I checked my watch. “I’ve got about a half hour left before I have to go.”
“The estate has tight security, so it’s likely whoever did this either had access on his own or was working with someone on the inside. We’ve seen nothing on the surveillance videos from that night. Is there anybody on the staff who might have been nursing a grudge against Adriane?” Ballard asked.
“I’m not all that familiar with most of them.”
Jeffers gave me a doubting look. “You lived here a long time.”
“We moved here when I was around five. I moved out after I finished my business program. I was twenty-one. I never bonded with any of the staff. Aunty Mommy would have fired them if I did.” I’d already given her enough weapons against me in Jen, Lorraine, and Stacey. I wasn’t about to give her any more.
I did know all their names and a lot about their lives. I used to sneak around the house and listen, trying to get information on Aunty Mommy so that I’d know her plans and could prepare.
“Do you know where your aunt kept her records?”
“Her office, I guess.”
Jeffers shook his head. “We’ve gone over it. There isn’t much there.”
I thought about the key in Mason’s possession. Undoubtedly it led to a treasure trove of that kind of thing.
“She didn’t confide in me. Like I’ve been telling you, she hated me. She didn’t trust anybody. She might have kept things in a vault in a bank for all I know.”
She wouldn’t have. That would have meant letting go of control, and there’s no way Aunty Mommy would ever have done that. The truth was, there probably was a vault somewhere in the house, and it was probably disguised and protected with magic. The cops didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of finding it without magical help.
Ballard tapped her pencil against her notebook, eyeing me thoughtfully. I couldn’t tell what was going through her mind. She had one of those inscrutable faces that some black women have. As if she were sculpted from stone rather than made of flesh and bone. She looked better than the first day she’d interviewed me. Rested and her skin was no longer ashy. The circles under her eyes were gone too. She was actually kind of lovely.
“Why don’t we go inside?” she said.
Jeffers locked up the crime scene cage, and we started back along the patio. Ajax barked right before I felt an invisible thrust in the air. Bits of gravel and dust pattered on top of us and against the patio surface. Stone grated. I looked up to see the gargoyles above tipping off their foundations.
“Run!” I shouted as I shoved Ballard.
Damon looped his arm around my waist and jerked me along, thrusting me ahead of him down the stairs onto the lawn just as the morning stillness shattered apart. Falling gargoyles smashed against the patio. Bits of masonry spun through the air. Amazingly, none hit us. Or maybe not so amazingly. I could feel magic in the air. I had a feeling it came from Mason or Damon.
“What the hell happened?” Jeffers twisted around to look at the destruction. He looked shaken. Windows had shattered all along the promenade. The dozen or so gargoyles on this side of the patio had smashed into pieces. Bits of gargoyle penis had flown everywhere. That almost made me laugh. It wasn’t funny. This wasn’t natural. I’d felt a sweep of magic just before they fell. Someone had tried to kill us.
Damon had pulled me close against him, his body held in front of mine like a shield. He exchanged a look with Mason. It wasn’t any too friendly and all too knowing for my comfort. They knew who was behind this. Or at least, they suspected. That pissed me off. I was tired of their acting as if I needed to be taken care of. Tired of keeping secrets about me.
I elbowed out of Damon’s grasp and took several steps away. I crouched and put my arms around Ajax. He stood stiffly, hackles raised. A growl rumbled below hearing. I felt it against my chest. “Well. That was terrifying,” I said.
“That was damned sure not natural,” Jeffers said.
“On it,” Ballard said and started tapping numbers into her phone. A minute later, she’d summoned a CSU team and backup.
“I think it’s time for me to leave,” I said. “There’s no reason for me to be here anymore, is there?”
Ballard shook her head before Jeffers could protest about my being a witness. “Not now. We’ll want to get a statement later.”
I smiled my gratitude. “You know where to find me. I’m getting pretty good at them by now.” I looked again at the destruction, which looked almost like a bomb had gone off. The doors we’d come out of were shattered, and glass shards hung in the opening. “I think I’ll just walk around the outside of the house. It’ll be safer.”
They all fell in behind me as I followed the path out through the gardens and a small orchard and turned right without even thinking. My mistake. The path passed through a tunnel of vines and sweet-scented orange bugle flowers and came out on a small, grassy lawn with a single bench. It faced one of my torture chambers: the rock wall Jeffers had asked me about after Aunty Mommy had died. I was shaking from the near miss of gargoyle bombs and wasn’t thinking clearly, or I’d have gone around the opposite way. But my feet followed the familiar path like sparrows returning to Capistrano.
My footsteps hitched and I sucked in a sharp breath before striding past in quick, sharp steps.
“Miss Wyatt,” Jeffers called as I knew he would. Stupid cop curiosity. “I’ve been wondering—this is rather an odd setup. Could you explain how it was used?”
I felt all their eyes on me. I turned to face my nemesis. It was a climbing wall. Standing three stories tall, the gray hulk was contained inside a metal-mesh cage. All around it, on pillars and along the top of the wall itself, were water cannons. Their pressure could be adjusted from a fairly-light spray to close to firehose strength, and the release could be adjusted so that it ranged from intermittent bursts to unrelenting spray.
“That’s where I learned to rock climb,” I said, my fingers curling into Ajax’s ruff. It was almost fully grown in now, thanks to the water of the sanctuary pool. I never knew how Aunty Mommy had come up with this deranged torture method. It was creative, I had to give her that.
“I used to climb,” Jeffers said, puzzled. “I’ve never seen a training wall like this one. What’s up with the cage? And are those water nozzles?”
Something inside me broke open. Maybe it was wanting to tell Mason what I’d suffered at the hands of his sister. Maybe it was just the relief of telling someone how I’d suffered and how I’d survived. Maybe it was the dawning look of something too much like pity in Damon’s eyes.
“It’s actually pretty straightforward,” I said, keeping my voice even and matter-of-fact. “You only come out if you win.” My lips stretched into what they meant to be a smile and was anything but. “See, I would have to go inside and the gate would be locked. Then I’d have to get to the top. There’s a little hollow up there. The difficulty came with the cannons.”
I stepped over to the front of the bench and flipped the marble top off the wrought-iron table in front of it. Inside was a control panel with buttons and dials. I flipped everything to the on position then dialed the cannons up to about half power. I flipped their patterns to automatic. Jets of water zigzagged, circled, and wiggled, blasting the climbing surface, all the way around.
“You tend to fall a lot,” I said. “Even after you get pretty good at it. The grips get slippery, and if the water hits you in the face, it’s rough. Luckily the ground below gets soft pretty quick, so usually you don’t break anything. Once you get to the top, the hollow protects you from the jets. Then it’s just a matter of waiting until the water shuts off. After that—climb down. I don’t recommend shoes, though. They get super slippery.”
Everybody had looked over at the wall as I talked, and now their heads swiveled back to stare at me. Jeffers’s jaw hung open, and Ballard looked a little sick.
“Why?” she asked.
“I told you. Aunty Mommy didn’t like me much. It’s all good, th
ough. I learned a skill. And that’s not the only one. She taught me about swimming and running too.”
“How?” Damon ground out.
I didn’t look at him. I didn’t want to see the pity or the anger or whatever would be there. I didn’t know what I wanted from him.
“Pretty much the same sort of deal. She gave me incentives not to give up, and I tried not to get mutilated. Fun times.”
I turned off the water and flipped the tabletop closed and walked away. Despite the fact that my stomach was knotted and I wanted to throw up, I felt lighter. I didn’t have to keep the secrets anymore. I had no reason to be embarrassed. It was all on the bitch who’d raised me. She hadn’t wanted outsiders to know what she was up to. That was part of the bargain we’d come to. I’d willingly suffer her tortures and keep them secret, and she’d leave Lorraine, Stacey, and Jen alone. Plus, I got to live in my own place and run my own business.
By the time we got around front, I wanted a stiff drink. Already today, my business and home had been destroyed, I’d found out my mother wasn’t my mother and that I had a family, one or more of which might have destroyed my home. I’d been bombed by gargoyles with giant penises, and I’d ripped open one of my most painful secrets for strangers to enjoy. What I really needed was a gallon bottle of tequila and a quiet place to drink myself into forgetfulness.
Maybe later.
I yanked open Damon’s truck door, ignoring everybody else and their pitying silence. Maybe I shouldn’t have told them. They couldn’t handle the truth. I chuckled, imagining myself as Jack Nicholson yelling at Tom Cruise: “You can’t handle the truth!”
“Come on, Ajax. Let’s go see what else the day has to throw at us.”
He jumped in and curled up on the passenger seat. I climbed up after him. I started to pull the door shut, only to find it blocked by Damon.
I looked at his throat, avoiding eye contact.
“I have to stay here for a little while,” he said. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Come on, Re—” He caught himself. “Beck. You’ve had a hell of a day. You don’t have to pretend it hasn’t been a steaming pile of shit.”
The corner of my mouth twitched, and I couldn’t help meeting his gaze. They burned with intensity, but the pity I thought I’d find wasn’t there. Instead there was admiration, pride, and possessiveness.
“I’ve got to go,” I said, but I didn’t move. His gaze pinned me in place. Sparks spiraled slowly to life in my chest.
“I’ll come as soon as I can,” he promised.
“Take your time. I’m going to be talking to my insurance company and taking pictures. Thinking I might go for a run. I need to blow off steam.”
“Not without me,” he said, folding my hand in his. “Please.”
“Why?”
“Someone killed your aunt and came after you. Then this business with the gargoyles. You shouldn’t go anywhere by yourself right now.”
I shook my head. “Whoever is doing this is a coward. A sneak. Nobody’s going to jump me out in the open. Anyway, I’ve got Ajax.”
Damon’s mouth pinched into a flat line. “Humor me.”
“Fine. But I’m not slowing down because you can’t keep up. And I’m not cutting my run short either. So you’ll have to suck it up.”
He was smart enough to believe me. “How far do you run?”
“Depends. But I’d count on at least ten miles if I were you. Probably more like fifteen.” Whether or not my body wanted to. My spirit needed it.
With that, I pulled my hand from his and reached for the door. He stepped back. I smirked at the faltering look on his face.
Chapter 26
I made it back to the store well before Kenny or anybody else arrived for work. Once inside, I took a moment to survey the damage. I told myself to see it and accept it and then start fixing it.
My chest ached and my stomach burned, but after a few minutes, I pulled myself together and hardened my resolve. I couldn’t change what had happened, so I’d better deal with it and move on. Life sucked sometimes and I just took the good and overcame the bad in whatever way I could. Aunty Mommy had taught me that much. Well, she and the girls. They gave me the good and Aunty Mommy gave me the bad and somewhere in there I discovered I’d rather fight than not, even if I was just pissing into the wind.
I rigged up a makeshift counter. The cordless phone had been knocked on the floor along with the base, but it hadn’t broken. I started by calling Kenny and telling him what happened. After he recovered from his shock, I asked him to start calling the employees to tell them not to come in today and that we’d have a meeting in the morning.
“Can you set something up at Rosie’s? They’ve got the big back room, and I’ll buy breakfast. Make sure everybody knows their jobs are safe too,” I said. “And that they aren’t getting temporarily laid off.” Nobody was going to miss bill payments because of what had happened. “When you get done, come in and we’ll start going through the inventory to see if anything can be salvaged.”
Next I called my insurance agent. I probably should have called him first. He’d received last night’s phone message and promised to get there within the hour. I called Jen, Lorraine, and Stacey to let them know I was okay. I didn’t go into the business about Mason and my family. I’d tell them when we had more time and plenty of cheesecake. I promised to call them all later.
Next on the list was finding someone who could replace the shattered windows. I explained what had happened and that this was both a rush job and a large job, and the receptionist transferred me to the shop’s owner after a flood of sympathy. He declared he’d be there just after lunch, and I thanked him.
I had a billion other calls to make, but I couldn’t make myself make any of those yet. I needed to steady myself before contacting my clients. They weren’t going to be happy, though I’d pay them for all the consigned pieces.
I thought about putting up some magical protections, but since I didn’t have anything left of value to steal, it seemed like a waste of energy. I was already dead tired, even though my body was wired with unsettled energy. I needed to be doing something physical.
I found some empty boxes up the street at the liquor store and started going through the shop. I picked up everything I could salvage.
I’d filled four boxes when John, my insurance agent, arrived. Ajax noticed him first, standing up to growl softly in warning.
John was dressed in slacks and a striped button-up shirt. He stepped inside the door and stopped to take in the destruction.
“Tell me I’m covered,” I said as I greeted him.
“You are, except for the deductible. I’m so sorry. Who did this?”
“No idea. Cops are investigating.”
He shook his head, disgusted. “What’s wrong with people? I’ll get on the phone and get the adjuster out as soon as possible. He’ll need the police report, so I’ll need their contact information. Do you have your inventory list?”
“Luckily it’s in the cloud,” I said. “They wrecked all the computers. I’ll get it printed as soon as I can. They didn’t get in the vault.”
“Good. I’m just going to snap some pictures to send along when I call the adjuster.”
“My loft and all the vehicles have to be evaluated too.”
I still hadn’t looked at my Thunderbird. I didn’t want to. I’d bought that car with my first savings. It didn’t have air conditioning and it sucked gas like a hooker, but it was fast and I loved driving in a vintage vehicle. The fact that the interior was red with white stitching was the cherry on top. I couldn’t imagine what the vandals had done to it. I didn’t want to imagine, and I sure as hell didn’t want to know. But tantrums weren’t going to help and neither was sticking my head in the sand.
Maybe it could be repaired. Maybe pigs could fly.
John toured the shop, snapping pictures and taking notes. When he disappeared into the warehouse, I decided I sh
ould go buy a laptop and a printer. I told John where I was going, and then drove out to the office store, picking up coffee on the way and a couple of hamburgers for Ajax. I found what I needed with the help of a tech and loaded it all into the back seat of Damon’s truck. I also got a folding table to set it up on, a chair, and some other necessities.
All the way back, I told myself this break-in was a good excuse to remodel and redecorate. Not to mention declutter. I’d been wanting to put in some faux walls to create different room ambiences. Now I could. So I was lucky this had happened.
Even I couldn’t make myself believe that.
I spent the trip back home planning some changes. I pulled in to find Damon pacing in front. He yanked open my door.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Shopping,” I said.
In the same moment, Ajax snarled and lunged into my lap, snapping at him. Damon stepped back.
“Didn’t I tell you it’s not safe for you to go around by yourself? Do you have any idea what would have happened to you if you’d been here last night? You’d have been chopped up like that furniture ... or worse. It was a fucking magic attack, Rebecca. And the gargoyles today? It was no coincidence you were there when they fell.”
“But I wasn’t hurt, and throwing stone statues is a really stupid way to murder someone, don’t you think?”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t feel the spell that brought them down on top of us.”
“I felt it.”
“Then you know I’m right.”
“What I know is that I have work to do and I’m not going to cower while some asshole tries to destroy my life.”
“Rebecca—”
“Beck,” I corrected, dropping the truck’s keys into his hand. I stroked Ajax to convince him I was all right and then slid off the driver’s seat.
Damon didn’t budge. I glared at him.
“Are you going to move?”
“I’m thinking about strangling you.”
I lifted my brows. “Do the gargoyle bomber’s dirty work for him?”
Putting the Fun in Funeral Page 20
