Karma (Karma Series)

by Donna Augustine

  He looked like he wanted to lunge at me. I smiled brightly back at him, my hands folded on my lap as if I weren't the least bit concerned.

  Harold's fingers finally came to rest on a sheet that he pulled to the top of the pile in front of him.

  “I've been informed you went off plan. What happened tonight can not happen again.”

  “Sure,” I said and waited to see if either of them realized that wasn't technically an agreement. It was more along the lines of sure, I understand how you would feel like that. If needed, I'd do it again the moment I left this office and I wouldn't hesitate for even a second.

  What else was there to do in that situation? That brute would've killed that poor woman and left her children in foster care. If I was Karma, even if it was only for a short time, I was going to do what I felt I should.

  Unfortunately, such thoughts didn't help my current quandary. Time to unload some of the responsibility, if possible.

  “I was surprised I even could do that. Maybe you should have informed me of how surprisingly strong I am? This might have been averted if I'd had more knowledge.”

  “You leapt on the guy’s back.” Harold made a noise that was a watered down version of the ones Fate was making, and then continued. “The point is, it can't happen again. That man was not slated to move on for another fifty years.” He waved the paper at me but not close enough to read. Harold really loved his papers. “Your actions have ramifications.”

  “I can see the problems that would create.” But I won't agree to not do it again. Dodged another. His patience will wear out soon enough if I kept this up. As far as Fate, I wasn't even going to think about him, right now.

  I watched Harold flip through some more piles before he finally looked up again. His lips were pursed and it looked like a couple of blood vessels were in danger of bursting.

  “You wanted her,” Fate said from where he was leaning, noticing how Harold was about to lose it.

  I crossed my legs, making a squishing sound with the action. “I'm so glad you finally regained your ability to form words. The grunting was very unbecoming.”

  Harold cleared his throat, purposefully bringing the attention back to himself. “I'm telling you right now, that can not happen again. I'll have your word on it.”

  I was afraid it was going to come to this. They'd try and nail me down, maybe pull out another contract. I was a former lawyer, and not just a ho-hum one; I'd had a gift for it. They'd gotten the best of me once when I'd been weak and not in my right mind. That was galling enough. Let's see who got the best deal when I was in my right mind?

  “I'd prefer not to commit,” I said, like I was unsure if I'd be able to make it to a barbecue next week.

  “You have to.” Harold's face grew red as he stared at me. Fate was back to grunts and head shakes.

  Then they said nothing. And the longer they went without words, the more suspicious I became. Time to start poking the bear and see what kind of teeth he really had.

  “I told you, you made a mistake choosing me.” I shrugged, silently inferring that this was their problem, not mine.

  “You were the last name on the list of one,” Harold said. “You think I would've chosen you?”

  He thought insults were going to work? I'd dealt with and defended the dregs of society. I'd heard worse on a weekly basis. I decided to poke the stick in a little bit deeper. “That's not so good for you because I really don't like orders, and I'm trying to figure out why I'm supposed to be taking them from either of you.”

  Harold's breathing increased and his eyes flashed toward Fate for the briefest of seconds. He didn't know what to do with me and there was only one likely answer. He couldn't do anything.

  I reclined into the chair and swung my arm off the back. Just to rub it in, because I didn't particularly like Harold or the way he treated people, I kicked my feet up on his desk and crossed my ankles before I spoke.

  “You can't do anything to me, can you?” I posed it as a question even though I was certain of the answer. “Furthermore, I don't think this has ever happened, has it? I wasn't supposed to be able to do what I did and save that woman. And if the entire universe couldn't stop me, what can you do?” I saw Harold's eyes dart to Fate again, who looked like he wasn't listening anymore, even though I knew he was.

  Harold rose and leaned forward. “I'll keep you here until you fall in line, contract or not. You want out? You better not pull one of those pranks again!”

  I looked at him calmly, his head hovering above where my feet still perched.

  “No, I don't think you will.” I crossed my arms as I rocked my chair on the back two legs. “You don't like me. You'll get rid of me the first chance you can.”

  “How do you know I won't do it just to spite you?”

  I laughed a little before I answered. “That's an easy one. You won't do it because that's what I'd do. When it comes down to it, I'll do anything to win. And you and me,” I pointed back and forth between us, “couldn't be more different.”

  Harold was practically huffing now but didn't try and deny it. He stood over his desk while I continued to recline. Our silent standoff was finally broken by the sound of Fate's laugh.

  “Why are you laughing?” Harold demanded.

  “Cause she's right.” He nodded in my direction but never actually looked at me.

  “Now, gentleman, I'm exhausted and need to get some sleep, if you don't mind.” I stood and walked out of the room, digging out my phone to call a taxi, since Fate had driven. I left the two of them to discuss me in private while I exited the building.

  I was standing out front by the curb, the phone pressed to my ear, when Fate came out. He grabbed it from me, closed the lid and handed it back.

  “I'll drive you,” he said calmly.

  He started walking to where his car was parked. Wait for a taxi for ten minutes or be home by then? I followed him to his car.

  He didn't speak until we were on the road. “You came very close to crossing a line tonight.” I'd thought he was calm. I might have been wrong. “Do not mistake me for Harold.”

  “Don't threaten me. It's not a tactic I respect or respond well to.”

  “Just like in a human life, there are lines you don't cross. If you put me in that spot again, I'll do more than threaten.”

  “And what would those lines be? I've got some lines as well and you seem to have no issue trampling over them,” I said as he pulled into my parking lot.

  “Don't press me.”

  “Why? And while we’re at it, what exactly is going on between you and Harold? What do you have on him?”

  “Absolutely nothing.”

  “But there's something there. I can practically taste the tension between the two of you.”

  “You've got two weeks left here.” He pulled into my lot. “Is it worth it?” He nodded toward the door, silently telling me to get out, and I obliged him.

  He peeled out of the lot. I guess he wasn't staying tonight.

  ***

  Fate was still gone when I got up the next morning, or I thought he was. I heard him somewhere below when I went to have coffee on my deck

  “She's sleeping.”

  Not anymore I wasn't. I didn't know who he was talking to and I didn't want to lean over the deck and alert them I was there. I slunk closer to the side, as far as I could get without hanging over the rail.

  “Do you think she's going to lead us to him?” his unknown companion asked.

  “I don't know, but she's the best tool in our box.”

  “And Harold?” The way he said his name indicated it was a question asked often.

  “Useless, like usual,” Fate replied.

  “You going to tell her?”

  “Definitely not. She's completely unpredictable. Head strong, stubborn—”

  If Fate hadn't been cut off, who knew how long the list would've gone on, but it sounded like he was just getting going. I couldn't really fault any of his statements either. They sound
ed pretty true.

  “And pretty hot. You working anything in that angle?”

  “Not worth the cost,” Fate said.

  That stung a little. He didn't have a problem the other day.

  “How's that?”

  “She's too human.”

  “Which is exactly what you normally sleep with.”

  “You should leave before she gets up.” Fate's voice. “I don't want to have to explain you. Don't come here again unless I give you the green light. Not while she's here.”

  “Sure.”

  I heard steps retreating and I ran back inside to see if I could catch a glimpse out the back kitchen window that faced the road. The back of a man with tattoos and long black hair walked away, with Fate by his side.

  I didn't recognize him from the office but that didn't mean he wasn't from one of the other suites. If he wasn't, who was he? We weren't supposed to be able to even tell anyone else about us. I knew first hand how ominous that was.

  So, the guy was either one of us and in the loop, or maybe the ominous feeling I had was just a loud bark with no real bite?

  There was only one way to test it, and I wasn't ready to jeopardize someone's life to find out. I'd have to check out the suites. If he was in the building, I'd find him.

  And if he wasn't?

  And why did they care about my killer? What was the connection there because Harold didn't seem to care that much.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I was settled into my usual place near the window, newspaper spread out before me. The others in the office rarely approached so when someone said hi from right behind me, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

  It was Murphy.

  “Hi,” I replied.

  “Would you mind?” He pointed to the empty chair across from me.

  “Not at all.”

  He fidgeted for a few minutes, shifting this way and that in his seat.

  “Would you like a section?” I didn't particularly feel like sharing but I'd hand it over gladly if he'd stop staring at me the way he was. I was pretty sure he would decline, though. I'd already spotted his sweat marks on the business section.

  “No, I'm fine,” he said but didn't look it.

  I picked up my pen to continue my crossword, for want of something else to do. I'd just pretend he wasn't looking at me funny, if that were possible. This office really was the land of misfits. Were they like this when they started, or was it something contagious in the bad food and dated decor that seeped into their systems after prolonged exposure?

  “The thing is,” Murphy started to say after a few very long and awkward moments, “transfers tend not to stay long. We've been burned before, you know, getting attached and all. I think that's why we all listened to Fate.”

  I looked up again. Ever since Kitty's party, it had been pretty obvious Fate had discouraged the others from too much interaction with me.

  I nodded, not sure what he was looking to get from me now. I was still a transfer, that hadn't changed and there was nothing I could do about it.

  “He doesn't take to transfers well, but you especially. It's sort of odd how set he is on getting you out of here. In the past, he's just ignored them.”

  “Any idea why I'm so special? He hasn't talked to you about it?”

  “No. But he never reacted this badly before. I know he seems horrible to you, but this is out of character. You know, he's been here longer than any of us. Maybe even longer than Harold.”

  “He was here before Harold?”

  “I'm not certain, since they've both been here before me, but he's been around a long time.” He looked around the room before he continued. “I probably shouldn't say anything but...I think Fate might've gotten worse after we lost the last Karma.”

  My pen point dug through the thin newspaper where I'd been writing a “T.” I wasn't the first Karma? Why had that never occurred to me before, that there would've been someone before me?

  “What happened? Where is she, or he?”

  “I don't know. She was here one day and then gone the next. Harold said she retired.”

  “But you don't believe that?”

  “Not sure.”

  “Was she a transfer too?”

  “No. She'd been here since her creation. It was just strange how she never told anyone she was leaving.” He was fiddling with his hat on the table in front of him and I could see how her disappearance still bothered him.

  “Hey, Murphy, do you know all the people in this building?”

  He seemed to perk back up a bit with the change in subject.

  “Yep. Everyone. Too well, in fact. Same people year after year.”

  “Do you know a guy with long black hair and tattoos? Pretty tall, probably about Fate's build?”

  His face scrunched up and he shook his head. “Nobody here fits that description. Why?”

  “Nothing important. I got a weird vibe off someone on the street the other day and thought perhaps they worked here. My senses are far from fine-tuned. I'm sure it was a mistake.” I started chewing at the tip of my pen, a bad habit that only reared its head when I was truly stumped.

  “We haven't had anyone who fit that description in forever.”

  “But you used to?”

  “Yes. Except for the tattoos. The old reaper. Him and Fate used to be real tight. He retired about twenty years back.”

  “Retired?”

  “Yeah. Went back into the system, got reborn. He didn't say bye, either. Seems to be becoming a trend around here.”

  “You're sure he retired?”

  The old reaper. It had to be him. It just fit too neatly. What was he doing at my condo complex, then? Did Harold know he was still around? Wasn't Harold in charge of people going back? He had to know.

  “Harold said so.”

  So Fate wasn't the only one with secrets. I looked around the office. I hadn't seen him at all today, which wasn't that unusual, except I had a funny feeling in my gut. I never ignored those.

  “Have you seen Fate today?”

  “Only briefly on my way in, he was headed out. He looked a little rushed.”

  “Did he mention where he was going?”

  “No.”

  That bastard better not have sucked up my energy, gotten a lead on my target and then dumped me. Anyone else I would've given the benefit of the doubt. Him? He got the benefit of the suspicion.

  It just didn't make any sense. Why would he want my guy? There was a link here; I just had to figure it out.

  I looked over at Harold's door, the light seeping underneath.

  “Excuse me, Murphy. I've got to speak with Harold.”

  He smiled in my direction. “Just glad there are no hard feelings between us.”

  “Not at all.” But there's going to be even more ill will with Fate if he's out there chasing down my murderer without me.

  I rapped my knuckles on Harold's door and received a brusque response to enter.

  “Where is he?”

  Harold looked up from his papers then rolled his eyes when he saw who it was. Right back at you, buddy.

  “Who?” he asked, like he didn't already know.

  “Fate.”

  “I don't know.” He didn't bother looking up from his papers this time.

  “The agreement was for us to hunt down my killer together. I'm either in this or not. Don't think you people are going to use me and then give me the cut.” I stepped closer to his desk. I'd riffle through the stacks of papers myself, if that's what I had to do.

  “I don't particularly care about your murderer. Is it really that important for you to be involved on every level of the situation if it's being resolved?”

  “You might not care, but Fate seems to.”

  “No, he doesn't. It's probably just easier for him to handle it on his own.”

  Saying Fate didn't care was blatantly wrong. I didn't know why, but Fate wanted my guy. Was Harold covering up for him, or did he truly believe that Fate didn't care?

&nb
sp; “Let me make myself clear now. The killer is mine. I'm either privy to every detail or Fate can figure out another way to get information.”

  “He doesn't care that much, Karma. I really don't think—”

  Harold's words faltered as a yellow slip of paper materialized on his desk. Wow, they did just show up. I'd been somewhat skeptical of that.

  Harold looked down and read it quickly. “Fine,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “What did that say?”

  “It agreed you should know.”

  “Then where is he?”

  “I still don't know—”

  Another slip appeared on top of the last one. Harold looked down and then held it out to me. “This one appears to be for you.”

  58 Winding Road, Ogunquit

  It was a small coastal town in Maine. I recognized the name. I should. I went there with Charlie last year. But I wasn't going to think about Charlie or what I did in my past life. That was still off limits.

  “Do you need assistance getting there?” Harold asked.

  I pocketed the slip.

  “No. I can do speed dial as well as the next gal.”

  ***

  I parked in my development, not wanting to leave my Honda at the office when I didn't know when I'd get back. I wasn't sure what the space requirements were for the door guys, but I figured the beach was a safe bet.

  It was a beautiful day with people soaking up the rays on the sand. I looked around and wondered if they would interfere with my gate. If it were an issue, they'd probably just not show.

  I flipped open the ancient phone and scrolled down the huge contact list of three. Harold, Fate and Door Guys.

  I pressed number three and waited. It rang once and then stopped.

  “Hello?”

  No answer.

  “Uh, I need a door? I'm on the beach and need to go to,” I dug in my pocket real quick and read off the address.

  Still nothing?

  I held the phone out to make sure I had a signal. The screen showed a live call so I continued.