Page 97 of A Touch of Treachery
Joan’s face remained calm and smooth, and she didn’t move, fidget, blink, or twitch.The liaison should have gone to Casino Night with the other paramortals, because she had an excellent poker face, and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking or feeling.
“I figured out you were Nemesis the same way I figured out Miriam Lancaster and Trevor Donnelly were moles—by adding up lots of little things.”
Joan scoffed.“What things?”
I pointed at her suit jacket, which was visible underneath her trench coat.Once again, she was wearing the small sword brooch, and the white diamonds glittered like stars against the dark blue fabric.“Every time I’ve seen you over the past few days, you’ve been wearing that brooch.”
Joan’s fingers crept up to the brooch.“So what?”
“So people often wear a piece of jewelry over and over because they have a deep sentimental attachment to it.”I paused.“Usually because someone special gave it to them.”
Once again, Joan’s face remained calm, but her fingers curled a little more tightly around the brooch as if it was a scarletNmarking her as Nemesis and she wanted to hide it from sight.
“There were other clues.Your relationship with Graham Walker.Your insistence that you should be Desmond’s liaison instead of me.And especially your burning desire to hurt Henrika Hyde however you could.”
Joan dropped her hand from the brooch.“So what?Everyone in Section knows that.”
“Yes, they do.It’s all common knowledge.But then I saw the photo on your desk of your Greek vacation.”I paused.“The photo Graham took of you, right?”
“So I took a vacation.”Joan scoffed again, sidestepping my question about Graham.“So what?”
I stabbed my finger at the brooch on her jacket.“So I’m guessing Graham bought you that brooch as a memento of your trip.Diamonds are a popular gift among lovers, and wearing that brooch, well, it’s like having a piece of Graham right next to your heart.Isn’t it?”
Joan remained silent, and once again, she didn’t move, fidget, blink, or twitch.If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she didn’t care about Graham Walker at all.
“Speaking of jewelry ...”I tapped my finger on the Grunglass Necklace, which was still ringing my throat.“Youknowthis is the real necklace.You can tell how old something is and the quality of materials used just by touching it.You said that when we were at my Section desk looking at the crystal mockingbird figurine, remember?You got the real Grunglass Necklace out of the armory for me to bring to the resort.Then, earlier today, you lied and told Percy’s bodyguards it was a fake.Why would you take so many risks with Section property?Especially a necklace worth millions of dollars?”
Joan maintained her still silence.I admired her eerie calm, but it also annoyed me.Desmond didn’t have time for us to sit around and play spy games.
I gestured at Gabriel.“A few days ago, Gabriel told me how a mysterious woman calling herself Nemesis had sent him an invitation to Elsa Eisen’s holiday party.Desmond and I going to Germany wasn’t common knowledge, but you’re smart, Joan, and you could have accessed enough information in the Section servers to figure it out.”
She shrugged, neither confirming nor denying my accusation.
I gestured at the laptop on the table.“Code names mean things to people too, just like jewelry does, and I’ve been researching the wordNemesis.Of course, the literal meaning is a long-standing enemy or archrival.But there’s also another meaning that ties in with that one and connects everything back to you.The Greek vacation photo, the sword brooch, Gabriel’s invitation to the holiday party.”
Joan scoffed.“And what would that be?”
“Nemesis is the Greek goddess of revenge.”
A tense, heavy silence dropped over the table.Joan looked at me, then at Gabriel, then back at me.The corner of her mouth quirked up, cracking her calm, detached façade, and a bit of grudging respect filled her eyes.
“I didn’t think you would figure it out so quickly,” she muttered.“I thought I had been more careful.”
“You were careful, but this is what I do for a living, what Section trained me to do, and I am very, very good at it.”
Joan clapped her hands together a few times in mocking applause.“Well, brava to the great Charlotte Locke.”
“How did you disguise your voice?”Gabriel asked.“I talked to you on the phone after the Tannenbaum mission.You don’t sound like Nemesis.”
Joan gave him a disgusted look.“I’m a transmuter.I can turn water into ice and crack concrete with my bare hands.You really think I can’t disguisemy own voice?”
Her voice dropped on the last few words, turning into a low, husky purr that seemed to belong to an entirely different person.If I hadn’t heard Joan say the words, I never would have guessed that was her talking.
Gabriel arched an eyebrow.“Cute party trick.”
“It was good enough to fool you.”Joan smirked at him.“Then again, we both know you aren’t the brains of this operation.”
“Never said I was,” Gabriel drawled.“I’m just the muscle.”
