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necessary.” And she wanted out, Eve admitted. There was a heat in the room now, a kind of singeing of the air. “When did you leave yesterday?”
    “About quarter to five. Ava was getting ready to leave, I remember. Leah was shooing her out. She and Jack—well, you know about all that.”
    “Yes. Did you approve of that? One of your doctors dating your office manager.”
    He looked surprised by the question, even bemused. “They were both adults—and frankly, they seemed besotted with each other from the first minute.”
    “Where did you go when you left?”
    “Home to change. My wife and I had a small dinner party last evening. A few friends.”
    “I apologize, but it’s routine. I’ll need the names and contact numbers.”
    “Of course.” He smiled at her. “No apology necessary.” And he gave her six names. She thanked him, dismissed him. Then added those names to her list of suspects.

Eight
    Roarke arranged lunch for himself and Isis in the owner’s suite of the hotel, and passed the forty minutes eating food that didn’t interest him while making polite small talk with a witch.
    “When’s the last time you slept?” Isis asked him.
    “I suppose it’s been about thirty-two hours now. She’ll push herself until she drops, you see. Eve.”
    “And you relax and recreate?”
    “More often than she. But no, in this case, in this particular case, I suppose we’ll both push. Her time’s up, so if you’ve finished, I’ll take you to 606.”
    “First.” She rose, stepped to him, and placed her hand on his head. “No, relax, just for a moment. Clear your mind. You can trust me.”
    A warm flow, he thought. Not the quick burst of energy that came from popping a booster, but more of a slow, steady build of stamina.
    “Better?”
    “Thank you, yes.”
    “It won’t last long, but between that and the little you ate, it should get you through. What you need is some rest.” She picked up her bag. “I’m ready.”
    He led her to the elevator.
    “You said there’s a private elevator that opens into the suite, as well as the doors to the hallways.”
    “That’s right.”
    “I want to see it from the outside first. I want to go through the door, not through a machine.”
    “All right. Sixtieth floor,” he ordered. “Main bank.”
    “I’ll ask you, whatever happens, not to leave me alone.”
    “I won’t.” When the elevator doors opened, Roarke took her hand.
    The bloody footprints still walked the carpet. Blood smears marred the walls where Jack had laid his hand for balance. In Roarke’s hand, Isis’s fingers tensed.
    “People think of it as a cliché.” She stared at the door where the tail of blood made a six from the middle zero. “But it has power and meaning. It should be cleaned—all of this—with blessed water as soon as possible.”
    Roarke stepped forward, drew out his master. And Eve strode off the elevator like vengeance.
    “Wait. Didn’t I tell you to wait?”
    “And so I did.” Roarke turned to her, his gaze as icy as hers was hot. “You’re late.”
    She put herself between him and the door. “I know who did this. At least I know some of them. I can close this without the mumbo.”
    “Nice to see you again, Eve.”
    Eve shifted her gaze to Isis. “No offense. I appreciate you being willing to help, and in fact, have some questions you may be able to answer. You don’t have to see what’s in there.”
    “I’ve already seen some of it, through him and now through you. Seen what’s trapped in your minds. But I can’t feel unless I go in. I can’t feel or see what she saw and felt unless I go in. I might help, I might not, but he needs it.”
    Isis took Eve’s arms so that for a moment, she stood as the link between Eve and Roarke. “You know that.”
    Eve yanked out her master and turned to the door. “When I say it’s done, it’s done,” she stated.
    Roarke slipped the protection charm into her pocket as she unsealed the door.
    She stepped in