Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot)

by Amsden, Christine

  “No.” I knew who was, and that Victor wouldn’t be far away, but I didn’t say so to her. “Your mother called the other day to say you were missing. She’s worried about you.”

  “Oh.” Renee brushed her hands nervously against her jean shorts. “I couldn’t go home. She’d be in danger. I’m putting you in danger being here, but I just don’t know where else to go. I’m so tired of running.”

  I took a few hesitant steps toward her. “Why don’t we go inside so you can tell me all about it?”

  Renee glanced at the door, as if it could tell her something about the safety of that move. Maybe it could. Then she pulled a battered business card from her pocket. “Why do you say you’re a normal detective?”

  “Ah, that. Well, I was trying not to take paranormal cases.”

  “You mean like ghosts?”

  I thought about the bank robber – my brother – and cringed. “Exactly. But people seem to want me to help with that kind of stuff because...”

  “You know something about it?” Renee asked hopefully.

  “A little bit. We really should go inside.”

  Something steeled inside of her and she nodded, once. I skirted past her, unlocked the door, and ushered her inside.

  “Do you want some tea?” I asked.

  She shook her head, then paused and nodded. “I’ve been up all night. I suppose I need something.”

  “Have a seat. I’ll just be a minute.”

  A few minutes later I poured two mugs of tea, handing one to her. “Thank you.” She took a sip and shuddered, placing it on the card table we had been using as a dining room table.. “Someone’s been following me since I escaped yesterday. I keep thinking I’ve lost him, but there he is again. I went south for a while, then doubled back north. I wanted to stop for the night but I knew he was back there, somewhere.”

  “Escaped? What do you mean?”

  She fidgeted in her chair. “Let me start by saying Mackenzie didn’t hurt those girls.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Oh? How do you know?”

  “Because I was with him the night they disappeared. Almost all night.” Her face went a little pink and she turned away, making her meaning abundantly clear. “They set him up.”

  “They who?” I asked.

  “It was... It was...” She took a deep breath, but couldn’t seem to stop shaking.

  “What did you see?” I tried to make my voice sound gentle, even as I seethed with impatience.

  “It was impossible. Completely impossible. You’ll think I’m crazy.”

  “Renee,” I said, my voice still gentle, “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”

  She took another sip of tea and stared out the window. “The last time I saw Mackenzie was Thursday morning. I was in the stables and he was just outside, talking to one of the local deputies. I’m not sure why I didn’t go outside, but I hesitated in the shadows behind the door. Then I saw Mackenzie had a gun. I knew he kept one, but I didn’t know why he had it then. And he was pointing it at his own... at his own head.”

  I reached for a Kleenex and handed it to her. “Was he suicidal?”

  “No! He didn’t do it! He pulled the trigger, but I swear he didn’t do it. You should have seen the look on his face. He was terrified. He didn’t want to pull that trigger. Someone made him do it. That deputy, I think. He had this weird look on his face and I could smell burning incense and then I hid in the tack room while the deputy put his body in one of the stalls. He acted like he didn’t weigh anything at all, but Mackenzie was twice his size. I watched out the window until he wasn’t looking and then I made a run for it.”

  “But someone caught you?” I asked.

  “Ben Goldstein,” she said.

  I nearly fell over. “Regina’s father?”

  In answer, Renee gave me a single nod.

  It didn’t make sense. How could Regina’s father be involved in all this? Why would he have let his daughter die? Plus, if he was a practitioner, then how had Renee escaped?

  “How did you escape?”

  “He let me go,” Renee said. “I was in the other room when two men came over – I didn’t recognize their voices – but they got in a fight with Ben. They gave him some money, but it was apparently too much. I didn’t understand everything, but he said something like the agreement had been for her magic, not her life, and the other guy said that the deal had changed and they were compensating him, so what did he care?” Renee paused for breath. “After they left, he came into the room and said it was all going wrong and if they found me there they’d kill me so he’d better let me go because he never wanted anyone to die.”

  Renee looked up at me, a hint of pleading in her eyes. “Does any of this make sense? Do you believe me?”

  I was still trying to figure out how to answer when the apartment door banged open and Victor Blackwood came barreling through, arms outstretched. Renee’s face contorted into one of abject terror, but the rest of her body remained absolutely still, victim of a full-body bind.

  I leaped to my feet and shook my head. “No, stop! It’s not her.”

  Victor gave me a dubious look, then let his gaze shift sideways to Renee. I stood my ground, though it wasn’t nearly as easy to do with this near stranger as it was with my family or Evan.

  “Let me handle this,” Victor said.

  I put myself directly between Victor and Renee. “I’ve promised to help her.”

  Victor took two steps closer just as Evan came through the door, looking anxiously between the three of us.

  “You’re terrifying her,” I told Victor. “She just told me she saw a sorcerer force a man to shoot himself in the head.”

  Evan stepped forward and placed a hand on his father’s arm. “Dad, if Cassie says she’s all right, she’s all right. Let her go.”

  Victor threw up his arms and turned his back on us. Renee collapsed to the ground in a shivering heap, gasping for breath. I rushed forward to put my arms around her, though she didn’t seem in the mood to be comforted.

  “She knows who killed the girls,” I said. “It was one of the deputies and someone else she didn’t see. Regina’s father was apparently paid for his daughter’s magic, although I think things got out of hand.”

  Renee began to cough and shake her head.

  “What?” I asked.

  “They’re not dead.” Renee shot an anxious glance over my shoulder. “Who are they?”

  “What do you mean they’re not dead?” Evan asked.

  Renee stared at him, her face ghostly white. “You’re like them, aren’t you? The men who made Mackenzie pull the trigger? He didn’t want to.”

  Evan shook his head. “I’m not like them. I’m the one who makes them pay.”

  Her face seemed to go paler. “The girls aren’t dead.”

  “They identified the bodies,” I said. Or had they? Hadn’t she just said a deputy was involved? Had Hank simply lied? If so, whose bodies had been in the stables?

  “I don’t know about that,” Renee said. “When I overheard the men talking to Ben, they said something about selling them after they were drained.”

  I closed my eyes as a sudden mental recall of my mother’s painful predicament filled my mind. Years of fear, months of pain, and then he sold her – as breeding stock.

  Drawing back from Renee, I leaned my head against the wall and tried to close my eyes against the torrent of emotions flooding through me. A week ago I didn’t know that people could do something like what Renee described. But now I knew, and I felt as if the knowledge were firsthand. Someone had done this to my own mother. And now, having lived in her mind for a time, I felt the agony of it.

  “Cassie?” Evan asked.

  “It’s the same thing they did to my mother,” I whispered. “It’s what I found in her mind. They drained her and then they sold her.”

  Evan sucked in his breath.

  “You said it was painful, but I didn’t realize how painful... until I felt
it.”

  “Not just for the victim,” Evan said. “It’s almost as painful for the one receiving the magic.”

  “At least he ends up with the magic. I would never forgive someone who did that to me, and I’d find some way to get revenge.” I shook my head to wave away my negative thoughts and looked to Evan for support, but he didn’t seem to have any to offer. He looked strange. Distant. But I didn’t have time to figure out what was going through his head.

  “I, um, I think we had better go talk to Ben Goldstein,” I said. “If anyone can tell us where the girls are, he can.”

  Evan took a deep breath, and pinned me with his gaze. “I told you not to get involved.”

  “Well, I am involved, and I’m not going to let you leave me behind.” I stared at him mutinously, challenging him to order me to stay. “Besides, you two don’t know how to question a witness. Look what happened when you barged in on this one.”

  Everyone’s eyes flew to the quivering mass on the floor.

  “All right,” Evan said, “but we’re bringing backup this time. Lots of backup.”

  27

  IN THE END, I DECIDED TO take Renee to my parents’ house to hide out until everything was over and I could be sure no one would try to hurt her. I didn’t mention that I would be taking her to a house full of practitioners, and her ordeal, combined with lack of sleep, kept her from asking too many questions. With luck, she’d fall asleep in the guest room and not wake up until it was all over.

  The group that set out from Eagle Rock to confront Ben Goldstein and attempt to rescue his daughter came together under the mantra of: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” At least for a time. There was no question but that the alliance between the Blackwoods and the Scots would be temporary, I only hoped they would be able to set aside their differences long enough to get the job done.

  We caravanned down to Arkansas with Evan and I in the lead, his father and Scott Lee in the car behind us, and my father and Nicolas taking up the rear. There had almost been an argument over the order, but I stepped smoothly between them with a coin. My father muttered something about Victor using his telekinesis to make the coin land the way he wanted, but he did not openly protest.

  The drive down to Arkansas was filled with a tension I could neither identify nor explain. Even when we were angry with one another, Evan and I rarely had trouble coming up with conversation, but for over an hour, I might as well have been talking to a brick wall. I tried any number of openings, from speculation about the case to questions about his future plans, but nothing worked. He didn’t even respond to my jabs at the Star Wars trilogy.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked when we were almost there.

  “Nothing,” he said, far too quickly.

  “Is it because I forgave my parents?” I asked. “Is that what has you worried?”

  He kept his eyes fixed on the road. For a minute I didn’t think he would answer, but then he said, “You’re back under their protection now.”

  “Which means what? They can’t interfere, even if they wanted to.” I paused, and when he didn’t fill in the silence, I added, “You know, because of the debt.”

  “What if there were no debt?”

  “It doesn’t matter, because there is.” My rapidly beating heart didn’t seem quite as sure, though. What if there were no debt? He had seen it as a way of freeing me, but could we find a way back together on the other side? My father was angry, irrational, and determined when it came to keeping me away from Evan. From that point of view, the debt protected us.

  “Did you talk to my brother last night?” I asked, sharply.

  “No.”

  “I know you were planning to talk to him. I could see it when I said good-bye last night. I know you, Evan.”

  “I didn’t talk to your brother,” he said in a near growl.

  Maybe he hadn’t been home. That might give us a reprieve, so I rushed on. “Then don’t go to him. You don’t need to; you know me, too.”

  “Do I?” Evan asked. “Last week you threw yourself at me, convinced I’d force you in the end.”

  “That was a hopelessness potion!”

  “You wouldn’t even talk about it afterward, just kept brushing me off. What was I supposed to think?”

  “You’re the one who said you’d never let me go!” I wished back the words as soon as I said them, but it was too late. I could see that in the firm set of Evan’s jaw and the icy reserve that fell over his face.

  “We’re here,” Evan said, pulling the car onto the side of a residential street I couldn’t even recall having turned onto.

  “Evan...” I trailed off, unsure how to finish that sentence.

  “Not right now,” Evan said, still keeping his eyes locked on the road ahead, though we were parked. “Just... not now. I need time to think.”

  “About what I said...”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He pounded his fist on the steering wheel, and the entire car shifted, slightly. Then he slammed his way out of the car and up the front steps, leaving me to follow in my own time.

  I didn’t, right away. My face was too hot, my emotions too raw. Something was wrong, and I didn’t even understand what. Yesterday, I had been wrapped inside the warm glow of love. Today, something threatened that glow, and the only thing I had was a vague prophecy that couldn’t possibly help me now.

  * * *

  Ben Goldstein lived in a tiny ranch house, almost a hovel, in a small town an hour south of the camp. It looked at least fifty years old and had not been properly maintained, with loose shingles falling from the roof and rotten siding along the sides.

  Evan didn’t bother to ring the doorbell, just slammed the door open and barged in. The air stirred around him in an intentionally ominous way. It was meant as a show of force, but he may as well not have bothered. Ben Goldstein was lying on the floor near a disgusting gray couch, an empty bottle of whiskey lying beside him. It looked as if he had drunk directly from the bottle.

  “Is he dead?” I asked.

  Evan knelt beside him and felt for a pulse, then he shook his head. “Passed out, I think. Damn.”

  The rest of our crew assembled inside. For a minute, we all just stared at the prone figure on the floor.

  “Now what?” Victor asked. He shot an angry glare at my father. “He’s your cousin.”

  Dad shook his head. “Vera is my cousin. This is her ex-husband.”

  “Whoever the hell he is, he let a couple of slave traders get to my cousin.”

  To my astonishment, my dad began to laugh, though I had no idea what could possibly be funny. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d care.”

  “Enough!” Evan bellowed. “Dad, how long will it take to brew a sober-up potion?”

  Victor glanced away from my father long enough to answer. “An hour or two, I think.”

  “Assuming he’s drunk,” Scott said.

  Everyone looked at him.

  Scott studied Ben. “I have a feeling that when he recovers, he’s not going to be of much use.”

  Evan sighed. “Well, he’s our only lead right now. Dad, get started on the potion.”

  Victor looked through his potion bag – a black satchel slung over his shoulder. “I need some anise. Don’t suppose he’d have any?”

  “I’ll get some,” Dad said. Under his breath he muttered. “Get me out of here for a few minutes.”

  I agreed whole-heartedly with the sentiment. “Great. You go to the store, you start your potion, and I’ll search the house to see if I can turn up anything that might help us find out where those two girls are.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Victor had the potion simmering, Dad still hadn’t returned, and Evan and I were going carefully through the papers in an old desk in one corner of the living room. Ben wasn’t an organized man. There were piles of bills, mostly overdue, and stacks of junk mail to sort.

  It was all I could do to stay focused on my task, with Evan trying so hard not to look at me or touch me. More
than once, I opened my mouth to speak, but he had already shut me out. Besides, there were too many listening ears.

  Then I found the check. “I’ve got something.”

  Evan set down the pile of mail he had been sorting and glanced over at me.

  “It’s a check from Henry J. Warren.” I flashed it at him. “It’s for twenty-five thousand dollars.”

  Evan whistled. “Henry Warren? Do we know a Henry Warren?”

  “I know a deputy named Hank.” I froze in sudden realization. “He’s the one who told me the bodies in the stables belonged to Laura and Regina.” Had he lied? If so, whose bodies were they and how had he fooled everyone into believing him?

  “He probably isn’t keeping the girls at his house,” Nicolas said from across the room. “We probably ought to wait until Ben is awake.”

  “Every minute we delay is another minute of agony for those girls.” Privately I also thought that if we got them soon enough, we might also leave them with a scrap of magic. It had already been a week and they probably weren’t that strong to begin with, so it might be too late, but we could try.

  Evan looked between us, and then at Scott. “What does your intuition tell you?”

  Scott frowned, thoughtfully. “That we don’t have all the facts, but also that time is running short and we may never be able to get those facts here.”

  “Then we’ll go,” Evan said. “Cassie, you stay here–”

  “No! I’m not staying here.”

  “I don’t want you in danger,” Evan said. “Scott, Nicolas, and I can handle it better without having to protect you.”

  I shook my head. “I may need protection here, too. Remember the last time our dads got together?”

  Evan’s face went a little pale. “I think you’ll be all right.”

  “I think you may need me. For one thing, you don’t know where Henry Warren lives. I can make some calls and find out. When we get there, who says the girls will be there? You need me.”

  Evan didn’t look happy about it, but to my surprise, Scott stood up for me. “I think she’s right. We will need her.”

  Evan scowled at his friend. “Does your intuition tell you if she’ll be all right or not?”