Unmarked Graves

by Christine Pope

  Sitting in the center of the leather-backed blotter on top of that shining, expensive desk was the hard drive.

  She must have gasped aloud, because Will immediately looked over at her and asked in urgent tones, “Are you all right, Rosemary? What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing’s the matter,” she said, knowing she was probably smiling like an idiot. “It’s just — I know where the hard drive is. It really is at Daniel Lockwood’s house.”

  Chapter 15

  Will didn’t bother to ask how she knew such a thing. Not when the woman sitting in the passenger seat of their rented vehicle was a psychic who’d exhibited some pretty impressive displays of her talent over the past few days.

  “Where in his house?”

  “On his desk,” she said, her big blue eyes dreamy and focused on something far beyond the interior of the RAV4 — something probably a half mile away in the impressive brick house they’d surveilled not an hour earlier. “It’s just sitting there where anyone could see it. Arrogant, isn’t he?”

  Since demons tended to be a prideful lot, Will didn’t argue with her assessment. “I suppose he figures it’s safe enough there. Who else is in the house?”

  Rosemary’s brows drew together. “There’s a woman…she looks like she’s probably around my mother’s age, so I have a feeling she’s Daniel Lockwood’s wife.”

  Did that unknown woman have any idea who she’d been married to for the past several decades? Probably not; the cambions had worked way too hard to conceal their true natures to let themselves indulge in those sorts of confessions. “What’s she doing?”

  “Talking to the caterer.” Rosemary paused there, her frown easing slightly, although now she appeared to be concentrating, as if she needed to focus on what Lockwood’s wife was saying. “There’s…they’re having a party tomorrow night. A charity fundraiser for the library.” She broke off there, her gaze focusing on Will with a sudden intensity that was somewhat jarring after her dreamy aspect of a moment earlier. “It’s tomorrow night, Will. We have to go.”

  “We what?” he said, not sure he’d heard her correctly.

  “It’s the easiest way to get inside Daniel Lockwood’s house,” she replied. “Why bother to try breaking in when we can just show up at a party?”

  “A party where there’ll be dozens of witnesses or more.”

  “Even better,” Rosemary said, apparently not deterred at all. “Since it’s a charity event, not everyone there is going to be part-demon. There could be people from outside Greencastle. Can you think of a better way to get in there without being noticed?”

  Will had to admit she had a point. “I suppose that could work….”

  “I know it’ll work. They’re still selling tickets at the library. We can go over there and buy some, and then we’re set.”

  She made it sound so easy. However, he had a feeling there were some practical considerations they needed to take into account, including something that might have seemed frivolous on the surface but could be a problem when it came to blending in. “Please tell me it’s not black tie.”

  For a second or two, she just stared at him. Then she shook her head, although she sent him a rueful smile. “No, it’s ‘cocktail attire,’ but I sure didn’t pack any cocktail dresses for this trip…and I’m assuming you don’t have a suit crammed in your carry-on luggage, either.”

  “No,” Will said. “But we’re actually not that far from Indianapolis. Let’s go get those tickets and confirm we’re on the right track here, and then we’ll go shopping.”

  Rosemary’s blue eyes sparkled at that suggestion. He could tell she was looking forward to such an expedition, if for no other reason than it would get them out of Greencastle for a few hours, thereby lowering their risk of detection by the demons.

  He reached over and touched his phone, typed in “library” and let the app navigate them over to the building in question. Like so many of the other structures in town, it was red brick, sturdy and simple but well-preserved. It didn’t look as though it was in need of a charity fundraiser for its upkeep, but maybe this particular event was focused more on raising money to supplement the library’s collection.

  The tickets weren’t cheap — a hundred and fifty dollars each. However, considering where the money was going, Will had no regrets about the purchase. After all, he reminded himself, most of the people who lived in this town were regular mortals, just like himself and Rosemary. They certainly deserved a library they could be proud of.

  But now that they had the tickets in hand, and had confirmed that the event in question would be held on Wednesday, October 23rd, at 7 p.m., it was time for them to get out of Greencastle and find something appropriate to wear. Will had his doubts whether he’d be able to find a suit off the rack that would work — he’d always needed to get them tailored in the past — but maybe a sport coat and a nice pair of trousers would work. After all, the small college town didn’t appear to be a hotbed of high fashion.

  They drove out of downtown so he could get on I-70 heading east. They hadn’t been driving very long before Rosemary let out a chuckle and pointed at the road sign they were approaching. “Looks like they have a Monrovia here, too. I guess I wasn’t expecting that.” Her expression sobered. “I wonder why Caleb didn’t mention it when he was trying to win me over with his ‘innocent Indiana boy’ act.”

  Hard to say for sure. Will was actually quite relieved that he couldn’t begin to guess at some of Caleb’s thought processes. “Did he ever say where exactly in Indiana he was from?”

  “No. I’m sure that was on purpose. I doubt he would want any attention focused on Greencastle.”

  No, probably not. It had taken Fred Peñasco some time to ferret out that particular detail. Will wondered how Michael’s friend had managed it, considering he’d had a false name to go on and not much else. Or maybe he’d gone in reverse, had kept picking away at the Underhill Trust crew and then had backfilled the data from there.

  “Well, we’re here despite Caleb’s best efforts,” Will said, and was gratified to see Rosemary’s expression brighten somewhat. “And now that we know where the hard drive is, our job will be that much easier.”

  “Unless Daniel Lockwood really does plan to spirit it away to a safety deposit box so it won’t be in the house while he’s having the fundraising party,” Rosemary returned, some of the sparkle going out of her eyes.

  “No, I don’t think he’ll do that. He might have a safe on the property, though.”

  “In which case…?” she said, and let the question trail off into the ether.

  “In which case, we’ll figure something out,” Will said firmly. At least he sounded confident, even if he didn’t exactly feel that way.

  If Rosemary picked up on any of his unease, she didn’t show it. Quite possibly, she’d decided that it really wouldn’t help their cause to allow themselves to be defeated before they’d even made the attempt, so she fell silent then and seemed to be content to watch the countryside passing by outside the windows. He guessed it all must look very foreign to her eyes, so used to Southern California’s urban sprawl or its golden-brown hillsides, which usually only sprouted with green for a short month or so during the region’s rainy season. Here was mile after mile of open farmland, now bare after the harvests had been gathered in, although the roadside itself was still bordered with green grass, a little yellow here and there from frost, but still lush enough. In a way, it reminded him of the countryside around the town in Massachusetts where he’d grown up, although the land was flatter here and everything felt more spread out.

  Soon enough, though, they reached the outskirts of Indianapolis. They’d decided to go to the Keystone Fashion Mall even though it was on the north side of the city and a little out of the way, just because it offered more high-end stores and thus probably more chances to find something that would work for both of them. He got off the freeway at Keystone Avenue and wound around the shopping center until he was able to find a par
king space near Nordstrom.

  Rosemary eyed their destination with what looked like some unease. “I don’t think I’ve ever shopped at a Nordstrom in my life.”

  “Not even Nordstrom Rack?” he asked. The discount store was his go-to for shoes, since he knew he could always find something there to fit his size-thirteen feet.

  “Oh, well,” she said, relenting. “That’s different.”

  Yes, it was, but Will knew that if they wanted to blend in at all, they needed to look the part. True, all the locals would know at once he and Rosemary were from out of town, but the library assistant who’d sold them the benefit tickets had proudly told them people were coming from Indianapolis for the event, and so he figured they could just pass themselves off as some DePauw alumni who’d come back to show a little love for the college town. Or at least, he hoped the story was convincing enough that no one would question it too much.

  Well, unless the part-demons in attendance were able to sniff them out the moment they walked through the door.

  First things first, though.

  “Any demons around?” he asked Rosemary as they entered the store through the cosmetics department, only half joking.

  She paused and stared at him for a second, clearly trying to gauge his expression. Then she shook her head. “No, I’m not sensing anything. But then, I couldn’t tell what Caleb was, so I’m probably not the best person to ask.”

  Although Will thought she was being too hard on herself, he decided he’d better let the comment go. Besides, he’d found himself checking the rearview mirror far too often on the drive over to the mall, and he hadn’t been able to detect a single vehicle that looked even remotely suspicious. He thought they were safe enough here.

  Which was why he said, “I think it’s all right if we split up. We’ll get this done more quickly.”

  Her mouth pursed in amusement. “What, you don’t want to watch me try on ten different dresses and fifteen pairs of shoes?”

  “Would you really need to look at that many?” he asked, feeling vaguely alarmed. Surely the process couldn’t be that complicated….

  Rosemary laughed outright, and gave him a good-natured smack on the arm. “Maybe. All right, I won’t subject you to my shopping obsessions. Meet back here when we’re done? I’ll try not to take too much time.”

  “That sounds perfect,” Will said, although he’d begun to wonder whether splitting up was a good idea after all. True, a Nordstrom in Indianapolis didn’t seem like the sort of place that would be fraught with peril — well, except to his bank account — but he also didn’t want to make such an amateur mistake. “Or maybe — ”

  “It’s fine,” she cut in. “We’ll be fine.” She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Now, shoo. And don’t buy anything unless it’s at least thirty percent off.”

  The place where she’d pressed her lips against his skin seemed to tingle slightly, and he wished he could give her a real kiss. However, that would have to wait until they were alone together. “I’ll do what I can.”

  He offered her a smile and then headed off toward the men’s department, following the signs. Rosemary lingered where she was for a second or two before nodding to herself and going over to the escalator. She was soon lost from view, and Will made himself keep going. With any luck, he’d find something suitable quickly enough. Although their plan was to meet back in the cosmetics department, he figured he would go in search of her if he was done within fifteen or twenty minutes. From the way she’d been talking, he guessed her own shopping would take much longer than that.

  The prices were a bit staggering, that was for sure. Yes, he wore jackets in his capacity as a minister, but he’d gotten in the habit of going to downtown Los Angeles for that sort of thing, since he could save a lot of money by picking things up in the Fashion District rather than paying department store prices for them.

  Well, he didn’t have that option here, so he’d just have to do the best he could.

  However, fate appeared to be smiling on him, because on a sale rack he found a dark gray Ted Baker suit in a thirty-eight long marked down to under three hundred dollars. Will figured he couldn’t do much better than that — the suit fit him perfectly — and so he bought it and a white dress shirt and a tie patterned in gray and silver and burgundy. He’d been needing new dress shoes for a while anyway, and so he didn’t feel quite as bad about that purchase.

  All through this shopping frenzy — well, it felt like a frenzy even though he knew he was being quite careful with his spending — he couldn’t help wondering if they were crazy for attempting to crash a fundraiser at a cambion’s house. Then again, he’d thought the same thing about their trip to Indiana in general, but so far, their luck seemed to be holding. Surely if Daniel Lockwood or any of the other demon offspring had realized they had a pair of interlopers in their midst, they would have moved against him and Rosemary before they had a chance to leave town.

  Then again, maybe they’d planned to do something about them, but then decided to hold back since their prey had headed out of Greencastle. Maybe even now, the part-demons were lying in wait for the strangers to return.

  Not a very comforting thought, but one Will knew he’d have to keep in the back of his mind, just in case.

  He paid for his shoes and added the bag to the ones he was already carrying, then glanced down at his watch. Twenty minutes had passed, give or take. Time to go in search of Rosemary.

  He hoped she was having as much luck as he had.

  In general, she loved to shop. Right then, however, Rosemary found herself frowning as she stared at the racks of cocktail dresses. Had she ever in her life bought a cocktail dress?

  She didn’t think so.

  And honestly, what kind of dress was she supposed to wear to a benefit cocktail party that just happened to be held at the home of a half-demon who would probably tear her apart limb from limb if given the chance?

  Well, nothing too tight, in case you have to make a quick getaway, she thought, and made herself go over to the closest rack and start pushing her way through the size-fours.

  And since it was a cocktail party at a small town in Indiana, nothing too short or too revealing, too flashy or sparkly or…well, memorable in any way, which sort of took all the fun out of shopping in the first place.

  However, she found a few likely candidates, although she had to put one back after she glanced at the price tag and saw it was nearly eight hundred dollars. No way was she going to spend that much, not when she had no idea whether the dress was even going to survive the evening.

  Her favorite was possibly a little too memorable, a slate-blue lace Tadashi Shoji midi dress with a nude lining, but Rosemary slung it over her arm anyway. It was definitely more her style than the discreet sheath-style gowns she’d been choosing before she found the lace gown; with any luck, she’d get to wear it again when she was safely back in Southern California and she and Will were able to go out for an intimate dinner together.

  That was probably getting a bit ahead of herself, but Rosemary figured it couldn’t hurt to have something to look forward to. Yes, a nice dinner with him in his new suit. Of course, she hadn’t seen him in the suit yet, but since Will looked amazing in pretty much anything he wore, she guessed he would be even more spectacular in a good suit.

  The blue lace dress fit her perfectly, which seemed to be a sign from the heavens that she was supposed to buy it. Shoes were more problematic, just because she was not a high-heel person — to put it mildly — although she knew she couldn’t wear a designer cocktail dress with flats. Luckily, she located a pair of jeweled ankle-strap sandals that had a delicate kitten heel, low enough that she thought she probably could do a creditable job of running from demons in them.

  That difficult task accomplished, she smiled a little to herself as the salesclerk rang up the shoes and put them in a bag. After that, she took a quick trip to the accessories department to pick up a small evening clutch and a pair of dangly
earrings. She’d just turned around to head toward the escalator when Rosemary saw Will approaching her, a garment bag draped over one arm and several smaller bags hanging from the other.

  “I thought you told me to meet you downstairs,” she said, her tone only a little accusing. Actually, she was glad he hadn’t come any earlier, just because she didn’t want him to see her in her new finery until it was time to get ready for the party.

  Which she knew was silly. It wasn’t like she was trying to hide a wedding dress from him or something.

  Probably the wrong thought to have, though, because her mind wandered away for a second or two in order to contemplate the idea of marrying Will Gordon, and what kind of dress she would have, and that was even more ridiculous. Yes, they were in love, but she was kind of getting ahead of herself. Better to see whether they survived the following evening before she started wondering about wedding gowns and floral arrangements.

  “I figured I’d get done before you did,” he responded calmly, although his gray eyes glinted at her, and his mouth had that amused lift in one corner. “Not by much, though.”

  “No,” Rosemary said. “I lucked out.” Or maybe it was more that Will had lucked out, since now he didn’t have to worry about waiting around for her. Either way, it had been an effective targeted strike. They began to walk toward the escalator, and she went on, “So…back to Greencastle?”

  “Actually, I was thinking about that,” Will replied. “It might be better to stay here for the afternoon. The less time we’re in Greencastle, the less chance of running into someone we don’t really want to see.”

  His suggestion made some sense. Of course, they would be walking into the lion’s den the next evening…so to speak…but there was something to be said for not tipping their hand until the very last minute. They’d been lucky when they went out to breakfast and hadn’t crossed paths with anyone who looked even remotely suspicious, and yet Rosemary didn’t know how long their luck would hold.