And Gold probably was trying to sow doubt. But the best seeds of doubt were based on truth. And the truth was that Gold was a complication they didn’t need, with the potential for great harm. She would need to be neutralized. Whether that meant being brought over to their way of thinking or dying, well, that was up in the air.

Kovit had already been forced into killing one of his friends. Nita couldn’t let him be responsible for another. So Gold was right. Nita might need to make her have an accident. And Kovit knew it. And he knew Nita was capable of it.

Nita cleared her throat. “It’s late. Kovit, why don’t you and I go in the reception room and leave Gold to rest?”

He wasn’t quite able to meet her gaze. “Sure.”

They turned away, a hum of tension between them that hadn’t been there moments before.

Gold just smiled at them both and ate another slice of pizza.

Six

THEY MADE THEIR WAY back into the lobby, and Kovit flopped back onto the couch. Nita paced the room.

“Gold could be a problem,” she murmured.

Kovit looked at her with steady eyes. “But she’s one that won’t be solved with murder.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

Nita’s hands moved at her side, sharp motions of cutting with an invisible scalpel. “There are other ways to deal with her than murder.”

He looked at her for a long time and then closed his eyes and leaned back into the sofa. “Good.”

Nita sighed, mind whirling, clicking through all the things she still had to do. Her body was exhausted, but she couldn’t rest yet. She pumped herself full of adrenaline. She still had one very important task.

She went to the bag Kovit had brought back and fished out one of the burner phones. It was crappy, so she used her own phone to bring up INHUP’s website.

She stole a glance at Kovit as she scrolled through pages. “I’m going to call her now. Your sister.”

He stiffened and sat up on the couch. “Do we have to do it right now?”

“We’re on a bit of a time crunch. Only a week before INHUP releases your face. Do you really want to stall?”

“No, no.” He ran a hand through his hair. “You’re right. We should call now.”

Nita met Kovit’s eyes. “You don’t have to be here for this conversation.”

He held her gaze. “I do.”

Nita went back to her phone, scrolling through pages for the anonymous tip line. When they’d seen Kovit’s sister on the television earlier today, she’d been being interviewed about a murder case in Montreal involving a unicorn who had eaten the soul of a teenage girl and left her lying on the pavement, iris-less eyes staring at nothing.