I nodded. “It’s not fair that with everything else we’re dealing with, your senses are overwhelmed, too.” I frowned. “Now that I think about it, none of this is very fair.”
“Considering the circumstances, I think it’s clear we have some fans up there. We have Eli and Samuel vying for us. That’s a huge advantage in and of itself.”
“It doesn’t feel like it,” I grumbled.
My cel phone rang. It was Beth again. I closed my eyes tight while Jared took the phone and pushed the silence button. He buried it into the tote I had carried with me to the beach and then pul ed me against his chest.
“You can tel her goodbye before we leave. She’l only feel this way for a few days and then you can comfort her. She’l probably tackle you and forget all about it.”
“No, she won’t.”
Jared took in a deep breath and wrapped his arms tighter around me. “I’m just trying to help.”
“I know. I know you are. It’s just that I feel I’m hurting her intentional y. It’s not fair that she is the only close friend that isn’t in the loop.”
“Do you real y want to expose her to all of this? More importantly, do you think she can handle it?”
I shook my head. “No. I know you’re right. I don’t want to tel her, I just feel like a jerk. ‘Jerk’ doesn’t even cover it. I’m a bad friend—a bad person.”
“She’l be able to close her eyes every night not wondering what’s with her in the dark, Nina. I’d say you’re being kind.”
“Maybe. Can you imagine her reaction when she finds out we’re leaving for Israel in a few days? She’s going to freak out. I don’t even know how to explain it to her.”
“Then don’t. It’s not a necessity to tel her we’re going to Jerusalem. Just say the West Coast or something.”
I pressed my lips together in a hard line. “I’m tired of lying to her, Jared.”
“I know.”
The stars had crowded out the last colors left behind by the setting sun, and the ocean was as black as the sky above. I might have been chil y at night by the water a few months before, but being wrapped in Jared’s arms coupled with my own elevated temperature, the sun might as wel have been bearing down on my skin.
The wind rol ing off the water blew my hair into Jared’s face, and he turned his head, blowing the strands from his mouth.
I smiled, but my amusement quickly faded. “Speaking of Jerusalem….”
“Yes?”
“If they know we’re going, won’t they try to stop us? If it gets worse than a car bomb we’re going to be busy. What if they wire the plane?” I laughed once without humor. “What if they shoot us down?”
“That is a possibility. But we’re prepared.”
Dread settled over me. We were vulnerable on the plane, and it was a ten-hour flight.
“We’ll land, get you and the book to the Sepulchre, and wait it out underground until you deliver.”
“You make it sound simple, but you forget demons wil do everything they can to stop us.”
“We just have to get you there. It’s smooth sailing after that.”
“You hope.”
The skin around Jared’s eyes tightened. “I’m going to stop by the warehouse before we leave. Talk to Eli.”
“I thought he said to come to him when we only had one question to ask?”
Jared kept his eyes on the ocean. “I don’t think the question is ours to ask.”
Chapter Thirteen
The Road Home
We revisited that spot on the beach many times over the next two days. Jared sat with me and watched the waves rol onto the sand, and the water carry distant ship slowly across the horizon. We discussed our upcoming trip to Jerusalem, but Jared kept most of the details to himself. He didn’t want to worry me with the truth of what he saw coming. Although I was much stronger than I used to be, that didn’t change the fact that I was carrying our child.
The only sound was the wind and the intermittent waves sizzling against the sand, but my mind was crowded and loud. Sometimes I would close my eyes tight and try to push out the hundreds of frightening thoughts in my head, but then I would see Sasha. No matter how tight Jared wrapped his eyes around me, or how hard I tried to pretend we were in Little Corn, thoughts of demons, and Sasha, and bombs plagued me.
My cel phone rang several times. Beth’s phone number dominated the cal log, and my voicemail, with her frantic pleas. Sasha hadn’t come to work, and it was clear she was also missing. Before long, other people began to cal . Even Cynthia, although I assumed it was just to keep up pretenses for the police. As far as they knew, she was afraid I was dead or missing.
By the evening of the second day, Jared’s phone buzzed. “Ryel.” Jared listened for a moment, gave a quick affirmation, and then hung up. “The investigators expect the results of the dental records any minute. It won’t be long.”
“Wel , that’s good news, I guess.”
Sasha’s family learning that it was her remains the police had found inside of my vehicle wasn’t a good thing, but it was a means to an end. It al was. The true good news was that I could final y cal Beth.
Claire was right, within the hour, she texted a confirmation. When Jared gave me the go ahead, I dialed Beth’s number.
“Where in the hel have you been?” she wailed. “I thought you were dead!” Her breathing quickened until sobs developed in her throat, fol owed by a pause in the form of muffled noises before Chad came on the line.
“Uh...hel o?”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I left a note. I thought everyone knew I was gone. Jared and I needed some time away, so I turned off my phone. I feel awful.”
The last bit was true. I could hear Beth sobbing in the background; hearing Chad try to comfort her only made me feel worse. Between consoling her, he tried to fil me in on what had happened. He described the scene at Titan, the police tape, the lines of employees waiting to be questioned, and the blackened asphalt where my BMW burned into the night.
Before long Beth took the phone back and put it to her ear. “My life has been miserable. Everyone at Titan either spread rumors, or spontaneously burst into tears, or alternating between irritated and hateful. Did you know Sasha is missing, too? It’s insane!”
“Missing?” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. The guilt weighed on me with every lie I told.
“Oh my...oh my God, Nina. The last person to speak to Sasha was her mother. She said Sasha was working late at Titan the night she went missing. Do you think it was her in your car? I mean...if it wasn’t you, then who?”
“I...I don’t know. Maybe you should say something to the investigators.”
Beth began to cry again. “That poor girl. You should cal your mother, and then cal Providence PD and tel them you’re okay. You’l probably have to come back right away.” She sniffed again. “I’m sorry in advance if I smack you upside your head for scaring the beejeezus outta me.”
I laughed once. “You’re forgiven.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay. As much as I loathed that woman, I hope it wasn’t Sasha, either. That’s an awful way to die...Nina?”
“Yes?”
“Someone put a bomb on your car.”