by Susan Conley
“Good.” He checked his watch. “Why are you here?”
She crossed her legs and frowned. “I’m beginning to wonder the same thing.”
Impatience focused his attention. “Exactly what can I do for you?” His words were clipped, and he meant them to be. “Look, Bridget, I’m busy.” He watched her pale blue eyes narrow. Unimpressed, he told her, “I’m in the middle of executing an inheritance.”
She toyed with the jangle of silver bracelets cuffing her wrist. “Doesn’t exactly sound like brain surgery.”
Jack allowed her frosty comment to slide, this time, but only because he remembered her jewelry expertise and decided to exploit it. “Well, since you’re here, take a look at this necklace for me, will you?”
She continued to fiddle with her bangles. “Well, I don’t know, Darling. You’re awfully busy. Maybe I should just go.”
“Okay.” Jack shrugged. “Forget it then.”
The first to break the uncomfortable silence between them, she sighed. “Oh, alright. Let me see your precious bauble.”
He heard her tone soften as she slanted her striking gaze his way. Unaffected, he pulled Abigail Corey’s amulet from the box. “What do you make of this?”
Bridget jumped up so fast she tipped over the chair.
“Are you okay?” Jack stood, but she held up one hand to stop him.
“Just a cramp in my foot,” Bridget said, quickly righting the seat and standing behind it rather than sitting back down.
Jack stared. The woman looked like she was using the damn chair as a shield. Why the white-knuckled grip? And why did she sound so breathless — and not in a sexy way?
“Where did you get that?” she demanded without letting go of the chair.
“This is the inheritance I’m working on.” He dangled the necklace for her to see again. When she visibly flinched, he took one step forward. “So, what do you think? Ever seen a stone like this before?”
“Never.” Bridget shook her head and took a step back. “Looks like junk to me.”
“Junk?” Moving two paces closer to her, he twirled the chain between his fingers and watched it catch the light. “Really?”
Still facing Jack she backed up and fumbled for the doorknob. “Probably old costume jewelry.”
He watched Bridget grope for the door. She never took her eyes off the stone. “Are you sure?” he pressed, closing the distance between them.
“Positive.” She backed into the wall.
Jack shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.” Extending his hand, he offered her the necklace. “Here, take a closer look.”
“No!” She slapped his hand away.
Her vehement refusal made no sense. He stared at her — plastered against the door, both palms flush against the smooth oak, cheeks flushed. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” she insisted. “I have to go.”
“You never said why you’re here.”
“I thought we’d, um, have coffee.” Her hand fumbled behind her back and finally found the knob. “But I remembered something I have to do,” she insisted, blue eyes still fixed on the necklace.
“Immediately.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. This can’t wait.”
It wasn’t until Jack slipped the amulet into the pocket of his sports jacket that Bridget met his gaze. “Suit yourself,” he told her and meant it. Beautiful or not, he was done with her. Maybe next time he’d switch it up and try something new. Like dating a woman with a little more character and a little less cup size.
When the door slammed for the second time this morning, Jack barely noticed.
Chapter Two
Salem, Massachusetts
15 September
Year of our Lord 1690
With each careful step, Bridget Bishop’s candle flickered, less from nerves than the deep seeded thrill of anticipation. She steadied the trembling light and prepared for the first time to perform the passion sleeping ritual. Her mother had coaxed her father into a moonlit walk, so her daughter could cast her spell as she had instructed her to do. Bridget’s breath quickened as she carefully set down the candle and searched through the kitchen knives. Selecting the very sharpest, she picked up the blade and watched the metal gleam in the candlelight as she ran her thumb down its length. She was careful not to cut herself — not just yet.
Relishing the sensation — the overwhelming feeling of power and freedom — Bridget’s black lashes fluttered shut. She enjoyed the sharp, cold metal’s feel against her skin. She loved the way her breath quickened and her pulse pounded at both wrists and temples. Slowly and deliberately she opened her eyes then in one fast, deliberate gouge, she pricked the ring finger of her left hand. She found the pain exciting. Just as her mother had promised, the blood that spurted, staining her pale skin, made her feel more alive than anything she had ever experienced before.
Bridget pinched the wound hard and smiled as her blood dripped into the cup of water she had drawn from the well at sunset. Dipping a robin’s feather into the mixture, she painted a piece of parchment, turning the paper a rosy shade of pink. She placed the damp sheet before the crackling fireplace to dry while she gathered together the remaining ingredients that were need.
A pinch of cinnamon. Some sandalwood. Several dried patchouli leaves. Bridget sprinkled the triad into a stone mortar and used a pestle to grind the mix into a powder. She transferred the mélange onto a large, flat rock at the foot of her bed and used the candle flame to burn the fragrant blend into ashes.
Bridget wrote the name Jackson Hathorne on the now-dried, pink paper and slipped it beneath her pillow. She scattered rose petals on the floor around her bed before pulling back the cover and getting in. Bridget realized she was a novice at her craft, but she also knew she had followed her mother’s instructions perfectly and would repeat the same ritual for the next six nights. By the full moon, Bridget was certain her spell would be successful, and she would get exactly what she wanted. Not only would have a passionate, sensuous dream of Jackson Hathorne, but she would be one step closer to making her fantasy a reality.
• • •
Patience had never been Bridget Bishop’s strong suit. Tapping the toe of her black Jimmy Choo stiletto against the industrial-strength tile floor, she raked her blood-red fingernails through her hair. This should have been impossible. After all these years, how the hell had this happened? Not only was the damned amulet here in Boston, but Jack Hawthorne had it. And that could only mean one thing. She would follow. Unless, of course, someone stopped her. Bridget licked her lips at the thought of taking care of that bitch once and for all. Knowing the timing was not right for that, at least not now, she had to make other arrangements.
After leaving Jack’s office, Bridget had made the appropriate phone call and set up the meeting. She checked her watch — 11:00 A.M. exactly. This guy had better be on time. The last thing Bridget needed was to be seen talking to him, but under the circumstances, she had no choice.
Seated on the two-sided bench that faced the south entrance to the mall, she waited. As the crisp October breeze scattered dried leaves across the sidewalk, their skittering sound reminded Bridget of her cat running across a hardwood floor. The sun felt comfortably warm through her lightweight cape. And then the air chilled.
She sensed the muscular man’s presence before he slipped onto the seat directly behind her. Settling his broad shoulders against the slatted wooden back that separated them, she knew before he spoke that this was the man she had contacted.
Without turning, she angled her head in his direction and asked their prearranged question. “Excuse me, do you have the time?”
“Midnight,” Zeke answered.
“As I told you on the phone, the timetable has changed,” Bridget whispered. She pulled a slip of paper fro
m her cape pocket. Passing it behind her back, she handed it to him. His large hand was every bit as rough as his reputation, and nothing could have pleased her more. “This is where she lives.”
Chapter Three
With Bridget gone, Jack pulled the necklace from his jacket pocket. This time he palmed the stone and noticed it actually felt warm. As if it drew heat from his skin. He had held it in the sunlight earlier; maybe the unusual stone absorbed or conducted heat.
The mental image of a woman flashed in his head so quickly, he didn’t have time to blink before the sensation passed. Strawberry blonde or auburn hair — not dark. Brown or green eyes, he wasn’t sure which. Definitely not blue. The details weren’t clear, but the recognition practically crystallized. The impact of the vision or hallucination or whatever the hell it was punched him hard in the gut. And just as quickly, she was gone.
Momentarily blindsided, Jack rationalized. He’d been working way too hard lately. Too many cases. Too much court. Too few earthly pleasures. But then that was easy enough to remedy. It always had been.
And that’s when he heard it. A soft, sweet laugh that was as exquisitely feminine as it was familiar. Laughter so identifiable that he actually looked around. So unmistakable that he would swear the woman was standing next to him.
Either this was nuts, or he was. Jack Hawthorne did not believe in hocus pocus bullshit. That said, why did he know that the laugh he’d just heard belonged to the mysterious woman who had flashed through his mind? He couldn’t explain how he knew. He just knew.
One thing for sure — whatever was going on, somehow the necklace had triggered it. So, he took a closer look. The chain was plain, nothing fancy. Appeared to be gold, but that wasn’t a given. The length was pretty average — maybe eighteen or twenty inches. Nothing special. But the stone … now that was a different story. In comparison, it was about the size of a nickel, and the rich color reminded him of honey. Except for the tear-shaped design in its center, the gem was flawless. For all he knew that marking might make it more valuable.
Other than the necklace, there hadn’t been anything else in the old wooden box except the yellowed, handwritten note scrawled:
Deliver to Miss Abigail Corey — Springfield, Illinois — by October 31
Unwilling to ride this bizarre little sci-fi merry-go-round one more minute, Jack took a leap of faith and jumped off. He put the amulet back in the box and checked his calendar. Maxine had scheduled a one-week time frame to find the Corey woman. He buzzed her.
“Yes.”
“Just curious,” he began. “When did we receive Miss Corey’s heirloom?” He heard her fingers clicking computer keys faster than seemed humanly possible.
Silence.
“Maxine”
“Yes.”
“Got a receipt date?”
“Well, hmmm, this says October 31, 1692.” She cleared her throat then quickly made a connection. “I obviously logged the file number as the year. I’m very sorry about that.”
A dark cloud momentarily obscured the sun, casting a shadow across Jack’s desk. “Forget it.” Maxine never made a mistake like that. Never. When it came to work, the woman was a machine. In fact, he couldn’t remember her ever making any significant kind of clerical error. So, what gives with the date? The last time he had a hinky feeling this strong, one guy got his eye poked out, two went to prison for life, and a monkey lost his tail. “On second thought,” Jack added, “do some more digging, will you? Maybe you can track — ”
“Wait a minute,” Maxine said. “That date is correct.”
“It can’t be.” As he listened to her computer keys tap dance, a larger, darker cloud replaced the first in the late morning sky.
“It is,” she insisted and left it at that.
Her I’m-right-and-you’re-wrong silence always amused Jack. “Okay, Max, then you tell me exactly how — ”
“Because, this is an account you acquired — ”
“What do you mean?” Now it was his turn to interrupt. Jack watched the dark clouds pass and blue sky reappear. He propped the phone between his left ear and shoulder and listened to her explanation.
“You acquired it,” she repeated, “when you bought out Parris, Goody, and Lynch.”
“And you’re not kidding?” Jack asked without thinking. When he heard her mutter about having bigger fish to fry, he remembered Maxine Spencer did not joke. “So, this time-dated execution, for lack of a better term, has actually been passed down from law firm to law firm for more than three hundred years?”
“According to my records, that is correct.”
“Can’t be.” His tone was definitive. “Springfield, Illinois, did not exist in 1692.”
“I know it didn’t, but — ”
“No buts.” He tapped his pencil on the desktop. “Not possible.”
“But,” she insisted, unwilling to be stopped, “I just called up the entire account history, and we have the paperwork to back this up.
Jack stopped the pencil mid-tap and thought a moment. “Not only was there not a Springfield,” he spoke as much to himself as to Maxine, “but no one could have known this Abigail Corey would exist.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Maxine stated.
“Seriously?” Jack snorted. “I’d say an inheritance passed down over three hundred years naming and locating some yet-to-be born woman in some yet-to-be established city is pretty damned — ”
“Doesn’t matter,” she repeated. “We have the necklace. We have the paperwork,” she told him as if there was nothing more to be said. “It’s our job to find her.”
Jack noted Maxine had said “find her,” not try to find her. He had heard that matter-of-fact tone way too many times in the past decade to do anything but step back and stay out of her way. The woman had a sense of duty that took no prisoners, and this little execution was no exception.
“Well then, get cracking, Maxine. I’d say waiting three centuries to search for someone is long enough.” When she didn’t even chuckle, he cleared his throat. This had to be the wildest God damned goose chase he’d ever been on. His only reply was the woman’s haunting laughter as it echoed through his mind again. He shook his head. “Check it out and see what you come up with in Springfield.”
Chapter Four
The rental car Zeke Taylor had chosen to drive tonight was, in a word, nondescript. The black Toyota Camry was a popular model, not too flashy but nice enough not to raise suspicion in a decent, law-abiding part of town. It would blend in, and that’s exactly what he needed. He drove by the first time to locate the address Bridget Bishop had given him.
Halfway up the street and just as it had been described, the ornate, cast iron lettering spelled out Aromatiques, the name of the Corey woman’s shop. After driving around the adjacent streets for ten minutes or so, he pulled to the curb about a half a block from the two-story, brick building he targeted. He killed the headlights and took a long, careful look. Satisfied he had a clear view, he put the car in park and turned off the ignition.
Zeke unhooked his seatbelt and lit a Marlboro. For some reason, waiting had never been a problem for him. It actually felt like an exercise in restraint. And if there was one thing Zeke liked, it was the feeling of control. Whether that was behind the wheel of a car, on top of a woman, or holding a gun to someone’s head.
Positive or negative, as long as he held the reins, nothing else mattered. He would go to any lengths. In that respect he always thought he’d have made a great Navy seal. As part of their training he’d heard they had to stand motionless in a pond filled with snakes for hours. That kind of discipline trained them to focus. To put the mission above all else. To rise above their fears. Without a doubt, Zeke bet he could do that without blinking. Especially if it meant killing all the snakes on command when the exercise was completed. That he would like.
> Checking his watch, Zeke realized he had not only made damn good time flying from Boston to Springfield, Illinois, but he couldn’t have planned his arrival better. The surrounding businesses had been closed for several hours, so foot traffic in this part of town was practically nonexistent. The streetlights lined the sidewalk opposite the building, so they didn’t illuminate the particular entrance that interested him. Not that it really mattered.
Somehow, despite his six foot, six inch height and powerful frame, Zeke could pick a lock in broad daylight without being noticed — and he had. He was really that good. He took a long drag off his cigarette and blew a string of concentric smoke rings. One perfect circle followed the next until he smiled and broke their form. From where he sat, this job would be the easiest ten grand he’d ever made.
At least what he was doing tonight wouldn’t be as messy as last week. Not that he couldn’t do wet work, because he sure as hell could. In fact, from time to time he liked blood. Really enjoyed it. And if there was one thing he liked best about contracting out his services, Zeke decided it would be variety. Always something new and different. He sure as shit never got bored. Not many people could say that. Zeke opened his window and started to flip out his cigarette. Instead, he ground it out on the side of the rental car and slipped the butt into his jacket pocket. No sense leaving DNA on the sidewalk where some Barney Fife might accidentally stumble upon it.
As a cab pulled up in front of Aromatiques, Zeke grabbed his small binoculars and slouched in his seat. He watched as a young woman got out and paid the driver. Shoulder length hair. A thank you wave at the curb. A confident walk toward the front door. Bag and purse in hand, she hurried up the sidewalk and let herself in the building. He smiled and lit another cigarette. Now there was a bonus he hadn’t counted on. He didn’t think the Corey woman was supposed to be home tonight. Oh, well. That was her problem, not his.
A few minutes later he saw the second floor lights go on. He sat ever patient and gave the Corey woman plenty of time to settle in. Eat. Bathe. Get ready for bed. It was the least he could do, Zeke thought. Hell, everyone deserved a Last Supper.
