Acheron Highway: A Jonathan Shade Novel

by Gary Jonas

  But if that were the case, why wouldn’t she have killed Zach? Or had he already left when she arrived to take over Miranda’s body? Maybe I’d never even met Miranda. Maybe Persephone was using her body as a meat suit to get close to me and the real Miranda was simply dead with her soul going wherever souls go. I knew the Underworld was only one of many places souls could end up, but I wasn’t an expert in that arena.

  I sat in Zach’s house, warming up and hoping he’d come back but doubting it. I wanted to run my theory past someone, so I called Kelly.

  She listened to me run through it all. When I finished, she said, “It would explain quite a bit.”

  “It makes more sense as I think about it.”

  “So when the summoner works her magic on Wednesday, if you have her call Persephone, we should expect to see Miranda show up. Right?”

  “Yes, but Persephone will be there anyway, so that’s not why I want the summoner.”

  “Hang on, Jonathan. Esther keeps talking.” I listened to Kelly explain it to Esther. She was quiet for a moment then said, “I’ll tell him.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “Esther says she’s not talking to you, but that you’re probably right about Miranda; Esther never trusted her.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  “More than that, she thinks it would explain why she found Miranda’s corpse in your apartment and had us call the paramedics. If Persephone stepped out, the heart might have stopped and the body would simply lay there. Right?”

  “And when she climbed back into it, the jolt could have started the heart again. Yes, it’s possible.”

  “You want to go after her now?”

  “And do what?”

  “Kill her, of course.”

  “For illegal possession of a corpse?”

  “For being a murderous bitch who won’t leave Sharon alone.”

  “She hasn’t killed anyone, Kelly.”

  “She sent those dead guys after you, and didn’t one of them kill someone?”

  “The guy was still himself and had been murdered, so he sought vengeance. I suspect that would override any spirits from the Underworld who were trying to control him. I don’t think we can blame Miranda for that. Or Persephone. Or whoever.”

  “Close enough for me.”

  “You just want to kill someone.”

  “Is that so bad?”

  I laughed. “If the person in question doesn’t deserve it? Yeah, that would be bad.”

  “You need to make some enemies I’d be justified in killing. It’s been months since I got to kill anything.”

  “You got to smash up skeletons.”

  “They were already dead. It’s not the same thing.”

  I heard something outside. “Oops. Gotta go. I’ll call you soon.” I ended the call and crept up behind the front door, pulling my Beretta as I approached. I heard a key slide into the lock, and a moment later, the door opened and I slipped behind it out of sight.

  I waited for Zach to close the door. I aimed my gun.

  The door closed and I jammed the gun to his head, only it wasn’t Zach.

  “Holy shit!” Walter said. “Don’t shoot!”

  I lowered the gun. “What are you doing?”

  “You didn’t come back, so I got worried.”

  “You had a key?”

  He held up a lock-picking set. “Skills from my misspent youth.”

  I was impressed. He opened that lock as fast as I could have done it with the actual key. “You’ll have to teach me that.”

  “You can’t pick a lock?”

  “Not that fast.”

  He grinned then looked around. “So what’s the story? Is Zach here now?”

  “He got away.”

  “But it was really Zach?”

  “Yes,” I said. We went into the living room and sat down. I filled him in.

  “I knew there was something wrong with her!”

  “You just thought she was dead.”

  “She is dead.”

  “That wasn’t news even then.”

  “Yeah, but I picked up on it. You think maybe I could get a license to be a private investigator? This shit seems pretty simple to me, and you meet lots of interesting people.”

  “A little too interesting sometimes.”

  “Yeah, but unlike you, I’d take divorce cases. Catch the wife having an affair.”

  “Or the husband.”

  “Maybe he’d be with a good-looking woman, though.”

  “And maybe not.”

  “All I know is this past week I’ve felt more alive than I have since before I retired. So you think Zach is going to come back?”

  “Eventually.”

  “I can call you when or if he does.”

  I checked the time on my phone. It was almost three. My stomach growled at me. I’d been planning to have lunch with Kelly, but the whole Zach thing came up, and now I was starving. I agreed to let Walter keep watch, but I insisted that he do so from his house. Then I went out in search of a late lunch.

  As soon as I started the car, I clicked the radio on to a classic rock station. They were playing Led Zeppelin, of course. I think classic rock stations have a rule that they have to get the Led out every third song. I like Zeppelin as much as the next guy, but I wanted to call the station and tell them there were other bands too.

  My phone rang, so I clicked off “Kashmir” and answered without looking at the caller ID.

  “This KLED, all Zeppelin all the time.”

  “Jonathan? Are you OK?”

  Miranda. Or Persephone. Shit. I should have called her.

  “Hey, Miranda, I was just about to call you.”

  “Was it really him?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Should I be worried?”

  If Miranda wasn’t Persephone, she should probably be worried. Zach killed her and if he had the opportunity, he’d do it again. On the 10 percent chance she was who she said she was and because even if she wasn’t, it would be a good cover, I said, “Yes, you’re right to worry.”

  “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know? Weren’t you just with him?”

  “Yes, but I’m not with him right now. I had words with him but that’s all.”

  “Couldn’t you arrest him? You know, like a citizen’s arrest?”

  “Only if I’d witnessed him committing a crime.”

  “He tried to kill me!”

  “But I wasn’t there.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just really scared. Can you maybe come over?”

  There wasn’t any way to say no. If she were really Miranda, it would be good to be there to protect her in case Zach tried to finish the job. Of course, if it were Persephone, I could be walking into the lion’s den.

  “I’m on my way,” I said. “Keep the doors locked and don’t answer for anyone but me. I’ll call you when I get there so you know it’s me. OK?”

  “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  My stomach growled again. I saw an Arby’s up ahead on the right, so I pulled in and hit the drive-through. If you’re going to spend time with a potential immortal, it’s best not to do so on an empty stomach.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Miranda leaped into my arms and planted a kiss on my lips, and her hands started pulling off my clothes. Maybe this wasn’t quite the lion’s den. Or maybe it was, but I’d be with Richard Pryor in that long line. That didn’t sound bad, but I knew I had to resist. Persephone would expect to get her way, of course. Thousands of years of having followers is hard to hide. Miranda would appreciate my being stalwart and true as I was there to protect her.

  I grabbed her arms and held her away from me. “I’m guessing there’s been no sign of Zach.”

  “Nothing so far.” Her breathing came hot and heavy, and she tried to push toward me again.

  “Maybe I should check the perimeter. Make sure everything’s cool.”


  She stopped and looked disappointed but then nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. Are you hungry?”

  “I ate on the way over.”

  “I can fix you a drink.”

  “It’s not even four o’clock.”

  “And you want to be clear headed so you can protect me.”

  “Rule number twelve in the private investigator’s handbook: stay sober during protection details.”

  “OK.”

  I went outside and took a quick walk around her house. Most of the snow had melted on the south facing, though the grass crunched under my feet thanks to the cold. The north side of the house had icy snow pack. I didn’t see any footprints, so I decided not to make any. Better to keep it pristine in case someone else came along. I went back around the house and entered.

  Miranda was nowhere in sight.

  “Miranda?” I called.

  “Up here,” she said. Her voice came from the upstairs bedroom. It sounded odd but since warning bells were already going off, I didn’t read much into it.

  Either Miranda was sex starved or she was Persephone trying to use her feminine wiles to distract me. I wasn’t sure how she thought sleeping with me would get me to bring Sharon to her, but logic doesn’t always apply when you’re dealing with women. That’s often a good thing, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about it right then.

  I took the steps two at a time and approached her bedroom. I had this image of myself walking in to see her in a robe, which she’d casually let slip to the floor.

  Instead, when I stepped into the bedroom, I saw her lying spread eagle on the bed. She was fully clothed. Four dead men held her, one on each arm and leg. Zach Banner leaned against the windowsill.

  “Fancy meeting you again, Mr. Shade. I think I—”

  He didn’t finish his sentence because as soon as I saw him, I raced forward and slammed into him like a safety blitzing the quarterback. He crashed into the window. The glass cracked, but the window had wood reinforcements holding the panes, and while they splintered, we didn’t go through. I kept hold of him and spun him around to keep him between me and the dead guys, but the dead guys were still simply holding Miranda.

  Zach looked dazed. I used a chokehold, cutting off his carotid arteries, and in seconds, he passed out. I lowered him to the floor, keeping my eyes on the dead guys.

  With no one to command them, they simply dropped to the floor. I guess Zach needed to be conscious to control them. Interesting.

  “You all right?” I asked.

  “I think so.” She climbed off the bed and stepped over the corpses to embrace me.

  “How did they get inside?” I asked as I led her from the room.

  “I have no idea. I went into the kitchen when you went outside, and the dead men were waiting there for me. They weren’t there when you first arrived, though. I’d been in the kitchen just a few minutes before then.”

  “Wait here,” I said.

  She nodded and waited in the hall while I went back into the bedroom.

  The dead men hadn’t moved, but Zach was stirring. I pulled him to his feet and applied a painful wristlock and arm bar. He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. That’s when I applied a bit of pressure and he winced.

  “You and I are going to go downstairs, m’man. If you try anything, I’ll break your arm, so the dead guys better stay put. Clear?”

  He nodded.

  Good enough. I walked him out of the bedroom.

  “Miranda, go downstairs but go slowly. If he has any more corpses here, let me know. I won’t give him a chance to give them any commands.” I leaned closer to Zach and whispered, “If I feel you pulling up any magic, you know what will happen.”

  “You’ll break my arm. I know.”

  As we slowly descended the stairs, I kept my eyes on Miranda but also glanced behind me a few times to verify that the corpse quartet wasn’t following. “How did you get here so fast?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer at first, so I applied some pressure and he cried out in pain. “Car! I stole a car, OK?”

  “The dead guys are pretty fresh, but they don’t seem as motivated as before.”

  “Before what?” he asked.

  We eased into the living room, and a quick scan told me the coast was clear.

  “Should we leave?” Miranda asked.

  “I think we’ll stay here for now.” I guided Zach to the sofa, spun him around, and shoved him down.

  He massaged his shoulder and elbow then rubbed his wrist.

  “You came here to finish the job, right?”

  “Wrong,” he said. He looked over at Miranda, then at me and sighed. “I finished the job the first time around. I came here to verify that she was up and around, but I can’t understand why I can’t control her.”

  “Her heart is beating,” I said.

  “I crushed her heart in my fist before I left her,” Zach said. “She was dead.”

  “You couldn’t have her, so no one could?”

  “I didn’t want her anymore, but she wouldn’t leave me alone.”

  “Right.”

  “Her heart was destroyed, Shade.”

  “It was in your cabinet.”

  “You used the heart from the cabinet?” His eyes grew wide.

  “It was the only one there.”

  “That heart belonged to my wife, Gina. She was dying and we couldn’t repair the heart even with the help of the best healers DGI had. We could get it to beat for brief periods. Then it stopped again. She kept dying and I kept bringing her back. She finally begged me not to revive her again, so I put her heart in a jar.”

  I looked over at Miranda. She rubbed her chest over her heart. “I have someone else’s heart?”

  Again, I thought about Esther saying Miranda’s heart had stopped.

  “My wife’s heart,” Zach said. “My dead wife.”

  “Since you’re being so forthcoming, who did you bury in your backyard?”

  He sighed. “I don’t remember his name. He was an engineer, and he saw me kill Miranda, so I killed him but animated him so he could walk out of the building with me. I even had him dig the grave.”

  “And you put your wallet in his pocket.”

  He shrugged. “If I missed any of the security cameras, I figured they’d check my place, and if they brought necromancers, they might find the body. I messed up his face so they couldn’t ID me that way.”

  “Your dental records wouldn’t match.”

  “I doubt they’d go that far. I wanted them to think I’d been murdered if they ever came looking for me.”

  “Why did you come back?”

  “Nobody called me, so I figured I got away with it. Clearly I jumped the gun.”

  “Miranda, go ahead and call the police. And, Zach, you’ll need to confess about the attempted murder and about the actual murder. They’ll ID the engineer soon enough.”

  He stared at his knees and nodded.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  After the police arrested Zach, who didn’t deny the attempted murder charge and admitted he’d killed the engineer, they took him away. I didn’t know any of the cops, but since Zach confessed, there were no issues. They didn’t go up to the bedroom, so we’d have to deal with the corpses ourselves. Sometimes I can barely stand the glamour.

  Some time later, after Miranda and I signed statements, the rest of the police left. I sat down on the sofa with Miranda.

  “How you holding up?” I asked.

  She placed a hand on her heart. “I have to keep checking to see if it’s still beating. What he said about it stopping...Am I just going to die in a day or two?”

  “I don’t know.”

  She leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder. “Thank you for being here. And thank you for being honest and not trying to placate me.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything. At this point, I wasn’t sure if Miranda was Miranda or Persephone. I didn’t know what to expect when Sharon came back on
Wednesday. About all I could say for certain was that I was exhausted.

  Miranda closed her eyes, and a few minutes later, I did the same.

  #

  When I next opened my eyes, the morning light shone through the window. Miranda was already up, fixing breakfast. The aroma of bacon filled the house. She softly sang the chorus to Lacuna Coil’s “Spellbound” over and over while she cooked. I pretended to be asleep in the hopes that she’d show her true self, but what was she going to do while she fried up some bacon and eggs?

  Eventually the smell was too much for my stomach to ignore, so I got up.

  “Grab a plate,” she said. “Breakfast is ready.”

  Throughout the meal, I kept an eye on Miranda, trying to determine whether or not it was really her. I considered what Zach said. He’d crushed her heart. He’d lied enough that I couldn’t say for sure he was being honest about that, but he seemed genuine.

  Miranda gave me a wink. “After breakfast, let’s take a shower. A long, hot shower.”

  “You make getting clean sound so dirty,” I said. “I like it.”

  “You like it now, but you’ll love it later.”

  “Oh, baby.”

  I felt like I was betraying her by trying to figure her out. I knew I needed to play along, but until I knew whether it was Miranda or Persephone doing the play-date, I wouldn’t really enjoy it. If she was Persephone, why keep me around? Wouldn’t it be cheating on Charon? Or did humans count?

  “So,” she said, “do you have plans for today and tomorrow?”

  Here we go, I thought. “A few. Mostly for tomorrow, though. I have today open.”

  “Good. I didn’t want to wait until Friday. I hope I’m not going too fast for you again.”

  “Fast can be fun sometimes,” I said.

  “So what’s on the schedule for tomorrow? Any time for me?”

  “I have a meeting down south of the Springs tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Your other case?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is it dangerous?”

  “Probably.”

  “What kind of meeting?”