But dauda-dagr was fraying a hole in my straw satchel, and I had promised Cody he could give me a lesson in handling edged and pointy weapons this evening. More important, I needed to tell him what Stefan had discovered, and what I’d learned—or hadn’t learned—from Mr. Leary.

“I can’t,” I said reluctantly. “I wish I could, but I can’t.”

Jen sighed. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!”

At that moment, my phone rang. Glancing at it, I saw it was Cody. “I’m sorry. I have to take it.”

I thought Jen might bail on me, but she waited while I confirmed with Cody that I’d meet him at his place in half an hour.

“Okay,” I said after I ended the call. “I really, really am sorry. I should have put our friendship before the eldritch code, and I didn’t. But as much as I’d like to, I can’t put it before this investigation. There’s a lot at stake. And if we don’t get to the bottom of it fast, it’s going to get ugly.”

“I know.” Her face was somber. “Everyone’s talking about it. Are you in trouble, Daise?”

“Honestly?” I asked. “Yeah, I think maybe so. But I’m not sure what kind.”

“Anything I can do?” Jen asked steadily.

“Yeah.” I smiled at her. “You can accept my apology. That way at least I won’t be checking my phone every ten minutes.”

“Okay, okay!” She blew out her breath, setting wisps of hair dancing around her face. “Look, I’m not quite ready to hug it out yet, but if you want to talk later, call me. I have to admit, I’m curious. I mean, seriously? A ghoul?”

Gah! I really wished I had more time. “I’ll call you,” I said. “Thanks, Jen.”

“You’re welcome.” She got into her car, an old Chrysler LeBaron convertible with God knew how many miles on it. “Daise?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful,” she said in a serious voice, turning over the ignition. “Okay?”

“I will.”

Jen’s hand hovered over the gearshift. “And listen, I won’t say anything to anyone about Cody. But if you really like him, I think you should go for it. All these rules and codes . . .” She shrugged. “They’re kind of stupid, and they get in the way. Sometimes you’ve just got to follow your heart, you know?”

“Maybe,” I said ruefully. “This isn’t the time for it. Like I said, there’s a lot going on. But so far, there’s no evidence he feels the same way.”

She put the LeBaron in gear. “Well, think about it.”

Chapter Twenty-one

Twenty-one

I drove home and changed into jeans and a scoop-necked T-shirt, then drove out to Cody’s place.