Muslim women and two women of Chinese descent is the Uyghur people. I admit, it’s a flimsy connection, and it doesn’t explain how they would have even connected in the first place, but it’s all I could think of.”
Devil frowned. Despite being an agent for China, she didn’t believe the country was all wine and roses, and she wasn’t blind to the impact some of its policies had on its people. Forced sterilizations, labor and internment camps, and arbitrary detainments weren’t acts that should go unnoticed. Nor should those implementing those policies escape accountability. But while the plight of Uyghur peoplewasof grave concern, she wasn’t aware of other Muslim groups stepping into the conversation as a show of religious unity. Many groupswerecalling attention to it, but to date, most of those were human rights organizations.
“Well, it’s definitely one connection,” Devil said.
Nora let out a disgruntled sound. “I know, it’s weak, but it’s all I could think of. What else would the four women have in common?”
“It’s a good idea,” Cyn said. A gust of cool wind blew several maple leaves across the lawn, and a lock of Cyn’s red-brown hair whipped across her face. After shoving it behind her ear, she wrapped her hands around her mug. “How would they have gotten in touch with each other to begin with?”
“Or with Dr. Pritchard?” Six asked.
“And how would Dr. Pritchard play into all this?” Nora asked.
All good questions; unfortunately, Devil had no answers. “What about the internet?” she asked. Three sets of eyes turned to her. “We know the terrorists we stopped in January all communicated through the dark web. What if the women did the same?”
“They don’t strike me as that tech-savvy, at least Nadia and Sonia,” Cyn said. “But you’re right, we should look into it.”
“Great, one more question, one more lead to follow, and still no answers,” Devil muttered.
“Did Darius find the document?” Six asked.
Devil shook her nod. “Not before he left this morning, but he was going to keep looking.”
Three sets of eyes focused on her.
“So it’s true what Addy at the bakery said this morning. You had a car outside your house all night,” Cyn said, covering her grin with her coffee mug.
Devil slid her friend a flat look. “We were researching until three in the morning. He slept in the guest room at the top of the stairs.”
“That’s how it starts,” Six murmured, then took a sip of her drink. Gavin had inveigled his way into Six’s guest room for a few nights before she’d finally invited him into her bed. He hadn’t left it since.
“That is not how anything starts,” Devil retorted. “Now, can we get back to the task at hand? What do you think about Dr. Pritchard?” She’d wanted their take on her colleague and had sent them the files she’d pulled together on the doctor.
“She’s well published,” Nora said.
“But there’s something kind of lackluster in her work,” Cyn remarked. “I can’t put my finger on it, but her writing reads like someone is droning on.”
“Not everyone loves their work the way you do, Cyn,” Nora pointed out. Cyn was an archaeologist and professor. She loved her field of expertise, but she also had an unnatural obsession with Indiana Jones. Devil wouldn’t be surprised if, someday, a movie studio lifted one of Cyn’s research papers and shifted it right into a script.
Cyn wagged her head. “I know…”
“But I agree with you,” Six chimed in. “I wonder if she just followed in her father’s footsteps rather than find her own path.” Dr. Gerard Pritchard was a world-renowned virologist who traveled the world researching, speaking, and teaching. He’d more or less written the book on some of the world’s deadliest viruses.
“He’s speaking in town tonight,” Devil said, relaying a piece of information she’d discovered while researching Dr. Jennifer Pritchard. In fact, the internet was so filled with links to Dr.GerardPritchard’s work that she’d had a hard time digging up information on his daughter.
“Any chance she’s jealous of Daddy and wanting to make a splash somehow?” Cyn asked.
