Page 96 of Live To Tell

Rowan shakes his head. “Annabelle wanted my number and will send a message to meet me somewhere. Then she’ll hand over what she has. Annabelle wouldn’t say anymore over email.”

“She really doesn’t want anybody to know,” comments Leif. “This must be good information.”

“Well, you can’t go alone,” I tell Rowan.

“Why not? Annabelle specifically said only me.”

“You’re not that dumb, Rowan,” retorts Grayson.

Rowan wrinkles his nose. “I don’t have a time and place yet anyway. And Annabelle might change her mind.”

“I’ll take another look through the diary and find some of the initials and places. We can ask her about them too,” I reply, emphasizing we.

“And Julius? Have you told him?” asks Leif.

“No, otherwise he’d want to involve himself. Even if Mrs. Eldridge was subtly threatening us, she’s right about his mental state. Julius messages me all the time for updates and today he was weird. Lost his shit when I told him we didn’t have more information and accused me of lying.”

“By omission, yes,” I say, “but if he’s in a delicate mental state, it’s best we remain selective about what we tell him.”

“You know who else we need to speak to,” says Leif through a mouthful of the wrap he bought. “Sawyer.”

“Dorian has that covered.”

“And Kai. Has anybody seen him since his birthday?” asks Rowan.

“Holly saw him at the movies a couple of days ago. Intact,” I reply.

“You’re still using her to investigate?” asks Grayson.

“Excuse me, but I am not ‘using’ her. I explained to Holly that remaining involved in our meetings may endanger her life. All I did was express interest in Kai’s welfare and received the update from my curly-haired newshound.”

Leif splutters. “You have such a way with words when describing people.”

“Yeah, like consort.” Grayson smirks again as my lips purse. “Does Dorian know?”

“I have a lot to speak to Dorian about and you should come with me. He needs to know what happened to you, Grayson. That could help us track your uncle down.”

Grayson’s smirk slips away. “You want me to meet up with Dorian?”

“No point in delaying the inevitable,” says Leif.

“Yeah, but whatever ‘the inevitable’ is worries me,” he mutters.

“Grayson. Dorian won’t hurt you if you’re helpful in looking for Josef. We spoke about this.” He mutters his doubt. I look to Rowan. “And I want to check in with Dorian about the Circle. He has someone on the inside who could help with information about Whitegrove. He’ll know who the man’s connected to.”

Rowan’s expression shifts and he sits straighter. “You spoke to Dorian about the Circle?”

“Yes.”

His cheeks redden and he roughly unzips his bag, then pulls something from inside. Rowan slaps a cream envelope with an embossed black border onto the lawn and pushes his hands into his hair again. “This is your doing?”

I gesture at the envelope. “What’s that? More evidence?”

“No, Violet,” he says tersely. “That’s my invite to join the Circle. I told you; I don’t want any involvement with them.”

“You told me that after I spoke to Dorian.” His face grows redder. “You could decline politely,” I suggest.

Rowan grabs the envelope and throws it at me, which I catch in surprise. “Nobody declines a Circle invite. They have a grip over witch and human professional society through their network. I’d never get a decent job.”

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