Luckily, it was about this time that Morales turned his car into the lot outside the gym, so I was saved having to analyze that train wreck of a thought.
Moments later we walked up the steps to find Gardner tapping her sensible low-heeled pump. “What the hell took you so long?”
I paused with one foot hovering above a riser. “We came straight here.”
She pressed her lips together like she wanted to tell us that wasn’t good enough, but thought better of it. Gardner was tough, but she was fair. “In my office,” she snapped and walked away, obviously expecting us to follow.
As I trailed her, Mez poked his head from behind the walls of his lab. That day, his dreadlocks were deep purple, which made the metal charms and beads shine like stars in his twilight hair. “Come see me after,” he called. I nodded and continued on.
“Sit,” Gardner said when we walked in. Morales and I took our seat and waited for her to shuffle through some file folders. “Just got off the phone with Mayor Owens,” she said without preamble.
My stomach sank. I glanced at Morales, but he only shook his head, like he couldn’t think of any reason we should know why the mayor was calling, either.
“Seems His Honor got a call from an attorney this morning.” She stared at me while she said this.
“Why?” Attorneys never called with good news.
“Not why—who.” She slid a piece of paper across the desk. It was one of those pink phone message slips. I’m no handwriting expert but my boss’s chicken scratch looked like a cross between a doctor’s and a serial killer’s scrawls.
Despite the incomprehensible symbols, my eyes managed to make out a pair of words: Abraxas Prospero.
“What the hell?” I whispered.
“Seems your uncle’s attorney called Owens this morning claiming Abe had important information regarding the Aphrodite Johnson case.” She paused to let that sink in like poison. “Naturally, Owens hadn’t been briefed on the case, which was the first thing he chewed my ass out about when he called me an hour ago.”
“Why the hell would he call Owens?” Morales asked.
“The attorney said Abe didn’t trust Eldritch to act on this lead so he went right to the top.” She paused, but something in my gut told me the other shoe had yet to drop. I didn’t have to wait long for that feeling to get confirmed. “Which is also why he’ll only speak directly to you.”
Morales muttered a curse. Gardner was silent, but she watched me closely, like she didn’t want to miss one flicker of my reaction to this news. I focused on trying to control my physical signs of distress. Just last night Volos had predicted Abe wouldn’t stop at one ignored phone call. I had assumed then he was right, but I had no idea Abe would resort to such extreme measures to force me into this corner.
“Why would Abraxas Prospero want to help the MEA?” Morales asked. I got the impression my partner was trying to buy me some time, and I appreciated the hell out of it.
“Only one way to find out,” Gardner said. “I already called Abe’s lawyer to arrange the meeting. You’re booked on the first ferry to Crowley in the morning.”
My mouth fell open. “Sir, you can’t seriously expect me to go there.” Cold sweat bloomed on my chest at the thought of sitting across a table from my uncle. The closest I’d come to seeing him in the last decade was watching his trial on TV, and even then I’d squirmed in my seat as if he somehow could see me through the screen.
She frowned. “Why the hell not?”
“You have to know this is a setup. Abe doesn’t do anything to help anyone but himself. He’s got an angle and I guarantee it’s got nothing to do with helping us.”
“We can’t ignore this. If he really does have information and something goes down, the mayor will have us on the first bus back to Detroit.” By “us,” she meant the rest of the MEA team, who were based out of a regional office in Michigan. I, however, would be stuck in Babylon with Eldritch and the mayor making my life a living hell.
“Shit,” I said. “This is bullshit.”
Gardner’s face softened, and she leaned forward. The compassion in her expression looked out of place, like she was trying on a tight pair of shoes she rarely wore. “I know it’s not going to be easy, but at least you’ll have the upper hand. He’ll be in shackles and you’re a detective now on an MEA task force.”
“That’s the problem, sir,” I said. “As long as we need him for information, he’ll always have the upper hand.”
Her face hardened again. “Sorry you’re uncomfortable, but you will go to Crowley tomorrow and you will interview him.”
My stomach dropped. Pen’s angry words from the night before echoed in my head. How much of yourself are you going to surrender for this job?
I’d dismissed the question as ridiculous when she’d asked it. But that was before my boss decided my mental well-being was less important than not pissing off the mayor. I could face down junkies and stand up for myself against just about anyone—except my uncle. He’d been a surrogate father to me growing up, then he’d been my mentor, and finally he’d become my enemy. Going there wasn’t just dangerous to my equilibrium but a threat to everything I’d built. Chances were good Uncle Abe knew I’d found out he was behind Gray Wolf. If he brought it up in front of Morales, I was toast.
I raised my chin. “And if I refuse?”
Gardner’s expression hardened. “Then you won’t even have your old patrol job to go back to.”
It wasn’t just a line in the sand. It was a crater opening at my feet. If I refused to fall in line, I’d lose it all.
“I’d advise you to think before you speak, Prospero,” Gardner continued. “I know this won’t be easy for you, but are you really willing to throw your career away because you’re afraid to spend five minutes in a room with your uncle?”
It was the word afraid that hit me like a sucker punch. If I walked away from this, I’d be admitting that I was scared of Abe. All the work I’d done, all the sacrifice and the struggle, would have been for nothing. And worse, Abraxas Prospero would get the last laugh.
Because no doubt about it: This was a test. He knew I’d be nervous about seeing him. He wanted to find out if I had the balls to stand across from him and ask for help with the case, or if I’d run away like a spooked child.