Ephraim was eager to get back on track. He asked me a few more questions about Jerome’s disappearance and a bit about my day-to-day affairs. He never asked for my opinion about who should replace Jerome or what I thought of other demons. That wasn’t particularly surprising, however. As my friends and I had discussed, our input probably wouldn’t play a large role here.

I hung up and went to find Roman. I expected him to have practically finished the search, but instead, I found him playing ball with some kids over in a clearing near the trees. They were pretty little, and there wasn’t much to the game. Mostly everyone stood in a circle and tossed the ball back and forth. Roman’s throws were gentle and carefully aimed so as to make it easy for the kids to catch the ball. I stood off to the side, watching them in wonder. He actually seemed pretty into it, and the oddity of a sociopathic half-angelic bastard playing with small children wasn’t lost on me.

Roman caught sight of me watching them and tossed the ball over to a little girl. He left the circle to approach me, much to the dismay of the kids left behind. They entreated him to stay, but he merely waved and told them he had to go.

“Maybe we can come back later,” he said jovially.

“I can’t decide if that was cute or creepy,” I told him. “Maybe a little of both.”

“Why creepy? I only kill immortal beings. Not kids.”

“The fact that you just said all that with a straight face is proof enough.” I gestured around. “Did you check this place out?”

“Nope. Didn’t want to steal the fun from you. Who was on the phone?”

We started walking along the beach, and I recapped what Ephraim had told me. “I almost told him what I knew about Grace,” I admitted.

“No, better that you didn’t,” said Roman. “We still need more information.”

“We’re running out of time,” I grumbled. “There’s not much more info we can get. And there’s something there . . . something weird about the day Jerome was summoned. I just can’t—” I froze, staring off down the beach. “Roman. Look.”

He followed my gaze. There, near a trash can, was a patch of small, rough rocks mixed in with the sand. Gray and white. I ran off down the beach, ignoring the sand filling my shoes. Holy shit. After all these fruitless searches, after relying on all these sketchy half-assed clues, we’d actually found something. We’d found Jerome, and not a moment too soon.

Ignoring the looks of some startled kids, I knelt down near the rocks and began pushing them aside, digging through the sand. I realized then I should have brought a spade or something. A few moments later, Roman arrived and stood over me.