Since Ethan and the others were downstairs handling the House, I took a long, hot shower, trying to think through the murders I still hadn't managed to solve. We knew Oliver and Eve had been killed after visiting the registration office. Their bodies had been placed in a warehouse in Little Italy, and there were slivers of aspen near the body, possibly from a weapon created by McKetrick.
We also knew a black SUV was involved in their deaths and our House drive-by, and that McKetrick had used black SUVs in the past to terrorize us.
Of course, this was Chicago, and black SUVs were a dime a dozen. And McKetrick denied any knowledge of the murders, and particularly the idea that someone had used his weapon. Frankly, if he was so certain he had scads of political power, why lie? Why not admit to me what he'd done, and trust that no one would believe if I pointed to him as the culprit?
I wasn't ready to give up on McKetrick as a suspect, but I was beginning to think there was more to the puzzle than met the eye.
When I was clean and dressed, my hair in a ballerina-esque topknot, I downed as much blood as I could - the kitchen blissfully empty of Lacey Sheridan - and headed downstairs.
Ethan was behind his desk, the only one in his office. He wore a white button-down, the sleeves rolled up and the collar unbuttoned. He was ready for a long night of work, but he looked exhausted. He probably hadn't slept well.
"Good morning," he said.
There was no hint of anger in his voice, which suggested Lacey still hadn't spilled the secret she thought she knew. That made me breathe a little easier.
"Good morning." I sat down in a chair in front of his desk. "Any news?"
"Nothing of note. The humans are on guard outside, and we made it through the night without incident. I'm pleasantly surprised Darius didn't buy them off, too," he sardonically added.
"Bribery is clearly in his playbook. No news on the murder front, either. Or at least, no messages from the Ombud's office."
"The killer covered his tracks well," Ethan said. "But that doesn't mean there isn't a clue out there ready to be found."
Exactly why I wasn't ready to give up. Not yet.
"I'm going to ask everyone to pack a bag," Ethan said.
I stared at him, my heart deflating. He didn't think we could do it. He didn't think we could find a way to stop this, and thought we'd lose the House. That I'd be camping out on my grandfather's couch by nightfall.
The defeat in his eyes brought tears to mine. "We have tonight and most of tomorrow night. We can find a way."
"Can we?" he asked. "Without bloodshed?"
I opened my mouth, then closed it again, lacking a good retort.
There was a knock at the doorway. Lacey stood there in a trim black suit with white piping. She smiled at Ethan, but scowled at me.
"Lacey," Ethan said. "Coffee?"
"That would be lovely," she said, stepping inside.
He glanced at me. "For you?"
"No," I said, watching Lacey. "I'm fine."
Ethan put in a call to Margot, requesting espressos for both of them. As he offered the instructions, Lacey moved closer to me, her gaze growing colder with each step.
"Did you tell him?"
We were only a few feet from Ethan's desk, and my heart began to race. No doubt, in some primal part of her brain, she thought she'd ferreted out a traitor - and that bringing me to justice would bring her and Ethan closer together.
But I wasn't going to let her destroy my relationship, regardless her motive. I narrowed my gaze at her. "There is nothing to tell, and I have more important things to do than worry about what you think you saw."
"I saw enough," she quietly said, watching Ethan as he chatted with Margot on the phone.
"Can you please just focus on the drama we've got instead of creating drama that isn't really there?"
"Creating drama?" Her eyes flashed silver, which raised goose bumps on my arms. "I am here," she fiercely whispered, "in this city, because you are a child with no sense of how grave this situation is. Because you can't give him what he needs."
"I give him exactly what he needs."
"No," she said, "you're just easily accessible."
I nearly growled at her. "If he wanted you, he'd be with you. But he's not. At the end of the night, he comes home to me."
My mouth had gotten me in trouble before, and that had been exactly the wrong thing to say to a woman already threatening to tell Ethan what she'd seen after she'd followed me halfway across town.
"Ladies?" Ethan asked, staring at us from across his desk, the phone back in its cradle. There was no mistaking the tension and magic in the air. "What's going on?"
"It's about Merit."
My chest heaved as I tried to suck in air, waiting for my enemy to strike, to place her pawn before I made my own strategy.
I loved Ethan. But Jonah was my partner. I had to protect both of them. I just hoped I was clever enough to do it.
His gaze switched to me. "Merit?"
But before I could speak, she made her move. "She's having an affair with Jonah."
My eyes went dinner-plate wide. That's what she thought I'd been doing? "I most certainly am not having an affair with Jonah."
Ethan looked confused . . . and dubious. "Jonah? The Grey guard captain?"
"The same," Lacey said. "Last night she left the House. I thought her behavior, her disappearance, was suspicious. So I followed her."
Ethan looked equally suspicious. "You followed her."
Lacey slid me a glance over her shoulder, equal parts daring and accusing. "She drove to the harbor, where security let her in. She met Jonah on the harbor wall. They were alone. They embraced." She looked back at Ethan, ready to deliver the final blow. "There was blood in the air."
Ethan's gaze silvered.
"She isn't faithful to you, Ethan. You had to know that. I had to tell you."
"Lacey, leave us, please."
But she wouldn't listen. Her eyes were frantic, her voice panicked. She'd made her final play - her only play - and she wasn't sure whether it had worked. "Don't you see what she's doing to you? What she's done to you - to the House?"
"Lacey, get out!" Ethan bellowed.
"Ethan - "
He turned to glare at her, his expression no less polite than it had been with me. Sure, she'd accused me of cheating on him, but she'd also come tattling to Ethan. That wasn't exactly laudable behavior.
She did as she was told, slamming the door shut behind her.
Ethan stood up and walked toward me, a thousand questions in his eyes. "Tell me," he said. "Tell me now. Do not make me wonder, Merit. Do not make me put our relationship in her hands."