Ugh. He was so sweet it killed me sometimes. I can’t be mean when he’s being sweet. “I … .” I didn’t get a chance to finish my statement. That was probably a good thing because I had no idea what I was going to say. When that usually happens something stupid flies out of my mouth. No, really, it’s been known to happen. The approach of a solitary female figure shifted my train of thought, and when I lifted my eyes and locked gazes with my mother my heart dropped.
Mom stood on the sidewalk, a bright smile on her face as she regarded us. Her skin was less translucent this time, although I had no idea how she accomplished that. The veins were still there, but hidden beneath her makeup. They were probably only noticeable because I looked for them.
I pulled up short when I saw her.
“What?” Griffin asked, glancing around. “I thought you were going to say something romantic back to me. Did you change your mind?”
“Hello, Aisling,” Mom said, drawing Griffin’s attention to her.
“Mom.”
Griffin tightened his grip on my hand. He’d seen photographs of my mother, but her new appearance was jarring compared to the photos, even though she looked markedly better today. “That’s your mother?”
I licked my lips and nodded.
“You must be Detective Taylor,” Mom said, moving closer. I quickly scanned the area, looking for the rogue reaper, but she appeared to be alone. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Griffin’s demeanor was stiff, and I couldn’t help but notice that he moved forward slightly in an effort to put himself between Mom and me. He was trying to protect me in case she got all murder-y on the street.
“How have you heard about him?” I asked, knitting my eyebrows. “Who have you been talking to?”
“You two are the talk of the town in certain circles,” Mom answered. She extended her hand in Griffin’s direction. “Shall we make this a proper meeting? After all, you’re practically living with my daughter. We should probably make this introduction official.”
Griffin eyed her hand a moment. I could tell he was uncomfortable touching her. I didn’t blame him. I decided to help him out.
“Mom, until we know you’re not eating people as snacks, I think we should keep the meetings unofficial,” I suggested.
“Aisling,” Griffin warned. “Don’t be rude. I can shake her hand.”
I didn’t think it was a good idea, but before I got a chance to voice my concerns Griffin extended his hand and clasped Mom’s.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Grimlock.”
“Likewise,” Mom said, flashing a smile at Griffin before releasing his hand. She turned her attention to me next. “And how are you, Aisling?”
That was a loaded question if I ever heard one. I decided to unload on her in an effort to pretend this wasn’t the weirdest mother-daughter moment ever.
“Well, yesterday I reaped a politician who died while doing the dirty with a prostitute and an ounce of cocaine,” I supplied. “I came home. We had dinner. Jerry entertained me with talk of pink dresses. Then we went to bed. Then we woke up and had breakfast. Now we’re going for a walk.”
Mom’s eyebrows flew up her forehead. “Okay.”
“That’s what I’ve done over the past twenty-four hours,” I said. “What have you done?”
Mom exhaled heavily, clearly tugging on her patience as she tried to dam back her irritation. “I’ve been hanging out by myself mostly and … thinking.”
“About what?”
“I want my family back, Aisling,” Mom said. “I’m not an idiot. I know certain things have changed. You’re not children any longer. Most of you were grown when I … had my troubles. Still, I would like to get to know my children as adults.”
“Do you want to eat your children as adults?”
“Aisling,” Griffin muttered, shaking his head.
“It’s a valid question,” I shot back. “Genevieve Toth sucked souls to stay alive. She kept Mom alive. I’m sure you remember what Genevieve was like. She almost killed us, after all.”
“Genevieve had personality issues that were beyond what most rational people could put up with,” Mom said. “What she tried to do to the two of you was … horrible. For your information, though, I’m not eating people.”
I wasn’t ready to let it go. “What are you eating?”
“What are you eating?” Mom threw it right back at me.
“Last night we had Middle Eastern food. This morning Jerry made blueberry pancakes.”
Mom’s face brightened at the mention of Jerry. “Is Jerry here? Is he still your best friend?” The questions appeared legitimate, yet something felt off about their delivery.
Griffin snorted. “They’re joined at the hip.”
“I heard you and my daughter are joined at the hip,” Mom challenged. “That must make Aisling’s hips extremely wide these days.”
It was a lame joke, but it was also the sort of thing Mom used to say all the time to bolster my spirits when I was younger. The vise around my heart tightened.
Griffin laughed at her effort. I had no idea whether he really thought it was funny or he was simply being polite. “It’s a … unique … living environment,” he said. “Between Aisling and me and Jerry and Aidan we have a pretty full house.”
Mom shifted her eyes to me. “Jerry and Aidan are together?”
I nodded. “They have been for months now,” I said. “They’re … happy.”
“Oh, that makes me happy,” Mom said. “I’ve loved Jerry since the first day you brought him home. He was good for you. He made you laugh. He made you try things you never would’ve done without him. Heck, he made you wear dresses when I couldn’t wrestle you into them.”
I made a disgusted sound in the back of my throat. “He still does that.”
“Aisling, I know you don’t trust me, and I can’t say I blame you,” Mom said, her eyes glassy as she looked me up and down. “You’re still my daughter, though. I want a chance to know my family.
“I’ll answer your questions, although I would rather do with everyone all together so I don’t have to go over it six different times,” she continued. “I’ll tell you what you want to know … no matter how hard it is for me.”
I wanted to believe her. I just … couldn’t let go of the niggling suspicions screaming for attention in the back of my mind. “I think you should talk to Dad first.”
“If that’s what you want,” Mom said, refusing to put up a fight. “I’m not going to run away, though. This is my home. You’re my family. I’m here for the long haul.”
“I think that’s a good start,” Griffin said, squeezing my hand. “I think Aisling is right about talking to Cormack, though. He should make the decision.”
“Okay,” Mom said. “I’ll see him this afternoon. In fact … .” Mom broke off, shifting her head in the direction of the townhouse when she heard the sound of a door closing. She gasped when she saw Aidan and Jerry walk out. They were laughing and joking and it took them a moment to look in our direction.
My heart rolled when I saw the look on Aidan’s face. It was heartbreaking.
“Mom?”
“Aidan,” Mom said, pasting a welcoming smile on her face as her chest heaved. “My Aidan!”
Aidan moved in our direction with a clear purpose, rushing to Mom and throwing his arms around her. Mom returned the exuberant embrace with as much emotion as Aidan. Jerry scampered up the sidewalk and stopped next to me, his eyes wide as he watched the mother and son reunion.
“Is that … ?”
I nodded. “It’s my mother.”
“Mrs. Grimlock!” Jerry hurried over to hug my mother, he and Aidan forming the bread of a mother sandwich that made my stomach twist.
“I guess your family is coming back together,” Griffin said, slipping his arm around my waist.
I wished I could be as optimistic.
“Did you have something you wanted to show me?” I needed to focus on
anything but the way Aidan fawned over Mom.
“It can wait,” Griffin said. “I … it can wait. This is more important right now. This is … .”
“A complete and total mess,” I finished for him. “My father is going to have a meltdown.”
5
Five
Griffin didn’t want to leave me, but we were adults – well, some of the time – and work called. I watched Aidan and Jerry intently when they invited Mom into our townhouse after Griffin’s reluctant departure, making sure she didn’t try some funky trick to suck their souls. I finally had to remind Jerry and Aidan they had to work – which earned me odd looks from both because I’m generally the first one to shirk my duties – and Mom said her goodbyes and left.
Three hours later my foul mood remained, and it had only a little bit to do with Jed Carter, my first charge of the day.
Jed seemed a nice guy. He really did. He was a fifty-year-old father of five, and the aneurysm that claimed him was something of a shock. Unfortunately for me, he had a few things he wanted me to do around the house before his wife got home and discovered his body.
“There’s another stack underneath that workbench,” Jed said, pointing. “It’s not a big one.”
I sighed as I lowered myself to the ground and felt around the cool garage pavement. “There’d better not be anything gross under here,” I warned. “If I touch anything perverted, I’m going to leave all of these dirty magazines for your wife to find.”
With porn readily available – and free! – on the Internet, I had no idea what a grown man was doing hiding his Playboys. Seriously, even Playboy got out of the naked woman game because the Internet is just that powerful.
“You’re a grown man, Jed,” I said. “You should be able to look at your dirty magazines without hiding them.”
“How would I explain that to my wife?” Jed asked, horrified. “She’d think I was some sort of sex fiend.”
“You’ve got five kids, Jed,” I reminded him. “I think she already knows you’re a sex fiend.”
“She’s just fertile,” Jed argued. “It’s not like we did it all of the time to get the kids or something. That’s … undignified.”
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch,” I said, hauling the magazines out and glancing at the covers. “Seriously? Why would anyone get on a motorcycle naked? That leather seat has to be murder under the hot sun.”
“That’s sexy.” Jed was offended on behalf of the naked motorcycle chick.
“I’m sure it is,” I said, shoving the magazines into the garbage bag next to me. “Is there anything else?”
“That should be it,” Jed said, rubbing his ghostly chin. “We’ve gotten all of my stash out of here. Thank you for doing this.”
I shrugged. “It’s nothing,” I said, pushing myself to my feet. “I understand not wanting your wife to find your spank books. It would be embarrassing.”
I had no idea why I was so eager to help Jed out of his predicament. His file said he did a lot of clean living and gave to charity even though he didn’t make a lot of money. He donated his time to coach youth sports and he doted on his wife.
Apparently he also had a major porn addiction. Hey, nobody’s perfect.
“I don’t … spank … with them,” Jed challenged, shooting me a dirty look.
“Let me guess, you like to read the articles, right?”
Jed nodded, causing me to roll my eyes. “They’re very informative,” he protested.
“Jed, I don’t care if you spanked yourself blue with these things,” I said, opting for honesty. “You didn’t hurt anyone and you went out of your way to help people. You’re going to a good place for a reason. There’s no need to lie about the articles.”
“They’re good articles!”
“Fine,” I said, holding up my hands. “I have all the magazines and I promise to carry them out of here. That’s all I can do for you. We have to hurry this along because I have another job in an hour.”
Jed swayed back and forth as he locked gazes with me. “I’m not sure I’m ready.”
“Well, I’m ready,” I said, brushing off the knees of my jeans and retrieving the scepter from my pocket. “It’s time.”
“Explain it to me one more time,” Jed prodded. “I just need to hear what’s going to happen one more time.”
He was bargaining for time, that much was obvious, but I couldn’t help myself from giving in. “I’m going to absorb your soul into this scepter. Then, at the end of the day, I plug the scepter into a big statue thing and it sucks you to where you’re supposed to go.”
“That doesn’t sound very scientific.”
In truth, I’d never really asked how the souls moved from one location to the next. It wasn’t really a big concern for me. “Well, it is,” I said, waving the scepter. “It’s time to go. Are you ready?”
“I want to stay.”
I’d just about had my fill. “Jed, if you don’t let me absorb your soul I’m going to walk into that house and dump all of these dirty magazines on top of your body. Then your wife is definitely going to know what a spank monster you were.
“Not only that, the cops will be called and they’ll gossip with all of your neighbors and tell them about the magazines,” I continued. That sounded plausible, right? “Do you want your neighbors to know what a pervert you were?”
“Fine,” Jed snapped. “There’s no reason to get snippy.”
I had numerous reasons to get snippy, and the biggest found her way into my home today. I didn’t tell Jed that, though. “It’ll be okay, Jed,” I said, forcing an even tone. “You’re going to a better place. Your wife will join you there one day.”
“You’d better be right,” Jed said, pressing his eyes shut. “Okay. Do it.”
Absorbing a soul takes only a split second, so once I took care of Jed I checked the house one more time to make sure I’d retrieved all of the magazines and then let myself out the garage’s side door with my bag full of porn. I had no idea what to do with it. For now I planned to load it into the rear seat of my car until my shift ended. The bag was heavy, though, and it fell to the side, spilling the top third of its contents as I tried to wrestle it into the car. Several magazines hit the pavement, two of them falling open and exposing some of the biggest breasts I’d ever seen.
“I knew this would happen,” I muttered, leaning over to scoop up the magazines. I couldn’t help but study the big-breasted blonde in the centerfold when I picked the last magazine up. “Yeah, those are real.”
“Um … do you need help?”
I froze when I heard the voice, turning swiftly and finding a handsome man in a suit studying me. He looked young, thirty at the most, and his face was quizzical as he regarded the smut magazine.
“I’m fine,” I answered, my cheeks warming. “I just … dropped my magazine.”
“I didn’t realize you were such a porn freak, Aisling. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, though.” Unfortunately for the handsome stranger, he wasn’t alone. I didn’t see my arch nemesis, Angelina Davenport – no, I’m not being dramatic – until it was too late.
“Angelina,” I gritted out. Now my mortification was complete. I had a big garbage bag full of porn and Angelina knew it. I couldn’t wait to hear the rumors she spread this time. “What are you doing here? Did your pimp give you the day off? That’s so nice of him.”
Angelina pushed her dark hair behind her ear. “Your wit is as wide as your hips.”
I snorted. “If you’re saying I’m stupid, that would mean I have a narrow brain,” I pointed out. “That insult would mean I also have narrow hips.”
“I … that’s beside the point,” Angelina shot back, frustrated. “Your hips are wide and your brain is small.”
“And your nose job is bad and you smell like dirty feet,” I retorted. “I guess we both have burdens to bear.”
“Am I missing something?” I’d almost forgotten the man standing beside her.
“No,” I rep
lied. “You just accidentally got between the Devil and me. Don’t worry about it. I’m used to beating the Devil.”
“This is Aisling Grimlock,” Angelina said, pasting her friendliest smile on her face. “We went to high school together. She was in the slow reading class, though.”
“And Angelina was on a fast-moving bus headed for Slutsville,” I supplied. “Unfortunately she hit a brick wall in middle school and was horribly disfigured in the process, but I’m sure you already noticed that.”
The man chuckled as his gaze bounced between us. “I’m guessing you two didn’t like each other in high school. Am I right?”
I made a face. “You catch on quick,” I drawled. “He’s right up your alley, Angelina. He looks rich and he’s dumb. You might be able to snow him for a few more weeks if you’re lucky.”
“Don’t talk to my client that way,” Angelina ordered, horrified.
“Client?” I cocked an eyebrow and regarded the stranger. “You could do better than Angelina. If you need to find another pimp to get a girl through, I hear there is a delightful selection on Eight Mile.”
“Not that kind of client, you moron,” Angelina snapped. “He’s a real estate client. I sell real estate, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“And here I thought you were just selling yourself,” I deadpanned. “Either way, dude, you’re getting ripped off.”
The man smirked. “You’re fiery,” he said, looking me up and down. “I’m John Anderson. I’m a stockbroker with Whilby & Anderson in the Renaissance Center.”
He said that as if it was supposed to mean something to me. “That sounds really boring,” I said.
“And what are you doing, Aisling? I didn’t realize the Grimlocks were collecting porn during their daily travels. My, how the mighty have fallen.”
I frowned. This was a conundrum. How was I supposed to explain all of the spank magazines? “If you must know, antique Playboys fetch quite a price on the secondary market,” I lied, sinking into the family cover of being antique dealers. “The owner of this home was quite the connoisseur. I have to take these back and let my father and brothers go through them to see if they’re worth anything to collectors.”
Grim Reunion (Aisling Grimlock Book 4) Page 4
