Waking The Serpent

Phoebe looked down at her latte. “I just got breakfast.”

Carter smiled. “Half of it’s on my shoe. Toss it. I’m buying.”

* * *

They ended up downstairs in the café again. The Camp Verde neighborhood boasted little more than the courthouse and county jail, a shooting range and an incongruously placed African wildlife park. Carter looked a little out of his element in his impeccable suit.

Phoebe tore open the little envelope of Caesar dressing to squeeze onto her salad. “Big spender. I’m impressed.”

Carter laughed. “I thought about suggesting the promising-sounding Carl’s Custom Meats, but it’s a little too close to the wildlife park for comfort.”

Phoebe grinned. “That’s why I’m sticking to salad.” She carefully speared a cherry tomato. “So, you’re not from the local chapter, I take it.”

“No, does it show? Not wearing enough crystals?” He winked and ate a bite of his sandwich, managing not to end up with mayonnaise at the corner of his mouth as Phoebe would have done. “I live in Scottsdale. I’m with the Phoenix chapter.”

“And do they not have strict rules about consorting with ‘evocators’ in the Phoenix chapter?”

“They don’t think highly of the practice, I have to admit. Though most who profess to have the ability are charlatans.”

Phoebe paused with a hunk of romaine on her fork. “Do you think I’m a charlatan?”

“I haven’t seen your work, so I have no basis upon which to make such a judgment. But your sister’s talent as a witch is impressive. I imagine your talent must be every bit as much so.”

“Well, I don’t do it to impress anyone. I do it because I can, and people seem to need it.”

“By people, you mean shades.”

“You don’t think shades are people?”

“I think they were people. But I think letting them cling to what they were can be dangerous. For both the shade and the evocator.” He paused and looked up from his lunch, giving Phoebe a perfect million-dollar smile. “But I’m willing to keep my mind open to other possibilities.” It was more than Ione or the rest of the local Covent had ever done. Carter took another meticulous bite while Phoebe pondered and chewed. “Have you ever encountered a hostile shade?”

“Hostile?” She swallowed her bite. “No, I wouldn’t say hostile. A few who were angry and confused at first.” And of course there was Lila, who’d tried to feed her to a snake last night to appease some Aztec god. “What do you think of Rafe’s—Mr. Diamante’s situation?”

Carter set down his sandwich and took a sip of his Perrier. “As his legal counsel, I have to believe he’s sincere in his account of what happened. Whether his suspicions are correct about how it happened, I can’t say.”

“But you think it’s possible. That a shade might have stepped into him without his knowledge.”

“Possible? Absolutely. Whether such testimony would be admissible in court is another matter. Of course, everything Rafael has told me is confidential, so all of this is merely hypothetical, you understand.”

Phoebe nodded and swallowed a mouthful of salad. “Of course. I didn’t mean to pry.”

Carter touched her arm. “I didn’t think you were prying. Just reminding myself, really. You’re easy to talk to. I find I’m forgetting myself.” He regarded her for a moment. “Can I ask you something personal?”

Phoebe pushed lettuce around in her plastic clamshell. “Fire away.”

“Is there a reason you aren’t a member of the Covent? Other than the obvious philosophical differences, of course.”

“Yes, there is.” Phoebe smiled. “I’m not a witch.”

“So you don’t believe the animating forces of nature have a spiritual component.”

“I’ve never been big on spirituality. I believe in science.”

“Yet as an accomplished evocator, you work with spirit beings.”

Phoebe shrugged. “I suppose I consider magic to be just another facet of science. The flip side, if you will. I don’t attribute it to any god.”

“Some might attribute it to the flip side of a god.”

Her brows quirked upward. “The province of the Devil? Isn’t that considered heresy in the craft?”

Carter laughed with genuine amusement. “No, of course not the Devil. I was thinking along the lines of a goddess. Inanna or Astarte, for instance. Lilith.” He glanced at his conspicuously expensive watch. “I’m afraid I need to get back. But it was delightful talking with you, Phoebe—I hope I can call you Phoebe?”

He certainly had a way of making everything he said sound utterly sincere.

She smiled. “Of course.”

* * *

Upstairs, Carter paused before they went their separate ways. “I hope we’ll have a chance to talk again soon.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips and Phoebe blushed, not sure anyone had ever kissed her hand before.

“Phoebe?” The surprised voice was a deep baritone. Phoebe looked up to find Rafe staring at the two of them, dark brows drawn together in mistrust. “What’s going on?”

Carter let go of her hand and gave Rafe a placid smile. “Just lunching with Ms. Carlisle. We all have business in court today, as it happens.”

Phoebe glanced from Carter to Rafe. “You have business in court?”

Rafe looked grim. “Barbara Fisher’s death has officially been ruled a homicide. And I’m officially being arrested.”

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