“You’re probably right about that.” Jones looked at his hands on the desk. “She much preferred working alone. I sometimes got the feeling she was just allowing an old man to offer her advice so he wouldn’t feel lonely.”
I studied him for a moment. “Did you like her, Dr Jones?”
“I gave her away at her wedding,” he answered immediately.
“Yes, but did you like her?”
Tobias kicked me. I ignored it, watching the physicist intently.
Jones took off his glasses and cleaned them with a white cloth. “No. I didn’t like her. I respected her intelligence, her dedication to the field. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to like her, but it was hard. She was obsessed. More so than any other student I’ve ever had. Her complete devotion to whatever she’d applied her mind was frightening. It was Chris who asked me to give her away. I’m sure Gerry hadn’t even given it a thought. I believe Chris organised the whole thing and she just had to be reminded to show up.”
“It’s a miracle they met and fell in love,” I mused.
“If anything is a miracle, that would be. Gerry got interested in ballistics and she threw herself into it whole heartedly, of course.” He smiled sadly. “She met Chris at the rifle range and he taught her how to shoot. It is highly likely the romance was entirely one sided and she simply went along with it because she was too distracted to end it.”
I thought of Chris’ sad face and wondered if he might know that for a certainty. Poor bastard. But then I remembered the Geraldine I’d felt in the lab at Geotech. That had been a woman who knew her husband well enough to recognise his hands, to know him from an impostor. She knew without a doubt the cold, impersonal demon wasn’t Chris. That wasn’t a woman who was completely unaware of everything that wasn’t her work.
And I got a deep insight into Geraldine right then. Everything said about her emphasised her intelligence. She had been a very smart woman. I was more than willing to bet she knew Chris loved her, and that she loved him in return. She simply operated on a level the rest of us couldn’t comprehend. Not even Chris. Not even her doctoral thesis adviser.
Which didn’t leave much chance for me to nut out what she’d been doing.
“Okay, doctor, I have one last question,” I said.
“Ask.”
“I’ve been led to believe the physics field can get pretty cut throat. Would stealing her research be a motive for killing Geraldine?”
“It is entirely possible.”
“Any idea who might be desperate enough to consider killing her?”
“Not without a clue as to her research.”
I nodded. “Thank you for everything, Dr Jones.”
He stood with Tobias and I and came to the door. “I hope you can solve this mystery, Mr Hawkins. I will ask around the faculty and the local professional community to see if she’d been in touch with anyone else.”
“I would appreciate that.” I gave him a card and Tobias and I left.
“Wow,” Tobias said as we left the building, once more moving at a speed slightly slower than sound. “So that’s the glorious life of the Night Caller.”
I grunted. “Well, that’s the daytime side of it.”
“Hope your nights are a bit more exciting. Have you given up on the poltergeist job then?”
I took a moment to make the conversation shift. “Not really. I just don’t see what can actually be done to help this guy.” Quickly ran him through the list of credentials Nick’s girlfriend failed to meet.
“That’s not a ghost of any sort.”
“Whatever Amaya is, or was, I don’t think we can do much more until she shows up again.”
“If she shows up again.”
“It’s a possibility. Thanks for taking me to Dr Jones. I appreciate it.”
“No worries.” Tobias looked at his watch. “Now I’m going to have to rush to get everything done. Call me if Carson gets anything new.” And he hurried back into the history building.
Wondering just how he could move any faster, I hiked to where I’d parked the car. Part way there, I got a call.
“Matt, it’s Lila.”
Like I needed her to tell me that. Her voice was more than enough.
“Hey,” was all I could manage while my heart bounced around on a day time TV show host’s couch.
“I just thought I’d check in on your demon problem.”
“Ah, yes. Well, it’s still a problem. I’m glad you called. I was just thinking earlier I’d like to talk with you again.”
“Mmm, really? I’m intrigued.”
I couldn’t help the smile that crept over my face. “Intrigued enough to meet me for a late lunch?”
“I’m afraid I’ve already eaten.”
“You could always watch me eat.”
She chuckled. “I suppose I could. Where shall we meet?”
“How about at the amphitheatre at South Bank? I’m going past there on business. I can grab some drive thru and eat in the sunlight.”
“I’ll meet you there.” And she hung up.
Chapter 21
Lila sat on a bench under a tree outside the Southbank amphitheatre, but the sun was slanted so it fell across her. Her glistening black hair was pulled back into a practical yet sexy as hell pony tail and she wore simple jeans and white tank top. Compared to the professional chic of yesterday, this was a relaxed look, but no less compelling.
Perhaps in a desire to seem more favourable, I’d stopped at a deli and picked up a relatively healthy sub instead of a more convenient drive thru. I held up a second paper bag as I sat down beside her.
“Gotcha a cookie,” I announced.
Those red lips curled up nicely. “Thank you.” She took the bag and peered inside. “Chocolate chip. How predictable.”
“You don’t like chocolate?”
“There are better things in the world.” Still, she kissed my cheek swiftly. “The thought is lovely, though.”
I unwrapped my sub. “It’s good to know. Just in case, if I do something to annoy you in the future, do you like flowers?”
“In the future?” There was naughty teasing in her tone. “Seems I’m not the only aggressive one.”
“Never said you were.” I grinned and took a big bite of roll.
I knew I invited her to watch me eat, but I didn’t think she’d do it literally. Yet she did. She shifted on the bench so she could face me and study me while I chowed down.
“You’re tired,” she said as I got to the last couple of bites.
I felt tired. After clashing with the demon again last night, I hadn’t slept well, worried about Erin and trying to get all the little bits of information I’d gathered straight. Finishing off the sub, I leaned back on the bench and closed my eyes, relishing the hot sunlight.
“A friend was involved in a car accident last night. I didn’t sleep much.”
Lila gasped. “Is she okay?”
“She will be. Luck was certainly on her side last night.”
“Oh, Matt.” She touched my face, then pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m sorry.”
And she was. I felt the honesty in her words. More than I would have expected from anyone else I’d only met the day before.
“You said on the phone you still had your demon problem. What’s happened?”
I opened one eye to look at her and was momentarily struck dumb by how beautiful I found her. It wasn’t just the physicality. It was the way she leaned toward me, the genuine interest in her sapphire eyes, the way I felt her full attention like a pleasant weight.
Still, I had to make sure I wasn’t just imagining it. “Are you sure you want to know? It will contradict what you believe.”
Lila tilted her head. “Isn’t this why you wanted to talk to me?”
“Not entirely. I mean, if you’re willing to listen to what happened and think openly about it, I’ll tell you. Otherwise, I’m more interested in what you were saying yesterday about summoning a demon.”
&nbs
p; “Summoning a demon,” she repeated, sitting back.
Something in my words disappointed her. Whether it was my reluctance to tell her about the demon or my desire to summon a demon, I didn’t know. Or perhaps she wondered if I was only interested in her knowledge and nothing else. Did she think I was flirting just to get her to talk?
Yesterday, she’d thrown herself at me. A bold, brazen move at a first meeting. Don’t get me wrong, I’d been with women less than an hour after exchanging names. But they had pretty much been all drunken ‘Do you?’, ‘Yeah, do you?’ type situations and no one had expected anything more. Lila, however, was something different. Had I gone with her yesterday I doubt we’d have been here today. However the sex would have turned out, I had a feeling that would have been it. I think that’s all she’d wanted, but I had changed the want by denying it.
I just hoped I’d changed it to something better.
Slipping a hand to the back of her neck, I drew her close for a soft kiss. She resisted at first, but I persisted and after a moment, she kissed me back.
“I want to summon a demon,” I murmured. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want other things as well.”
Lila rested her head against my shoulder. “More than you want my help in summoning a demon?”
If the question had been ‘More than you want my help in buying a car?’, I wouldn’t have had trouble answering. As it was, I hesitated too long for Lila’s comfort. She sighed and sat back again.
“Lila…”
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “I understand. Tell me what happened.”
I did, editing out Erin’s involvement. I liked Lila, a lot, but I didn’t feel this second meeting between us was the right time to divulge everything about my interest in demons. I didn’t even link it to Geraldine Davis’ murder. That this demon had been sent after me personally was enough for Lila. Even as I spoke around all the hidden truths, I could almost hear Erin laughing at me. Maybe it was time to kick the moral high ground. Erin was right, it was all or nothing.
When I finished, Lila took her time thinking. She looked out over the Brisbane River while a few people walked along the path between us and the water.
“How will summoning a demon help you?” she finally asked.
“I figure I summon this demon that’s been sent after me and command her not to kill me and tell me who sent her. End of problem.”
“Do you know this demon’s name?”
“Not yet. I’m sure I’ll find it, though.”
Her lips pursed in a manner more annoyed than seductive. “Matt, summoning a demon is a hard and very dangerous thing to do. You can’t just throw yourself into this thing without clear knowledge of what it is you do.”
Unable to help myself, I said, “Even if it is just a figment of my subconscious?”
“Yes, even if.” Her tone grew hard. “If you believe in it strongly enough, then your subconscious can produce just about anything you desire. Why did the Egyptians believe so completely in their gods and the underworld if their subconscious did not produce such vivid and solid seeming manifestations of it? Those beliefs killed countless innocents. You believe whole heartedly in this demon that’s been chasing you. If you reach to wherever you think it is in order to summon it, it is going to hurt you.”
“What if I believe that it won’t hurt me?”
“Why would you believe that? You said it yourself. It’s been sent to kill you. Surely you must fear that it will try to hurt you if you summon it.”
“You sound a lot like my old shrink. He tried to tell me that all sorts of bogeymen were only in my head. Are you sure you’re not a psychologist?”
Lila smiled tightly. “The human psyche is a very interesting subject. My interest is based on the psychology of mythology, yes.”
“So, as a psychologist, would you advise against this experiment if I was absolutely certain this demon won’t hurt me?”
“Yes. I don’t think you’re that certain. How could you be?”
“Because she told me.”
Lila’s mouth dropped open. “When? You didn’t mention that before.”
“She didn’t come right out and say it. But by telling me that she was commanded to kill me, she let me know that I could in turn command her not to kill me. And I think that’s what she wants.”
A shiver shook Lila’s shoulders and she rubbed her bare upper arms. “Why would she want that?”
I drew Lila close and shared my soaked up warmth of the sun. “The demon realised a mistake she’d made last night. An uncaring, guiltless creature wouldn’t have done that.”
Lila rested against me. She was quiet again for a long time. It was good, just sitting there and holding her. It had been so long since I’d had the chance to do something that simple and wonderful. This was what other, normal people had. The time to just sit and touch and be quiet with a person they cared about, to not be rushing from one crisis to the next, to be constantly wondering what might be lurking around the corner. It would be good if I could have this with Lila, even for a little while. For surely it couldn’t last. She was not as deep into my troubled life as other people—Roberts, Jacob, and even Erin—and if I drew this out beyond learning what I could of demons from her, then she would find herself hip deep in my special brand of shit.
Could I do that to her? I’d done it with Erin and look how that ended up. Though, to be generous with the blame, Erin had burrowed her way into my life on her own. She’d tried to climb out and she would have been successful but for an unfortunate family connection. And Roberts had fared fairly well for his involvement with me and Mercy. If you ignored a few ruined suits, a couple of images no man should ever have to live with (the least of which being me in a backless hospital gown) and an insurance claim on his trashed apartment thanks to rampaging vampires. Jacob survived by dint of not partaking in the physical side of things. And Erin, well…
I stirred and shifted Lila. “I can’t stay too long. I have to go see my friend in hospital.”
Lila sighed. “I will find out everything I can about summoning demons.”
“Thank you.”
I meant the kiss to be chaste and quick. She had other ideas. As had happened yesterday, I got wholly caught up in her taste and texture. It was sweet and rough all at once, a sensuous blend of innocence and wickedness, vulnerability and danger. I could have drowned in the contradictions of her, but Lila broke away just when all thoughts were beginning to fall from my mind.
“You should go,” she said huskily. “Or I won’t be able to let you go.”
I stood, marvelling that my legs still worked. “Call me.”
“I will.”
Walking away was about the hardest thing I’d ever had to do, but I managed it with only a dozen or so looks over my shoulder. She didn’t look after me, instead turned back to face the river, lost in thought. Then, when I looked back one last time, she was gone.
By the time I was back in the car and on my way to Greenslopes Hospital, my brain began to work again. I couldn’t drag Lila any further into my world. It would be dangerous for her and if there was one thing I didn’t want to do, it was hurt her. Of course, if I gave her the old brush off after she’d delivered the information I wanted, I’d only be confirming her first impression of me and that would hurt.
I’m such a fool. I should have kept this professional. Like with Tobias. See how easy it was to keep him at arm’s length. Why couldn’t I do that with Lila? Because she was fun and intelligent and, nothing against Tobias, she was very, very desirable.
No solution had presented itself by the time I reached the hospital, parked and hiked to the front doors. I was lost in a haze of pondering and therefore didn’t see the hand that clamped onto the front of my shirt and hauled me in an almost complete circle so that I slammed against a convenient wall.
“What’s your game, Hawkins?” a voice growled in my ear as my assailant used his body to block any escape.
My focus snapped to attention
at long last. “Afternoon, Detective Courey,” I said as cheerily as I could while trying to reinflate my lungs. “How nice to see you here. Thought I’d lost you somewhere around Aspley last night.”
“Don’t BS me, son. I’m not in the mood.”
I looked him over as well as I could. There was no badge displayed. “You’re off duty?”
Courey didn’t scowl or anything so primitive. He just stared at me, blank faced. “I’m off the clock, but there is a clause saying that any off duty officer can be called into immediate service if there is need.”
Or he could just pummel me senseless like civilians had every right to do to each other.
“Is there a need, sir?” I asked.
I could break his hold and I’m guessing he knew that. All that kept us from taking this to the next level was the fact we were outside a hospital and a lot of people were walking by.
“Make one.” He gave me an extra little shove into the bricks. “What did you do to Erin?”
“It was an accident.” And even as I said it I knew that wasn’t what he’d been talking about.
Courey gave a bitter bark a generous person might have called a tense laugh. At the moment I wasn’t feeling terribly generous toward the man. “I’m sure it was.” The space between the lines said ‘I know it wasn’t.’ “She’s already been hurt thanks to you. That shambles in May with the drive by and then that ludicrous story about the mad dog. I know you were involved with the dog deal and she covered for you. And this is how you repay her. As if broken bones weren’t enough of a punishment for helping you, then you have to go and upset her as well.” He twisted his hand in my shirt, which brought his fist very close to leaning heavily on my throat. “You’re lucky I don’t just smash you right now.”
The physical assault was enough to stir the darkness within me, but when he just kept harping on about all the bad things Erin had suffered thanks to me, my control began to slip.
“You don’t know enough about me to judge me, Courey,” I said and a very small part of me was shocked at the pure coldness in my tone. “I know Erin hasn’t told you anything about me or what happened in May. You just watched from afar and made your own assumptions.” The boiling rage inside me blissfully ignored that he’d jumped to all the right conclusions. “And here’s what stings you most, Detective. I know Erin better than you do.”
Night Call (Book 2): Demon Dei Page 19
