“Was she always that way?” Aaron pressed. He wanted to know more about the painting, but the rocks came first.
Lance wrinkled his nose. “Carmel was older than me. We were never close. From my perspective, she was always bossy, interfering, and controlling, but that’s just sibling resentment. She didn’t turn mean until after Geoff’s death, and given the state he left her in, I suppose she had reason.”
“But if she knew the rock crystals were worthless, why did she collect them?”
“Because she could. Because others wanted them. And because of her fixation in believing they gave her power. Superstition, I suppose. She flashed her gem collection when she wanted to influence someone, usually her banker friends, and when it worked, she credited the rocks.”
“That’s sad, when you think of it,” Aaron remarked. “All that beauty and intelligence and she believed rocks made her successful?”
“Well, it certainly wasn’t her charisma in those last years,” Lance said dryly. “She used to turn on charm at will, but the meanness took over.”
“Don’t ever let material goods mean more than people,” Aaron rephrased the old cliché. “I suppose greed could make one mean.”
“Lack of compassion will do it,” Lance said dryly. “Carmel never had much of that. I think the rocks are a dead end, sorry.”
“In Carmel’s case, you’re probably right. I just wanted a simple solution, and she really loved those rocks.” Aaron considered that. He’d been thinking of the rocks as inherently evil, but if they absorbed the owner’s intent, perhaps they’d absorbed what little love Carmel had possessed. Probably not good to say that to her brother.
“She had two good sons,” Lance said harshly. “I was a lousy substitute for their dad, but I love them as if they were my own. I’ll always do what I can to see them happy.”
Like kill Carmel to save her sons a problem?
Aaron thanked Lance and walked thoughtfully back to his shop.
If Carmel hadn’t been killed for the rocks, could she have been killed for what she had done in the past? Or was her death simply a matter of getting rid of an interfering nuisance?
When Aaron told Hannah about the Eversham painting over dinner that night, she wanted to leap up and query Cass immediately.
“I know she knows more than she’s telling us,” she insisted. “She’s keeping an entire library from me!”
After a day of scrubbing smoke, she’d decided to treat herself—and maybe Aaron—by visiting Tullah’s thrift shop. Tullah had immediately produced a lovely floaty sundress in gold and white, with a gauzy shawl to dress it up for evening. Hannah was pretty sure Aaron was admiring the result of her low neckline and her one and only push-up bra.
He still didn’t agree with her argument.
“We can’t go to Cass and accuse her of stealing a painting,” he insisted. “And we still don’t know how dangerous the painting is. We don’t need to risk losing our minds with time travel.”
“It’s psychometry,” she insisted. “It’s not the same as what Aunt Jia does. We can connect and disconnect at will.”
“Can we?” he asked ominously. “Are you sure about that? Besides, accusing Cass of stealing a painting is your bigger obstacle. I think you’re more interested in adding to your encyclopedic knowledge than solving this crime.”
Hannah wrinkled her nose and dug into her risotto. “But history can tell us how to deal with the present.”
“Sometimes, but right now it means angering a dangerous woman over a dangerous painting and using rocks that we don’t possess and don’t understand. Some things are meant to be left alone.” He drank his wine and regarded her with smoldering eyes.
He was twisting her mind with promises of sex. When it came right down to it, she was okay with the excitement his sensual look offered. She could tackle Cass in the morning—as long as a killer didn’t try to burn the house down around them.
“You have good smoke detectors in here, don’t you?” she asked, glancing at the high-ceilinged front room of Aaron’s house.
He looked briefly startled, then managed a dark grin. “Unless our killer is Harvey, there are only two means of accessing this place, and once the system is switched on, both will shriek alarms well before an intruder reaches us. And yes, all the alarms are in good working order.”
“And why is Harvey an exception?” She had so little experience with men of Aaron’s caliber, that she was in serious danger of being bent to his will out of sheer lust. She had to work hard not to be malleable.
“He doesn’t use the driveway or the walking path. Personally, I think he swings through the trees. I’m fairly certain that method won’t occur to a killer who hires vandals.” Aaron rose to take their empty plates. “Dessert? I always have ice cream.”
“Are you keeping me here so I’m in no danger for arsonists?” she asked, because she needed to understand why the unsociable recluse was feeding her.
“I’m keeping you here because my bed is a damned sight more comfortable than the one at the shop. If you prefer to stay in the schoolroom now that the utilities are functioning, I’ll order a decent mattress and you can have your choice of beds from the store. But that has to wait until morning. If we’re airing our fears here, would you rather spend the night alone than with me?” Without looking at her, he rinsed the plates and dropped them in the dishwasher.
“Con of Lucy relationships, we overthink too much.” She carried the rest of the dishes to the sink, set them down, and hugged his waist. “I like being with you, even when you’re being disagreeable.”
He turned, wrapped her in his embrace, and rested his chin on her head. “I like being with you even when I know I will regret it. That makes me disagreeable.”
She snorted into his collar. “Let’s make lists of murder suspects until it’s time for bed. There’s a topic where we can find common ground.”
“You don’t mind not socializing with your friends after they spent the day helping me out? I can take you into town, if you prefer. I don’t expect you to embrace my solitude.” He brushed a kiss across her hair, then released her to return to cleaning up, as if he didn’t have another thought in his head.
She stood on her toes and kissed his bristled cheek. “I have lived inside my head all my life. Solitude does not frighten me. But I will have to move into town or buy a car when the schoolroom is ready in a few weeks, so there’s the term limit to your dilemma. Does that ease your mind?”
“It makes me feel like a Lucy limpet,” he growled, turning to lift her from the floor and kiss her more thoroughly.
“Right back atcha,” she murmured as he carried her toward the stairs. Understanding this lonely man was digging a hook in her heart so deep that she might never pry it out—unless he ripped it out first.
Twenty-five
The phone rang well before Aaron was ready to wake. He’d taken Hannah to bed early, but they’d not exactly slept all those hours. Instead, he’d explored his willingness to open himself to her in ways he could only do with someone he trusted. The lessons had been fascinating—and terrifying.
He didn’t think he had the strength to watch another woman die. And what if enhancing his psychometry worsened the growth in her head?
Hannah murmured a protest and snuggled her nicely padded posterior against his hip as he reached for the phone. Dammit, he’d forgotten how much he enjoyed waking to a warm woman at his side. His life had been a lonely one, and he was accustomed to emptiness. That didn’t mean he liked it.
Recognizing Caller ID, he lifted the receiver and said, “Yeah.”
“The DA is returning Carmel’s box of rocks.” Walker seldom bothered with polite preface. “The Lucys will be all over them shortly. Hope you have a plan ready.”
Aaron stretched and slid his toes over Hannah’s leg. “I’ve been working on one. Not sure you’ll like it. And the Kennedys might raise a deserved objection. But I think we need to re-enact the night of Carmel’s death, slowly, with
observers keeping an eye on where everyone is and when.”
Walker’s silence wasn’t portentous. The chief was often silent. Aaron waited.
“That’s a pretty damned big order. How will you keep the guests from interfering?”
“We’ll have to wait for tomorrow, at the very least. The lodge clears out after the weekend. I was thinking we could call for a fumigation party—send everyone into town for a free festival and pretend fumigators are spraying the halls.” That wasn’t all he had in mind, but a Null like Walker didn’t need to know the odd Lucy details.
“We could have done that without a box of rocks,” Walker retorted, catching on quickly that he wasn’t getting the full story.
“Yeah, but the less you know about that, the better you’ll be able to report to the DA, if needed. So stew over how we’ll get everyone’s cooperation. Just lining up the staff that was there that night is a challenge.”
Hannah was awake and sitting up, with the sheet pulled over her breasts, by the time he hung up. “A re-enactment? And the less Walker knows about what? Did the sheriff release the crystals?"
“Breakfast,” Aaron growled, tumbling her into the pillows and kissing her before she could protest. He tasted her desire and happiness—and a thin thread of frustration. He laughed and let her go. “I like knowing what you feel. I don’t seem to have the ability to judge that without touching.”
“Difficulty in nonverbal communication,” she muttered, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. “Afflicts a lot of people with complicated wiring. Resistant to change, repetitive behavior. . . You’re just stuck in a rut, though. You don’t want to know what other people feel, so you block them.”
“My choice is to block or go insane,” he said without rancor, watching her grab last night’s clothes and wondering if he ought to encourage her to move her suitcase here. “The result is the same. I can’t judge people by their nonverbal reactions. I need words.”
He recognized the irony. He preferred silence and not getting to know people.
“Fair enough. Use your words and call the Lucys to a meeting. You can’t pull off this reenactment alone.” She strode into the bathroom and shut the door.
Watching Hannah naked was a better way to start the morning than phone calls.
“Aren’t women supposed to do the communicating?” he yelled at the door, before pulling on a robe and padding downstairs to make coffee.
He texted Keegan to have Mariah set up a meeting. That should cover it. Now, to get his hands on the box of rocks.
When Hannah floated downstairs in her gauzy sundress, Aaron nearly had to whack his head to keep his thoughts on track. With that fringe of hair nearly covering her eyes and her creamy swan neck and shoulders rising above the flimsy gauze, she looked like an innocent schoolgirl. After last night, he knew there was nothing innocent about his guardian angel.
He handed her a mug of tea, having learned her preference. “We need to get our hands on the rocks, see if your enhancement can tell us anything I missed that night.”
She sipped her tea and watched him over the brim, looking so sexy in the process that he wanted to forget rocks and haul her back to bed. He was in danger of coming unhinged.
“Are you sure you want that much insight into evil?” she asked. “Don’t you fear the crystals will pollute your soul? How do you know they aren’t a hundred times more dangerous than the Eversham painting?”
“We’ll not touch them directly until we’ve assessed the energy they’re emitting. But if our theories and those few journal entries mean anything, then the crystals are much more likely to absorb what we offer than vice versa.” He hoped. He was pretty dubious about the whole idea, but they couldn’t continue doing nothing and let a killer go free.
“If you’re making this a public spectacle, aren’t you worried the killer will escalate his terrorism in retaliation?” Hannah set down her cup to rummage in his refrigerator.
Aaron grimaced and took the bacon package she handed him. “You have a better plan?”
“I wish I did, but the number of people who wished Carmel dead is daunting. And if her death was a spur of the moment thing, that complicates the case even more. It might be easier to go after whoever deliberately gave digitalis to Francois, then sent him out to dig.” She scrambled eggs and cheese and shredded spinach in a bowl.
“You’re determined to make me eat green things, aren’t you?” He zapped his bacon.
Hannah looked briefly surprised, then poured the eggs into a skillet. “I eat green. I always thought of it as feeding my brain, but I suppose a well-balanced diet feeds the entire body, which keeps the brain functioning. Unless someone proves green causes the knot in my head, I’ll stick with what works.”
He didn’t want to be reminded that this gloriously healthy woman could be attached to tubes and life support tomorrow. He glowered and crunched his nuked bacon. “I still think you need a second opinion.”
“I’d have to go back to the UK. I can’t afford the insurance here.” She matter-of-factly divided the eggs between two plates and set them on the counter as if she weren’t talking about a potential death sentence. “I doubt Hillvale is in a position to pay insurance for their schoolteachers.”
Damnatus. “We don’t have proof that the Healing Stone actually heals,” he reminded her.
“I know,” she agreed sadly. “But I see no reason to fret over what can’t be changed. How do you mean to employ Carmel’s rocks?”
A much less depressing topic to chew on along with his bacon and green eggs.
Holding a Lucy meeting on a busy wedding weekend wasn’t easy, Hannah learned. Under Mariah’s organization, she cleaned Amber’s tarot and gift shop at the end of the hectic day while Amber counted her cash register and prepared a deposit. Then Amber went to help Tullah while Hannah aided Teddy in putting the jewelry shop back in order. Sam helped Fee finish the baking for Dinah’s restaurant.
Aaron’s shop was still closed, but he spent most of the day with the contractors and sorting through his smoke-and-water-damaged inventory while fielding phone calls from the Kennedys on organizing the staff for the event.
They all contributed toward a potluck dinner in the gallery that Lance closed up for the evening.
Mariah had been busy while everyone was cleaning and bookkeeping. She had the large screen monitor on the gallery wall uncovered and a map of the lodge and its grounds displayed when they entered.
Along the stage, she’d lined a battalion of small stone statuettes.
“Daisy made these by the dozens and distributed them far and wide. She called them guardians and lamassu,” Mariah explained when Hannah asked. “Lamassu are ancient Sumerian deities who guard portals. They look nothing like Daisy’s version. She was a time walker who frequently mixed up her travels.”
Like Aunt Jia. Hannah winced, hoping she and Aaron weren’t heading down that path.
“Why are they here?” Teddy leaned over the battered medieval casket of rocks to examine the small guardians surrounding it.
“To protect the box. I’ve been working with the crystals all day.” Keegan took over from Mariah. “Their energy is different from the ones in our cave. They behave passively—not actively emanating what they contain. They’re like sponges. They absorb the energy around them and leak it out over time, if left untouched.”
“And if they’re all kept in a box, they leak and absorb each other’s elements until all the rocks are more or less the same?” Teddy asked, poking gingerly at one.
“That is my assumption based on limited testing. To some extent, they can be pressurized like our crystals—like a sponge can be squeezed. A sponge oozes water. Hillvale crystals transform into other crystals. I don’t know where the energy in Carmel’s absorbent rocks goes. So I’m hesitant to conduct further experiments until we have protective equipment. We could be playing with nuclear fusion for all I know. Don’t let anyone touch them.” Keegan stood over the rocks rather than investigate the f
ood table.
Hannah glanced at Aaron across the room. He looked uncomfortable studying Mariah’s map of the lodge on the wall. She knew he wanted at the rocks. He’d have to speak up sometime. She carried a meat-loaded roll over to him and figured he was distracted when he bit into it without discarding the tomato or other veggies.
“I want to test those rocks before I decide how to deploy them,” he murmured, easing toward the stage.
“Keegan said they could be dangerous and not to touch them,” she warned, judging his direction.
“So, don’t touch them. Wait for my signal, then just brush my hand.”
“You could just say, hey Keegan, let me see those rocks,” she suggested as they crossed the floor.
“A direct command overriding his orders?” he asked in amusement. “Not unless we want a fight. Men act first and apologize later.”
She punched his arm. “Troglodyte behavior. You’re too civilized for that.”
“Are you sure Keegan is? He’s guarding those rocks as if they’re his own.”
Hannah studied the cousin she’d known for years. “OK, he’s a bit of a troll. But he is civilized once you get past his affinity for rocks.”
Keegan stiffened as they reached the stage. Aaron simply reached past him and hefted a stone from the medieval casket.
Twenty-six
Aaron cringed at the multiple levels of pain and ugliness seeping from the rock he held, but he couldn’t clarify one layer from another. They all blended worse than mud in a swamp. Did he dare subject Hannah to so much negative energy?
Carmel’s greed was there, along with her sick beliefs about power. Her love and pleasure in the crystal was also absorbed into the overall energy, as they’d surmised. If Carmel had touched these rocks before she died, he couldn’t tell it.
Knowing Keegan was fretting and about to interfere, Aaron gestured at Hannah.
He knew he shouldn’t expose her to the rocks. But he’d been inside her soul last night. She was as strong as he was, and to treat her as if she were not would be an insult. She had a choice. She didn’t have to add her hand to his.
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