Chapter 16
This was a total screw-up, Madeline thought. Stephen not only couldn’t get Zen, but had alerted him that she had sent a cop in. Now she had to execute the plan B she didn’t even have.
She had to find someone to play the Samuel she had created. That was her priority. But she had to find the artifact first. That was a priority, too. She could explain to Zen somehow that it had taken more time to find the artifact, but she could not make an excuse for not providing Samuel. Maybe she should find the artifact, and then come clean to Zen about Samuel, using the artifact to compensate him? No, that wouldn’t work.
She was in Mortlake anyway, so she would see what she could do. If Zen couldn’t speak to her directly, he couldn’t jump to any conclusions about anything too soon. As long
