Widow’s Web

by Jennifer Estep

  He shrugged. “Something like that.”

  Kincaid wasn’t telling me everything. Hell, he wasn’t telling me a fraction of what I wanted to know. His answers were much too vague for that. Oh, I could believe Salina desired him dead because they were old enemies and she wanted to take over his business interests. That was par for course in the Ashland underworld. I couldn’t even fault her for it, not really, not considering all the people I’d killed for money.

  But that still didn’t explain why Kincaid had asked me to cater the fund-raiser tonight. And the most telling thing, the big red elephant in the room, was Eva. Kincaid hadn’t mentioned her at all, much less explained why Eva seemed to be as familiar with Salina’s water magic as he was, or why he’d taken the time to comfort a girl he shouldn’t have even known in the first place.

  Before I could voice my suspicions and demand he tell me everything, one of the phones on his desk rang. Kincaid raised his eyebrows in a silent question, and I gestured for him to go ahead.

  He walked over and picked it up. “What?” he growled into the phone.

  A voice murmured something indistinct on the other end.

  “Tell them I’ll be right there.” Kincaid hung up and looked at me. “Apparently, the police are here and want to talk to me.”

  He looked as thrilled by the prospect as I felt. As a semiretired assassin, I didn’t exactly count the members of the po-po among my best friends. But I supposed I didn’t have anything to hide tonight, since I hadn’t actually murdered anyone on the riverboat. Why, I hadn’t so much as gotten my clothes good and bloody. Definitely a slow night for the Spider.

  We left Kincaid’s office, walked back up the stairs to the ballroom, and stepped out onto the main deck. While I’d been gone, Sophia, Violet, and Eva had packed up the catering supplies—what was left of them. All the pots, pans, and utensils had been knocked to the deck and trampled during the stampede, along with the tins of food. More than a few had been kicked overboard and had disappeared into the murky depths of the river. But that was the least of my problems right now.

  I looked over the railing at the new arrivals on the scene. A couple of cop cars sat in a parking lot next to the boardwalk, their blue and white lights flashing over the students and giants still milling around down there. As I watched, a dark sedan pulled in behind the other vehicles. The doors opened, and two familiar figures got out. One of the cops was a giant roughly seven feet tall with a shaved head, a thick, muscular body, and ebony hair, skin, and eyes. The other cop was a woman about my size, with a shaggy mane of blond hair, rosy skin, and cornflower-blue eyes.

  I smiled. Well, at least one thing was going to go right tonight.

  The two cops stopped to talk to one of the uniformed officers who was taking witness statements. He pointed at the riverboat, so the two of them walked up the gangplank. One of Kincaid’s giants stopped them at the top, but the female cop showed him her badge and he let them board. She stood by the railing, scanning the deck, the people on it, and the body lying in the middle of everything.

  Her gaze landed on Sophia, and she did a double take before her eyes met mine. Her lips quirked up into sort of a rueful smile, but her expression was warm as she walked over to me.

  “Gin,” she said. “I didn’t expect to find you here tonight.”

  “You know me, baby sister,” I drawled. “Always in the thick of things.”

  Detective Bria Coolidge scoffed a little at that; then she turned and called out to her partner. “Xavier, look who we have here.”

  The giant was talking to one of Kincaid’s men, and he waved at Bria, letting her know that he’d seen me and Sophia. He also gave me a wink, which I returned. Xavier was more than just Bria’s partner on the force—he was a friend and part of my extended family.

  “Was the dead guy gunning for you?” Bria asked in a soft voice, nodding at the body.

  I shook my head. “Nope, this is someone else’s handiwork tonight. You know I don’t like to stick around after the fact—or leave behind any bodies for the cops to find.”

  A grimace crossed her face before she was able to hide it. Despite the fact that Bria knew I was an assassin, she was still a cop at heart—one of the few good, honest ones in Ashland. She spent most of her days chasing after all the bad folks who called the city home. Having one of them for a sister was hard on her sometimes, especially these days, when most everyone walking in the shady side of Ashland life suspected who I was.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  I laid it out for her. The only thing I didn’t mention was that Salina appeared to be the murderous elemental in question and that Kincaid wanted to hire me to kill her. I wanted to talk to Owen about Salina—and a lot of other things—before I dropped the dime on that.

  While Bria took notes on a small pad, Xavier crouched down next to the body, pulled up the tablecloth, and peered underneath.

  The giant let out a low whistle. “That is one nasty mess. Did you say a water elemental did this?”

  Something in his voice made me frown. “Yeah. Why?”

  Xavier waved his hand at Bria. “Come take a look at this.”

  My sister moved over, and Xavier raised up the tablecloth again so she could see Antonio’s body. Bria’s face tightened, and she nodded at the giant.

  “It looks exactly the same as our other victim,” she said.

  My eyes narrowed. “What other victim?”

  “Katarina Arkadi,” Bria replied. “I’m sure you know the name.”

  Oh, I knew the name all right. Katarina Arkadi was another one of the underworld movers and shakers, someone who was trying to consolidate her power base of late. If the rumors were to be believed, Arkadi had actually proposed some sort of cease-fire in the city until everything could be divided up between all the folks who had a seat at the table.

  I glanced at Kincaid. Another rumor that Finn had told me about linked Arkadi with the casino boss in some hush-hush deal. I’d heard Arkadi had been found dead, but I’d been so preoccupied with Owen and Salina, and now Kincaid, that I hadn’t really paid too much attention to the news stories surrounding her untimely demise.

  “Arkadi’s been dead how long now?” I asked, working through the timeline in my mind. “A week?”

  “Four days,” Bria corrected me. “Her maid came into her room to clean Sunday morning and found her in bed. Coroner said it looked like she’d died of sudden, extreme dehydration, like all the water had somehow been pulled out of her body. She was a mess, just like this giant is.”

  I looked at her. “You don’t believe in coincidences any more than I do.”

  She gave me a grim smile. “Not in the least. Not in Ashland.”

  Bria nodded at Eva, who was still standing with Violet and Sophia. “You want to tell me what Owen’s sister is doing here? And Violet along with her?”

  I shook my head. “I know why Eva says she’s here, but not the real reason why. But believe me when I tell you I’m going to find out.”

  “Well, fill me in when you get your answers,” Bria said. “I’ll have enough problems dealing with Kincaid. You wouldn’t want to do me a favor and . . . motivate him to cooperate, would you?”

  I grinned at her. “You’re getting rather violent in your old age, baby sister. Last year, you never would have even suggested something like that.”

  She grinned back at me. “What is it that Finn says? Violence seems to run in our family? Might as well use what we seem to be so good at to get some results, especially when I’ve got two dead bodies to explain to my boss.”

  “Well, then, beauty before age, sweetheart.” I held out my hand.

  Bria shook her head, but she was still grinning as we walked over to where Kincaid was standing. Eva hovered nearby, Violet and Sophia a few feet behind her. By this point, Eva had wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and regained her composure, although she kept trying very hard not to stare at Antonio’s body. Her blue gaze kept going to it and then sliding away, as
though it brought up too many bad memories for her to bear to look at it.

  Bad memories were something else I was intimately familiar with. I just wondered how many more I’d make before this was all over.

  Bria pulled her badge off her belt and flashed it at Kincaid. “Mr. Kincaid, I’m Detective Bria Coolidge with the Ashland Police Department. I’d like to ask you a few questions about what happened.”

  Kincaid stared at her, then his gaze flicked to me. “I know exactly who you are, Detective. Why, I was discussing your tragic family history with your sister just minutes ago. Interesting, the wildly different paths the two of you have chosen in life. I bet it would make for a fascinating psychological case study.”

  Bria and I both stiffened at his words, and I stepped forward, meeting Kincaid’s cool, smug gaze with an even colder, more murderous one of my own. “Apparently, you didn’t hear what I said about putting my friends and family in danger, Philly. Or perhaps you just didn’t realize the same rules apply to mocking them as well. So I suggest you cut the wiseass routine, or you’ll be too preoccupied with trying to stuff your innards back where they belong to answer Detective Coolidge’s questions.”

  Kincaid smirked, but before he could open his mouth to respond to my threat, another voice jumped into the mix.

  “Eva! Gin!” Owen’s voice floated up from the boardwalk.

  I stepped away from Kincaid. “Up here!”

  Footsteps pounded on the gangplank, and Owen surged into view. The giant guarding the entrance looked over his shoulder at Kincaid, but the casino boss waved his hand, telling his man to stand down.

  Owen stood there, looking at Eva, then me, and back again. Once he realized we were both okay, his face hardened, and his jaw tightened with fury. Eva lifted her chin and glared right back at him, which only made Owen’s violet eyes blaze that much brighter. Then his gaze went to Kincaid, and he noticed how close the other man was standing to his sister.

  “You!” Owen shouted, stabbing his finger at Kincaid. “Get away from her, you son of a bitch!”

  Shocked, I watched as my lover stalked over, drew back his fist, and punched Phillip Kincaid in the face.

  “You bastard!” Owen snarled, punching Kincaid again. “I told you to stay away from Eva!”

  Owen started to hit him a third time, but Kincaid blocked the blow.

  “I’ve been paying for your blind stupidity for years now,” Kincaid snarled. “And I’m sick of it!”

  He snapped his elbow into Owen’s face, and the fight was on.

  The two men went at each other, no holds barred, punching and kicking for all they were worth. I was so surprised by Owen’s violent reaction to Kincaid that it took me a few seconds to move to break up the fight.

  “That’s enough,” I said, wading in between them. “That’s enough!”

  I pushed Owen away from Kincaid, while Sophia kept the casino boss from coming after my lover again. They’d only been fighting for a minute, but they’d made it count. One of Owen’s eyes was already starting to blacken, while blood dripped from Kincaid’s nose. Anger shimmered in their hot gazes as they glared at each other, and I had no doubt they’d happily pound on each other until they were both nothing but bloody smears on the deck.

  “What the hell is going on between you two?” I asked Owen.

  He shook his head. “Not here. I’ll tell you about it later, when we’re safe. All I care about right now is getting Eva away from him. Eva, come here, please.”

  Eva gave Kincaid a guilty look, but she walked over to her brother’s side. Owen put his arm around his sister and hugged her close for a moment.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She sighed. “I’m fine, Owen. Philly didn’t hurt me. He would never hurt me.”

  Owen’s face tightened even more. “Don’t you even say his name. Do you understand me?”

  Eva opened her mouth, but the fury in his eyes made her bite her lip and keep quiet. Desperate, she looked at the casino boss for help.

  Kincaid stepped forward. “Owen, I—”

  Owen stabbed his finger at the other man again. “I don’t want to hear one word from you. Not one fucking word. I didn’t believe your excuses then, and I won’t believe them now. Don’t come near Eva, Gin, or me ever again—or I will kill you. Do you understand me, Phillip? This time, I will kill you.”

  10

  Everyone on deck froze. All the giants, all crime scene techs, all my friends and family. Even I was a little stunned by the venom in Owen’s voice. I’d never seen him so angry. Not to mention the fact that he’d just threatened to kill someone in front of a bunch of cops. Not exactly a smart thing to do, even if corruption ran rampant in the police department and most members of the po-po were more interested in where their next bribe was coming from rather than in actually stopping crime.

  Bria stepped in front of Owen. “In case you didn’t notice, I’ve got a dead body here. Right now, that trumps whatever history and vendetta you have against Kincaid. So you can either keep quiet, or I can have you escorted off the riverboat by force. Do you understand me?”

  Owen glared at her, but after a moment he nodded. Satisfied, Bria turned back to Kincaid.

  “Now, Mr. Kincaid,” she said in a deceptively friendly tone, “why don’t you tell me who tried to kill you?”

  “Why would you think that anyone wants to kill me, Detective?” he answered.

  She smiled at him, but there was a hard edge to her expression. “Oh, I don’t know. The fact that your number-two man is lying ten feet away from us, literally a former husk of himself. Or maybe it’s the fact that you would be dead right now if my sister hadn’t used her Ice magic to freeze that water noose someone tied around your neck.”

  Owen frowned. “Water noose?”

  Kincaid looked at him. “Yeah, a water noose. Sound familiar?”

  Owen didn’t respond, but for the first time, I noticed something in his eyes besides rage—doubt. Just a tiny spark of it, so faint I wouldn’t have even seen it if I hadn’t been looking at him, but it was there.

  The casino boss turned back to Bria. “It’s true. I was very lucky Gin was on board tonight, wasn’t I?”

  “Luck had nothing to do with it, you bastard,” Owen growled. “You probably planned the whole thing, including the so-called attack.”

  Kincaid opened his mouth to snipe back, but Bria held up her hand, cutting him off.

  “Enough,” she snapped. “That’s enough. From both of you. I’ve got two dead bodies, and I want some answers as to who made them that way. Unlike some of my brethren, I actually like to earn my paycheck. So start talking, Kincaid. Now.”

  “Or what?” he smirked. “You’ll get your sister to pull out one of her famous silverstone knives and make me?”

  “Oh, Philly,” I drawled. “If you knew anything about me, you’d realize that I wouldn’t even have to use my knives.”

  “And if you knew anything about me, Kincaid,” Bria added, her voice even frostier than mine, “you’d realize that I don’t need Gin to fight my battles. I do just fine on my own.”

  Kincaid eyed Bria, then me, and I let the cold violence that was always lurking just below the surface leak into my features. Still, it wasn’t enough to motivate the casino boss, since he didn’t start singing like the proverbial canary.

  “Her name is Salina Dubois,” Eva said in a soft voice.

  Eva’s confession didn’t shock me like it did the others. While they all looked at her in surprise, I stared at Owen, trying to get a sense of what he was thinking, of what he was feeling. But all I saw in his face was weariness, as if this was a battle he’d fought many times before.

  Bria raised her eyebrows. “Okay, so now we have a name. Progress, at last.”

  Owen sighed. “Eva, you don’t know that it’s Salina just because Kincaid claims a water elemental is involved—”

  “Yes, I do, Owen!” she hissed. “Yes, I do!”

  Eva shuddered and wrapped her arms around he
rself. Owen reached over and started to put a hand on his sister’s shoulder, but she jerked away from him before he could touch her. Frustration filled Owen’s face. His fingers clenched into a fist, which he lowered to his side. Kincaid watched them, and his mouth turned down with a hint of sadness.

  “And Dubois is a water elemental? How do you know her?” Bria asked.

  Eva looked at Owen, then at Kincaid. She bit her lip, her eyes drifting over to Antonio’s body once more. She shuddered again.

  Kincaid sighed. “We all know her, Detective. Some of us far better than we’d like to.”

  “And why is that?” my sister asked.

  Kincaid sighed again. “Because we grew up with her.”

  Violet had said something before about Eva and Owen knowing Kincaid from when the two of them had lived on the streets, but I still stared at my lover in surprise. Owen and Kincaid? Growing up together? With Salina in the mix as well?

  Owen didn’t talk much about his past, but I knew his childhood had been just as hard as mine; his parents had also been murdered by Mab. The Fire elemental had burned the Graysons’ house to the ground, with them inside, because of a gambling debt Owen’s father owed her. Though his parents had been killed in the fire, Owen had managed to get himself and Eva out of the house. He’d been about seventeen then, Eva only two. After that, the pair had lived on the streets. Eventually, thanks to Fletcher and his machinations, Owen had gotten a job with a dwarven blacksmith who lived up in the mountains above Ashland. Owen had worked hard for the blacksmith, before striking out by himself and building his own business empire. Something eerily similar to what Kincaid had done, now that I thought about it. I wondered what else the two men had in common.

  I knew Owen had his secrets, just like I did, and I’d respected his privacy, just like he had mine. We both had things we didn’t like to talk about, things we’d rather forget. But now, it seemed like his past was forcing its way into the light whether he wanted it to or not.