Graves stepped in close to Hannah when she checked the front display on Lia’s wireless telephone. Riley and Black Tom also crowded in and craned their necks to look over her shoulders. Lia was still sleeping soundly on that massive four-poster bed, behind them.
“Someone you know?” Graves asked, pitching his voice low so as to not disturb Lia’s rest. “Those tiny phones are goddamn amazing, by the way, that they tell you who it is that’s calling…”
“No,” Hannah said, frowning over the caller ID. “It says Ingrid Redstone. Not a name I’ve heard before.”
“Ingrid Redstone?” Graves repeated. He didn’t think he could’ve heard her right.
“It’s been ringing,” Riley said. “This must be at least the third re-dial.”
“Should I answer it?” Hannah asked.
“Yeah, do it,” Graves said. “But keep it vague. Wish there was an extension I could listen in on.”
“I can put it on speaker,” Hannah offered.
Graves nodded his approval, quietly impressed.
Hannah unfolded the phone. “Hello?”
The caller hesitated for a long while. Then, “…Lia?”
“Ah, no,” Hannah said. “No, Lia’s not, ahh, Lia can’t come to the phone right now, but I’ll be happy to give her a message, if you like.”
“Who’s this?” the caller asked sweetly. Her name was Ingrid Redstone, if the ‘caller ID’ was to be believed, and Graves had to admit that the honeyed voice did sound the way he remembered.
“I’m, uh… Lia’s boss,” Hannah said. Graves guessed she was being mindful of Lia’s wariness regarding names, which he figured was probably smart. She was improvising, although she was neither a performer nor a deceiver by nature.
“Lia’s boss at Potter’s Yard?” the woman calling herself Ingrid asked.
“Umm, yeah,” Hannah said, after a longish beat. “Yeah, that’s me, all right.”
She was at a loss for more to say. Graves folded his arms, frowning and thinking.
“Well,” Ingrid continued, “my name is Ingrid, Ingrid Redstone, and I was really hoping I might speak with Lia. Do you know when she’ll be available?”
“Well, she, she’s a little busy right now,” Hannah said. She was floundering, not quite sure what was required of her, or even what was going on. Graves had a notion rattling around in his head, but he wasn’t ready to let the rest of them in on it yet.
“She’s organizing a lot of new stock, you know, waaay out back,” Hannah continued. “She forgot her phone up here in the office.”
“Oh, did she?”
“Yeah, yeah, she did,” Hannah lied. “And it’s a pretty big place, so I’m not exactly sure where she is right now, but I’ll sure tell her you called, miss, ah, Redstone, was it?”
“That’s right, Ingrid Redstone. Lia’s been working on a… a project for me, and it’s really quite important that I speak with her as soon as possible.”
Graves could stand the charade no longer. “Yeah, I just bet it is, Ing,” he snarled down at the little phone Hannah was holding up. “Tell me-this ‘project’ of yours gonna end with Lia’s gray matter spattered all over Hardface’s door, or was that just how things shook out with me?”
“Dexter,” Ingrid said, after a moment. “That’s you, isn’t it?”
“In the… well, hell, I was gonna say ‘in the flesh,’” Graves said, aware of the inadequacy of the expression. “But yeah, it’s me. How’ve ya been, dollface? Hope the years’ve been kinder to you, ’cause they’ve sure taken a toll on me.”
“Welcome back,” Ingrid said, and Riley and Hannah exchanged a glance. “Dex,” Ingrid hesitated on the other end of the wireless phone line. “I–I want you to know that what happened, back in 1950? That was… well, it was a complicated situation. What I did to you, I didn’t do lightly.”
“Glad to know you didn’t blow my brains out on a goddamn whim, Ingrid.”
“Dexter, I had no other choice,” Ingrid exploded, suddenly emotional. “You have no idea what would’ve happened if you’d gone through that door!”
“I sure didn’t then,” Graves said. “My horizons have broadened since.”
“You may think they have,” Ingrid shot back, “but you still don’t know what’s really at stake.” When she spoke again she pitched her voice very low. “Dex, this isn’t the very best time for me to talk about all this. But there are things you need to know. You and Lia both. And you need to know them before dark.”
“Yeah, regarding Lia,” Graves said. “You come anywhere near her, and my head won’t be the only one with a hole in it. You get me?”
“Nyx will be coming at sunset,” Ingrid warned. “And Lyssa, and the Tzitzimime, too. None of them are finished with you, and they’re not the last Caradura has to send. Meet me before the sun goes down-”
“Nuts to that, sister!” Graves said. “Our social life ended when you pulled that trigger.”
“How’s Lia feeling, Dexter, why don’t you tell me that?” Ingrid challenged, trying a different tack. “Still on her feet?”
Everyone in the guest room looked over at unconscious Lia, and then back to Graves.
“And what would you know about that?” he said darkly. “What did you do to her?”
Hannah jumped when he shouted.
“Oh, it’s not me doing it, Dex,” Ingrid said. “It’s you.”
Graves hesitated. Hannah, Riley, and Black Tom all stared at him. “What the hell are you yappin’ about, Ingrid?” he said. “I’m not doing a damn thing to Lia. I wouldn’t ever.”
“Haven’t you stopped to wonder how it is you’re up and walking around?” Ingrid asked. “What do you think is powering that? Chthonic potential is what. Earth energy. The sort of force that needs a channel.”
“Then you tell me how to change that channel.”
“When we meet,” Ingrid said. “Before sunset.”
Dexter shouted down the line at her: “You must already have a hole through your goddamn head if you think I’m gonna meet you anywhere outside of hell, sister! Now you tell me how to fix this, you tell me rightnow, before I-”
“What? Come after me?” Ingrid said, cutting him off. “Oh, no! Whatever will I do? I’ll just have to cower here at Potter’s Yard until you track me down, Sherlock. Just be sure you do it before dark. Seriously.”
Ingrid broke the connection, and Lia’s phone burbled a dropped call tone.
Nobody knew what to say. Hannah, Riley, and Black Tom looked up at Graves, but all he could do was shrug, helplessly.