“You don’t like to talk about Devina.”

“My relationship with her is no one else’s business but mine.” Vin’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been trained to fight, haven’t you. And not by some strip-mall martial-arts academy.”

“Keep me posted if you hear anything from the police.” Jim went into the bathroom and cranked on the shower. As the pipes groaned and rattled, an anemic spray arched out and fell onto the plastic floor of the stall. “And don’t worry about locking the door behind you. Dog and I will be fine.”

The guy met Jim’s eyes in the little mirror over the sink. “You are not who you say you are.”

“Who is.”

Abruptly, a shadow passed over Vin’s face, like he was remembering something horrible.

“You okay?” Jim frowned. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I had a bad dream last night.” Vin dragged a hand through his hair. “Haven’t quite shaken it.”

Abruptly, Jim heard the guy’s voice in his head: Do you believe in demons?

As Dog whimpered and started limping back and forth between the two of them, the hairs on the back of Jim’s neck tingled. “Who was the dream about.”

Not a question.

Vin laughed tightly, put a business card on the coffee table and went for the door. “No one. I didn’t know who it was about.”

“Vin…talk to me. What the fuck happened when you got home?”

Sunlight poured into the studio as the guy stepped out onto the stairwell’s landing. “I’ll let you know if I get contacted by the police. You do the same. I left my card.”

There was no pushing the subject, clearly. “Okay, fine, you do that.” Jim recited his cell number and wasn’t surprised when Vin memorized it without writing it down. “And listen, you might want to stay away from that club.”

Christ knew adding a set of jail bars to this equation was not going to make things easier. Plus, Vin had looked at that dark-haired prostitute the way he should have been staring at Devina—which meant the less time he was around her, the better.

“I’ll be in touch,” Vin said, before shutting the door.

Jim stared at the wooden panels as heavy footsteps went down the stairs and then a powerful engine started up. After the M6 crackled down the gravel drive, he went over and let Dog out and then hit the shower before his half-gallon hot-water tank had nothing but cold to offer.

As he soaped himself up, the question Vin had asked the night before echoed again.

Do you believe in demons?

Across town, Marie-Terese sat on her sofa and stared at a movie she wasn’t watching. It was her…fourth in a row? Fifth? She hadn’t slept the night before. Hadn’t even tried to put her head on the pillow.