“Well, if you consider my evaluation with Ephraim important, then yes.” The sarcasm dripped through the phone.

I froze. “Thank you. That’s all I needed to know.”

He actually seemed surprised by that. “Really?”

“Yeah, no, wait—when I talked to Kristin the other day, she said that you came to Seattle the day Jerome was summoned, but then Ephraim said when you got here, he was already gone. Is that true?”

“Yes, of course. Do you doubt him?”

“No, no . . . just making sure I heard right. And you were in Seattle for a while?”

“Yeah, I was with Grace and Mei dealing with the aftermath. Look, if you want to track my activities, wait until Kristin’s back in the office.” He sighed in frustration. “Fuck. I wish she was here now.”

I hesitated, then figured I couldn’t make things worse. “Hey, just some friendly advice . . . but the next time you’re looking at Match.com or asking out succubi, why don’t you look a little closer to home?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Kristin. If you’re looking for someone who ‘gets’ you, you’ve already got her. See you later.” I hung up before I could hear his response. Roman gave me a bemused look.

“Are you matchmaking in the middle of this crisis?”

“Just doing a good deed.” I tossed my cell phone from hand to hand, thinking. “Okay, so. The Army did a prank today—while Ephraim was interviewing Cedric. Not good for Cedric.”

“Which is going to ruin his candidacy for Seattle.”

“Likely, even though he claims he doesn’t want it. Still, it makes sense that Grace would have them do it today . . . if she had them do it and they didn’t act randomly . . .”

He shrugged. “Makes sense, but what’s it matter? You already know she’s got a role in this. All this does is clear him.”

I frowned. I had the same sense I had the other day while analyzing the cult’s activities, like I was so close but couldn’t grasp all the threads. Against my better judgment, I dialed Evan. He flipped out when he realized it was me.

“Georgina! We’ve been wondering what happened to you. Man, you will not believe what we did today, it was this—”

“I already know,” I interrupted. “It was on the news down here.”

“What? Holy shit. Hey! You guys!” I pulled the phone away as he yelled at whoever was with him. “We made the Seattle news!” A moment later he returned to me. “Wow, that’s awesome. International recognition!”

“Look, Evan. I need to know something. Did the Angel actually tell you to do this? And when I say that, I mean, did she actually appear in one of those visions or did you presume she wanted this?”