Secrets of the Demon kg-3

by Diana Rowland

  The mayor sat frozen, staring at Crawford’s phone, then he swallowed harshly. He looked as if he was about to speak, but I didn’t want to hear what he had to say.

  “Mayor Fussell, it’s been a pleasure talking to you,” I said with too-loud cheerfulness. “I’ll be sure to take everything you said into consideration.” I caught Crawford’s eye and jerked my head toward the door. He turned and headed out, with me right behind him.

  Somehow I managed to not turn and flip the mayor off on my way out.

  I turned my own recorder off in the elevator, then let out a shaking breath. “Holy shit, am I ever glad you’re my sergeant.”

  He let out a dry laugh as we reached the ground floor and stepped out. “Glad to know I’m appreciated.” Then he shook his head. “Though, I gotta be honest, I didn’t expect it to go that far. I’m glad we decided to use both phones. Between the two we should have enough recorded to cover our asses.”

  I fell silent as we crossed the street and headed to the station. “Do you intend to press charges of public intimidation on him?” I asked after a moment. Threatening a police officer’s job was a criminal offense in Louisiana, whether you had the power and influence to do anything about it or not.

  “No. Not at this time, at least,” he replied. “But you should do what you feel is right for you.”

  I shook my head. “He’s an asshole, but he’s under pressure from Moran or someone else. I have the recording, which will keep him from coming up with some bullshit to fire us over.” I flicked a glance at Crawford. “But did you notice that he never asked who had been murdered?”

  He blinked, then gave me an approving smile. “You’re right, he didn’t. Good catch.”

  “He’s getting pressure, which means I’m doing something right.” Sure wished I knew what it was.

  We reached the front door of the station, but Crawford paused before opening it, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Kara, I gotta ask. Is there a single official in this city who you haven’t killed, arrested, or pissed off?”

  I burst out laughing. “Give me time. I’ll get to them all, I’m sure!”

  Chapter 17

  I stayed at the station only long enough to grab the printouts from my earlier Google searches, then took off. I still had an hour before I was supposed to meet Ryan at Adam Taylor’s studio, but I needed to get away from people for a little while. Even though the situation with the mayor had been salvaged without the loss of my job, the whole fact that the incident had occurred in the first place still roiled my gut. I’d met the mayor a few times before, and even though he was known to be a hard-ass and a bit of a jerk, I figured he had to be getting some serious pressure to resort to outright threats. So what was Ben Moran’s deal? What was his stake in all of this? Maybe I was being overly cynical, but I had a difficult time believing he was driven purely by concern for his niece’s welfare.

  I drove without any solid idea of where I wanted to go, though after a few minutes I found myself heading for the east end of the lake and Leland Park. The park occupied nearly a mile of the lakefront—a sprawling combination of sports fields, basketball and tennis courts, playgrounds, and picnic areas. It was late enough that school had been out for a couple of hours, and the ball fields were busy with youth football teams engaged in practice scrimmages. I parked near the boat launch and then got out of my car and sat on the hood, letting the warmth of the engine make up for the faint touch of chill in the air. This was the time of year that tricked people into moving to this area. In fall and spring the weather could almost rival southern California’s. The winters were mild, with natives complaining any time the temps dipped below thirty, and I could count on one hand the times I’d seen snow here.

  Today was one of those days, I decided as I leaned back on my elbows and listened to the distant shrieks of the kids in the playground. For most of the year the weather here was ideal. It was the summers that were nothing short of brutal. But if I moved north, then I’d have to endure winters, I reasoned with myself. Not that I could see myself ever moving.

  The sound of a whistle pulled my attention to the football fields. The kids practicing on the field closest to me couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, wearing huge pads that seemed to swallow them. Parents were scattered along the bleachers. A few were actively watching and cheering, but most seemed to be occupied with books or intent on their cell phones.

  Will that ever be me? I frowned at the unexpected thought. I’d certainly wondered before about my chances of finding someone to settle down and have children with. And I’d always dismissed the idea as impractical and most likely impossible. How could I marry someone unless they knew about the demon summoning?

  Except that now I had a number of friends who knew ... and were still my friends. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that I could meet someone worth settling down with who could handle it. And I was still young. I wasn’t even thirty yet. Heck, I knew women who’d had their first kid when they were in their forties.

  “Kara? What are you doing here?” A voice jerked me out of my reverie.

  I turned to see my aunt standing beside my car, her head cocked in question. “Just chillin’,” I said, strangely pleased to see her. “I had a crazy day at work and wanted to take in some fresh air. What are you doing here?” To my surprise she was dressed almost normally, in jeans, cowboy boots, and a T-shirt advertising something called Fruity Oaty Bars.

  “Carl’s nephew plays youth football.” She gestured toward a field past the one I’d been watching where preteen kids were running drills. “Carl takes him to practice so that the boy’s dad doesn’t have to leave work early.”

  “Carl has relatives?” I blurted without thinking. Then I winced. “Sorry, that was stupid.”

  But Tessa let out a peal of laughter. “No, I totally understand. Actually, the nephew isn’t really his nephew, at least not biologically. Carl grew up in foster homes, and this is the kid of one of his foster brothers.”

  My curiosity surged, but before I could say anything Tessa shook her head. “I don’t know much more about him, sweets. He doesn’t like to talk about his childhood.” Her expression dimmed. “I get the impression it wasn’t pleasant.”

  I forced back my questions and merely nodded. I’d only spent a couple of months in a foster home after my dad had died and before Tessa had been able to return from Japan. That had been more than enough.

  Tessa hitched herself up onto the hood beside me. I shifted to make room. “The last time I was out here was for a crime scene,” I said.

  “Was that one of the Symbol Man victims?”

  I nodded. “That baseball field way over there.” I pointed in the general direction. It was empty of players right now. Wrong season for it, I guessed. “It’s kinda neat coming out here when it’s busy, though. Holy crap, but there’re a lot of kids in this city!”

  Tessa chuckled. “Scary, isn’t it!”

  I smiled. “I don’t deal with kids very often. I think sometimes I forget they exist.” I paused. “Y’know I was just thinking about kids. I mean, me having them someday.”

  She gave me a look filled with shock and horror. “Are you pregnant?”

  “No!” I said quickly. “Holy shit, no. I was just thinking about ... someday.”

  She relaxed, and I suddenly realized that the intensity of her reaction was most likely due to her fear that I could be pregnant with Rhyzkahl’s baby. Holy Yikes. Would that even be possible? “Don’t worry,” I reassured her. “I’m still on the Pill.” Even though my social life had always been heartily pathetic, I was prepared and cautious when it came to any thoughts of children. I’d been on the Pill since I was sixteen, at my aunt’s encouragement. Okay, insistence was probably the better word, though considering the hash I’d made of my teen years I couldn’t fault her for it. And even though it had been many years before I’d had my first sexual experience, I still appreciated the frank—and sometimes brutal—talking-to she’d given me about sex and the
consequences of unplanned pregnancy.

  Tessa patted my hand. “Good to know, sweets. Pregnancy is hard enough with a partner at your side, but going through it on your own is a tough haul that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.” She straightened and pushed off the hood of the car. “Looks like the practice is finishing up. I’d better go find Carl.” And with that she trotted off without another word.

  I stared after her, her last words tumbling around in my head like rocks in a dryer. If I hadn’t know better, I’d have sworn that Tessa was speaking from personal experience.

  Chapter 18

  Leaving the park, I allowed my thoughts to explore the implications of what Tessa had said. I’m leaping to insane conclusions, I told myself. But ... were they really all that insane? Tessa had left Beaulac when she was nineteen and had only returned when she’d been asked to become my guardian. That was eleven years. It was more than plausible that Tessa might have had a child during that time.

  And in all the time since then, she’s never spoken of it. Which either meant there was no baby and I was letting my imagination run wild, or that it was obviously a painful and/or touchy subject, and if she’d wanted me to know about it, she would have told me.

  And, if nothing else, Tessa had managed to completely take my mind off of my other stress for a while.

  My phone dinged with a text message as I drove, and at the next red light I clicked it to see a text from Roger telling me that the Lake Pearl Bank would have everything ready for me in the morning.

  Nice to see at least one thing going right.

  Then I gave myself a mental smack. Watch it, Kara. You’re going to jinx yourself again.

  Sound System Studio was situated near the middle of town, in the “gray” area between the well-maintained downtown and the shoddier older sections that had been allowed to fall into disrepair. The studio was housed in a two-story windowless metal building—the kind of prefab construction that can go up in a few weeks and was usually picked as an “after” shot during storm season when a tornado turned it into a freeform sculpture of twisted aluminum. A bright blue sign hung over the door with the name of the studio painted across it in a swirling font, though I noticed that there were a number of pitted marks in the sign, as if someone had been throwing rocks at it. Not too surprising considering the neighborhood. Probably a good thing there were no windows.

  Ryan was exiting his car as I pulled in. I checked my watch as I parked, pleased to see that I’d managed to kill an hour exactly.

  “Perfect timing,” he said as I walked up.

  “You had doubts?”

  “Never.” He grinned. He walked to the door and held it for me, then followed me into a cramped foyer that barely had room for a desk, a chair, and an artificial ficus tree in the corner.

  There was no one in the foyer, but we could hear music coming from beyond a door on the far wall. It was unlocked, and so we entered to find ourselves near the back of a room about thirty feet by twenty, though at least half of it was taken up with various music equipment. There were double doors to the right and left—I assumed that the latter set led to the outside judging by the orientation of the room. Against the wall nearest us was a table with a variety of wrapped snacks scattered upon it. Beside the table was a battered white refrigerator, though it was barely recognizable as white since damn near every inch was covered with stickers and magnets from an impressive variety of music groups.

  Lida, Michael, and Trey were at the other end of the room amid their sound equipment, slowly playing something that I suspected was one of their new songs since I didn’t recognize it from the concert.

  Lida looked much like she did at her house, wearing low-cut jeans and a white tank-top, with only a few piercings and very little makeup. She caught sight of us and gave us a small nod but didn’t stop playing. It didn’t surprise me that Roger wasn’t there. I could hardly blame him after the rough couple of days he’d had. I was surprised to hear Michael missing notes. After the third time he fumbled, Lida called a halt.

  “I’m sorry, Lida,” Michael said, clearly distressed

  “It’s cool,” she replied gently. “It’s a new song, and we’re all trying to figure out how to make it sound right. That’s the whole point of rehearsing, okay? Why don’t you go get a Diet Coke or something.” He stared morosely at his keyboard, then nodded and stood.

  Trey set his instrument aside. “I’ll take care of him, Lida. You go talk to the cops.”

  It was apparently the wrong thing to say. Michael jerked his head up, seeing us for the first time. “Roger didn’t do anything wrong!” he announced loudly, features twisted in distress.

  “Michael, they know that,” Lida said with a tired patience. “Roger isn’t in trouble, okay?” She gave us an apologetic look. “Give me a couple of minutes? I need to go take a walk with him and get him settled down.”

  “Take all the time you need,” I replied.

  The big man’s shoulder’s slumped and he allowed himself to be led outside, but not before shooting us another wary look.

  Trey blew out his breath as they left. “Wow, the tension around here sucks ass.”

  “How long has it been like this?” I asked, walking up to him. “Tense, I mean.”

  He let out a dry bark of laughter. “Since we signed with the label?” Then he winced and shook his head. “That’s not really fair though. I was talking mostly about how things have been since Saturday night.”

  “Can you tell me again what you saw?” I asked. I’d taken his statement after the incident, but I knew how useful it was to do follow-up interviews to see what was remembered, forgotten, or outright changed.

  Trey tugged at the collar of his shirt before dropping down to sit cross-legged on the floor. Of all the band members, he was the one who looked the most different in “regular” clothes. He’d been fairly gothed out at the concert, in a getup similar to what Ryan had been wearing. I was amused to see that Trey was now wearing khaki pants and an oxford-style shirt—again, similar to what Ryan had on.

  “I hardly saw anything,” Trey said. “The lights went out and something big shoved past me. Then I heard a bunch of screaming and yelling.” He toyed with the end of his shoelace. “I stood still since it was so dark, and I didn’t want to trip over anything and risk messing up my bass. About a minute later the lights came back on and Roger and Michael were all freaked out, yelling about someone grabbing Lida. Michael took off, so I ran after him. I didn’t know what was going on, but right then I figured the best way I could help would be to make sure that Michael didn’t get hurt or lost.” He grimaced. “I love Michael, but I wanted to throttle him for taking off like that. I’m not supposed to do any running.” Then he sighed. “But I can understand why he did. I’ve never seen anyone closer than those two.”

  “You’re wearing running shoes,” Ryan pointed out.

  “Yeah, that’s because I gotta wear them all the time,” Trey replied. “I have plantar fasciitis. The doc told me to lay off the running for a while.” He gave a morose sigh that at first made me think he was joking, then I realized he was truly upset about not being able to run. Then again, he had that lean lanky build of someone who probably ran a hundred miles a week without breaking a sweat. And enjoyed it.

  Sick.

  “And I don’t wanna end up like Roger,” Trey added, shaking his head.

  I frowned. “What do you mean? What happened to Roger?”

  “He used to do a lot of running too, coupla years ago.” Trey looked at me, tragedy written all over his face. “Then he messed up his feet. He stopped running. Stopped! Never went back to it. Went with the weight training instead.” He shuddered. “Man, I can’t even imagine.”

  I stared at him, unable to come up with any sort of response that didn’t include the words Are you fucking kidding me?

  “How have things changed since you signed with the label?” Ryan asked, saving me.

  A pained expression flashed across his face. “I don’t know. I
guess it’s not what any of us expected, y’know? I mean, it used to be tons of fun, and now there’s a bunch of pressure to earn back the money the label invested in us. And ... well, it’s not that great of a label, to be honest. We should have had a lot more distribution. So now we gotta think about making it big and getting noticed so that when our contract is up we can get signed with someone bigger. Plus, our concert schedule for the coming year is insane. But concerts are where we make money, not CD sales.”

  Ryan and I exchanged a quick glance at the getting noticed. “Has anyone in the band been talking about ways to get noticed?” I asked.

  “Well, yeah,” he said, lifting a shoulder in a shrug. “I mean we’re always trying out new ways to do promo and stuff. Lida busts her hump writing new songs, and doing appearances and interviews. And I put together the website. But Adam’s the one who’s doing most of the regular promo. He works his ass off, but I think he has a lot riding on us really breaking out.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Times have been tough, y’know? He owns the studio, but his business has been shit lately.” Trey’s gaze swept the room. “He’s been trying to sell it, but no one’s interested.”

  Well, that confirmed what Roger had said.

  The side door opened and we all looked over to see Lida coming back in without Michael.

  “Is he okay?” Trey asked her with what sounded like genuine concern.

  Lida nodded, frustration and fatigue flashing briefly over her face. “I figured it was better to let him sit outside for a bit instead of bringing him back and risk him getting all upset again.” She shot us a look of apology and I gave her a slight nod of understanding in response.