“Okay, you get points for that, but what else have you got, Sherlock? You can’t just go accuse a major archdemon of murder.” He made a face. “Unless it’s one who’s been sentenced to Belgium.”
Scraps of conversation from the last few days began fitting together in my head. “Noelle was jealous of Anthony and Starla. He’d refused her advances, and it must have driven Noelle crazy that he preferred a new, weak demoness over her. She tried to split them up, right? Said it was interfering with his work. And that’s when he lashed back. Starla told me how he wanted to transfer. Probably figured he could still date or whatever Starla without work problems. But Noelle said she was going to fight it—she didn’t want to lose him. She loved him. And they had this huge, horrible blowout that made them both really mad. Clyde passed Anthony on his way out, and Anthony was furious. Then Clyde talked to Noelle, and she was livid too.”
“So she kills Anthony over an argument?”
“No,” I said. “Well, yes. More than that. The argument was the culmination of a lot of things. His rejection of her. The fact that she was likely going to lose him. Remember Margo’s comment? ‘If I can’t have him…’ That was Noelle’s line of thinking.”
Kurtis let out a low whistle. “That’s quite a theory, little one. And a lot of circumstantial evidence.”
“It’s why she’s been so angry over all this. It’s not revenge. It’s anger at herself for what she did—and fear to close this up fast and cover her own tracks. That’s also why she didn’t push to look inside any of you guys. She made it sound like she didn’t want to violate you, but really, it was because she knew you’d all be proven innocent.”
“Well, you’ve made some good leaps, I’ll give you that.” He pointed at the clock. Twenty minutes until midnight. “But there’s nothing to be done for it, even if it’s true. It’s almost time. That group’s in a frenzy by now, waiting for the torture. They’re probably selling balloons and hot dogs. No one’s going to listen.”
I stared blankly at the window. “Luis would.”
“Maybe he would.” When I didn’t answer, Kurtis laid an almost friendly hand on my shoulder. “Look, you really might be on to something, but it’s too late. You’re burning up time. At the very least, get in one kiss with your guy. Chase after this theory, and you blow any moment you have with him.”
Kurtis was right. And I had already blown most of what time I could have had with Seth. I’d wasted it in the guise of another woman. But if I acted soon, I could have him now as me. I could have him, and Starla and Clyde would suffer. I’d noted before that they’d probably committed enough other crimes to deserve punishment, but it occurred to me that like Kurtis, they might have initially fallen from grace for more than just selfish reasons.
I looked up and met Kurtis’ penetrating gaze. “Will you transport me back to the hotel?”
He was right about the spectacle. The ballroom-turned-conference-room was packed. The whole gang was there from the first day: imps, vampires, incubi, and demons. Kurtis and I pushed our way through the excited crowd. People slapped him on the back in congratulations as we passed. They made lewd comments to me.
Near the front of the room, a demon in black sharpened long, bladed instruments. Near him stood Starla and Clyde. The two “guilty” demons didn’t move, though no visible bonds held them. They were frozen, trapped through some magical means. I averted my eyes from them.
“Help me,” I told Kurtis. “Help me find Luis.”
It was an impossible task. There were too many bodies mingling and moving. Luis was a big guy. I’d hoped I might find him simply by virtue of him being taller than others, but that seemed unlikely now.
Kurtis stopped walking. “He’s not here.”
I stopped too, nearly running into an annoyed vampire. “How do you know?”
“He’s one of the strongest here, stronger even than Noelle. If he were in this room, we’d feel him, even above all this.”
He was right, I realized. We fought our way back out. Once outside, Kurtis stood and looked around like a hound sniffing the wind. “Got him.”
We found Luis sitting in the bar, stirring his bourbon over ice. He appeared to be the only one of the demonic congregation who wasn’t in the other room making balloon animals or getting face tattoos. Feeling us enter, he looked up in surprise.
“You have to help us,” I said. Immediately, I sat down and spilled the whole story, laying out the evidence—circumstantial though it was—about why I believed Noelle was the killer.
Luis listened with an unreadable face. When I finished, he pretty much said the same thing Kurtis had. “There’s no way to prove it.”
“But it makes sense! Luis, they’re five minutes away from punishing the wrong people.”
“Georgina.” Luis sighed. “Unfair things happen every day in the universe whether you live on Earth, in Heaven, or in Hell. If you’re right, it’s unfortunate, but well…that’s that.”
“I thought you wanted the truth,” I accused.
“Then I have it. Your idea makes sense. Noelle did it.”
“But it’s not justice!”
“I didn’t come for justice.” He gave me a kind, sad smile. “I’m not the one with ‘an annoying yet adorable sense of right and wrong.’”
“I don’t believe that! You must still have something.”
“Look, I’m not happy that Noelle could get away with this, but it’s too late. And this isn’t a Christmas special where I suddenly see the error of my ways. I’m a f**king demon. I spread evil in the world. I am evil.”
I figured fighting that would just get me accused of more cheery good will. And honestly, I did believe Luis still had a sense of right and wrong…but if his life had been like Kurtis’, he had good reason for apathy.
“If you call her out,” I said finally. “You’ll get accolades. Big promotion.”
Luis’ face registered surprised, then broke into a grin. “You’re bribing me now?”
I looked between him and Kurtis. “I hear that’s how it works around here.”
Luis’s smile faded. “There’s no way of proving her guilt.”
“Well,” mused Kurtis. “There’s one way…” He’d perked up at the mention of promotion. I think he hoped being in on Noelle’s takedown could help his Belgium transfer.
He and Luis locked eyes, and something passed in those glances.
“No,” said Luis. “She wouldn’t agree.”
“You’re strong enough…”
Luis grimaced. “If I do that, and she’s not guilty, I’m the one who gets flayed.”
“She is guilty,” I said, having no clue what they referred to, only that something big was on the line. “Luis, please.”
The clock ticked. One minute until midnight.
Luis studied me for a long time. He exhaled and stood up.
“I can’t believe I’m about to do this.”
Kurtis gave him a friendly punch. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.”
“Really?”
“No.”
Powerful presence or no, not many people noticed when Luis entered the ballroom. At least, not until he grabbed Noelle and slammed her against the wall.
Dead silence filled the room, except for Noelle’s outraged cries as she fought against him. But he held her pinned with more than physical strength; she couldn’t match his magical power.
“Are you out of your f**king mind? What the hell are you—?”
She quieted and blanched as he pressed his hand to her forehead. He paled as well, and I heard a collective gasp around the room. I realized then what he was doing. He was looking in her, just as Kurtis had allowed me. Only, Luis was doing it by force. It was a mental, spiritual rape of sorts.
I shuddered, remembering how it had been for me being the one to look inside. It had been a hundred times worse for Kurtis, and unlike Noelle, he’d consented. As she grew paler and paler, I could only imagine how it must feel for her to undergo that. No, scratch that. I couldn’t even comprehend it.