Page 50 of Angel's Flight

Meg opened her mouth as if to answer then shut it quickly before taking a sip of her chocolate.Shaya wondered what her theory was and if she would share it with him at some point, but he didn’t wish to pry right now.He had other business.

“I told you I needed a favor.I need your help to help me solve this – a woman on the inside,” Shaya explained.“And I also need help with another mystery that may or may not be related.I’m not sure.”

“Does it have to do with whoever has been following you?”

Shaya smiled.“Like I said, you’re a smart girl.Yes.I need help to find out who has hired detectives to spy on me.Since I can’t walk into their offices and ask, I need an assistant.”

“And you want that to be me?”Meg let out a rather undignified guffaw.“I don’t know the first thing about detective work or subterfuge!”

“Perhaps not, but are you willing to learn?I know you do not know me well, but I promise I'm a trustworthy teacher.”Shaya took a sip of the thick, rich chocolate as he regarded Meg.

“Why would you trust me?”

“The ghost trusted your mother,” Shaya confessed.“And in the end, I trusted him.I wish to continue to honor what he saw in your family.”

“And you have no one else to ask,” Meg finished for him, sitting up a bit straighter.

“That is also a factor.”

Meg Giry gave him a long, discerning look before a sly smile spread over her young face.“Well, I’ve always been a good student.Start teaching.”

7.New and Old

London

Erik wanted to collapseon the bed as soon as the hotel room door closed, but Christine beat him to it.She flopped on the mattress, making the frame creak, and gave a groan of delight.

“Usually other things have to happen first before I hear those sorts of sounds,” Erik sighed as he sank down next to her.She burrowed into his arms immediately and he let out a breath he had been holding for a week.They had made it somewhere safe.For now, at least.

“Swear to me we won’t travel again for at least a week,” Christine muttered against his chest as they relaxed into the stiff (but thankfully clean) mattress.

“I swear to that and another after it.”

The journey by sea had been claustrophobic, to begin with, but rough seas and the crush of people throughout the boat had made it worse every day.Erik had detested large ships before they embarked and now was sure that he would hate them forever.There had been no place to go where there weren’t hordes of strangers, all staring at him even though he had his special mask.So he had stayed in their cramped cabin, tripping over their trunks and his wife every moment and trying not to go mad being unable to play or sing or compose.At least they had been safe at sea.

The only relief from the boredom and confinement had been Christine and her insistence that Erik ‘get to know’ their traveling companion.His few hours conversing with Howard had been light points of the trip.He was an amusing man with a biting sense of humor that Erik very much appreciated, but there also seemed to be something secretive about him – a louche mysteriousness that reminded Erik too much of the dilettantes that frequented the Opéra.

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