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“It started slow,” Janet said. “Not with threats or anything like that. Just a comment here and there. Then at eight weeks pregnant I became possessed. I didn’t know how it had happened, but it was so early in the pregnancy.” Janet shrugged.
“You lost the baby,” I said.
“After that, the comments became more regular and he would say things about the possession being my fault, and I was obviously not fit to be a mother. Then he found my daughter and convinced her to come live in that commune where he was king and where every day was a long-drawn-out conversation about The Reckoning. The thing is, I think he targeted me,” Janet said. “I think he wooed me because he knew I was your business partner. Conversations about you were as common as conversations about The Reckoning. It was awful and I couldn’t get out, because if I did, I knew he’d hurt Bethany.” Her hands shook as she sat at the table. “By the time he got around to robbing people for magical items, I was stuck. I hadn’t talked to any of my friends or even my sister much. I felt like if I left...” She shook her head. “I don’t know what I thought. I was stupid.”
“No, you weren’t. You were being controlled by an abuser.” I touched her hand. “Did you call the therapist Helia recommended?”
“I did. I have my first appointment with her in two days.”
“You can stay with me as long as you want,” I told her. “But I hope you can clarify two things for me. The first; in March we were dispatched to deal with a dragon, and at that time we were connected to books via magic. Somehow your group got one of those books. But when we triangulated the spell, it was cast at the dragon.”
“No, it was aimed at you by Francis. I was with him and tried to get your attention, but there was a dragon.” Janet gave a weak smile. “Francis knew if he cast it up and let it fall on you as a group, he’d capture more of you with it. Otherwise, he would have needed to cast the spell individually on each of you. Also, he’s crazy. While I can answer this question, I’m not going to guarantee the next one.”
“Well, I lied, I have two more still and if you can’t answer them, it’s no big deal. Shit, no three more questions yet. One, why the robberies?”
“He was looking for something that belonged to Uther the Wise,” Janet said. “Along the way, he discovered if he collected magically imbued items, he could gain power he didn’t have; and he wanted a lot of power.”
“Two, why go to Penelope’s coven?” I asked.
“We couldn’t get the mass summoning potion to work. Each time he tried it, it didn’t summon demons; it caused possession. I told him it might be a weakness of the group and my sister’s coven was much more powerful than I and a group of partial angels were, so if he went to them they might be able to make one that actually summoned demons instead of causing possession.”
“Three, do you know the man behind Francis? What I mean by that is, Uriel doesn’t believe Francesca or Francis masterminded any of this and my cousin Francesca has been stuck in a cycle of liking abusive men who subjugate her to their whims.”
“Oh,” Janet said softly. “Francis spoke on the phone to someone at least three times a day. He was always respectful, but I think he was afraid of him. I tried a few times to look at the name Francis had the number under in his phone, but he was careful about keeping it secret. I think your uncle is correct, but I don’t know who it is.”
“Well, no matter, we’ll figure it out eventually. We didn’t fill your position at Angel Investigations. When you’re feeling up to it, if you want to come back, we have an opening and Remiel and Raphael, who are working with us nearly all the time, are looking to build us a better building, something more professional and statelier.” I said this last with a bit of sarcasm.
“Interesting,” Janet said. I agreed.