“He what?” Angelique’s laughter was loud enough that Rosalie had to move the phone away from her ear. “What the hell did you do to him?”
She as she strode slowly back into the living room. “Just come, okay? Him freaking out has me all freaked out now, too. Besides, what sort of ‘man’ locks himself in a bathroom when a woman asks him a few simple questions?” Rosalie gave a small roll of her eyes, then forced herself to sit down on the edge of Elijah’s couch. “Just come, okay? Maybe… I don’t know, maybe you can talk some sense into him.”
“I think he’s beyond help, darling. Or you are, I can’t decide which of you the poorer soul is.” She laughed some more. “I’ll be right over, though.”
Shaking her head, Rosalie hung up and looked across at the locked bathroom door. She still couldn’t help but wonder if what Elijah had seen had something to do with her father’s death. The skeptic in her told her that such a thing was ridiculous. There was no such thing as magic or real fortune telling. Then again, she had never seen a grown man lock himself behind a door like a child about to be beaten, either.
* * * *
By the time Angelique got to Elijah’s apartment, she was flustered. Whatever Rosalie had done, it certainly wasn’t in anyone’s favor. The fact that Rosalie had scared Elijah badly enough to send him into hiding was such a shock that she had almost gotten a speeding ticket on her way there. Now that she was there, she didn’t quite know what to do.
Well, she thought. May as well just… go in.
Keys jingled along with the shiny blue and orange beads she had around her wrist. She and Rosalie had made the bracelets when they had been much younger, and they were one of Angelique’s most prized possessions. She would run into a burning building just for them.
Several minutes later had Angelique standing outside of Elijah’s door. After letting out a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside. Elijah was nowhere to be seen, and Rosalie was sitting on the arm of the couch. When she saw her friend, she stood and strode quickly to her, wrapping her into a tight hug.
“Finally! What took you so long, woman? And how did you get in here?”
Angelique gave Rosalie a withering look before folding her arms across her chest. “Elijah gave me a copy of his keys a while ago. We used to have a…thing.” She waved a hand. “Anyway, what the hell did you do to him??”
“I told you over the phone. But he freaked out even before that. He called the police on me! I mean, come on, who does that? He’s a big ‘man’ and all, you’d think he’d be able to handle a girl like me.” She paused, then blinked. “Wait… you and Elijah?”
“Rosalie, focus…the police?”
“But…best friends are supposed to—”
As those words left Rosalie’s lips, sirens sounded in the near distance. And they were coming closer. Without another word between them, the two women ran for the door.
Chapter Five
“You know I can’t just up and tell you something like that. And before you say anything, no… it’s not ‘company’ policy, but my own ethical one.” Morgan was standing there with his arms folded across his chest. His eyes were narrowed on Rosalie’s face, and the frown on his lips was like that of a disapproving school teacher. He looked even more like a teacher as he stood behind his desk in the magic shop.
“But he locked himself in his bathroom,” Rosalie said, spreading her hands. “What person does that unless they’re either scared to death or trying desperately to hide something?”
“He locked himself in the bathroom? You’re serious?”
“Yes. Now will you tell me what’s going on?”
Morgan let out a quiet sigh and rubbed gently at the gray and black stubble along his jaw. “All right. I’ll tell you, but you might want to sit down.”
She arched both of her eyebrows and shook her head. “I’m not a little weakling.”
“Never said you were.” Leaning his forearms over the desk, he locked his gaze with Rosalie’s. “Truth of the matter is, Elijah came to me just before he packed all his stuff up and left. That was…” He looked thoughtful. “I don’t know…two days ago now. He came over with this look in his eyes. You know the one…scared and confused and all that. Said that he was going to die soon and that he needed to get the hell out of town.”
“Die how? And why didn’t you just tell me this before?”
Morgan shrugged and ignored her last question. “He had a vision apparently when he went to read your palm. Something about death and blood. Lots of blood.”
Her jaw went slack. Death and blood. After her father had been murdered, she had heard things. ‘So much blood’, had been one of the most popular phrases that she had overheard. The more she was hearing, the more convinced she was that Elijah had seen her father’s murder; or at the very least, parts of it. Taking a small step away from the counter, Rosalie glanced down toward the floor. Then she looked up at Morgan, her jaw set. “Where did he say he was going?”
“Didn’t say. But I’ve already told you a lot more than I should have.”
Rosalie swore under her breath. After the disaster ‘breaking in’ to Elijah’s place yesterday, she could only assume that he had booked it soon after she and Angelique had been run out by the prospect of police action. She tapped her fingers against the wood of the desk that stood between her and Morgan. Suddenly, her eyes shone with the light of an idea.
“You knew my father was…he died. A few days ago.”
Morgan looked taken aback by the question. “Yeah…saw it on the news.”
“Then you know that he was murdered, and that the killer is still out there.” Rosalie chewed on her lower lip before continuing. “I think…” Gods this sounded so stupid! She didn’t believe in this stuff. She wished Angelique had never brought her here in the first place. “I think that Elijah saw my father in his last moments. I would be freaked out if I saw something like that, too. Maybe I would even lock myself in a bathroom.”
Stunned silence stretched between them. It seemed to extend even longer the more Morgan stared at Rosalie. Some of the color was seeping from his face, and his fingers were clenched into tight fists. “Slave Lake… said he was going to…to Slave Lake.”
“Thank you!” Rosalie let out a gasping breath as she pushed off from the desk and sprinted out the door. There were always multiple sailings from Nanaimo to Vancouver, but if luck was on her side, she might be able to find Elijah there. She figured he would go the cheapest route, and the ferry was it. It was insane, rushing off to a ferry terminal to try and find the one person who wanted nothing to do with her, but she didn’t have anything else.
All she had was her need to find out what had happened to her father…the one person in the world who had truly understood her.
* * * *
Elijah stepped out of the taxi at the ferry terminal. It was huge, with masses of people going in every imaginable direction. For someone like him, who only went out in public when it was absolutely necessary, this was his worst nightmare. Blue eyes searched for signage that would tell him where to go, but the people were far too distracting. His paranoia started to kick in as the taxi drove away, leaving him all but stranded. He had to find a better grip on his luggage bags because of palms that suddenly started to sweat. Trying to ignore the wave of nervous nausea, he made his way toward the automatic doors that stated ‘Entrance’.
“Elijah! Wait! God damnit, wait up!”
That voice. It was so familiar. Stopping just in front of the entrance doors, he turned his head back to see who was calling him. After several seconds of hard searching, he finally picked out a face. She was waving at him with both arms and practically shoving people out of her way as she came toward him. It was Rosalie.
Without a moment of thought, Elijah shot forward. A heavy man wearing an expensive looking suit barely got out of his way in time. A young woman with a roller bag wasn’t so lucky and ended up sprawled across the floor. As Elijah’s strides lengthened, he made a run for
the nearest door.
“Hey, you need to buy a ticket first. Sir! You can’t go through there!”
Elijah ignored the woman at the ticket desk and bounded through the door that led down to the ferry. There was more yelling from behind him as Rosalie dashed after him. She was a hell of a lot quicker than she looked. The long hallway ended in a sharp turn, and Elijah just about smashed into the wall going around the corner. He had to do a few interesting hop steps to keep his footing. As he sprinted around another corner, he was halted by a wall of people.
There were food vendors, stalls with hats and scarves, and a myriad of other areas where people were selling things. He took a quick glance behind him and spotted Rosalie, huffing to keep up. His heart thudding against his chest, Elijah pushed through the dense throng of people. How was she already so close? He knew he wasn’t the world’s fastest runner, but he certainly wasn’t slow.
“Elijah! I just want to talk to you!” Rosalie’s voice was almost lost in the crowd, but he heard her as clearly as if she was right there beside him.
It didn’t take him long to get through the people. A few more running steps took him to the waiting area. If he got on the boat, there really wouldn’t be anywhere to run unless he jumped off the boat. That was certainly an option, but Rosalie seemed desperate enough that she might just jump off after him. After a small moment of hesitation, Elijah took off through the door just on his right. He was back outside now, and in the middle of the children’s play area.
Not even glancing at the startled kids and mothers, he made his way directly for the massive traffic holding area. Cars were starting to move, directed to certain areas of the ferry’s levels by trained professionals. Thankfully the vehicles were slow, and he was easily able to outmaneuver them. He jumped over the hoods of some and skirted around the bumpers of others. A quick glance behind told him that Rosalie was still chasing him.
That glance nearly cost him as he darted in front of a massive semi. The sound of its horn made his ears pop and stirred the hair on his arms, but he kept going.
On other side of the holding lot was a sheer wall of concrete. It went up a good twenty feet. Highway traffic blasted by above, and Elijah knew that even if he got up there, running through that wasn’t worth his life. And so, with a heavy swallow, he came to an unsteady halt, turned around with his back to that wall, and looked right at Rosalie. It was the first time—ever—that he had met her eyes.
“I already told you to leave me alone.” Elijah’s voice was breathless as she got closer. Waves of fatigue washed over him, and he let himself lean back against the solid wall behind him.
Rosalie held her hands open in front of her, her whole body shaking with exhaustion. Gulping air into her lungs, she leaned forward and placed her hands on her knees. Holding up a finger, she gave him the ‘hold on a second’ gesture as sweat dripped from her face onto the concrete.
“Listen.” After a few more gulps of air, she straightened and swept her hands back through her ebony waves of hair. “All I want to know is what you saw.” She swallowed hard, gazing into the depths of eyes that weren’t plain, but full of clarity…like still water.
“How did you know I would be here? Did Morgan sell me out?”
“Yes, he did. Elijah, what did you see? Did you see my father’s death? Did you see who killed him?” Placing a hand to her mouth, she shook her head as her brow wrinkled. “Did you?”
“Like I said…leave me alone.”
Lowering her head, Rosalie felt the strong, overbearing attitude she tried so desperately to hold onto since her father’s murder slipping farther and farther away. The longer she thought about it, the more she believed. No man would run like that if he hadn’t seen something. “Please, Elijah… and I don’t say ‘please’ to just anyone… tell me what you saw. That’s all I want to know.”
Chapter Six
Breathe, Elijah. Just breathe.
“The vision, it…” He scrubbed his hands over his face, cringing. Even thinking about it made him want to run. “It…” Letting out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, he shifted slowly away from the wall. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just don’t.”
With a slight frown, Rosalie stepped a little closer. “Come on, Elijah…”
“No.” He held up both of his hands. “Now leave me the hell alone, Rosalie. This is bullshit, what you’re doing.”
With pursed lips, she pushed some hair back behind her right ear. His answer was just enough to ignite some anger in her. “No… because you know something. And you know that I will just chase you down again if you try and get away from me, I’ve proven that to you twice now.”
Elijah stuffed both of his hands into his pockets before he started walking along the wall. He was moving, not back toward the ferry terminal, but up toward the highway. Rosalie followed him, her arms folded across her chest. One of his hands came out from the pocket with his cell phone. He didn’t even look at her as he dialed a number, glancing back toward Rosalie once.
“Hi, it’s me. Can you come grab your insane friend? Yeah, we’re at the ferry terminal. Thanks.”
Rosalie rolled her eyes, then let out a sharp laugh. “Really? You know what, Elijah? I’m wondering if maybe Angelique was right. You had a vision of you and I together having sex or something, and it scared the hell out of you because you’re… I don’t know. Are you gay?”
Coming to an abrupt halt, Elijah sort of puffed out his chest and turned to face Rosalie. His jaw was set, and his eyes were narrowed. There was a spark in them that had thus far been nonexistent until now. “I didn’t see anything important in my vision, okay? So get off the fucking high horse that you’re so determined to sit on all the time and leave…me…alone.” His jaw still set, Elijah started walking again, but faster this time.
Standing there shocked, Rosalie let out another laugh before she trotted to catch up with him. “Well…Mr. Fortune Teller has a backbone after all. I’m impressed. And really, Elijah…if what you saw wasn’t ‘important’, then why did you lock yourself in the bathroom? Hmm?”
“Why are you still following me?”
She shrugged, trying to control her anger at his clear avoidance of her question. “Did you just call Angelique to come pick me up?”
“Yes.” Heat rushed to his cheeks as he glanced over at her.
Rosalie picked up on the lie instantly. “Wow… backbone and a fake phone call, both in the same five minutes. Now I’m really impressed.”
With a frown, he stopped at a street pole and pressed the crosswalk button. His lips were tight as he stared hard at the other side of the highway, both of his hands back in the pockets of his dark gray jeans. The slight hunch of his shoulders and the way he kept glancing at Rosalie made it seem like he was trying to hide from her.
“I can’t tell you about what I saw, so…just…” He shook his head, casting his eyes down to the sidewalk. “I don’t know.”
“Why can’t you tell me? Morgan didn’t seem to have an issue selling you out a second time.” That last sentence was blurted out almost beyond her control, and she looked almost as startled as Elijah. But then she continued: “Morgan told me that you saw a lot of blood in your vision. And that’s what they….the public…keep saying when they talk about my father’s death.”
As the light told them that they could safely cross, Elijah moved at a slow pace, deliberately dragging his feet and ignoring Rosalie. He shifted his bag across his other shoulder to give his other one a break, keeping his gaze straight ahead. By the time they got to the other side, his jaw was so tight that Rosalie could actually hear his teeth grinding over the sound of the cars flying by.
“All right, you know what?” She spread her hands out from her sides. “I’ll just go back to Morgan and get him to tell me. Or, better yet, I’ll send Angelique in, and he can tell her. She has a pretty good rep in that place, and you could say that the two trust each other. Of course, it would save me a lot of trouble if you just told me.”
“Morgan wouldn’t…” He stopped and looked at her.
She shrugged. “He told me you were going to Slave Lake, didn’t he? That’s in Alberta, right? And he told me about the vision.”
Elijah rubbed at the back of his neck and forced his jaw to relax. As he licked his lips, he started to walk again, turning onto a smaller street. It would take about two hours to walk back to his apartment if he went this way versus one hour if he took the highway; but he preferred the quiet over the loud, and he needed time to think. At least, that was the idea. He didn’t think that Rosalie would actually tag along for the entire two hours, either.
* * * *
By the time they arrived at Elijah’s apartment, they were completely exhausted. He didn’t even care that she trailed him up into his home. All he cared about was water. He took down two large glasses of it before collapsing on the one and only couch. Compared to more expensive ones, it certainly wasn’t that comfortable. But it was the only one that he had, and the only one he had been able to afford. Given that, he ignored the look on Rosalie’s face when she sat down beside him.
Palm of Destiny Page 3
