“Tomorrow night,” Mina said. “I’ve got previous obligations tonight in preparation—‘casing the joint,’ as they say in all the cop shows. Bring whatever you need for picking locks, Mr. Golden Touch. I need you to get me in and then watch my back while I actually switch out the painting. I’ll be busy not setting off the sensors on it, and the last thing I need is to have to handle some guard at the same time. So be ready for a fight. I hope that fits into your busy schedule. If it doesn’t, tough.”

I just stared at Mina, wanting to yell at her, but the Lovecraft Café was not the place for it. I stepped away from her.

“You’re a real piece of work, Mina. I’m surprised some lucky guy hasn’t snatched you up and married you yet. Really, I mean, with a soft side like yours . . .”

“Bite me,” she said, and spun around, heading for the door. “Better brush up on your lock-picking skills, Boy Scout.”

17

The encounter with Mina left me all riled up, and I gave up on the idea of sleep before meeting up with Connor at the park. It was around eight, and I thought I had enough time to try to patch things up with Jane. With a fresh idea in my head, I called her and told her to meet me around ten at Eccentric Circles.

When Jane found me at the back of the Department’s favorite watering hole in one of the dark and secluded booths, she stopped in her tracks and smiled. The bar was the usual hangout for our unusual crowd, but I had chosen the back dining area for a quiet meal alone with her. I had set the booth up for dinner for two, complete with a red-and-white-checkered table cloth I had picked up along the way, candles, and an array of Italian dishes.

As she walked up the booth, she stopped when she saw everything. “Isn’t it a little late for a big dinner? And Italian? Does Eccentric Circles even do Italian?”

I nodded my head.

“For the right price they do,” I said, standing up. “I would have made it for you myself at home, but my schedule’s been pretty crazy.”

“You arranged all this?” Jane’s grin widened.

I nodded. “I’ve been feeling pretty Lady and the Tramp lately.” Flashes of my Lovecraft Café encounter with Mina filled my head. “Let’s just say I’ve gotten a little perspective on how healthy you are for me, and I wanted to make up for the way I’ve been acting.”

I took her hand in mine and raised it to my lips. I was glad to see she didn’t pull away when I kissed it and her smile remained. I helped her slide into the booth.

Jane picked up the glass of wine on her side and raised it. “Well, you’re certainly off to a good start.”

I raised mine as well, clinked it with hers, and the two of us drank.

“So Director Wesker told me about the book that attacked you,” Jane said.

I wasn’t thrilled to hear that he had told her about my embarrassing little incident, but I was glad she had thrown “Director” in in place of “Thaddeus” as a peace offering.

“Yeah, well,” I said, “at least it was only one book this time. Plus, double bonus, I remembered to wear my gloves.”

She laughed.

“Well, that is something, isn’t it?”

I liked seeing her smile.

“So,” I said. “Any new developments with the technomancy? Have you figured out how, exactly, you saved me from those rats?”

I shivered at the thought of the Oubliette and whoever had sabotaged it against me.

“Actually, I’m trying to cut back on using it,” she said, “for now.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just feel a little funny suddenly having all this power at my disposal. Doesn’t feel right.”

“If you say ‘with great power comes great responsibility, ’ I might gag.”

“Well,” she said. “It is true, but that’s not my main reason. I just don’t feel as happy, I guess, when I use it. Of course, Wesker keeps encouraging me to experiment with it.”

“Of course he does,” I said.

Jane cocked her head at me, the blond tip of her ponytail momentarily swinging into view.

“What I mean,” I continued, “is that he’s all about the accumulation of resources, and I’m sure he considers the development of your power as one of the new shinies in his dark little toy box.”

Jane shifted her face into a half smile, half frown.

“You make me feel so owned.”

Now it was my turn to shrug. I didn’t want to say anything too damaging. I wanted her to mull over the possibility that maybe she shouldn’t get so chummy with her potentially evil boss, especially when the two of them spent so much time alone together at Tome, Sweet Tome. I pushed away fantastical images of Jane and Wesker bumping uglies in the Stacks.

Of course, it would only take touching something of Jane’s that had been with her all day to find out the truth, if I really wanted to know. But I resisted. I hadn’t learned to control the very type of incident that had led to every ugly breakup of my adult life only to turn around and use it now simply because it was the easy way. Instead, I dove into my food.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Jane said, her eyes lighting up. She turned to her shoulder bag on the seat beside her. “I brought this for you.” Jane produced a book and put it on the table, sliding it across to me. The Rough Guide to Supernatural New York City. “This is the book you came for, isn’t it?”

“Jane,” I whispered, pulling the book off the table and out of sight in a flash. “I thought the Stacks were a no-lending area?”

“They are,” she said, giving me a devilish grin, “but who says I can’t use my occasional evil tendencies to benefit my man every once in a while?”

It was a tiny bit wicked, but who was I to lecture her on flouting Departmental rules? Besides, I was the one who was about to by involved in an art heist. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m hoping I can figure out just what the hell the significance of Cleopatra’s Needle is, if any, before I meet up with Connor in Central Park at three a.m. I appreciate it, but no more evil on my behalf, okay?”

“Sure thing, cutie,” she said, her grin still in place. I felt her foot start to trace its way up my calf under the table. “Sure I can’t coax you into a little more evil?”

Oh, I could definitely have gone for some of the horizontal evil Jane was hinting at. Then I remembered that Mina was staying at my apartment, and even though she was out making preparations for our heist tomorrow night, she could come back at any time. “Can we make it your place?” I said. Jane’s eyes narrowed.

I slid the book into my own bag.

“I’ve got to meet Connor in a few hours,” I said, skirting the issue of my houseguest, “and Chelsea’s a little closer to Central Park. It’ll give me more time to cuddle . . . ?”

“Cuddle?” she said. “Honey, when I’m done with you, you’ll be lucky if you can even move.”

I’d worry later about the delicious damage Jane might do to me and how I was going to be able to walk to meet Connor afterward. This was certainly a much better distraction than irrational jealousy, psychotic ex-cons, and vampires.