Dead to Me (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 5)

by Lisa Emme

  “Mrs. P! What’s going on? I thought we were going to close the shop today.”

  “Och! Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about folks around here, they can go a day without flowers, but don’t try and take their coffee away. We’ve closed the flower shop instead. Tiffy and I have it all under control. Don’t you worry now.” She patted my arm and gave me a sympathetic look. “Any news, dear?”

  I glanced at Jonah who remained tight-lipped, and shook my head. “No, not yet.”

  Mrs. P. gave me another pat. “Well, don’t you worry about a thing here. We’ve got it all under control, and tonight, Willow and Hilde will manage. You do what you have to do.”

  “You’re the best, Mrs. P,” I said gratefully.

  ***

  The first order of business, as far as I was concerned, was to pour myself a double-double to-go in the largest cup we had. Jonah looked on, mildly amused as I mixed the two sugars and two creams into the cup.

  “Are you going to have any room for coffee?” he mused.

  “Ha-ha. I suppose you take yours black.”

  “I don’t mind a splash of cream,” he replied.

  I poured him a cup as well, splashing in the cream and then a little bit more at his nod, and then I raided the bakery for cinnamon buns and pain au chocolat, loading my haul into a bakery bag before heading upstairs. After stopping in the kitchen to grab the box of kibble I had bought at the store, we headed up to the roof.

  CA-CAW!

  CAW!

  Lucy swooped at me the moment I walked out the door. I instinctively threw up my arms protecting my head, nearly splashing hot coffee all over myself, but Jonah grabbed the cup from my hands.

  “Lucy, you loopy bird. Watch it!” I waved my arms at her.

  That turned out to be a mistake because she dived at me, snatching the bakery bag right out of my hand.

  “Hey! That’s my breakfast!” I shouted after her as she winged across the roof.

  “Was your breakfast,” Jonah replied with a laugh.

  “Oh yeah? We’ll see about that.” I narrowed my eyes at the bird and the bag, imagining reaching out with a hand of air to grab the bag and pull it away.

  CAW!

  Lucy squawked in surprise as the bag was pulled from her claws. It flew in an arc across the roof, landing with a thud on the deck halfway between me and where the breakfast-stealing bird had landed.

  Lucy cocked her head, looking at the bag.

  “Oh, no,” I said, dropping the box of kibble I had also been carrying. I dashed across the distance and snagged the bag. Lucy skimmed over head, brushing my hair with her claws. “Mine!” I said with a growl and stomped back to retrieve the box of kibble. I dumped some on the deck. “Yours.” I pointed at the food. Lucy hopped over and began pecking at the kibble.

  I grabbed my coffee from a still grinning Jonah.

  “Just you shut it,” I warned which only made him grin more.

  Taking a seat around the fire pit, I pulled a napkin from the bag and grabbed a little-worse-for-wear cinnamon bun and then held the bag out to Jonah, who helped himself to a pain au chocolat before grabbing a chair and sitting next to me.

  “So, I’m assuming you didn’t have any luck on your hunt last night,” I said around a mouthful of sinful cinnamon bun.

  Jonah scowled. “No, they continue to elude me. It’s most frustrating.”

  I finished off my cinnamon bun and helped myself to a pain au chocolat. “So how does this hunting thing work for you anyway? Are you like a bloodhound or something?”

  Smirking, Jonah shook his head. “No, not a bloodhound,” he paused as if trying to figure out an easy way to describe it. “It’s more an aura-hound.”

  “Aura?”

  He frowned. “Surely, as a witch, you are aware what one’s aura is.”

  “Well, yeah. I’ve just never met another vampire who could see them like I can.”

  Jonah shrugged. What is it with vampires and their enigmatic shrugs?

  We both jumped in our seats when Lucy, finished her breakfast, flapped between us, landing on the edge of the fire pit. She strutted along the concrete brick, cocking her head from side to side. It was kind of unsettling. Like she was listening to us.

  “So how does it work?" I asked, choosing to ignore the bird. Besides, I was genuinely curious. Was it something I could do?

  “I don’t really know. I can see auras, but I can also feel them, smell them, even taste them sometimes. I can sense the traces they leave behind too and follow them.”

  “But not this time,” I said, stating the obvious.

  “No, bugger it. Something…someone is blocking me. I’ll pick up a trace of where they’ve been but then the trail abruptly ends.” He pounded a fist on his thigh and then let out a long, slow breath. “I didn’t realize she was your mother,” he said quietly.

  “She’s not.” I scowled at the thought. “Okay, so she gave birth to me, but that doesn’t make her my mother.”

  “I never would have realized you were related. You’re nothing like her.” He shrugged. “Except for the obvious physical resemblance, of course.”

  “So, you never met Deirdre, before I mean?”

  “No.”

  “Then how do you know I’m nothing like her?”

  “I can see it. Your auras.” He shifted in his seat like he was uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had taken. Lucy flapped her wings and hopped onto his knee and gave a squawk. Jonah didn’t appear to mind, absently reaching out to run his finger gently down the feathers on the bird’s chest.

  “What do you mean? What does mine look like to you?" I’d never seen my own aura. Magic can be weird that way. I could see the auras of everyone else, but not my own.

  Jonah paused a long time, and I began to think he wasn’t going to answer until finally he said, “Your aura, Harry, is a wonder – so bright and complex. And, just like you tend to wear your heart on your sleeve, your aura bursts with the colours of your emotions.” He smiled at me and I felt myself blushing. Lucy squawked again, hopping to Jonah’s other knee as if reminding him to keep petting.

  “And Deirdre?”

  “Your mother’s aura is about what you’d expect. Dull and lifeless, barely changing from angry red to a more subdued orange.”

  I frowned. I didn’t even know my mother, but it saddened me to think she was so bitter and angry. As if sensing my distress, Lucy squawked again, hopping from Jonah’s knee to mine. She pecked at the stitching on my pants and then latched her beak onto one of the silver coloured buttons on the jean jacket I had thrown on.

  “You can’t have that, you loopy bird,” I said, pushing Lucy away. She snapped her beak at me, grabbing at my sleeve. “I don’t care if it’s shiny…”

  Oh. My. God.

  Could it be that easy? I jumped to my feet sending Lucy cawing and complaining into the air.

  “Shiny!” I exclaimed.

  Jonah looked at me in confusion. “Are you okay, luv?”

  “The brooch. The brooch. What does it look like? Is it shiny?”

  “I believe it was silver,” Jonah replied. His eyes widened and he glanced over at Lucy who was busy tearing apart the empty bakery bag. “You don’t think?”

  “Yeah, I do. What if Lucy is the one who stole the brooch? She loves shiny junk.” I paced back and forth, thinking things through. “That could be why you never found anything at the storage locker and why Cyndy didn’t know what they were after when they killed her.” I sat down again, smiling. “It fits. Cyndy used Lucy to case the places she was going to rob. If Lucy was able to get in a window or something, she could have easily stolen the brooch if it was hanging on a piece of clothing or sitting in view.”

  Just then Jonah’s phone rang. He stood up, reaching into his jacket pocket to answer it and stepped away.

  I crossed the roof and looked at the nesting box I had set up for the raven. She had already stuffed it full of bits of shredded paper and fabric and other junk
she had collected. Could the brooch be there?

  Noticing my attention to her new home, Lucy squawked, taking to the air.

  CAW!

  CAW!

  CAW!

  She landed on the roof of the cistern and eyeballed me.

  “Easy there, Lucy. I don’t want your treasures. At least not all of them. Just one.”

  I stood on my toes trying to get a better look in the box.

  CAW!

  CAW!

  CAW!

  Lucy dived towards me and pulled my hair.

  “Ouch! Hey! Stop it!” I waved my arms at her, but she continued to dive bomb me.

  “Here, try this.” Jonah, his phone call finished, handed me a dry leathery strip. “It’s jerky. For the bird.”

  “I knew what you meant,” I said. “Here Lucy. Look. Yummy!” I tossed the jerky at her and she snatched it from the air, gliding off to perch on the greenhouse roof.

  I turned to Jonah. “Who was that? Is there news?”

  “No. Not the news you’re hoping for anyway.” He pointed at the nesting box. “You’d better be quick before that flying menace comes back.”

  Frowning, I crossed my arms stubbornly. “I don’t even know what I’m looking for. You’re taller. Why don’t you have a look?”

  Jonah shrugged and stepped over to Lucy’s nest. He was more than tall enough to easily look inside. Throwing a quick glance over his shoulder, he pulled out a short stick that had been wedged in the nest and used it to rummage around the contents. After a few minutes, he shook his head. “Not there.”

  “Damn. I was so sure we were onto something.”

  “Wait a minute. Let’s not throw out the idea quite yet,” Jonah replied. “You set this box up yesterday. What about where the bird has been before this?”

  “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? We need to go back to the apartment block where Cyndy lived. Lucy’s old nest must be around there somewhere.”

  Jonah glanced at his watch. “We should have plenty of time before we have to return to Dante’s”

  “Return to Dante’s? Why?”

  “That was Tomas on the phone. The Gathering is complete, but there is trouble with the werewolves.”

  “Trouble? What trouble?" I thought of Tess and Christina and the other werewolves I called my friends. What else could go wrong?

  “I guess we’ll find out tonight. The Council of the Cimmerian is meeting and he wants you to be there.”

  “Me? Then why didn’t he call me instead?”

  “Maybe he figured there would be less of an argument if he told me to tell you.”

  Tomas was no dope.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “According to Google, the territory of the average raven is anywhere from five kilometres to forty kilometres.”

  Jonah merely grunted and continued to climb down the fire escape.

  We were on our tenth building and it had turned out to be a bust just like all the others. Starting at Cyndy’s old apartment, we had been working our way out in concentric circles, Jonah following the traces of Lucy’s aura – yes, animals have auras too. It’s not that we hadn’t found anything – we’d found plenty of mouldy food, shiny junk and shredded paper – we just hadn’t found the brooch.

  I hopped down off the ladder into the alley beside Jonah and glanced up at him. He was cool and composed as ever in his jeans and Henley, while I’m sure I looked like a complete train wreck. Of course, he hadn’t slipped and fallen into the dumpster four buildings ago.

  “Where to now?" I asked, half-heartedly. The novelty of the hunt had worn off.

  Jonah turned slowly, as if getting his bearings, and took a deep breath. “This way,” he replied, striding off to the right. At the mouth of the alley, he turned left and crossed the street. I jogged along behind him, having given up trying to keep pace with his long strides.

  We went on in silence for several blocks and then Jonah veered right, ducking into the narrow gap between two buildings. He travelled the length of the buildings, the narrow path abruptly widening into a courtyard of sorts. We were in one of the poorer downtown neighbourhoods by this point, so what was once probably a cute little outdoor space for the tenants of the surrounding buildings was now nothing more than a couple of broken lawn chairs and a table with an overflowing ashtray. Detritus from the nearby garbage bins, was strewn everywhere, congregating in piles in the corners of the yard.

  Jonah walked to one end of the courtyard and shaded his eyes, peering up at the side of one of the buildings. “There,” he said, pointing. A grin broke out on his face. “It’s there. I can feel it. There are traces of Drago’s aura.”

  I followed his finger up the side of the building. “Oh, man! Are you kidding me?”

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  “How the hell are we going to get up there?”

  Up there, was halfway up the smooth concrete side of the building. There were no balconies or fire escapes to climb this time. The nest was perched on one of several corbels that stuck out oddly from the side of the building.

  “I don’t suppose you can jump that high?"

  Jonah mulled the idea over. “Possibly.” He looked back across the courtyard. “But I’d need more of a run up to it, I think.”

  I squinted up at the nest again. “Maybe I can pull it down with my TK.”

  “We’d risk the contents being strewn across the yard, if the nest breaks apart.”

  “Well, do you have a better idea then?”

  Jonah grinned. “It depends on how much you trust me.”

  ***

  I peered over the edge of the building to the ratty courtyard below. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”

  “You can still back out,” Jonah replied, tying off the end of the rope and checking it was secure. He held out the harness. “Here, step into this.”

  I looked at the gear skeptically. “You carry this stuff around all the time?" Jonah had run back and retrieved it from his car while I cooled my heels on the roof of the building.

  “It pays to be prepared,” he replied.

  “Boy scout,” I teased.

  Jonah shook the harness. “You chickening out?”

  “No, of course not.”

  I stomped over and he leaned down, holding the harness out for me to step into. I put a hand on his shoulder to steady myself and he slid the harness up, securing it tightly around my waist. It felt weird, the padded loops wrapping around my thighs and waist.

  Jonah busied himself, checking the fit of the harness, tightening things here, loosening others there. His hand skimmed over my ass.

  “Watch it, buddy,” I warned.

  He grinned. “Just making sure everything is secure. We wouldn’t want you to fall.”

  “No, we wouldn’t want that.”

  With one last tug on the straps, he patted me on the thigh. “Good to go.”

  He fed the rope through the loop at my waist and then through the contraption hanging from it. “Now remember, you keep this hand here.” He placed my hand on the rope. “And this hand you keep here.” He positioned my other hand at my hip. “Let the rope slide through loose fingers, don’t grab it too tight or you’ll get a rope burn.” He frowned at my hands. “I wish we had a pair of gloves for you.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said. It was all bravado. My heart was pounding in my chest.

  Jonah grinned, hearing the lie in my voice. “Yes, you will.”

  He took up position at the edge of the roof where he would act as my spotter, holding the rope that would prevent me from falling if anything went wrong.

  With one last calming breath, I stepped up on the ledge and turned to face him, the rope held between my hands. “Here goes nothing,” I said, stepping backwards off the roof. Suspended by the rope, my feet on the side of the building I slowly began walking backwards.

  “That’s it. You’re getting the hang of it,” Jonah called down encouragingly.

  Feeling a little mo
re confident, I pushed out from the side of the building, jumping backwards. The rope glided through my hands as I swung out and down, out and down. When I neared the nest, I slowed my pace, walking backwards slowly until the nest was at eye level on my right.

  “Okay, Harry. Remember to keep a hold of the rope with your left hand. You can use your right hand to check the nest.”

  “Thanks, Captain Obvious,” I muttered as I leaned towards the nest and started to pick through it.

  “I heard that.”

  “Eww!” I screwed up my nose at the mess. “I’m wishing I had those gloves about now.”

  “Keep looking. You’re doing great.”

  I was beginning to think Jonah’s radar was off, when I spotted a glint of something shining back at me. Pulling away the muddy (at least I hoped it was mud) bits of paper and what appeared to be a worn sock, I struck gold, or rather silver.

  “Eureka!” I cried. “I found it.”

  In my haste to secure the brooch in my pocket, my left hand slipped, the rope sliding through my fingers. I fell backwards, experiencing a terrifying yet exhilarating moment of freefall, only to jerk to a halt a few feet later as the safety feature of the rig kicked in.

  “I’ve got you, elska.” Jonah’s voice echoed from above.

  Heart thumping in my chest and feeling an uncanny sense of déjà vu, I quickly rappelled the rest of the way down the building, scrambling out of the harness to wait impatiently while Jonah gathered up the gear from above.

  “We’ve met before,” I said, waving an accusing finger at him the moment he rejoined me on the ground.

  He looked perplexed for a moment, but then his expression grew cagey. “Why yes, a day or two ago, wasn’t it?”

  “No, I mean a long time ago. The tree?”

  “I see,” he replied. “You’ve remembered.”

  “I dreamed about it last night.”

  “Interesting,” Jonah mused. “Now you’re dreaming about me.” His expression was cheeky.

  “Puh-lease,” I said. “I was four years old in the dream.” I eyed him suspiciously. “It really happened, didn’t it? That day at the tree. What were you doing there?”