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“You know Annie speaks for herself. I can’t compel her to do anything.”
“No, but you can convince her. She trusts you.”
“He’s not even born yet.”
“But he will be, and when he is, I wish to see him, to know him.”
Adam exchanged a look with Vic.
“If you’re worried about my influence,” Wilcox continued. “You needn’t be. I simply want to see the baby, as if he’d remember us at such an early age.”
“Why?”
“It’s for Edwina,” Wilcox grumbled. “She is more sentimental about the child.”
Annie’s mother had gone with her husband into exile. Adam still didn’t know if she was complicit in what he’d done or simply blinded by the wealth and influence she enjoyed by being married to a monster.
Still, Patrick wasn’t fooling Adam. The last time they’d spoken, he’d let slip how he considered Ian his heir. The boy was important to him.
Adam waffled. He needed the book to access the Archive. He might be able to find another tome, but wasn’t certain how or if the Archive would already have a copy of what he could dig up. The grimoire was unique, one of a kind.
“I can ask her for you, but I can’t guarantee anything,” Adam said. “It’s her baby, her call.”
“That will suffice. Have her call this number when she agrees. Then call me yourself and I’ll give you the location.”
Wilcox disconnected.
Adam glowered at his phone. If he had an elf’s power, it would have melted.
Wilcox had sent someone into their home. He’d taken the grimoire, and the worst of it was, he acted like it was a damn game.
“It’s a slippery slope,” Vic said.
“Yeah. It is.”
Trading favors with Wilcox wouldn’t lead anywhere good.
It seemed innocuous, so safe, just let Edwina see the baby, but what if that was just the start?
The littlest favor, born of need and a bit of sympathy would lead to another, then another.
“I don’t like it,” Vic said. “You could let it go. You’ve backed up the book and you don’t even know if this library will have the answers you’re looking for.”
“It’s the best lead I’ve got,” Adam said. “And he is Ian’s grandfather, even if he is a snake.”
“What will you tell Annie?”
“Everything, at least about this. What Patrick says he wants and why he took the book.”
“When?”
“Today, if you’ll loan me the car. I don’t have a shift at the garage and I can get some plants for their garden. I promised her I’d do that at Christmas.”
“That works. You can drop me at the kitchen.”
“What’s your shift today?”
“I’ve got We’ll Fix it On Toast all afternoon.”
