Only the Devout

by Amanda M. Lee

  “It’s important to remember that people are not all good or all bad, Izzy,” Oliver said. “They’re shades of gray. Emmet and Mary are no different.”

  He sounded so reasonable. “Did you tell me things like this when I was little?”

  He nodded.

  “I bet I thought it was a bunch of crap then, too.”

  This time the laugh he let loose was hearty. “Oh, I did miss you while you were growing up hundreds of miles away.” He gave me a roguish grin. “Come on. We’ll go upstairs, get some lunch, and then we’ll see if we can direct Emmet and Mary someplace else. I very much doubt they’ll want to hang out with us all day.”

  “From your lips to the gargoyle in charge’s ears.”

  THERE WEREN’T MANY OPTIONS FOR FOOD on the island. The only place I’d ever eaten was a small cafeteria-style space above the gate room. There, Collin O’Reilly ran the show by himself, and he looked less than thrilled as he watched our group troop in.

  “All of you at once, huh?” He made a distressed sound and shook his head. “Of course you had to come together. What better way to annoy me?”

  “You’ll survive,” Oliver chastised him, pulling out a chair for Mary. “We need menus all around.”

  “Where is the other one?” Collin demanded, wrinkling his nose as Mary pulled a package of alcohol wipes from her purse and proceeded to wipe down the chair Oliver held for her. “I can assure you that I’ve already done that, ma’am.”

  Mary slowly lifted her chin and pinned Collin with a dark look. She held up the wipe by way of proof. It held a noticeable discoloration. “You might want to try harder next time.”

  Before Collin could respond with a nasty retort, Oliver took control of the conversation.

  “This is Emmet and Mary Grimlock,” he announced. “They’re Cormack Grimlock’s parents. Emmet served with the council for years before his retirement. He still has friends on the council.”

  The unsaid warning wasn’t lost on Collin, who instantly straightened. “Of course. I ... of course.” He hurried over to the table and delivered the menus. “I’ll grab some waters from the back and then return to take your drink orders. How does that sound?”

  “Like you still haven’t acknowledged that you need to do a better job of wiping down the tables,” Mary replied.

  “I’ll definitely work on that,” Collin reassured her, though something dark lurked in the depths of his eyes when they briefly locked with mine. It was as if he blamed me for bringing them to his turf. I understood his anger. They were so miserable in general they brought everybody who came in contact with them down. “I’ll be right back with your waters.”

  “This used to be fancier,” Emmet announced, glancing around. “Steaks ... potatoes ... nice seafood dishes. This is all hamburgers and fries.”

  “To be fair, that’s probably because they want to be able to move people in and out as quickly as possible,” I supplied. “My understanding is that during the summer this place is bustling with activity. There aren’t many options for food so they have to be able to turn over the tables quickly.”

  “Steak is still better,” Emmet argued.

  “It’s definitely better,” I agreed, rubbing the back of my neck and averting my gaze. There had to be a way to get rid of these people. I didn’t want to be rude, but I would explode if I had to spend another hour with them. It was inevitable. Now I understood why Aisling made an ass of herself to get out of dinner upon her grandparents’ arrival. Anything was better than suffering through a meal with them.

  “So, we’re here for two reasons,” Mary announced, offering me what I’m sure she considered a friendly smile. “After meeting the individuals our grandchildren have decided to hitch themselves to, we’ve decided you’re the one with the most promise. We want to get to know you.”

  I pressed the tip of my tongue against the back of my teeth. “That’s possibly very flattering. Still, Griffin, Jerry, and Maya are all wonderful people.”

  “We haven’t yet met Maya,” Mary explained, referring to Cillian’s girlfriend, who was Griffin’s sister. “Apparently she had to work at the hospital last night even though she was given plenty of notice as to our arrival. One would think she’d be able to call in sick.”

  “I don’t think you can call in sick when you work in the emergency room,” I argued. “I know that she tried to switch shifts, but she simply couldn’t work it out. I guarantee it wasn’t a personal slight.”

  “Yes, well, after meeting her brother, I believe we won’t approve of her.”

  “Griffin is a good man,” I snapped. “He’s a good husband to Aisling and a wonderful father. Why would you not like him?”

  “He’s a police officer,” Emmet replied, unruffled. “Do you know how much money a police officer makes?”

  “I don’t think how much a person makes matters,” I countered. “What’s inside is more important than what’s in a bank account.”

  Emmet snorted. “What liberal hippie has been spouting that nonsense to you?”

  “My grandfather. In fact ... .” Whatever I was going to say died on my lips — which was probably a good thing — because Collin’s estranged wife Claire picked that moment to make her presence known.

  She stomped into the room, a pile of broken flowers in her arms, and whipped them across the counter at her husband.

  “This time you’ve gone too far,” she bellowed. “It’s one thing to treat me like crap. But my flowers? That’s just way too much. Way, way too much. Prepare to die.”

  Ah, well, it wasn’t as if the afternoon had been going well. Adding the potential of murder to the mix couldn’t hurt.

  Ten

  Collin, agile, managed to keep the counter between himself and Claire no matter how many times she feinted. Her eyes blazed as she slapped her palms against the obstacle and fixed him with a death glare.

  “You knew this day would come,” she hissed. “You just kept pushing and pushing. Well, it’s here. I hope you’re ready to meet your maker.”

  I was on my feet before I even realized what I was doing. My grandfather had taught me that the last place I wanted to be was between two warring factions with a personal beef. Claire and Collin had nothing but loathing between them despite the marriage. As members of the merrow, they were mated for life. They had no choice in the matter. They were stuck together whether they liked it or not.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded, drawing Claire’s cold eyes to me. We weren’t exactly friends. We weren’t exactly enemies either.

  “He attacked my greenhouse,” she spat. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Did she just say he attacked flowers?” Emmet asked from behind me, clearly baffled.

  “It sounds like it to me,” Mary confirmed.

  “Who loses their mind over flowers?”

  “Obviously you’ve never put your heart into gardening,” Claire shot back, rage evident as she slowly scanned Collin’s worried face. “Do you want the knife in your face or heart?”

  For some reason, even though it was a serious situation, I had to bite back the urge to laugh. It was such a ridiculous question.

  “Before you decide on either of those actions, talk to me,” I insisted, lightly resting my hand on her arm to draw her attention. I was certain I could take Claire in a magical fight — the merrow had limited powers — but a physical altercation was a different story. She was strong and wiry. She also had hate fueling her, which made her dangerous.

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” Claire snapped. “I spent hours working on my lilies yesterday and today. When I went back to check on them, they’d been destroyed.”

  “Are you sure?”

  The look she shot me was of the “are you kidding me” variety. “Of course I’m sure.” She inclined her head toward the mess she’d thrown in Collin’s face upon her arrival. “Does that look like a healthy crop of lilies to you?”

  “No, but are you sure Collin did this?” I was desperate to keep the
bloodshed to a minimum.

  “Who else would it be?”

  My mind immediately went to the interlopers. “Maybe the people walking in circles in the lot decided to pay a visit to the greenhouse overnight. There are herbs and other plants there, too. Maybe they needed something for whatever they’re hatching.”

  Claire flexed her fingers once before dropping her arms. “You know, I didn’t really consider that it could be them.”

  Collin, of course, picked the wrong time to find his voice. “That’s because you’re a vengeful soul,” he gritted out. “You assume things. You know what they say about people who assume things, right?”

  Claire’s eyes kindled again. “No. What?”

  “That it makes you an ass.”

  I reached out to keep her from crawling over the counter and killing him. If Griffin had to return for another murder he wouldn’t be happy. As for me, I was betting a lot of paperwork would be associated with employee-on-employee murder, and nobody had time for that.

  “Stop fighting,” I ordered, using my best “I’m the boss and you have to listen to me” voice. I wasn’t sure it would work on Claire and Collin — I wasn’t sure it would work on a single member of my staff — but I had to try, if only to save face in front of the Grimlock grandparents. “There are outsiders all over this island. I find it doubtful that Collin decided he just couldn’t wait to drive you crazy out of the blue when there are so many other potential suspects.”

  “See.” Collin straightened his shoulders, his smile smug. “She thinks you’re crazy too.”

  “Don’t push it,” I warned, jabbing a finger in his direction. “One of these days I won’t be here to protect you from her. You don’t want to buy bad karma.”

  He lowered his eyes. “I didn’t touch her stupid flowers.”

  “I know you didn’t. That means someone else broke into the greenhouse last night.” I turned my full attention back to Claire. “I need to check it out. I might see something you missed.”

  “Because I’m blind?” Her cheeks flushed with color. “I don’t miss things.”

  “You’re not blind,” I said, “but you are furious, and I don’t blame you. If I put in that many hours and someone ruined my work, I would be furious too. It wasn’t Collin, so we need to figure out who it was.”

  “Fine.” She threw her hands in the air and turned on her heel. “I’ll be back for you when I have more time to kill you,” she called out to Collin, who had decided for some ungodly reason that haughty was the way to look as she stormed out.

  “I’m looking forward to it!” he bellowed to her back.

  I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. Then I remembered I wasn’t alone, and when I turned back to the table I found multiple sets of expectant eyes on me. “Um ... so ... obviously something has come up.”

  “So I’ve noticed,” Emmet said dryly. “I’m pretty sure we should take precedence over some flowers.”

  I didn’t see it his way. “I need to find out what’s going on. I’m afraid that means I have to leave you in Oliver’s capable hands for the duration of your visit.”

  Oliver’s eyes momentarily flashed with something deadly, but he recovered quickly. “It will be fun,” he reassured the Grimlocks, forcing a smile. “We’ll gossip about Izzy. I’m sure you want to hear all about her relationship with Braden — that seems like the sort of thing grandparents would want to stick their noses in — and I’ve seen it unfold from the beginning. I’ve got all sorts of dirt.”

  “Ugh.” I groaned, turning to follow Claire. This day just kept getting worse.

  THE GREENHOUSE WAS INDEED A MESS. Claire’s pots — which she spent hours nurturing — had been tossed to the side and broken. The plants weren’t merely discarded, they had been ripped out and strewn about the greenhouse.

  “Is this all one specific type of lily?” I asked as I surveyed the damage.

  She shook her head. “I was trying something new so I ordered some rare bulbs. These are Blue Heart lilies here. Those are Pink Rain lilies. And those black ones are Nightrider lilies. They’re all hybrids I ordered from a special place on the internet.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck, considering. “Are they worth money?”

  She shook her head. “No. They were relatively inexpensive because I ordered the bulbs from Etsy. I figured it was worth a shot to get them to grow.”

  “Yeah.” I dropped to my knee and fingered one of the velvety blossoms. It was black and beautiful. I’d never seen a lily quite like it. “The Grimlocks are planting a lily garden. I wonder if they would like some of these.”

  Claire didn’t bother to hide her eye roll. “I’m well aware of their lily garden. I’m the one you asked to come out and help fix things after they were destroyed.”

  I straightened. “Right. You did a good job on that. The lilies are thriving again. It’s important that they have a way to remember their mother — you made that possible.”

  “The mother who tried to kill them?”

  “No, the mother they lost as teenagers.” I wasn’t about to get into a philosophical discussion with Claire. She wouldn’t understand the Grimlock brood’s desire to have a place to visit their mother. The lily garden was better than the mausoleum. There they had to remember that the body they’d buried a year before had their mother’s face. It most certainly didn’t play host to her heart, though. “What you did for them was important. I really appreciate it. You didn’t have to do what you did and yet you didn’t hesitate. I owe you a big favor.”

  Claire’s expression softened and I was gratified to see that my words had legitimately touched her. “You don’t owe me a favor,” she said. “I wanted to save the flowers. Their garden is beautiful. I just ... I don’t like it when my garden is messed with.”

  “I don’t blame you.” I turned my attention to one of the other blooms. “Were these the only flowers destroyed?”

  Her face went momentarily blank before frowning. “I don’t know. I came in through the front. This was the first thing I saw.”

  “We should check the rest of the greenhouse.” I was already standing. “We need to make sure nothing else was disturbed.”

  “This way.” She gestured for me to follow.

  “Have you spent any time with the people in the parking lot?” I asked to fill the silence as we walked.

  “Those religious nuts?” Claire’s expression was dark. “No, I haven’t spent any time with them. I don’t have the best relationship with organized religion.”

  “I wouldn’t call them organized,” I argued. “They keep talking about a door between the worlds of the living and dead.”

  “You think they’re talking about the gate?”

  I shrugged. “It seems like too much of a coincidence for them to be talking about anything else.”

  “Unless it’s just that.” Claire didn’t appear bothered by the possibility that the cult members knew about the gate. “Let me ask you this: If this group had decided to take up residence three hours north, in the parking lot of a casino, would you still think they were something to worry about?”

  The question caught me off guard. “I hadn’t really considered it,” I admitted. “The gate is here, but they keep calling it a door. And they’re not trying to get into the aquarium.”

  “That indicates they don’t really know what they’re looking for,” Claire replied, her forehead wrinkled as she scanned a table of rose bushes. “Things look okay in here. There are three other rooms.”

  I wordlessly fell into step with her, my mind going a mile a minute. She had an interesting argument, even if I wasn’t sure I wanted to embrace it.

  “They could’ve heard rumors,” Claire volunteered. “They could’ve landed on the island without a clear plan of where to go. They could’ve completely made things up and somehow got lucky. The more you react to them, the more power you give their leader. He’s the sort of man you want to keep powerless.”

  It was an interesting observation. “H
ave you talked to him?”

  She shook her head. “I have no interest in talking to that man. I watched them for a bit. I stood in front of the greenhouse when they were setting up their camp and made them as uncomfortable as possible so they wouldn’t want to be close to me.”

  “That was probably smart.” I smiled as I pictured the scene. “I bet you terrified them.”

  “I don’t think most of them want to be here,” Claire said as she checked the colorful blooms in another room. She seemed satisfied with what she found, which was a relief. “They want to belong, but they don’t really believe. It’s a psychological state I’ve seen a few times. It’s not exactly what I would call attractive.”

  I studied her strong profile for a long beat. I often forgot how smart she was because half my time with her was spent trying to keep her from killing Collin, or vice versa. She had a fiery personality. She was also wildly intelligent.

  “You’ve been around for a long time,” I said as we entered another room. “You’ve witnessed quite a bit of religious fervor.”

  “More than my fair share,” she agreed, her lips twisting. “There’s nothing I hate more than a bad man who tries to hide behind religion. That allows him to take advantage of the weak, and while I refuse to surround myself with those who aren’t strong, I don’t like bearing witness to tyranny.”

  “Do you think this guy is dangerous?”

  “They’re all dangerous. I mean ... there’s nothing wrong with having a belief system that’s outside the norm, but what he’s doing is disgusting.”

  “What’s he doing other than having his followers walk in circles?”

  “He’s using those people to further his agenda,” Claire replied simply. “I don’t know what his agenda is — I don’t think you do either — but it’s only a matter of time before he shows his hand. When that happens, we have to be ready.”

  “Yeah.” I scanned the room. “It looks okay in here, too.”

  She nodded. “We’ll check the rest, but it appears to only be the lilies at the front that were destroyed.”