The Good Lady (Alice the Fallen Mystery Book 1)

by K. H. Pope

  “Guess I’ll be paying her a visit tomorrow, too,” I comment.

  “Good luck. I bet you’ll be needing an appointment.”

  “Perhaps, I can get in without one,” I say with a chuckle. I don’t believe I can, but I’m going to try, anyway. “How about you find me her home address, too? Just in case seeing her at Moltean doesn’t work out.”

  “Alright. Alice, I was wondering something.” Tip continues typing on the computer. “I’m not trying to change the subject, but I wanted to get back to what Julie said about Lana and Max. Do you believe her?”

  “I do, sort of.”

  “Well, I think Julie Sullivan is delusional.”

  “Delusional? Really?”

  “First of all, Max is not Lana’s type. Even if he owned the Tahj Mahal, she still wouldn’t give him the time of day. She’s like an Amazonian goddess without the muscles, and he’s like a matchstick with pits in his face.”

  “A wife knows when her husband is cheating, Tip.”

  “Lana is a good person, Alice. Being a cheater is not in her character.”

  “Maybe, you don’t know her. You’ll be surprise what people will do. I’ve had charges for centuries, and each one that has lived long enough has completely done something out of character.”

  “When you first came to live with Lana, how long did you stay?”

  “For a long time,” I answer. “Why do you ask?”

  “I bet Lana showed you nothing but kindness the whole time, and you’re sitting here doubting her. Come on, Alice, you know better. Julie is lying.”

  “Okay, so other than Julie being delusional, why would she think that about her husband? She must have seen something.”

  “I don’t know, but I can tell you, it doesn’t make sense.”

  Tip’s cell phone rings. He picks it up off the sofa and looks at the name on the display. “Ah, the lovely is calling before bedtime. She must want phone sex.”

  “You got a death wish, Tip. Keep on messing with that married woman. Her husband is going to bind you permanently.”

  “I ain’t worried about him.” He rushes to the kitchen area.

  With Tip preoccupied, I return my attention to the computer with Jeff’s website on the screen. There were a few links that caught my attention when it first came up that I wanted to take a closer look at. I click on the one that says pending contracts. A page appears showing he has two contracts in negotiation in Plain Dealing, but they’re over a year old. I go back to the previous page and select houses sold. From what the page reveals, Jeff has sold upper middle class homes in Shreveport, Louisiana, but the last sale was made over a year ago. The last selection is contracts on hold, and I click on it. There’s only one, and it has the address of Lana’s house in Plain Dealing. I look at the date it was put on hold. May of this year. A bid is on the house, but there’s nothing to indicate who placed it. How in the world is Jeff selling it, especially with all of the attacks and the way the market is? The economy in America as a whole is in shambles. And most of all, Lana would never sell her house. She loves that place. She chose everything from the flooring to the wind vale at the very top peak of the house. If Jeff is alive and I find him, we will be having a discussion on the future of that house.

  Tip finally comes back. He’s holding his phone close to his chest. “I’m going to bed. We need a little more privacy.”

  “When do you think that other laptop is going to locate Max’s computer?”

  “Shouldn’t be much longer.”

  “What about this mess?”

  His half eaten pizza is still on a plate on the sofa. The rest of the pizza is in a box behind the laptops. Napkins are on the floor and coffee table. Soda cans are everywhere. He just doesn’t care or worry about anything.

  “Tomorrow,” he says. “Alice, you know I can end my call, and we can keep each other warm tonight.”

  “Good night, Tip. Have fun with your married girlfriend.”

  “No need to be jealous. I still love you.” He winks at me and goes to the bedroom.

  I sure wish he would get himself together. Tip has the potential to go far. Some organization in the Magi Elite would take him in a heartbeat. Yet and still, he chooses to be a bum. Wasting his life, and I just don’t get it.

  CHAPTER 11

  After throwing the pizza away and cleaning up the mess around the already half destroyed living room, I sit back down to check on the progress of the search for Max’s computer. It’s complete. One file on his desktop catches my attention. It is a file that reads Maxim Sullivan LLC, but before I can click on it, I feel a presence in the room. Sigurd presents himself, and he’s not happy.

  “You need to leave, Alice. This is not going to work out like you think.”

  “You’re worried over nothing, Sigurd.”

  “I’m begging you to leave.”

  I sigh impatiently and say, “You don’t seem to understand what Calamous Fawlke has done. That man has not met justice. The Magi Elite is protecting him.”

  “This is not Tip’s fight.”

  “Sigurd, have any of your charges ever been mutilated to death? Kept in a cage, unable to sleep, eat, or drink?”

  My questions horrify him.

  “Do you have any idea what it’s like to hear the painful cries of your charge for three straight days and not be able to save them?” I wait for an answer, but it’s clear he hasn’t experienced anything I just mentioned.

  He carefully says, “I can’t possibly imagine what you’ve gone through, but I can tell you what you’re doing now will only cause you great pain in the long run. Walk away, Alice.”

  “I can’t.”

  Sigurd and I stare at one another. He disappears.

  I return back to the computer and open Max’s business file. From what I can tell, Max is an independent contractor that fixes computers for Moltean Corporation and a few individuals, just like Tip said. I also find a business agreement between Evelyn Crowe and Max in an untitled file. He also has another itinerary online. It shows Max had another appointment with Evelyn Crowe on Saturday, June 29, 2019, at her home the day after Lana and Max disappeared. There are no other appointments on it after that date.

  I think about the phone list again. None of the numbers on Max’s phone bill were to any of his business associates on his home computer except for Evelyn Crowe. I pull up the phone bill on the other laptop to check it again. Then I suddenly see something that brings me to disappointment. The dates of the phone calls go back four months in April, and the last entry shows that Max had the phone turned off in that same month. That means he was using a different phone last Friday in Viking. This phone bill is no good to me.

  My two last hopes now are Evelyn Crowe and Jeff Wells, if he’s alive.

  CHAPTER 12

  “How did you lose your wings?” Sigurd asks from the front door of the trailer.

  I’m sitting outside on a chair near the steps, nursing a cigarette that I found between the seat cushions of Tip’s sofa. The night sky is my show. It’s full of stars. I used to get a front row view of them. Now, they are so distant, completely out of my reach. It makes me sad.

  Without looking at Sigurd, I answer, “Sophia Talson was my last charge. Calamous kidnapped her when she was twelve. He tortured her without mercy, and not once did he feel any remorse. Those were the hardest three days I ever had to endure as a guardian. I failed her, Sigurd.”

  He kneels beside me. I can feel the soft airy feel of his hand.

  “Once Sophia was gone,” I continue, “I was relieved the suffering was over for her, but my anger was not appeased. I wanted revenge. I could feel it running throughout my spirit. It was like a fire that consumed me constantly, and there was no way I was going to let Calamous Fawlke live.

  “Instead of going back to the nursery like all guardian angels should after the death of their charges, I began following Calamous. My intention was to kill him, but I had to learn to manifest myself first.”

  “Did you
learn?” Sigurd asks.

  “I did. Took longer than I hoped, but I got it down. It was last year. Don’t exactly remember when, perhaps it wasn’t. I don’t know. Anyway, once I became visible, I was going to put my plan into play. I’d learned during the times when I followed him, he had a weakness for hookers. He’d pay a lot points for them. So I used that against him. I dressed up like one, changed the way I looked, and I waited in the usual spot he picked up his girls. The moment he saw me, I knew I had him. We went back to his favorite hotel, and that’s when I overpowered him. I started crushing his bones, starting from his toes, and when I reached his kneecaps, a witch appeared. She electrocuted me.” I laugh remembering that moment. “Her name was Pearl. She took him, and I haven’t seen him since. Found out later that the witch was a bounty hunter. Calamous was wanted by the Magi Elite Major Crime Unit, and she was hired to bring him in.”

  Sigurd is speechless. Tears wet his face. His soul aches. He makes me tremble.

  “After that, I was summoned by Second Judgement.”

  “Were you afraid?” Sigurd asks.

  “I was angry,” I remark.

  “What did it say to you, Alice?”

  I close my eyes, going back to the moment where I’m standing directly in front of Second Judgement. I repeat the sentence aloud word for word as it was spoken to me. “Shamira, you are found guilty of attempting to kill a human being. This act is against all that a guardian angel stands for. You are there to protect, to love, and to be their good conscience. You have broken the most valuable rule a guardian must follow. For your act, your guardianship is removed, your wings are stripped, your name no longer shall be, and you must wander the Earth until the end of time or such that our Father deems you forgiven of your act.”

  Instantly, the light from the scepter of Second Judgement burns through me and pushes me through the clouds. I grasp for something to grab on to, but the clouds slip through my fingers. My fall is agonizing. Fire burns all of my heavenly flesh away and most of my wings. Lightning strikes me, pushes me sideways, flips me around. Then I feel gentle arms catch me, but my skinless body screams from Ammon’s hold.

  “Alice!”

  I open my eyes, and Sigurd is before me again. Ammon is gone. The sounds of frogs and crickets have replaced the thunder. The air is calm.

  “You’re shivering, Alice. Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine,” I say shakily.

  “Sorry for making you relive that.”

  All I can do is swallow and take another draw of my cigarette. The tears burn my eyes. Reliving that has made me weak and brought back so much pain.

  “Alice, I see your agony, but that’s no excuse to put Tobius in harm’s way. I was there since before he was born. I’ve watched him grow up and endure the loss of both of his parents, and most recently his grandmother. What you’re asking of him is wrong, and you know this. If the Magi Elite Protection Unit comes after him because of what you asked him to do, they will punish him. They might even kill him. You won’t be able to save him. Is that what you want? Is that the future he deserves?”

  He’s right, but my heart burns with revenge. It can’t be satiated until Calamous Fawlke is dead.

  “I’m asking you to make him stop the search for Lily Fawlke. Please, Alice, please.” Sigurd stands and fades away.

  I don’t know what to do anymore.

  CHAPTER 13

  Evelyn Crowe’s house is in Vivian, Louisiana. Tall pines hide the property from the main road. I start my walk down the dirt road. The trees only allow so much light to hit the ground, giving the driveway a spooky feel. All of a sudden I feel like I’m walking through a plastic barrier. It’s another protective bubble. As soon as I’m through it, I’m right in front of a farmhouse type home with a porch surrounding it. Healthy, thick ferns are hanging from the awning. A peach colored luxury car is parked in the circular driveway. I look inside the car. There’s a folder full of papers on the back seat. I try the handle, but the door is unlocked. Just as I’m about to will the door to unlock, a woman clears her throat.

  On the porch is Evelyn Crowe. She looks just like her picture, regal and serious. I get a tingle that spreads throughout my body. A clear indication that Evelyn is a witch, and she’s a powerful one.

  “How did you get through my protection spell?” she asks coldly.

  “I mean you no harm, that’s how. I drove through another one yesterday.”

  “Did you?” A tiny smirk appears on her face.

  “At Lana Wells’ house in Plain Dealing. You did that one, as well?”

  “I did,” she says. I can see her easing up a bit. “What’s your name?”

  “Alice.”

  “That’s it? No last name?”

  “I’m afraid not,” I answer. “I was wondering if you and I could talk about Lana…and Max Sullivan.”

  “How do you know them?”

  “She’s a friend, and I met Max through her.”

  “Come inside,” Evelyn says while going back inside.

  I really don’t want to enter into her home. There’s no telling what she’s capable of, but I don’t have much of a choice, especially since I need answers.

  “Are you thirsty?” Evelyn takes long confident strides into the living room. She stops in front of a rolling butler and pours herself a drink. “I have wine, beer, water. Valued commodities these days.”

  “No, thanks,” I reply as I look around. The living room looks like a museum. Priceless paintings, statues, beautiful furniture.

  “You’re a Fallen, aren’t you?” she says, turning around to face me.

  “A Fallen?”

  “Yes, once an angel.”

  “Oh,” I remark with a nod. “Yeah.”

  “Pushed or on your own accord?”

  I’m a little put off by her question, but I try not to let it bother me. “I was pushed.”

  “You didn’t complete your fall. I can feel your power. Who caught you?”

  “Ammon,” I say uneasily.

  “Ammon Seth,” she says with a chuckle. “You must be something special for him to come to your rescue.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  She nods and offers me a seat. I take it. She takes her place in a peach, high back arm chair. It looks like a throne.

  “You have questions for me, Alice. I’m listening.”

  “Max had an appointment with you this past Saturday. Did he come by?”

  “No, I cancelled it,” she answers.

  “Why?”

  “I believe he stole a bracelet from me the last he was here. It was priceless. Belonged to my great aunt.”

  “Did you contact the police?”

  “The police don’t care about a stolen bracelet anymore.”

  I decide to go in another direction. “Did you know that Lana and Max are missing?”

  Evelyn sighs and says, “I had a feeling something was wrong. For how long?”

  “Since Friday. Lana and Max went to Viking to feed the homeless, and no one has seen them since.”

  Evelyn confidence is shaken. “I had no idea.”

  “When was the last time you spoke to her?”

  “I called Lana Thursday evening to set up a brunch date in Dijon for this past Sunday. I’ve been trying to get her to move out of Plain Dealing.”

  “Why?” I ask.

  “Because people are beginning to leave the cities, and they’re squatting in people’s houses in the suburbs and in smaller towns for shelter. I told her she wasn’t safe in that house, and I was hoping the trip to France would change her mind.”

  “She would have been fine with the protection spell.”

  “I just did that yesterday morning,” Evelyn responds. “I hadn’t heard from Lana since Thursday. Didn’t know where she was, and I saw that the road through Plain Dealing was heavier than usual. That’s when I placed a protection spell on that house.”

  “How did you first meet Max?”

  “Through Lana, actually. S
he recommended him to me six or seven months ago, and I offered him a yearlong contract to fix the computers at Moltean.”

  “Do you know if anyone was after Max? He got into an argument in Viking on Friday with an unknown guy.”

  “I don’t know anything personal about him. Our relationship was mostly professional, and I hardly ever spoke to him.”

  “Do you know Lana’s brother?”

  “Jeff, the con artist,” she adds with displeasure. “Who doesn’t know him?”

  “Did Lana mention that she might be trying to sell her house?”

  Evelyn shakes her head and says, “She’d never sale the Victorian.”

  “Jeff has it on hold. Someone placed a bid on it. I don’t know who.”

  “And you probably won’t be able to find out who’s done it.” She takes a sip before continuing. “It’s hard to believe Lana and Max are missing. When I went into her house yesterday, nothing looked out of place. No one was in there. The whole property was just quiet. I wasn’t really sure what happened to her.”

  “Well, I hope to find out soon. Thank you for your time, Evelyn.”

  “Before you leave,” she says while standing up. “I was wondering how close are to you finding Lana?”

  “Actually, I have no idea. I’m new to this.” I’m embarrassed to admit this.

  “Do you need help? I know someone who is experienced in finding missing people and private investigations.”

  “If he’s mortal, then I don’t think-”

  “He’s a wizard, Alice, and he’s very good at what he does. I just want to help. Lana is my friend, too.”

  “Thank you, Evelyn. Actually, I could use all the help I can get.”

  “His name is John Zuller. Come by Moltean Corporation today, and I’ll let him know to expect you.”

  “Excellent.” My phone stops starts ringing. I check the display. Julie Sullivan is calling me. “I have to get this. I’m sorry.”