by Joyce Lavene
“Yes. You have the right of it,” Aine admitted in a shamed voice.
“We’ll see. You might be more than a spell can handle, although it sounds as though someone put a spell on you and kept you asleep for longer than you should’ve been.”
“Ten O’Neills went to their graves without my cries to warn them, without me beside them going to the underworld. It is a dark stain against me.”
“But there’s not a scorekeeper besides you either,” Sunshine reminded her. “Everything you suffer from your past is because you believe you deserve it. Besides being under a spell that kept you from your designated tasks with the O’Neills, what have you ever done that was so terrible?”
“I murdered fourteen O’Neills as they lay sleeping in their beds. I did this for a false lover who used me to further his ambition. Then as I learned of his treachery, I murdered him and every member of his line so his seed would not survive on this earth.”
Sunshine parked the car in the parking lot at the detective agency. “Oh. Well, I guess that’s a lot then, isn’t it? And that’s why you serve the O’Neills—to make up for everything. What about your lover’s family?”
“Because he spoke lies to me, I was pardoned for his death. His family line naturally would be part of that.”
“Naturally.” Sunshine got out of the car. “Things were much different back then. Now we just kill one or two at a time and go to jail. Except for John’s killer. When I find him, I’m going to make sure there isn’t enough left of him to put in jail.”
Aine understood. “We are similar in nature. Are you prepared to face whatever judgment comes to you from your actions?”
“I am.” For a moment her blue eyes hardened into unbreakable sapphires. Her soft jaw was tough, and an expression came over her pretty face that promised horrors for her lover’s killer.
Then her face changed again, and she was as good-natured as ever. Aine considered that Sunshine’s family should have given her two names to accommodate her dual nature. Aine’s appearance might change, but she always remained the same inside—proud, vengeful, and strong.
They went in the old building. Jane jumped up from the front desk at their appearance.
“It’s been real quiet,” she told her boss. “Maybe everyone knows you’re searching for John’s killer.”
Sunshine’s answering smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Since we don’t have any foot traffic right now, Aine—probably good since we’re concentrated on you and John—why don’t we get you settled upstairs? We can start working on both cases after. How does that sound?”
“I don’t understand. What are we settling?”
Sunshine closed her eyes to seek patience. “Didn’t I mention that Jane and I live upstairs? I thought I did. There’s plenty of room for you too. There used to be a boarding house here before I bought the place. We live upstairs and work down here. It’s very convenient and a good tax write-off.”
“Mr. Bad lives with this arrangement?”
“No. Actually Mr. Bad lives and works down here. He doesn’t leave his office.”
“He uses a false name to protect his identity. Do you not wish to know who he really is?”
“I really don’t. He’s Mr. Bad, and that’s enough for me. I’m going to set up a room for Aine,” she told Jane. “Take messages, please. And try not to nibble on them.”
“May I be myself unless someone comes in or the phone rings?” Jane asked.
“Of course. Everyone needs some me time. We’ll be down in a while.”
Sunshine pushed a button in the wall, and an elevator appeared. “There was no elevator in the building when I bought it. I left the stairs in but created this for quick getaways if necessary.”
“You mean this el-e-va-tor was created by magic.” The word was strange to her, but what was not in this time? Aine looked at the inside of the box she’d stepped into. “Impressive. You are a witch of rare abilities.”
“Thanks.” The purple elevator closed when they were inside. “It was more a matter of convenience but also saved me a butt-load of money. Even fifty years ago, elevators were expensive.”
In the proverbial blink of an eye, the elevator had reached the second floor.
“Jane and I share this floor. You’re welcome to have the spare bedroom. For those times you just want to wail, there are two floors up from this one. They aren’t as well cared for, but a few times a year I send in a mop and broom. I don’t want a lot of dust to build up in case I need the extra space in a hurry.”
Naturally the floor where they walked was heavy in purple wall accents and furniture.
“Why do you keep this mouse-woman here with you?” Aine asked.
“We all make mistakes,” Sunshine said. “You were right. Jane is one of mine.”
“How so?”
“It was early on when I first came into my power. I was trying to make everything better with magic.” Sunshine shrugged as she opened a door into a large bedroom and sitting area. “There was a robbery at a convenience store where I was waiting in line. I saw the thief’s gun and threw some magic at it. It stopped the robbery, and no one else was even aware that it had happened—except for Jane. My magic killed her family and somehow made her a shapeshifter. But she’s more a mouse that can become a human than John was a human who could become a wolf.”
Aine took in all the fine, expensive rugs, and the drapes on the big window near the bed. Like everything here, it was the best money could buy. Sunshine took great pride in her home and accomplishments. In the banshee’s time, even a king and queen would not have lived with such splendor and finery.
“And you keep her with you because you owe a debt. I understand,” Aine said. “This room is very pleasurable to the eye.”
“I’m so glad you like it. Some people don’t like purple as much as I do.”
“But it is the color of royalty,” Aine said. “Who could not feel regal sleeping here?”
Sunshine’s cell phone rang. It was Jane with a warning.
“I have to handle something that’s come up. You can stay up here and get some rest. We can talk later.”
“I have been dead for centuries. Repose holds no fascination for me. I shall come with you. Perhaps you might need my assistance.”
Sunshine was about to deny that she needed any help from Aine when someone bellowed her name loudly enough to shake the foundations of the building.
“That wasn’t Mr. Bad.”
“No. On second thought, maybe you should come with me.”
Chapter Five
They went down in the elevator to find Jane cowering in a corner. She was too terrified to take human form.
Standing in front of her was a large man whose presence dominated the room. He was wearing a blood red suit with a matching hat. His skin was coarse and a lighter shade than his clothing. He was tall—at least seven feet—with thick arms and legs.
“There you are.” His tone was refined in the smaller space, with none of the power that he’d exhibited calling to her. “I was wondering what it takes to get your attention these days, Miss Merryweather.”
“So you decided to scream at me and crack a few bricks,” she countered. “What do you want, Caeford?”
“You and I have a deal. You handle my loose ends. My ends are loose, Miss Merryweather. They aren’t being handled.”
“Let me introduce you to our new associate. This is Aine. She’ll be taking over John’s position. You know we’ve been understaffed. Things will get back to normal now.”
Yellow eyes surveyed Aine with distaste. “She’s not a wolf.” He sniffed. “What is she?”
“Aine is a banshee,” Sunshine said. “I guarantee she’ll do everything John did and more once she’s trained.”
“A beane sidhe? Really? I thought they’d died out centuries ago. Interesting.”
“It appears not. What loose ends are you looking to tie up right now, Caeford?” Sunshine asked.
“A man saw me change last we
ek on a rooftop downtown. He hasn’t said anything yet, but I need to be sure of his silence. Otherwise I’ll have to take care of it myself.” He was still staring at Aine.
“Of course. We’ll take care of it right away,” Sunshine said with a smile. “I’ll send you a text when it’s done.”
“Good. I won’t have to take my business elsewhere.” He sniffed at Aine one last time before he gave Sunshine the address and turned to leave the building. A large gold-headed cane was in his meaty right hand.
When he was gone, Sunshine spoke to Jane in gentle, low tones. She convinced the mouse to go upstairs and lie down. The tiny creature scampered up the stairs.
“She doesn’t like the elevator,” Sunshine explained.
“What of the dragon?” Aine asked. “What hold has he over you?”
Sunshine laughed and went into her office to sit down. “Hold? Not a hold, unless you count two thousand dollars a month in gold. It’s really more a retainer. Caeford likes to get drunk sometimes and causes trouble that he expects us to clean up for him. How did you know he was a dragon? Even John didn’t know until I told him.”
“I’ve met dragons. They have a look about them even if they are in human form. What do you plan to do to take care of the man who saw him change? Will you kill him?”
“No. We don’t kill people for our clients. John used to have a talk with the poor bystander and convince him or her that he was even scarier than the dragon. I’ll probably use magic.”
“But you would like me to do this for you as part of my employment here,” Aine stated.
“Possibly. But that would be later when you’ve had some sensitivity training. You can’t go in there screaming or using other banshee magic that would draw attention. We have twenty-four hour news that picks up on the crazy things and cell phone cameras that can take pictures of everything. Our clients rely on our discretion.”
“Much of what you say makes no sense to me, but I am trying to learn. There is no other life for me to go back to. I need to understand this one if I am going to be of counsel to the O’Neill family.”
“Great. We could probably take care of Caeford’s little problem before dinner and come back to decide our next move in John’s investigation.” Sunshine peered into Aine’s worn, but very human, face. “Do you think you can hold on to this now? Like I said, the idea is to make everything as normal looking as we can.”
Aine nodded. “I have my triple forms under control for the moment. Only with O’Neill do I seem to have difficulty.”
“And we’ll work on that spell when we get back. I don’t want Caeford to withdraw his support. He was one of my first clients, and is a good friend of Mr. Bad.” They started out of the office together and Sunshine paused. “Three forms? What’s the third one?”
Aine’s face and form changed from the middle-aged human in black to a young, vibrant woman with bright red hair flowing down her back. She had brilliant green eyes, and her gown was rich, green velvet with a gold and jeweled girdle about her slender hips. “Thus you see me as I was when a young Queen of Ulster. I have rarely taken this shape in the last hundred years. There is too much pain in the reminder of who I was and who I am.”
“Wow. You should’ve looked like this when we talked to O’Neill.” Sunshine winked at her. “That would have gotten his attention.”
“But not the attention I need from him,” Aine said as they left.
“No. Of course not. I was joking with you. They had joking back a few hundred years ago, right?”
“Of course.” Aine reverted to her middle-aged form in black. “I had many jesters when I was queen and saw many more in the O’Neill castle. This is not a new concept to me.”
“Good. Because you could lighten up some. Everything isn’t a matter of life and death. Smile once in a while. It won’t break your face.”
Aine tried a smile at Sunshine’s request. It was difficult and resembled a grimace more than a smile.
“Work on it. My mother always told me that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
Not sure how that applied to her present circumstance, Aine followed Sunshine down the sidewalk. The building where the dragon had transformed in the sight of an unknowing human was close to the detective agency.
The two women went in the multi-storied building and took an elevator to the top. This elevator was different, Aine found, and not controlled by magic. There was a powerful thrust and whirring sound as it moved slowly to its destination.
The rooftop was another short flight of stairs from the floor where the elevator had left them.
“Why would this human remain here after seeing something as terrifying as a dragon unfurling his wings to glide across the city?” Aine asked.
“It’s human nature to stay in the same area,” Sunshine explained as she cast a spell to search out the man who’d witnessed Caeford’s transformation. “He may not be up here right now. Or he may work here. We need a clue about who he is and where we can find him. My spell should take care of it.”
While the remainder of the rooftop still appeared in normal shades of gray and dirty white, one spot gleamed like a beacon when the spell fell on it.
“And there he is!” Sunshine announced. “This won’t take long at all.”
They rounded a large air conditioning unit and almost walked right into a group of police officers.
“What the—?” Sunshine said too loudly.
Detective O’Neill’s partner stepped in front of them. “Well looky here, Sean. Aren’t these the same two women from the other murder?”
O’Neill had been hidden from them by an old smokestack. “Ladies. Another coincidence?”
Chapter Six
O’Neill’s partner was named Sharon Malto. She was a short, angry woman with lines of defiance etched throughout her body. Her dark brown eyes narrowed as she studied Sunshine and Aine.
“I don’t think this is a coincidence,” she told O’Neill. “What are the chances that they’d turn up at two similar crime scenes—this one where the victim is hardly even cold. I think we should arrest them and look into who and what they are.”
Aine managed to hold herself together and looked past O’Neill and his partner. The police were trying to cover a huge crime scene where yet another victim had been torn to pieces. Blood was everywhere. They could cover the rooftop, but red still dripped from the smokestack and the air conditioning unit.
“That’s very amusing,” Sunshine said. “But if we’d killed this person, I think we’d be covered in blood too, don’t you, Detective O’Neill?”
“Unless you went home to change and came back,” he said. “Let’s pull out the UV light and run it across them. No matter how well you clean up, there’s bound to be some blood left behind.”
One of the crime scene techs was called over. The detectives escorted Sunshine and Aine back into the building to a darkened area where the UV light could work its magic.
Detective Malto wasn’t pleased when not even a single hair on either woman’s head showed blood in the light. They checked their clothes, the bottom of their shoes, not to mention their hands and fingernails. There was no sign that they had been at the murder.
Back on the roof again, Detective O’Neill asked why they were there.
“We’re investigating a case for a client,” Sunshine told him. “You know that. We didn’t know about the murder. It just happened that way.”
“And what exactly are you investigating now, Ms. Merryweather?” Detective Malto wondered. “We need the name of the client who sent you here and his part in this.”
Aine faced her accuser. She’d known powerless women such as this one during her long life. “Our client has no part in this unfortunate happening. And our cases are our own.”
“I guess she got her memory back,” O’Neill remarked. “How are you feeling this afternoon?”
The last was asked of Aine. She took one look at him, gulped, and tried to stand her ground. She tried to fo
rget what she owed him and his family. She remembered who she was and who she had been.
“I am feeling quite well this afternoon,.Thank you, O’Neill.” Her face was a frozen mask. She refused to allow her inner turmoil to show. “We would both no doubt like to help you with this situation, but alas, we are unable.”
“Nice.” He gestured to Sunshine. “Would you mind coming over here a minute, Ms. Merryweather? I need a word with you.”
Aine stayed where she was with the short, angry female detective as Sunshine accompanied O’Neill to the other side of the large smoke stack.
“What’s going on?” he asked in a quiet voice. “All that stuff you told me about her wasn’t true, was it?”
“As far as I knew at that time, it was true.” Did she dare use a charm spell on him? Maybe Aine wouldn’t notice. “That’s the way amnesia works. One minute they don’t know who they are, and the next they know everything.”
“And you also decided to hire her to be your spokesperson?”
“No. I hired her to keep her close at hand. Her life could be in danger. I thought this way was best.”
“Fine. I want to interview her about the Lancaster murder since you said she knew him.”
Sunshine knew she needed a way out of this maze she’d made for herself. “All right. She’s not one hundred percent yet, but I’m sure she’ll be glad to speak with you.”
“I’ll take what I can get. I want to talk to both of you about this second murder. It seems too much like the first to think it wasn’t done by the same person.”
“I was considering exactly the same thing. We’re on the same wavelength, Detective O’Neill. I’m sure we can solve these unfortunate circumstances together before anything else happens.”
“I want to see you in my office in an hour, Ms. Merryweather. Don’t make me find you.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll be there.”
They rejoined and interrupted the staring match between Detective Malto and Aine. Sunshine suggested she and Aine should leave the roof. Detective Malto turned to her partner to ask what he was thinking letting them go.
