Make it Rain (Afterlife Book 10)

by Kaitlyn Meyers

  "Alright," Harper said. "Do you want to ride over together? I can drop Conner off at his house and meet you at home. I'll even let you drive."

  Brittney smiled. "That sounds good."

  After hanging up, she quickly showered. She was all sweaty from her dancing session. While showering, she thought about her place in Afterlife. She was the only one without any supernatural abilities, but she thought it was a good fit anyway. She dressed in black slacks, a white blouse, and a blazer, then came back out to wait for Harper.

  Peter had come home during that time.

  "Where were you?" Brittney asked.

  "Why?" Peter asked. "What are you, my mother? I was out having a drink. Don't worry, I only had one. I was good to drive."

  "It's not that," Brittney said. "It's the demons. They're above ground. It's dangerous out there. Especially for you; you may not be a member of Afterlife but you're related to me, so that makes you a target."

  "Oh, well, it would have been nice if someone had told me that," Peter said.

  "Thanks," Brittney said. "Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something."

  They sat down on the couches, and Peter eyed Brittney suspiciously.

  "Are you kicking me out?" he asked. "Because I literally have nowhere else to go, Brittney. I mean, I could crash on Paul's couch, but I'd really rather not. He smokes a lot of pot, and I'm just not into that."

  "Good to know," Brittney said. "But no. I'm not kicking you out. In fact, I want to offer you a job. A real job."

  "What is it?" Peter asked, immediately sitting up straighter and looking interested.

  Brittney knew what it was like to be bored with nothing to do. Before Afterlife, she had spent her time partying and sleeping with men. What kind of trouble would her brother get into if left to his own devices?

  "Afterlife needs someone who can clean up after them," Brittney said. "You'd be a sort of personal assistant. You'd be in charge of making sure no messes were left; figurative or literal. Think you could handle that? It's a lot of work."

  Peter thought about it for a moment. "You want me to go around and make sure that there's nothing left that could incriminate you guys at crime scenes. That sort of thing."

  "Pretty much," Brittney said.

  "I'm in," Peter said quickly. "That sounds like something I'd enjoy doing. Do I get paid? I'd like to actually be earning my keep, you know."

  "You'd get paid," Brittney said. "Don't worry about that. You'll be earning your keep. This isn't forever though, okay, Peter? Someday you're going to have to decide what it is you want to do with your life. At that point, we'll figure something else out."

  "What if this is it?" Peter asked. "What if this is what I want to do? What if I like it? What if I'm good at it?"

  Brittney shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, then. If it's something you end up really enjoying and you make a career out of it, then so be it. But you'll need a cover story for Mom and Dad. You can't very well tell them that you're clean-up crew for demon hunters."

  Peter laughed.

  "I'm serious," Brittney said.

  "I'll figure something out," Peter said. "Maybe I'll tell them I'm FBI too."

  "Not a chance," Brittney said. "First of all, they're not going to buy that. Secondly, that's my cover story. You can't have it."

  Peter stuck his tongue out at her. Before he could retort, the door opened and Harper popped in. "Hey, guys. Brittney, you ready?"

  "Can I come?" Peter asked immediately.

  "Official business," Harper said. "Sorry Peter, this one is just for us."

  Peter made a face at Harper. She ruffled his hair affectionately, popped into her room to grab her badge and gun, and then went to get in Brittney's car.

  The drive over was dangerous. Brittney skidded several times, and they were very close to getting in an accident. By the time they arrived, Brittney's nerves were shot and she decided she'd let Harper drive on the way back. She was just glad she had an SUV that could handle the wet weather better than a small car.

  They made their way inside, where they were greeted by Ryan Moore. "How are you guys?" he asked.

  "I'm doing well," Harper said.

  "I'm alright," Brittney said. "Getting tired of the rain, though. How are you, Ryan?"

  Ryan smiled. "I've been alright. Going back through some of our cold cases with the information I have now. Some of them make a lot more sense. I think we're going to be able to close the books on some of them."

  "Good," Brittney said. "But remember to keep things on the down low, Ryan. We don't want people knowing how it is your solving those cases."

  "Of course," Ryan said. "I'm not closing them so I can up my record or anything. I'm just doing it so I can inform the families that we've figured out their cases. People need to have some closure if they're going to move on."

  Harper nodded. "Makes sense. Just don't tell them that..." she lowered her voice. "We can't have people knowing that demons are involved."

  "I have tact," Ryan said cheerfully. "Don't worry about that, Harper. I'm not going to out you guys."

  "Good," Brittney said. "We're here about a woman that was brought in. Name is Karen Style. She was beat up by her ex-husband?"

  "She got checked out by the paramedics and we have her in holding," Ryan said. "Associating with felons. Direct violation of parole. She hasn't lawyered up yet, but she's refusing to answer any questions."

  "Can we talk to her?" Brittney asked.

  Ryan hesitated. "Is this related to your other job?"

  "No," Brittney admitted. She silently cursed Sarah for getting them into this in the first place. "But she's a friend of a friend and we want to make sure she gets all the help she can get. We think we can get her to talk if she knows she has someone on her side."

  Harper nodded. "Has she done a urine test?"

  Ryan nodded too. "Yeah, it came back clean. Still, she was with known felons. I don't know, Agents. This isn't really your territory."

  "I know," Brittney said. "But as a favor to us? Please?"

  Ryan finally consented. "Alright. I'll let you talk to her. I can't promise you anything in regards to her going back to jail though. That's up to her probation officer."

  "Thanks," Brittney said. "We appreciate it."

  "Sure," Ryan said. "I owe you guys one, after all."

  He led them back to the interrogation rooms, where Karen was sitting. Brittney exchanged glances with Harper and the two of them went in.

  "Hi," Brittney said.

  "I told them I'm not talking," Karen said, looking at their FBI badges. "I told them I didn't do nothing wrong and that I'm not gonna say otherwise. Doesn't matter who they send in, I'm not saying otherwise."

  Brittney nodded. She looked over the woman, in her dirty clothing and with her bruised face. Her hair was stringy, and she looked like she hadn't bathed in a while. But her urine test had come back clean, and Sarah had vouched for her. She felt judgmental, but knew she shouldn't be. She had no idea about this woman's life or what she'd gone through.

  "We're not here to try and get you to admit anything," Brittney said. "Sarah sent us. She's a friend of ours."

  "Oh," Karen said, and her lined face sagged in relief. "So you can get me out of here."

  "We'll talk to your probation officer," Harper said. "But why don't you tell us what happened first?"

  "I didn't know my boyfriend was an ex-con," Karen said. "And I didn't know he had coke in the house. He was selling it; I had no idea. I was just living there. Then my husband showed up, I guess he had been buying it from him, and he beat me up. Took the drugs. Threatened me. I didn't know, so I called the cops right away."

  "You did the right thing," Harper said.

  Brittney thought that there was something fishy about the story, but she knew the woman was probably going to say whatever she needed to get herself out of trouble. The important thing was that she wasn't doing drugs. Just because she was living with someone who was... well, damn it, Sarah
. She hated being in this position.

  "So you didn't know about the boyfriend being a felon, and you didn't know about the drugs?"

  "That's right," Karen said. "I just thought that he was a good guy, that's all. He seemed like a good guy. Didn't beat me up, that's something. When a guy treats you right, you don't just doubt him, you know?"

  "Yeah," Harper said. "We know."

  "Alright," Brittney said. "That's all we wanted to know. Who's your probation officer? We'll talk to him."

  Karen smiled, looking relieved. "If you can convince him to let me off with a warning, that would be great. I'll stay away from felons and drugs. I promise. The guy in charge of my case is Detective Grady."

  "Why's a detective handling your case?" Harper asked.

  "No idea," Karen said.

  Brittney and Harper exchanged glances. "We'll do our best to get you out of here, Karen."

  EIGHT

  Brittney and Harper stood outside the holding cell, conversing in low voices. Harper shook her head. "We can't ask Grady to let her off. You know how he feels about us. And that's besides the fact that he knows about us."

  "We have to at least try," Brittney said. "Sarah asked us to take care of this, after all. We can't let her down."

  "She shouldn't have asked us to deal with this at all," Harper said, somewhat stubbornly.

  She was irritated that they'd been involved in this situation in the first place. She wanted to be home with Conner, cuddled up on the couch, listening to the rain pound outside and eating some kind of food he'd cooked her. The worst part was that she knew Brittney felt the same. Yet, they were still arguing the matter.

  "No, she shouldn't have," Brittney agreed. "But we have to do our best."

  Harper sighed. "Fine," she agreed. "But when George Grady laughs us out of the room and then throws her in jail just because he hates us, then Sarah can take responsibility for that."

  "We don't know that's how it's going to go down," Brittney said.

  "But I have a good idea that's how it will," Harper said. "And you know it too. Wouldn't you rather be doing anything else rather than this right now?"

  Brittney laughed. "Yeah," she said. "I can think of a few things. Come on, let's go find Grady."

  "Sure," Harper said with a resigned sigh.

  She thought again of Conner, and snuggling on the couch. Then she sucked it up and went to find the detective. He was in another part of the station, but after a few minutes, they found him.

  "Well, hello, ladies," he said. "Imagine seeing you here. I mean, really, imagine it. You two aren't even real FBI agents, are you? So what is it you're doing here in my building? Pretending to be one of my men?"

  Brittney shook her head. "Look, Detective, I know we've had our differences, but we actually are FBI agents. You'll find our credentials backed up if you really want to call it in."

  "Oh, I know the truth," George said. "Marcia looked into that. She wanted to get you discredited, but that would mean getting Eklund discredited, and that would mean getting Councilwoman Stanley discredited, and that's not something we have the power to do. So we're stuck with you, whether we like it or not. And I don't like it. So what you do you want?"

  Harper knew it would happen this way. She had known it from the start. He hated them and she had no idea why. If he'd really bugged their house, like the demon Akain had said, he'd know that they weren't really involved in the trafficking that was going on.

  She decided to find out. "What is it about us that you hate so much, Detective Grady? We're just trying to do our best out there, same as you. Protect and serve."

  "I worked hard for my badge," George said. "And people like you come in, with your connections, and higher ups, and you walk right by me. I've been trying to get into the FBI training course for years. I keep getting turned down."

  "I'm sorry," Brittney said. "Maybe we can talk to Special Agent Eklund for you."

  "Maybe," George said. "That would be a start to mending our relationship. Now, what is it you want? I'm a very busy man."

  Harper hesitated. She knew asking for a favor could turn around on them, but Brittney was right; they had to try. "You're doing probation officer work?" she asked.

  "That's right," George said.

  "One of your probationers was brought in," Harper said. "Karen Style. She was busted for being around felons. There were drugs too, but she's clean. She passed the urine test. We want you to let her go with a warning. She's trying to get her kids back and if she goes back to jail, that's might not happen."

  George blinked. "You know, I had such high hopes for her. She seemed like she was doing really well. This is what happens in the system. There's not enough resources alloted for people like Karen and they end up going back to their old habits. You said she was clean, though?"

  Harper and Brittney nodded.

  "Please don't send her back to jail because of us," Brittney said quickly. "I know you don't like us, and we're asking you for a favor, but please don't just send her back because of that. She's a good woman, I can tell just by looking at her."

  "You can, huh?" George said. "You know she lost her kids because she let her husband beat them, right? She would sit around high and he'd beat them and she wouldn't do a thing to stop it."

  Harper winced. She had been afraid of something like that, but Sarah usually helped people who needed it. "Well, maybe in the past, but she's doing better now, isn't she?"

  George sighed. "She is, that's true. I don't know. My instinct is to send her back, but I could give her a warning. For you. A quid pro quo."

  Harper shook her head immediately.

  "You haven't even heard my offer yet," George said, bemused. "Don't you want to know what you'd be doing for me? It's right up your alley from what I can tell."

  "Alright," Brittney said. "Tell us what you want."

  "I've got some probationers assigned to me, as well as some felons. There's a felon of mine that I'm trying to keep out of trouble," George said. "She went to prison for arson a few years ago. Said she was possessed. Nobody believed her, of course. She was rambling, and they thought about sticking her in a psych ward, but again, resources. So she went to prison. She was released two years ago to my care. Here's the thing. The fires have started again; you might have heard of some of them. Mostly around where she's living."

  "And what?" Brittney asked. "You think she's really possessed?"

  "I wouldn't have believed if it if weren't for you guys," George said. "But you deal with this kind of thing. She hasn't been caught yet, and nobody suspects her but me. But I recognize the MO. So I have a choice. I can arrest her and she'll spend the rest of her life in a ward or in prison, or you can figure out some way to exorcise the demon out of her."

  Harper sighed. "We don't normally take side projects."

  "Here's the thing," George said. "You can do this for me, and I'll let Karen off with a warning, and you can help a woman that actually needs it. Or you can refuse, and I can make sure all police know about your extracurricular activities."

  "That would be a very bad move," Brittney said. "Even if they believed you, which they wouldn't, would you really want the hell storm that would bring down on Las Vegas? Neighbor against neighbor, people attacking each other on false accusations of being a demon, people advocating for demon rights, people advocating against... it wouldn't be a pretty scenario. And the good parts of the supernatural world -- like the fey -- would get dragged into it too, and they've done nothing."

  "Then don't let that happen," George said. "I'll keep your secret if you help me."

  "Absolutely not," Brittney said flatly.

  "Brittney," Harper said. "Maybe we should--"

  "--No," Brittney said. "I am tired of getting shoved around. I'm tired of getting threatened and blackmailed. I'm so sick of it. So you can take your quid pro quo and you can shove it up your--"

  Before she could get further, Harper clapped a hand on her arm and yanked her away. She shot George an apologetic lo
ok and then took Brittney down the hall, where they could talk alone.

  "Look, he has the power to expose us."

  "And he's threatening to do it," Brittney said. "Akain is threatening us, that councilwoman is threatening us, and now some loser of a cop is threatening us. Aren't you tired of being threatened?"

  "Of course I am," Harper said. "But maybe we don't have to look at it that way with George."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean, it's obvious he's desperate for help," Harper said. "So he didn't just come out and ask for it. Maybe he's too scared to do that. Maybe he thinks we'll turn him down unless he resorts to threatening us."

  Brittney shook her head. "Have you forgotten how they arrested Chloe and lied about her being under the influence? They could have ruined her life."

  "That was Marcia Livingston," Harper said.

  "They're one in the same," Brittney said. "They're partners, and he backed her play. He keeps backing her plays. And he admitted that he hates us, just because he hasn't gotten accepted into the FBI academy. It's not our fault!"

  "I know," Harper said. "But this is exactly the sort of case that we do take."

  "So you want it?" Brittney asked. "What happened to I'd rather be anywhere else?"

  Harper shrugged. "I'm not saying that I'm going to enjoy working with him. I'm just saying that he needs our help and so does his parolee. We're the kind of people they come to when they need that help. So let's do it."

  "Fine," Brittney agreed. "But it doesn't mean I'm going to be nice to him."

  "Works for me," Harper said.

  They went back to where George was.

  "Let's get something straight," Brittney said. "We're going to help you but it has nothing to do with the fact that you threatened us, and you threatened the city. We know you don't want those things I described and that you'd never do anything to jeopardize this city's peace. You're too proud of that damn badge you wear."

  George started to say something, but Brittney held up a hand. "We're going to help you because that's what we do. We help people in the supernatural world when they have nowhere else to turn to. So threaten us again, and we're going to have problems, but otherwise, we're going to need you to hand over all the information you have about the case to us. Got it?"