Chapter 48
FORTY-EIGHT
G RANT
The next morning, we’re up early for a quick debriefing before we take off for Colorado again. As much as a night away has felt like a fleeting vacation, I’m eager to be back home where I can keep an eye on everything. But in addition to picking up Dakota, I also want to be able to hear everything she and Charlotte have been doing research-wise. By midmorning, we’re all wrapped around their massive dining room table, a half dozen laptops and twice as many books open to various points of research.
“Thanks to Dakota’s bright idea to listen to podcasts that Abbott has done, we discovered he has a bit of an obsession with Charlemagne. He seems to bring him up a lot and has mentioned that he’s looked into his ancestry. He thinks he’s a direct descendant based on his research, and he’s spoken quite a bit about the way he altered Europe during the Middle Ages.
“I started chasing that as a lead, and we were able to narrow down that both the relics he has in his possession right now, the one from the Kelly family and the one you obtained for him, are related to Charlemagne. They’re all things he would have carried with him or on him. The reliquary you had, which predates the period of his life, is purported to contain the blood of a saint. The ampule necklace the Kellys had in their collection was created from materials that would have been contemporary to that time. The design features can practically be pinpointed to a region where he lived for several years while he was fighting border wars along his eastern front,” Charlotte explains.
“We’re talking to a hagiographer Beatrix knows. It’s her sister-in-law, actually, who lives in Seattle. She’s working her contacts to see if they can establish any records for provenance on the Kelly relic,” Dakota adds, and I struggle to contain my surprise at the easy way she talks about the research. Dakota’s always been clever, but I wouldn’t have thought this kind of investigation was something she’d be this excited about.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Charlotte admonishes me. “She’s a quick learner, and she’s been incredibly helpful.”
“Oh, I know she’s smart as hell. She puts me to shame.” I answer Charlotte and then turn to Dakota. “I’m just surprised you’re into this kind of stuff.”
“Charlotte’s brilliant.” Dakota and Charlotte exchange smiles. “She’s made it all so fascinating. I can tell you more when we’re on the plane, but I think I may have a new hobby.”
“She has a new job if she wants one,” Charlotte adds. “We could use more researchers like her.”
“She said there’s a good program for this kind of stuff at Highland if I wanted to take classes. ”
“But I’m also willing to just teach her some of the trade. It’d be nice to have someone out there who could have eyes on things for me.”
“Part-time,” Dakota adds when she sees my brows climb higher. “My first priority is still getting Seven Sins back up and running so that my staff has work again.”
“I’ve already given them some shifts at the Avarice.” I haven’t had a chance to fill her in on everything yet.
“I heard.” Her hand covers mine. “Thank you for that.”
“Of course.” I smile at her. “And don’t worry. I’ve got plans I’ll tell you more about on the way back.”
“All right. What kind of research were you all able to do?” Charlotte looks between Hudson, Rowan, and me.
“Levi was able to find the governor’s daughter. Well, find is an overstatement. He’s got leads on his daughter, who went missing a few years back. It looks like she’s in Europe. We think she might be the key to the third relic, or at least be able to lead us to it,” I explain.
“We still don’t know if it’s only three or if there are more though,” Rowan adds. “There’s no indication he’s working any other teams right now. I’ve reached out to contacts to see what information I could mine, but it seems quiet.”
“Which doesn’t make sense if he’s closing in on what he needs. Getting this relic from the market, you’d think he’d be dying to get his hands on another. Or at least make fast work of going after all of us again, but everything from Jay indicates he’s in a holding pattern. Like he’s waiting on something.” Hudson gives his thoughts.
“Waiting on what?” Charlotte asks. The question’s rhetorical at this moment, but it’s one we desperately need to answer.
“I fear that when things start moving again, it’s going to happen quickly,” Hudson adds .
“Agreed, and we still don’t know what he plans to do with all of this.” Rowan shakes his head in frustration.
“The daughter would potentially have answers though, right?” Dakota looks at me and then Charlotte.
“If she’s involved, theoretically.” I nod.
“So we need to find her then. Figure out if she’s involved and see if she has information on it,” Dakota suggests.
“Agreed.” Hudson taps a pencil against the table.
“We need boots on the ground. Stalking her from a distance over tech is fine, but it’s a poor substitute for being there. I can go if you want me to,” Rowan offers.
Dakota shakes her head. “It should be Levi.”
“Why Levi?” I frown, trying and failing to follow her logic.
“He’s been following her and her friends closely on social media, right?”
I nod.
“Then he knows the most about her. What she likes. What she doesn’t. If he has to make contact with her, he’s the best bet. Not to mention he doesn’t have any… attachments.” Dakota explains her reasoning, and I hear Charlotte click her tongue, nodding along enthusiastically.
“I don’t follow.” I look between the two of them.
“He can seduce her.” Charlotte gives me a sly smile. “Your brother’s gorgeous. That face, those tattoos, the glasses, the broken cowboy-turned-hacker… I’d be tempted.”
“I’ll buy some glasses, and we can roleplay while you ride me.” Rowan shoots her a look across the table. Her eyes rake over him in return.
“You’ll read something to me tonight with them on?” Her voice has a teasing quality to it, but her eyes light in a way that makes me think she’s half-serious.
“I’ll let Finn read to you. You’ll have my tongue busy with other things like you did last night. ”
I glance over at Dakota, and she’s grinning wildly as her eyes dart back and forth between them.
“You’re corrupting her, you know.” I look at Charlotte.
“Happy to do it.” Charlotte’s sly grin spreads wider, and I shake my head, looking back at Dakota who winks at me.
“All right. Back on the subject at hand. We want Levi over there. Do you think he’ll go?” Hudson looks at me for my thoughts.
“He’ll go. He’s already mentioned wanting to do it. I think he’s eager to make some sort of progress however he can accomplish that. The explosion and the bombs at the Avarice rattled him in a way I haven’t seen. He’s usually calmer than I am, and he’s been furious since he found out about Jay and the governor.”
“Then let him loose on her.” Rowan slices a glance in my direction. “Better to channel the energy than let it stay bottled up.”
“You trust him not to do anything rash?” Hudson raises a brow.
“Absolutely. He’s laser-focused and more controlled than anyone I know.”
“And that’s saying something,” Dakota mutters under her breath, eliciting a round of amused chuckles from the table.
“Then when you get home, talk to him. See if he’s willing to be on the ground for us there?” Hudson asks.
“Done.” I nod.
“I’ll keep working the research angle. Trying to narrow down possible leads on what the third is and if there’s a fourth. I’ll try to see if I can find anything on why he might want all of them. If there’s a collector or some sort of occult purpose he could have in mind. Sometimes with these things, secret societies place value on them outside of whatever their religious purpose might have been. Other times, there’s a collector who’s obsessed, and depending on their assets, they’d pay a fortune for a complete set of something they’ve deemed worthy. The kind of sum that would fund a war chest.” Charlotte offers up her theories, and we nod along.
“Well, here’s hoping we find answers soon. Before the clock runs out.” Rowan looks at me.
“Here’s hoping,” I echo.
We’ve bought ourselves some time, a truce, and I couldn’t ask for a better team to be on this. I have more hope now than I’ve ever had, but we still need luck on our side.