“It’s actually not too big a deal. It takes a major working to open a strait. You’re supposed to close a strait after you go through it, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. It’s not good to have them sitting open, so closing them manually is something we have to do on occasion.”

“So, Williams came up here to get it closed, and just happened to find out about me because he saw my pictures?”

“Yes, as I understand it.”

So I’d been an added headache from the get-go. And then I’d kept him tied up with the police for hours. No wonder he’d been so monumentally pissed off. Not that I felt bad about that. Well, not so far as he was concerned. I guess I’d feel pretty bad about it if the result was something dangerous coming into our world through the opening.

Then again, he can’t have been working on it too hard, not if he’d been having a leisurely brunch with Callie at Pete’s Eats on Monday.

“If closing one of these things is no biggie, why’d he take Callie? You should’ve seen her when he asked her to go. She was scared. She told me she’s not a fighter, more of a watcher.”

“Absolutely right. He should never have taken her,” Graham said angrily. “It’s ridiculous. Apparently, he very nearly got her killed.”

We lapsed into silence. I realized I still didn’t have a clear sense of what threat the open strait posed.

“So,” I said, “the worry is that something dangerous might come through the opening and start, I don’t know, eating my neighbors, or something?”

Just as Graham started to answer, the front door opened and Williams walked in.

A shudder rippled over me.

He stopped short when he saw us on the couch. “You’re finally showing up? I called you a week ago.”

There was no mistaking his anger. It made his accent stronger.

“I expected you to handle the situation on your own,” Graham said evenly. “I’m here to work with Elizabeth, not do your job for you.”

He showed no sign of being afraid of Williams.

The big man looked like he wanted to put his hands around Graham’s neck and squeeze. A tense couple seconds passed before Williams turned and stalked down the hallway.

Graham watched him go, then turned back to me with an expression of patience, as though he often had to deal with difficult underlings.

“Why don’t you get some sleep, Elizabeth. It’s getting late, and this must’ve been a tiring day for you.”

I nodded and trundled off to bed, trying to feel smug about having seen Williams get the smack-down. Unfortunately, I was still deeply afraid of him, so my satisfaction was half-hearted.