Of course, she signed it. It was one of the first words he’d taught her.
“What did you mean earlier,” he asked, changing the subject, “when you said Mrs. Rod…” He stumbled over the woman’s name and gestured toward her. “She is your client?”
“Mrs. Rodriguez, Dora, came to me this morning. I’m a PI now. She hired me to look into her case.”
“Like Charley?” Quentin asked, his surprise evident on his face, he was certain.
Amber beamed at him. “Maybe someday. She helped a lot of people.”
“She’s a god. Or have you forgotten?”
“No, I haven’t. But thanks for reminding me how inadequate I am.” Before he could reply, she said, “You couldn’t have cordoned off an area with access to a bathroom?”
He stuffed the compass into one pocket and a handful of black salt into the other.
“What does that do?” She pointed to the pocket with the compass.
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Just what were you planning on doing with the demon when you got here?”
Amber crossed her arms over her knees again. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve, as well.”
He leaned closer. “Unless you have a rocket launcher in your pocket, I’d say you were screwed from second one.” He held out the sheathed knife to her.
She straightened in alarm. “What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Use it, but only as a last resort. And whatever you do, don’t cut yourself with it. It’ll kill you.” He leaned closer. “The goal is to kill him first. Then sheath the dagger.”
“Ay, Dios mio,” Dora said, making the sign of the cross.
He’d seen a lot of that at the Vatican. He’d never seen proof that it actually worked, though—unlike the dagger he was trying to give the elfin queen. It was a cursed dagger, but still.
“Why?” Amber asked. “What are you going to do?”
“Get us out of here.”
“And how are you going to do that?”
He took out the rest of the black salt, pushed up his sleeves, and stepped out of the circle.
Amber jumped off the table and grabbed his arm, her skin warm against his. “Wait. What are you doing?”
“I’m going to try to contain the demon inside the house, then create a pathway for us to get out.”
“You can do that?”
Her blue eyes gazing up at him stopped his heart. In all the years he’d known her, he’d rarely seen her wear black. It looked good on her, but he got the feeling it meant something much deeper. He could only imagine what his sudden departure had done to her. How it’d changed her, especially after all their plans. And how she was risking her life for a departed woman—someone who was already dead.
They would talk more, but right now, he needed to get her out of this house. He looked down at the hands clutching his arm, then backed up. “I can try.”
She let go as if she’d been burned and wiped her palms on her pants. Straightening to her full height, she looked back at the dagger and then said, “You have five minutes.”
“Then what?”
She grabbed the dagger. “Then I’m coming for you.”
“I’ll only need three.”
Amber nodded as Quentin poured a salt trail around the entire kitchen. He did the same all the way around the first floor, creating one continuous line. He didn’t know if his plan would work since the demon was upstairs and not down, but he had to try, even if it used the last of his black salt.
“He’s…intense,” he heard Kyle say to Amber. Rune could eavesdrop from several yards away. He waited to hear Amber’s reply, but she said nothing.
Served him right. He’d hurt her, and she was taking his presence better than he would’ve thought. Then again, she was the most level-headed girl he’d ever met.
“I can’t believe this,” Dora said. “Why is there a demon in my house? How did it get in?”
Amber blinked and turned to the woman, dumbfounded. “Exactly.”
Quentin wanted to tell Rune to stop spying, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from Amber if he tried.
“What are you thinking, boss?” the man asked.
Boss? Amber was his boss?
“Why is there a demon here?” she asked. “Of all places. What lured him?”
Dora gasped softly. “I cheated at dominos the other night, but only because that trollop Harriet Clooney cheats every week. I just thought I’d give her a taste of her own medicine. Do you think that was it?” She pressed both hands to her chest in horror as Quentin rounded a corner