He was just getting up to join her when his cell phone rang. Diana kept walking toward the door. She waved and said, “See you tomorrow.”
The name displayed surprised him. “Will?”
“Hey, man, we need to talk about your girlfriend.”
For the last couple of days, they hadn’t had any Brenda sightings, and he was beginning to think maybe he and Diana had overreacted. Maybe she wasn’t stalking him and didn’t trash Diana’s garage. When he’d gotten the call out this morning and had to cut Will’s inquisition short, he was really hoping he was right. Brenda had finally gotten the message and was moving on. The confrontation outside the PSB had finally done the trick. The tone in Will’s voice seemed to counter those beliefs.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” he snapped, even though he knew Will was baiting him. His former partner and mentor was trying to help, and he needed to keep that in mind. Easier to do when he wasn’t bone-weary.
“Whatever.” Will, as always, took his moodiness in stride. “I have to say, pal, I’m not surprised you got suckered by her looks. She’s one beautiful woman. I am surprised, however, that you didn’t do your homework before you moved her in. You’re slipping, buddy. See what happens when I’m not there to watch your six.”
He didn’t need a lecture, especially tonight. With four murdered women on his plate and a potential stalker on the home front, a come-to-Jesus talk from his former partner wasn’t on the agenda. Just the facts, that’s all he wanted.
He managed to keep his irritation in check. Either that or he was finally learning to be more like Will and take things in stride. “Will, I’m dead tired and want to go home so what is it?”
“Oh, man, like I said, you messed this one up big-time. Me and Maddie have come across some real interesting shit on your little woman.”
His newly found easy-going nature wasn’t holding. Will was getting on his last good nerve. “Fine, you win, I screwed up. Care to explain how?”
“Be delighted. Did you know your little gal pal spent some serious time in a mental institution?”
*
Circe stood next to Lisa and simply stared at the broken front window in her house. Thanks to a thunderstorm that had rolled through about an hour ago, not only was her beautiful big bay window shattered, but her carpet was filled with glass shards and was also soaking wet. It was the kind of mess that made her want to cry.
“I swear to God, Circe, I was gone maybe twenty minutes. I ran over to Rosauers to pick up some kale and came right back. When I got back the window was smashed and the lock cut off the back gate.”
Circe cut her gaze to the side gate that was now closed, but a broken padlock was hanging from the latch. They always kept the walk gates locked for safety reasons. That and the fact that Zelda was a really smart dog who figured out how to unlatch the gates so she could go on unguided walkabouts.
Today Zelda must have decided this wasn’t the time to tour the neighborhood because, according to Lisa, she was sitting on the front porch when Lisa pulled into the driveway. Now Zelda was leaning against Circe’s legs.
“Who on earth would do something like this?”
Granted, all neighbors had suffered some type of vandalism at their houses, and hers certainly wasn’t exempt. One of things she loved out here was that it was low on the problem scale. While it was just a few miles north of Spokane, it seemed to be a separate little town. The community was small and tight-knit. Everyone knew everyone, and neighbors looked out for each other. People didn’t go around cutting padlocks and smashing windows. Around this neighborhood, kids usually tossed empty beer cans in the yard or dented mailboxes with baseball bats.
That someone had been able to come into her yard, cut the lock on the gate, and smash her front window without anyone seeing a thing wasn’t just unusual; it was unheard of around here. Flat-out crazy.
Straight-up scary.
Right after she called the Stevens County Sheriff’s Department, she gave in to impulse and called Diana. Her home was not only outside Spokane but in another county as well. Diana had absolutely no jurisdiction here, but the petty details didn’t matter. Over the last couple of days her intuition had grown steadily stronger when it came to trusting Diana. Something about her radiated a special connection, and given what had transpired throughout the course of the day, she could use the connection.
The Stevens County Sheriff’s Department wasn’t likely to appreciate her calling in the SPD, though frankly she didn’t care. It wasn’t a case of her questioning their skills; she wanted a skilled and knowledgeable friend at her side. Diana, if anyone, could appreciate the way she was feeling right now. Her call was as much personal as professional and, if she was being honest, heavy on the personal side.
The deputy sheriff and Diana pulled into the driveway at about the same time. Given how far Diana needed to travel to get here, she obviously hadn’t driven the posted limit. The time it took for the deputy sheriff to get here told her he’d come from somewhere north in the county and hadn’t been nearby. This was a large county with a law-enforcement presence often stretched very thin. With the ground they had to cover, they did a decent job.
Without acknowledging the deputy, Diana bounded out of her car and raced directly to Circe. Not hesitating, she pulled her into her arms. Against her hair, Diana said, “I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Is Zelda okay?”
It felt so great to be held like this that Circe almost cried. Top that off with the fact she asked about Zelda, and it was a miracle she didn’t burst into tears. She wanted nothing more than to melt into Diana and forget about dead women and broken windows. “I’m okay. We’re all okay. I’m so glad you’re here.”
Diana let her go and stepped back, studying her face. “Do you have any idea who would do this?”
Circe shook her head as she glanced over at the deputy, whose eyes were narrowed and stuck on the badge at Diana’s waist. She held out her hand to him. “Deputy, I’m Circe Latham, the homeowner.”
Though he shook Circe’s hand, he kept his attention focused on the badge at Diana’s waist. Slowly his gaze came up until his eyes met Circe’s. “Ma’am, I’m sorry if there’s some confusion here, but this is Stevens County jurisdiction. SPD doesn’t have authority to investigate here.”
Diana took a step back from Circe and held out her hand. “No worries, Deputy. I’m not here to intrude. I’m here only as a friend. I’m Detective Diana Erni.”
From the expression on his face, Circe wasn’t convinced he believed Diana. “She’s my friend,” Circe said. “I called you first and Diana came up only as moral support.”
His body language said he wasn’t happy, and she guessed she could understand the appearance of interference by someone from a larger, outside agency. That wasn’t why she’d called Diana, and somehow she needed to convey that to him.
He studied her face before his eyes cut to Diana’s. Whatever he saw in their faces seemed to satisfy his reservations and he nodded. “All right, tell me what happened.”
An hour later, Circe, Diana, and Lisa stood in the driveway and watched the sheriff’s cruiser pull out of the driveway. Once he decided Diana wasn’t there to interfere he was all business. While she couldn’t say what Diana thought, she was feeling pretty confident the Steven’s County Sheriff’s Department would investigate fully.
As the deputy pulled out onto the street, Paul pulled into the driveway. Circe raised a single eyebrow and glanced at Diana. “Don’t look at me,” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t call him.”
For a second she was confused and then Circe smiled. All of a sudden it made perfect sense. Of course Diana didn’t call him. Why would she? She turned to Lisa. “You called him, didn’t you?”
Lisa nodded and looked a little sheepish. “Figured if you could call a friend, so could I. Besides, this whole thing gives me the creeps, and a big strong guy around can’t hurt. Right?”
Well, well, well, things around this household were certainly getting in
teresting. Somebody appeared to be pissed off at them, she was finding dead bodies right and left, and both she and Lisa appeared to be falling for a couple of cute cops. All and all, it could be worse.
Chapter Thirteen
The lights were low in his attic office, and once more he pored over the pages. A cinnamon candle flickered on the corner of the desk, the pleasing scent filling the air. His hair dripped, and for the third time, he picked up the towel and rubbed it over his scalp before it fell onto his precious book. He should have taken the time to dry his hair, but he’d been in a hurry to get to his book. His hair felt much drier now and so he tossed the towel to the floor. A twitch hit his left eye as it occurred to him how much that action reminded him of her. She would walk off and leave a wet towel on the polished hardwood and think nothing of it. True, he had dropped it on the floor, but he would pick it up when he was finished here and take it to the laundry. The twitch receded and he continued to read, no more drops of water threatening the pages.
His own needs put aside for the moment, he continued to search for something in particular. Things had to change around here, and now. The book held the answer, he was convinced of it. All he had to do was find it.
When he got home earlier, he’d found a pile of wet and muddy clothing discarded on the bathroom floor. She didn’t even make the effort to put them in the hamper. As usual, he picked them up and then had to clean the mud from the tile floor. The mess was incredible, even for her. His fury grew with each swipe of the mop.
Year after year he’d hoped she would change. Year after year she’d let him down. Lately, she seemed to be worse than he’d ever seen her. He couldn’t keep turning a blind eye. They’d been together so long, loyalty kept him bound to her, but that loyalty was being tested beyond tolerable limits. One of these days she was going to create a mess he couldn’t clean up. Then where would they be?
Right now he couldn’t afford her unpredictability. Dealing with the day-in and day-out irritations were one thing. Threatening the safety of all of them was something entirely different. She was putting the padlock on her own cell. Surely he could find something in the De Nigromancia that could keep her in line. He didn’t want to get rid of her exactly, just rein her in so she didn’t create any unnecessary problems.
Once he put his final plan into action, her sloppiness wouldn’t be an issue. Until then, however, he needed to corral her. No more doing stupid things, no more creating problems where none should exist. No more piles of muddy clothes left for him to clean up. She simply had no choices left. She was going to behave or else.
Or else what? He smiled and tapped the book. It was here, just as he hoped. A simple little potion, and as he moved his finger down the line of ingredients, his heart grew lighter. Everything he needed was downstairs in his pantry. Twenty-four hours to cure the potion and she’d be locked up as surely as if he’d put her in jail. He could almost hear the click of the cell door. The feeling of relief was almost orgasmic.
Of course, he’d have to keep a close eye on her in the interim. She could be strong-willed when she took a mind to be, and he didn’t like dealing with her at those times. If he was careful, he could blindside her and the power would all shift into his hands. He stood, leaned over the desk, and blew out the candle. “Not to worry,” he muttered to himself as he headed downstairs. “I’ll keep that bitch under lock and key.”
*
Paul jumped out of his car and made it to Lisa’s side in four long strides. He pulled her into his arms and felt a rush of relief the second his arms closed around her trembling body. More than that, he felt like he’d come home. How something like this could happen in the blink of an eye, he didn’t know and didn’t care. He was content to know it just was.
“Are you all right?” he asked close to her ear. He knew she wasn’t; he could feel it in the tremors of her body.
Her arms tightened around him. “I’m much better now.”
“Ah-hum.”
That was a voice he knew intimately. Letting his arms drop, he took a step back from Lisa and turned to look at Diana. Nothing about her had changed since she left the office, meaning she’d come straight here. “Hey, D.”
She raised both eyebrows. “You forgot your white horse.”
He let his gaze slide from Diana to Circe and back again. “I tied it up right next to yours.”
With a small laugh, she said, “Touché.”
“Fill me in,” he said and put an arm around Lisa’s shoulders. He didn’t care what Diana, or anyone else for that matter, thought about his quick attraction to Lisa. Could all the recent difficulties have been a prelude to this? He’d like to think fate was finally smiling on him.
Only doubts continued to tap at his skull, trying to shake his confidence, the disastrous relationship with Brenda being topmost. After all, he’d moved her into his house and thought it was all going to be fine. That had turned out to be so far from fine it could have been from another universe. If his judgment could be so lacking in that relationship, he could miss the mark here too.
Despite the tragic results of that decision, this was different. Or at least it felt different. With Brenda, he’d known in his heart that the moment he moved her in he was settling. He might not have voiced the truth but it was there. She’d made it easy for him to settle, and he’d let her. At that point in his life, it all worked in a warped way. But crazy had eventually started making her appearance, and then he’d had to face the consequences of the fact that he’d taken the easy—or perhaps more accurately stupid—way.
On the positive side, Lisa was the polar opposite of Brenda. She was beautiful in a way that was real and heartwarming. Brenda’s beauty was superficial, like a glossy magazine cover. But Lisa’s had depth and substance and, most importantly, soul.
That’s what it felt like to him the moment she opened the door for them—like her soul was reaching out to his.
God, how teenaged-girl that sounded. Good thing none of them could read minds because he sure as hell didn’t want anyone reading his at the moment. He would prefer to keep his soul-searching insights to himself, at least for now. That didn’t mean he didn’t believe it was true because he did. He felt it deeply.
The cool thing was that he could tell Lisa liked him too, and her phone call was certainly a good indication. Unfortunately, he had no idea how she felt beyond liking him. He wasn’t full of himself…or at least not too full of himself…but he knew he wasn’t a bad-looking guy, and he was in great shape. Women seemed to like him and he always liked women too. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for Lisa to be attracted to him.
But he really wanted to know if it was deeper than mere attraction. Did she feel the same heart pull he did? Could she look beyond the superficial to the man behind the badge? He hoped so, because he had a feeling this relationship held real promise if they were both on the same page. If she didn’t feel what he did, it would be awful. His confidence wouldn’t hold up under the blow of another misread relationship.
As much as he’d like to just blurt it out right now and find out where he stood with Lisa, he opted to be a bit more reserved. Though it wasn’t his natural habitat, he was going to reside in the land of patience. After all, part of the problem with Brenda was that he jumped too quickly. Slow and careful had to be better. Shifting into professional mode, he said, “Tell me what happened.”
Circe spoke up for the first time since he’d gotten out of the car. “Here’s the down and dirty.”
Just as Circe finished bringing him up to speed, rain began to fall again. Before they had a chance to get inside, all four of them were soaked. Circe and Diana stayed upstairs while Lisa tugged on his hand as she led him to her downstairs apartment.
She left him momentarily at the door while she retrieved a couple of towels. With one towel around her neck, she stopped in front of him and reached up to rub the other one across his head. His eyes were on hers, and he saw his own hunger reflected in them. If she didn’t fee
l as he did, she was doing a pretty damned fine imitation. His earlier resolution to be patient and take things slow faded away. It seemed to him that he suddenly knew exactly where he stood with Lisa.
He took her face in his hands and for a long moment stared into her eyes. No, he didn’t see any imitation in her eyes. This was very, very real. Slowly he bent forward and kissed her.
*
Diana stood next to Circe and surveyed the damage. “You have a carpet shampooer by any chance?”
Circe put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Of course I do. I’m very domestic, you know.”
The warmth of Circe’s hand on her shoulder felt wonderful. She didn’t want to move until a hefty gust of wind bringing in a spray of rainwater changed her mind. Moving would be a good thing. “How about a piece of plywood?” They couldn’t leave this window wide open. The way the rainstorm was hanging in there, everything in the room would be soaked if they didn’t board the broken window up soon.
“No plywood, but would a piece of bead-board paneling work? I have a full sheet left over from a bathroom remodel.”
Diana nodded. “That would work great. Tell me where it is and we’ll close this window.”
“Far side of the garage, and you’ll see a toolbox on the bench out there as well. Also nails and a hammer. I’ll get the carpet shampooer and see how much of this water I can suck up.”
Right where Circe said they’d be, Diana found the panel and the tools. Within half an hour they’d boarded up the broken window and cleaned the carpet. It would take the carpet a while to completely dry, but they’d solved the worst of the damage for the time being.
Circe stood surveying their work and nodded. “Not bad if I do say so. I’ll call the window company in the morning and get the replacement taken care of. Hopefully the carpet will be dry by then. Don’t really want to replace carpet right now.”
Necromantia Page 13
