by Claire Kane
“No, Mama. This is your hotel room in Vegas. The one you invited us to. Remember?”
“Vegas?” Thoughts of men in speedos and bowties sprang to her mind, dancing to pulsating music on a stage. “Oh, that’s right. Where’s Lacey?”
Mei Hua lightly laughed. “What am I, Mama? Chopped liver?”
“Chopped liver?” Nainai repeated with narrowed eyes, not understanding the expression.
“I mean, aren’t you happy to see me? You called me here. Bought us plane tickets. Don’t you… remember?”
Tears suddenly stung Nainai’s dark eyes. Her voice cracking with emotion, she said, “I do remember. And I do miss you.” She reached out her arms and Mei Hua fell softly into them.
Enjoying the sweet embrace that smelled like honey and lemon shampoo, Nainai shut her eyes. When she reopened them, she saw a white man in a camo hat, also standing beside the bed. She’d know that scruffy face and those downturned kind eyes anywhere. “Butch,” she said with a smile.
Mei Hua released Nainai and stepped aside for Butch’s turn. His hug smelled like tobacco and gunpowder. Not that Nainai knew what gunpowder smelled like. That’s simply how her imagination made sense of the slightly bitter scent that came off his flannel shirt.
Upon Butch releasing her, Nainai said, “What a wonderful surprise, to have my daughter and her husband join us on our Vegas vacation. Lacey has been so busy with work things that I haven’t seen even a third of the city. Let’s go to a restaurant! I hear they have the best ones here and I’m feeling hungry. In fact, I heard of this place just across down in the parking lot. It serves breakfast all day. I could use some eggs and pancakes.”
“We would be happy to take you out to eat, but Lacey cannot join us, Mama.”
“Why not?”
“She’s… a little preoccupied at the moment.”
Nainai caught her daughter give a look at Butch, which said there was a secret. Not a good one, encased in a fortune cookie. “More work-related stuff?” she ventured, hoping her instincts were off for once.
“Y-yes, Mama.” Mei Hua smoothed a delicate hand over her mother’s white hair.
Nainai’s dark eyes narrowed a bit in thought. She might have dementia, but now Nainai knew something was definitely wrong. She also had a keen sense of dangerous people and things. “Lacey’s safe?” she tested.
“Yes, she is. Nothing can harm her where she’s at. She’s just, like I said, preoccupied.”
Nainai gave a small nod, conceding. People always think the elderly need protected, she thought with a sigh.
Suddenly a black and gold tabby appeared at the bottom her bed, standing on the blanket. “Oh, hello you cute thing.” Nainai pushed herself up on frail hands and wrists and smiled. “I remember you.”
Mei Hua and Butch gave a look at each other which Nainai didn’t miss. Mei Hua asked, “Who are you talking to, Mama?”
Nainai motioned. “To the cat.” She motioned more. “My lucky cat. Lacey must have brought her along.”
Rao spoke without moving her mouth, like the last time Nainai had seen her. I’m here to pass you a message, dear woman.
“Yes? What message, dear cat?” Nainai said.
That Lacey is in jail of no fault of her own... for murder.
“It can’t be.” Nainai pressed a hand to her chest clad in a nightgown. “But here you are saying it is so.”
Stay close to your daughter and son-in-law. If something doesn’t feel right, follow your instincts. You have a gift, Chun Hua Ling. You know what gift I speak of. You are a seer. Trust your abilities. Lacey needs you to go to her. There is a woman in town who can help set her free.
A vision sprang into Nainai’s mind. As clearly as she could see the sunrise, she saw a pink apartment complex, a physical address, and a voluptuous woman with fluorescent yellow hair. She saw Lacey’s dead boyfriend, Victor, standing outside an apartment, looking lost and confused, as though waiting for something. She knew, without knowing how, that she needed to go to the woman.
Nainai nodded solemnly. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll go find this woman.”
The cat jumped off the bed and disappeared.
Mei Hua had a disconcerted expression, her mouth turned sharply down. She leaned into Butch’s ear and whispered something. Nainai wished her special abilities also included super-powered hearing.
“We’ve had a change of plans,” Nainai said. “Our baby girl is in jail, and only we can free her.”
Mei Hua gasped. And… was that a tear in her daughter’s eye? Mei Hua replied with a slightly cracking voice, “Yes, Mama. But let’s go get some breakfast first. I’ll help get you ready.”
*
Nainai huffed again, earning the hundredth frown from her daughter. The young woman had had the nerve to insist that they set aside rescuing Lacey for a bite to eat. “I’m only in this car,” Nainai said sternly, “because it’s the fastest way to my girl. Butch, we’re skipping breakfast-for-dinner and going to Emerald Palms apartments. They’ll be waiting for us.” The man’s eyes met hers, for a split second, in the rearview mirror of the rented quad-cab truck. He looked away immediately, seeming to squirm in his seat.
“Don’t turn that wheel, Butch,” Mei Hua said firmly. “I’m starving, and Lacey will be fine.”
“I can save her, Mei Hua. You have to know she’s in jail. I can get her out and show that she’s a good girl. That’s worth more than all the pancakes in the world.”
Nainai’s daughter drew in a long breath and set her jaw. Nainai almost smiled—her daughter had grown up to be just like her mother. As if to prove the point, Mei Hua turned unyielding eyes on her mother. “I wanted to be gentle about this. Since you insist on fighting me, I’ll just need to come right out and say it. Mother, you need to recognize that—”
“I’m batty as a fruitcake, right? I’m a demented old woman who’s seeing things and can’t even remember her name half the time. Why don’t you just spit it out?”
Mei Hua’s jaw hung open, but she recovered in a huff, crossing her arms over her chest. “Mother, old age brings wisdom, and I will always respect you as my elder. But you have to realize that with time, the mind begins to go as well. You’re delusional.”
Butch cleared his throat. “She did figure out that Lacey was in jail before we told her. I mean, we wouldn’t have even known unless Lacey’s friend from Seattle had tracked down our number the way she did.”
Mei Hua shot her husband a withering look and he faced forward quickly and began whistling nervously. She turned back to her mother. “We’re getting dinner, then flying you home with us. Then you will be taken to a place that can take proper care of you.”
“Don’t you tell your mother what to do.” Please, Lucky Cat, she pled in her mind, grant me some luck now. How can I persuade this pig-headed child of mine?
All at once, there was a slight shift in the atmosphere of the rental car. Rao settled in beside her, and Nainai’s eyes lit immediately. “Lucky cat!” Nainai said, almost weeping for joy. “You answered my prayer!”
Lacey’s mother shrank back from Nainai, eyes wide, then leaned into the front seat. “Butch, Mom’s having another episode. Maybe we should skip dinner and just get her home? I can have Doctor Cairn waiting for us, I’m sure.”
While the redneck made an excuse, Nainai locked eyes with her guardian angel.
“Lucky cat,” Nainai continued, “don’t ever leave me again.”
Luck comes and goes, Rao said sagely. But I’m here to grant you a blessing. Just watch. She smirked, then moved to hover over Mei Hua’s lap. She placed a paw on the woman’s cheek.
Suddenly, Mei Hua shrieked, then practically fell back out the door opposite Nainai her hands waving frantically in front of her. “What is that thing?”
Nainai raised her eyebrows again, and Rao continued to smirk.
“What ‘thing,’ dear daughter?”
“That—that—that flying cat!”
Nainai looked casually at Rao, and R
ao looked casually back. The cat curled a paw, and extended it toward the aged woman who, catching the meaning, made a fist and knuckle bumped the cat’s paw. Mei Hua’s jaw hit the ground. “You… you know that thing?”
Nainai merely smiled politely. “Daughter, meet my lucky spirit cat. She’s going to help us free our little girl.” Mei Hua merely nodded dumbly. “Butch,” Nainai said lightly. “Emerald Palms Apartments, please.”
Butch nodded eagerly, and whipped the wheel around.
NINETEEN
Victor was glad Jessica had wised up and decided to come with him. As an angel, he knew without having to look back that she was right behind him, shielded in that bubble of light as he and Chanel flashed back to earth. They appeared above a pale pink apartment building on the east side of town, decorated by wilting palm trees. The little girl pointed at it timidly, and Victor peered toward it, concerned that he couldn’t get any clear thoughts from her.
“So,” he asked slowly, “what is this place? Can you tell me about it? You still have a voice, yes?”
She nodded, then opened her mouth as if it were her first time, letting out a little squeak. She blushed, to Victor’s surprise, then whispered, “It’s where I lived when he killed me.”
Victor’s eyes grew wide. “When who killed you?”
She shuddered and shook her head. “He did. That scary man.”
“Which scary man?” Victor asked, frowning slightly.
“The one I worked with,” was all she replied.
He made to answer, but Jessica appeared in front of him, scowling and picking at a nail. “What story is she feeding you, Victor?”
He scowled in return. “For your information, she was just about to tell me who killed her.” He looked back at the little Chanel. “Do you know the scary man’s name?”
The girl wrinkled her nose. “I hate Mister Ross.”
Victor’s eyebrows went up. He hadn’t trusted either magician, but to think that Ross had been involved in murder, well… perhaps he’d earned his untimely demise, and Cindra was right about him being a phony. He bit his lip. “You are sure about that?” Chanel nodded firmly, but wouldn’t meet Victor’s eyes.
He looked skyward in frustration. With Ross dead, there’d be no way of convicting him. Yet, what really mattered was Lacey. That part hadn’t gone up in smoke. “You’ve got proof of this? Something we could show to mortal police? It’s important—I’m trying to help...my friend.”
Chanel shied away, but gave a shadow of a nod. “I-it’s on my old computer. The e-mails.”
Victor frowned. “What e-mails?”
Chanel quivered. “Before he killed me, he kept threatening me. He said that if I didn’t do what he said, he’d make my life really bad.”
Victor traded a look with his once-girlfriend. She was still scowling. Returning his attention to the child, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder, only to pull it back as she winced at his touch. “Wow,” he said, “you really have had a bad time.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. It makes me sad to remember it.”
Victor nodded slowly. “Still, if you can help us bring him to justice, you might help more than just yourself. Would you be okay doing that? Even if it means talking about things that hurt?”
Chanel regarded Victor with trembling eyes, and small tears started to form. Victor felt his heart melt, but Jessica groaned and stepped up beside them. “Listen, hell spawn, you might have my friend fooled, but as an authorized officer of Heaven, I’m commanding you to spill the beans. If you help us, we may be able to make your afterlife a little more pleasant.
“Jessica, please.” Victor shot to his feet, stunned. Lacey met his glare with her own, and they stood, staring at each other for a while. Before either of them backed down, Chanel’s gentle sobs interrupted. Victor whirled back and knelt again. “It’s okay, kid. She wasn’t trying to scare you.”
“No,” Jessica muttered, “just trying to protect you.”
Victor ignored the remark. “Will you please help us?”
Chanel nodded, and pointed a delicate finger toward the apartment complex. “I used to live in number one-oh-three. Another girl lived with me. Her name is Ginger. We shared a computer. If you ask her, she could let you see my old e-mails. They’ll show you just how bad Mister Ross was. He killed me. With medicine.” Victor nodded at the drug reference. It matched what the tabloids said.
“I tried to tell people about the bad things he was doing. About the bad thing he was going to do tonight with his magic. I don’t know what he would have done if your girlfriend hadn’t stopped him. We need to help her, just because of that. I just… He was so...” She fell into Victor’s arms, crying her heart out. Victor felt himself melt. Jessica still looked supremely skeptical.
“I know what you’re thinking, Jess,” he said. “But if even part of what she’s saying is true, then we’ve got what we need to clear Lacey.”
“That’s the problem,” she replied. “Only part of it is true. Besides, you can’t communicate with any old random mortal. Only ones who can see you.”
Victor scoffed. “Lacey’s in jail, Jess. Besides, communicating with her will do no good at a time like this.”
“Exactly. And think about it—if her former roommate can see us, that means she’s either in with the Dark Ones, herself, or heavily under the influence. That smells like a trap to me. And what if she can’t see us? How are we going to access the computer anyway? How do you think we’ll get that information to the cops? Metro PD isn’t known for its seers.”
That only made Chanel weep more loudly. Victor hugged the girl tightly. “Well,” Victor said, “it’s a good thing we know people who can find us a seer. If it would make you feel any better, I just so happen to have a plan.” He turned on his most convincing of smiles.
Jessica’s frown only deepened. “It had better be a good plan.”
Victor closed his eyes for concentration’s sake. “Rao, I need your help. Can you find us Nainai?”
Vicky boy, Rao’s voice entered his mind. I’m already two steps ahead of you.
Just then, a large pickup truck rounded the corner of a nearby apartment building, and stopped just short of where Victor and the girls stood. The door opened, and, of all people, Lacey’s parents jumped out. They gave no signs that they saw Victor, however, as Lacey’s dad raced around the truck toward the rear, passenger’s-side door. Victor was about to ask Rao a follow-up question when he noticed the middle-aged hunter open the door and reach for someone inside.
Nainai stepped carefully down from the truck. She brushed herself off, then began to look around. As her head turned toward Victor, she stopped...then smiled big.
*
Victor waited as Lacey’s dad raised his hand to knock on a door labeled “1 3”; the “0” was clearly missing, along with an unhealthy amount of the front door’s paint. The sun had started to dip behind the western mountains of the Las Vegas valley and though the sunset itself was picturesque, it painted the pink apartments in more of a “freshly spilled blood” hue. Victor noticed both Mei Hua and Butch wrinkling their noses, and noticed a group of gang bangers barely a stone’s throw away, smoking things Victor was pretty sure weren’t legal even in this town. The thugs regarded Nainai’s group with a mixture of leering amusement and hostility.
“You’re… sure we need to be here, Mother?” Mei Hua asked, stepping behind her husband and clutching his arm.
The old woman turned to her daughter and nodded resolutely. Mei Hua stole a glance at the truck. “You’re sure it’s locked and has the alarm armed, right, dear?”
Butch smiled a little wolfishly. “Hon’, it’s locked. And my forty-five is loaded.” He patted his left underarm, and Victor caught sight of a telltale bulge. “We’ll be fine. In and out, and we’ll get our girl free. I promise.” Mei Hua remained obviously dubious, but Nainai surged forward as best her old frame could, and her daughter was compelled to follow.
When no answer came, Butch knock
ed a second time. Victor looked at Chanel. “You’re sure she’ll be here at this time of day?” Chanel just shrugged. “What’s her work schedule?”
The blond girl shrugged again. “Um, it changes? But I think I can sense her presence.”
Jessica opened her mouth to say something, but the door creaked open, suddenly. A statuesque woman with excellent proportions opened the door. Her makeup looked flawless. Long, fluorescent yellow tresses were pulled into a voluminous ponytail that swayed behind her as she took in the group with half-lidded, smoky brown eyes. Butch whistled involuntarily, and Mei Hua elbowed him in the ribs hard enough to get a grunt.
“You are not the people I had expected,” the woman said in a thick, Russian accent.
Victor leaned over to Jessica. “Since when was ‘Ginger’ a Russian name?”
“Better question,” Jessica said, a strange note in her voice, “why are you still staring?”
Victor cleared his throat out of habit, then looked pointedly away.
“We’re here,” Nainai said, “to help my granddaughter.”
“I no longer have any...long-term roommates,” the woman answered almost lazily, posing a little too blatantly on the door jamb. Butch scratched his head, whistling an awkward tune as he pretended to study the sky. Mei Hua scowled openly.
“All right, little devil child,” Jessica said, looming over Chanel. “Tell us what to say to get ‘Ginger’ to let us in.”
Chanel cringed away, and Victor knelt quickly and put a protective arm around her. “Tell her,” the girl said, “that you know where the black magic came from that killed Chanel.”
Victor relayed the message to Nainai, who repeated it to the voluptuous woman. Ginger’s eyes widened suddenly. She leaned out the front door, and quickly scanned the area. The thugs caught sight of her, and began making cat calls and crude gestures. “Come in quickly,” the woman said. “We will speak of these things.”
The six of them followed Ginger into the room, and the woman hurriedly slammed and bolted the door. Victor’s eyebrows went up. Despite its horrific outer appearance, the interior of the apartment was immaculate, if oddly decorated. A leather couch and loveseat framed a small, carpeted area and faced a sizeable plasma screen TV. The walls were adorned of various pictures, ranging from landscapes to portraits, though most of them were images of Ginger with various people, many of them famous. A small kitchen sat opposite the door and the appliances, though hardly top-of-the-line, were clean and well maintained. The countertops had the look of granite, and were spotless. A small desk perched just behind the couch, bearing a computer that practically screamed “steal me, all ye burglars!”
