HOLY SMOKE (An Andi Comstock Supernatural Mystery, Book 1)

by Ann Simas

  He nodded and gave it to her.

  “What about a color printer?”

  “I have that, too.” He nodded toward the corner. “We have reached the twenty-first century at St. Gemma’s, you know.”

  Andi smirked. “I’m going to send you some photos. I’d like you to print them out, but don’t look at them yet.”

  Father Riley rubbed his hands together. “Life sure got a lot more exciting when I met you, Andi.”

  “Yeah, well this kind of excitement I could do without.” She finished inputting his email address into her phone, then sent the folder she’d created called DS PIX.

  A moment later, the priest’s PC pinged. A moment later he said, “I’m afraid I don’t know how to open this folder.”

  Andi stood and approached his desk. “May I?”

  “Please do.” He vacated his chair, offering it to her.

  Andi sat and went through the machinations to unzip the folder. She sent the entire contents to the printer. “I hope this doesn’t deplete your color print cartridges.”

  “If is does, I’m guessing it’s for a good cause.”

  “I hope so,” Andi said fervently. She closed the folder and exited the email that had carried it. Comfortably seated across from him again, she said, “Tell me what you learned about Santería.”

  His chair squeaked when he reclaimed it. “In a nutshell, if I understand correctly, it’s a spiritualistic religion. It began as a result of African slaves in the Caribbean being indoctrinated with Catholicism. They melded their new religion with the old, unwilling to abandon their beliefs. It’s practiced primarily by Hispanic and Afro-Caribbean populations, but is experiencing growth in other sectors. The orishas are patterned after our saints and in most cases, pictures and statuary of our saints are identified by their Santerían names.”

  “What else?”

  “Santería is practiced primarily for good—success at home, at work, in life, bearing children, good health, that sort of thing.”

  Andi nodded. The printer stopped, so she went to retrieve the stack of pages it had spit out. “What would you say if I told you Dawna Stimack fancies herself a Santerían priestess?”

  Father Riley frowned. “I’d say that was highly unlikely. For one thing, she’s a white Anglo. For another, from what I read, it takes years to become a priest or priestess in Santería. One can only achieve it by receiving instruction from another priest or priestess. She seems hardly old enough to have reached such a status, especially given the extensive educational and career path she chose.”

  Andi flipped through the sheets and selected a couple that showed the altar setup in Dawna’s secret room.

  “Good grief,” the priest said as he studied the photos. “Where did you get pictures of a shrine?”

  Andi hadn’t thought of the altar quite like that, but if the shrine fit.

  She explained her ruse earlier, when Dawna had taken off for a lunch date.

  “Oh, my, Andi. You could have put yourself in grave danger, tempting fate like that.”

  “Dawna is man-hungry. I didn’t see her coming back early when she was on a date. I locked the door and no one tried to come in after that, so I feel certain I went undetected while I snooped.”

  Father Riley shook his head. His face wrinkled with concern. “Jack is not going to like this. Not at all.”

  “He probably won’t, but I’ll worry about that later. For now, do you have a magnifier?”

  “Yes.”

  “Please get it out and examine this picture and then this one.” She tapped her finger against the Changó pillar and then the Yemaya pillar.

  He did as instructed and when he had thoroughly looked them over, he put down the magnifier and closed his eyes. Andi deduced he was praying, especially when she noticed his lips moving. “You have a lunch date with this lunatic on Wednesday?” he asked finally.

  Andi nodded.

  “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Andi.”

  “Neither am I, but there are two things I need to find out. One, is she still focused on Vaughn, and if she is, are he and the children in danger? Two, if the answer to number one is no, is she already in pursuit of Jack?”

  “Jack!” the priest asked, his eyes wide.

  She quickly explained running into Dawna over dinner on Saturday. “Given the long list of dental work she says I need done, I’m pretty sure she’s going to spend the entire time at lunch quizzing me about Jack Spenser.”

  “Jack who?”

  “Jack gave her half an alias. Spenser, with an s, like the Poet.”

  “Robert Parker’s character.”

  “Dawna didn’t have a clue he was pulling her leg. For all her conniving ways, I don’t think she’s all that smart.”

  “Maybe not, but sometimes people who think they’re smarter than everyone else can be the most dangerous of all. Now tell me, how does the research you asked me to do relate to these pictures?”

  “I think Dawna got introduced to Santería and the use of azogue by chance on a trip to the Caribbean, or maybe somewhere closer, like Miami. I think she was already planning to kill off Doc Love and when she walked into a botánica and discovered they sell elemental mercury in capsules, as if it’s nothing more potent than everyday aspirin, she began to formulate her plan. She may have wanted to use mercury from her own inventory, but if she has someone on staff who oversees medicinal ordering, that might have raised a red flag.”

  Andi blew out a big puff of air. "I think after that, she investigated the religion associated with azogue and fancied herself an immediate expert. Not only does she have the altar-slash-shrine hidden away in her office, but she has prints of Quicksilver hanging on at least two walls. He’s a character in The X-Men comics.”

  “And quicksilver is the common name of mercury.”

  “Exactly. Add to that, she seems to have a fantasy fixation with the Quicksilver image. Probably sexual. Quicksilver is a well-built, good-looking man. She seems to want only well-built, good-looking men.” Andi got up and looked down at the photos. “This is the guy Vaughn’s face covered up. I noticed it was loose, so I pulled it off to see what was underneath. Do you recognize him?”

  “No, but he’s dark-haired, like Vaughn and Jack.”

  “And her boyfriend Bob. I’m hoping Jack can figure out who this other guy is, maybe get some useful information out of him.”

  “That’s going to be a long shot, Andi.”

  “I know,” she said glumly, resettling in the leather chair. “Dawna’s having fun with this. Flaunting it. Getting away with it. That’s just not right.”

  Father Riley pushed away from his desk and stood. He moved around to where Andi sat and put his hand on her shoulder. “I want the name of the restaurant where you’re meeting her, Andi.”

  “But—”

  “No buts, young lady. Jack can’t be there to watch over you, but I can. Dawna Stimack doesn’t know me from Adam.”

  “Palomino,” Andi said. “I’ve never eaten there. It’s too expensive.” She grimaced wryly. “This week is costing me a bundle!”

  Father Riley crossed his arms over his chest. “What next?”

  Andi reached for the sack in which she’d brought the calendars.

  CHAPTER 29

  Andi still hadn’t thought through how she was going to break the new developments to Jack. Short of tying him down and shoving a dish towel in his mouth, there didn’t seem to be any way to ensure he’d just be quiet and listen while she explained her adventure at the dental office.

  As it turned out, they ate and made desultory conversation about their day. Jack also complimented her culinary skills again. Andi didn’t make chicken enchiladas with flour tortillas or Spanish rice often because it was too much trouble for one person, but it was a perfect meal for two, especially served with a cold microbrew and a few flirtatious remarks.

  He helped her clean up after dinner, then took her hand and settled her next to him on the sofa. When he put his arm a
round her, Andi expected a make-out session leading to some hot sex later in her bedroom. Instead, he said, “Tell me everything and don’t leave anything out.”

  “Promise you won’t get mad,” she said.

  “The most I can promise is that I won’t strangle you.” He gave her a playful tap on the nose, but his expression remained dead serious.

  Andi didn’t screw around. She told him everything. How Dawna had diagnosed cavities that didn’t exist. How Dawna had scheduled a ridiculous amount of follow-up dental work for her nonexistent tooth sensitivity. How Dawna had cut out early to meet Bob Allen.

  And then she explained her brainstorm to fake dizziness.

  At that point, Jack eased away from her and into the corner of the sofa. He angled himself to face her. The more she revealed, the more grim his expression became. When she had finished, he stared at her, working his jaw like crazy.

  “Will you say something?” she asked after several minutes of silence.

  “I don’t know where to begin.”

  “Maybe you should get your lecture over with first, then we can discuss this like rational adults.”

  “Really?” he asked, his eyebrows shooting up in amazement. “Lecture? Have I not already done that a dozen times? Have you not ignored me a dozen times?”

  “Jack, I—”

  “Shut. Up. Andi.” He pushed himself up off the sofa and went to the french door leading out to the deck. He opened it and stepped outside, closing the door behind him none too gently.

  Andi watched without following. He gripped the deck railing and she could tell from the way his shoulders bunched that he was ticked and working to get his emotions in check. No, he wasn’t just ticked, he was pissed. Beyond belief. And she hadn’t even told him about the calendars yet.

  With a sigh, she got up and put on a pot of coffee. He still hadn’t come back inside by the time it finished brewing, so she only filled one of the two cups she’d pulled from the cupboard. He had to come back in eventually. Unless he jumped.

  The thought caused Andi to giggle. Unfortunately, that was the moment Jack took to turn around and look at her. She hadn’t thought it possible that the thundercloud over his head could grow any darker, but it did.

  He stormed back inside. “What’s so damned funny, Andi? Jack’s an idiot? Jack’s so hot for you he can’t figure out the best way to handle this fucking mess you’re in?”

  Andi set her cup on the countertop. She reached out to him, intending to put her hand to his cheek, but he knocked it away.

  “Don’t touch me, okay? I can’t think straight when you touch me.”

  The admission threw Andi for a loop. She hadn’t realized she was having exactly the same effect on him that he had on her. She tried to put herself in his shoes—she was a real cop, investigating a murder and he was one of the Hardy Boys—and couldn’t do it. Jack was just so damned capable. She’d trust him to do anything, to take care of himself under any circumstances. He obviously didn’t have the same confidence in her.

  “I told you I needed to be involved, Jack. I know I’m not a qualified investigator, but I’m doing okay, aren’t I? I’ve found some things out….”

  He gaped at her. “You just don’t get it, do you? I don’t give a shit about you not being qualified to play detective, okay? I give a shit about this psycho bitch killing you, goddammit!”

  Nothing else he could have said would have knocked Andi totally off kilter the way that proclamation did. “I’m being careful—”

  “I’m sure Sherry thought she was being careful, too. And so did Doc Love, and his granddaughter, and Amber and Merry and who the hell knows how many others?”

  Andi struggled with the truth of his words. “Look, I promise that after Wednesday, I’m done with this. I’ll have lunch with her, answer the barrage of questions she’s going to throw at me about you, cancel my next dental appointment…what else can I do?”

  “I think the better question is, what else have you done that I don’t know about yet?”

  Andi’s eyes shot to the sack on the counter. It now held not only Dawna’s calendars, but the folder with the pictures Father Riley had printed off. “Let’s sit down like two reasonable adults and I’ll show you.”

  Jack rolled his eyes. “You’ll show me. Fucking-A, you did do something else, didn’t you?”

  Since she couldn’t deny it, she didn’t try. Instead, she grabbed her coffee cup and the sack and sat down at the kitchen table. She spread out the pictures, which she had taken time to label while going over them with Riley.

  As if he’d been forced by some external force to join her at the table, Jack sat. He examined each picture, then went back and looked at some of them again. And again. “What the hell is this? Where did you get these?”

  “At Dawna’s office.”

  “An altar? A shrine? In her office?”

  “It’s a bit of both, I suppose. At least Riley thinks so. And yes, it’s in a locked room attached only to her private office.”

  He turned glacial eyes on her. “You showed these photos to Father Riley? You discussed them with him?”

  “I needed a sounding board to give me an opinion about the Santería religion.”

  “You couldn’t do that with me?”

  “You’re not….” She faltered, wanting to express her reasoning in a rational way. “You go to church, Jack, but you’re not a man of God. Santería is the merger of African tribal beliefs with Catholicism. I needed his take on it.”

  He looked closer at one of the photos. “Jesus H. Is this Vaughn’s head on…Quicksilver? What the hell?”

  “Dawna’s version of Changó. To the Santeríans, he is the god of virility and strength, lightning and thunder, uninhibited sexuality. This,” she said, tapping the companion pedestal photo, “is Yemaya and she’s been given Dawna’s likeness. Among other things, she is the goddess of lust and love, and she is portrayed as sensuous, witty, and wicked.” She pulled in a deep breath. “Dawna apparently sees the men she chooses as purely sexual beings and herself as a sex goddess no man can resist.”

  Andi opened three of the six calendars. “Dawna went to the Dominican Republic twice in twenty-ten. In twenty-eleven, she went to Cuba. In twenty-twelve, she went to Miami twice. All those places have botánicas. Those are like pharmacies, only usually they’re for people who practice what we might consider unusual religious rituals.”

  “You mean like making voodoo dolls?” Jack bit out, tapping one of the pictures that showed the rather sinister-looking doll with a pin through its middle.

  “Yes, or Santería, or Rastafari, or Shango. There are others, too, but somewhere along the way, I think Dawna realized she didn’t have to leave the country to buy her azogue.”

  Andi reached for two other printouts. “See this? Hg? That’s the symbol for mercury. Only eighteen ounces showed up in the inventory Dawna had in the folder concerning her purchase of the practice. Utilizing it in the dental amalgam for fillings, that amount wouldn’t have lasted long, if she used it to kill, not to mention that a rapid reduction in her stock might have been noticed.” She tapped one of the printouts. “The capsules I found wouldn’t be practical for dental use, or at least, I don’t think they would be. They look like what I discovered on the ’net, the azogue that’s available in botánicas.”

  Jack wiggled his jaw, as if testing it.

  “You have any fillings?” she asked.

  “One, on the bottom. It’s not silver, though, so I don’t think it contains mercury.”

  “No, probably not.” Andi went back to studying the picture of the capsules. “You know, she may not have even considered elemental mercury as a tool of death until she visited a botánica.”

  Jack jammed the fingers of one hand through his hair, scraping them across his head. “So many questions, not enough answers.”

  “But enough to maybe get a search warrant?” she asked.

  “Maybe. Finally. What do you make of the November fifth date on the Post-it?
”

  Andi shrugged. “I don’t know, but Riley seems to think, since she’s got this Heinz-57 of religious stuff going on, maybe it relates to a holy day. He’s researching it.”

  Jack’s piercing gaze shot up and impaled her. “I wish to God you hadn’t taken the calendars, Andi. How the hell are you going to return them?”

  “I’m taking them back on Wednesday. I promise. I already have a plan.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Jack said. “You’re going to make an old man of me before my time.”

  Sensing he was no longer furious with her, Andi suggested, “Maybe we should go make some whoopee while you can still get it up, then.”

  Jack shook his head, as if in despair, but his eyes blazed with something she’d come to recognize as desire.

  Andi stood, extending her hand to him across the table.

  “You are so bad,” he said.

  Andi gave him her best come-on smile. “Only where you’re concerned.”

  CHAPTER 30

  Andi spent a good part of Tuesday thinking about things that had absolutely nothing to do with writing game apps.

  Jack had left by eleven. God knows, she’d wanted to beg him to stay the night, but he showed no indication of wanting to and she did have her pride.

  Their lovemaking had taken a different tone. Not as frenzied. Not as aerobatic. Not as inventive. But somehow, more intense, more passionate than ever before.

  Andi couldn’t figure out why, even though she thought about it well into the wee hours of the morning. It wasn’t until she stepped out of the shower that it hit her. Jack really was worried about her. They’d had a lot of fun the first few times they’d had sex, but last night, they’d really made love.

  The realization had left her sagging against the wall, clinging to the towel bar, contemplating her life. Her future.

  Could she and Jack be that serious already?

  “Knock it off,” she mumbled. “You have work to do.”

  Work, work, work. All work and no play makes Andi a dull girl.

  “Ha, ha,” Andi replied to the nameless spirit passing by in a curl of invisible smoke.