“And don’t you forget it.”
REDMOND LET ME lead the way to Voodoo Vacation, but the minute we reached the door he put a cautioning hand on my arm.
“Maybe you should let me do the talking,” he suggested.
“Why?”
“Because I’m better with people. You tend to be abrasive when things don’t go your way.”
I was pretty sure I should be offended. “Let’s play it by ear.”
“You’ll let me start, though, right?”
“Sure.” Why not? I would take over eventually. I had the whole day to play with Madame Dauphine, after all, because I didn’t have work slowing me down.
Redmond’s smile was all charm and flirtatious energy as we walked through the door. Dauphine, alerted by the bell over the door, flashed a smile when she saw us.
“Bienvenue! Are you seeking anything in particular?”
Redmond exchanged a quick glance with me, something unsaid passing between us. Dauphine acted as if she’d never seen me before.
“We’re just here to look around, merci,” Redmond answered. “Your store looks tres interesting.”
“Only to those with open minds.” Dauphine drifted from behind the counter, barely sparing me a glance as she focused all of her attention on Redmond. “You have a warrior’s soul and a romantic’s heart.”
Redmond blushed under her intense scrutiny. “Oh, well … .”
Yeah, that was all about all I could take of that. “She’s messing with you,” I admonished. “She’s trying to pretend she doesn’t recognize me.”
“Hey, I do have a warrior’s soul,” Redmond argued.
“Whatever.”
“I thought you were going to let me talk.”
“I changed my mind.” I flicked my eyes to Dauphine and found her staring at me. “What do you know about zombies?”
“Oh, geez.” Redmond pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is why I wanted to do the talking.”
“What do you mean?” Dauphine asked, her demeanor relaxed. “Are you having trouble with zombies?”
“Maybe. Do you have a potion for that?”
“No.”
Well, that was disheartening. I wasn’t keen on rewarding bad behavior, but if she had a potion to free me from a zombie curse I’d totally pay whatever it cost. “Do you know how to raise the dead?”
“That’s an interesting question.” Dauphine floated to a nearby display shelf. “You work with the dead, no?”
“See. I told you.” I turned to Redmond expectantly. “I was right.”
“Yes, I see.” Redmond’s patience was wearing thin. I didn’t miss the fact that he positioned himself so that he could intervene should Dauphine make a move on me. “My sister asked a question. Do you know how to … harness a dead body and use it to do something else?”
“Like what?” Dauphine was all faux innocence and light. “What do you think I’ve done with dead bodies?”
“She’s not even denying it,” I pointed out.
“Will you shut your mouth for five minutes?” Redmond barked, shaking his head as he locked gazes with Dauphine. “My sister was attacked by a man the police say died a month ago. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
Dauphine crossed herself. “Mon Dieu! Why would I?”
“Because I saw you the day it happened,” I answered. “More importantly, I saw Angelina Davenport come in here the day it happened. She’s clearly up to something.”
“I told you, I don’t talk about customers.”
“She’s not a customer. She’s evil.”
“She may say the same about you.”
“Oh, she’d say much worse about my sister,” Redmond said. “You seem to be avoiding the question. What do you know about … um … raising the dead?” He couldn’t bring himself to say the Z-word. I guess I couldn’t blame him.
“It is an old art,” Dauphine replied. “It is not for the faint of heart.”
“That wasn’t really an answer either,” Redmond pointed out. “Do you have the power to raise the dead?”
“More importantly, did you give Angelina a curse so she could do it?” I asked. “Is she out to get me? Did she steal my ability to utter a proper insult? If so, I totally want that back. I feel naked without it.”
Redmond spared me a dark look. “I’m talking. Me.” He thumped his chest for emphasis. “We agreed I would do the talking.”
“We agreed you would do the talking until I decided I would do the talking,” I clarified. “It’s time for me to talk.”
“That’s not how I remember it.”
“Shh.” I lifted my finger to my lips and glared at him before turning back to Dauphine. “So … have you been raising the dead and sending them after me?”
“Non! I don’t raise the dead and send them after anyone,” Dauphine replied, making a clucking sound with her tongue as she migrated back behind the counter. “I only use my powers for good.”
“You’ve got a potion over there that claims it can make people break out in endless zits,” I argued. “How is that not evil?”
“It is simply a reflection of one’s soul.”
“Oh, I hate when your type gets all fruity with your word choices. What does that even mean?”
Dauphine didn’t get a chance to answer. The bell over the door jangled to signify an incoming customer. When I darted my gaze in that direction, I found a familiar face staring at me. She didn’t look happy. “Oh, man, what are you doing here?”
Redmond brightened when he saw Madam Maxine, the owner of a different magic shop on Woodward a few miles away. She was tight with certain members of my family – including Redmond – and was often a source of information when we were in trouble. “Hi. We were coming to see you next.”
“No, we weren’t,” I countered.
“We were, and shut up.” Redmond squeezed my shoulder hard to let me know he meant business. “What are you doing here?”
“I have business with Dauphine.” Madame Maxine’s tone was clipped. Either she didn’t like seeing us shopping at a competitor’s store or she really did have business with Dauphine she didn’t want to share. Perhaps it was a mixture of both. “What are you doing here?”
“Nothing,” I answered hurriedly. Maxine made me uncomfortable. She often insisted on looking into my future, and she almost always saw weird things. It was disconcerting … and freaking annoying.
“Aisling thinks she’s being followed by zombies,” Redmond supplied. “That’s on top of the fact that the cops are watching her because she’s a murder suspect.”
Maxine’s expression lightened a bit. “Never a dull moment, huh, baby Grimlock?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t suppose you know anything about raising the dead and amassing a zombie army?”
“Only what The Walking Dead has taught me.”
“And what’s that?”
“That it’s never wise to be the moral compass when the world around you is falling apart,” Maxine replied. “Why do you think zombies are chasing you?”
“I was attacked by a guy the other night and, according to the cops, he’d been dead for a month when he did it.”
“Isn’t that interesting?” Maxine’s eyes were dark as they pinned Dauphine. “You wouldn’t know something about that, would you?”
“Ha!” I moved a finger and swung my hips for Redmond’s benefit. “I told you the crazy voodoo lady had something to do with this. It’s all Angelina. I’m sure she thought it up. We need to find her next.”
“Slow your roll, kid,” Redmond chided. “We don’t have anything concrete to go on yet.”
“And that’s not what I said,” Maxine pointed out. “I merely asked Dauphine if she knew anything about it.”
“And as I already told the death dealers, I don’t.” Dauphine’s expression remained serene. “Why are you here, Maxine? I thought we had an agreement.”
“Oh, you don’t like her either?” That was very interesting. “Wh
at did she do to you?”
“I don’t make it a habit to like or dislike anyone,” Dauphine replied. “Maxine and I simply have different ways of viewing the world.”
“We certainly do,” Madame Maxine agreed. “Still, if Dauphine says she doesn’t know what’s going on, you have to believe her.”
“Why?”
“Because raising the dead to go after you would offer her very little profit, and she’s all about profit,” Maxine replied. “I think you’re looking in the wrong place.”
“What about you?” Redmond asked. “Have you heard anything about the dead rising?”
“Not since the last time I warned you about that very thing and you managed to save a reaper family,” Madame Maxine said. “It’s been quiet of late.”
“That should be suspicious right there,” I muttered.
“Oh, little Grimlock, you’re always a joy to be around,” Maxine lamented. “Has anyone ever told you that?”
“No one worth listening to.” I ran my tongue over my lips as I debated my next move. “I’m still not convinced you don’t have anything to do with it, Madame Dauphine.”
Dauphine held her hands out in a placating manner. “I’m sorry you feel that way, mon cher. It must be difficult to operate without the answers you seek.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved off the kind words. “You should know that I’ll be watching you.”
“I look forward to your company in the future.”
Oh, she was smooth. I lobbed a dark look in Maxine’s direction as I headed toward the door. I had a feeling she was here to talk to Dauphine in private and I wouldn’t get more out of either of them given the overt animosity crackling throughout the store.
“I’ll be watching you, too,” I told Maxine.
“Stop in for a reading later this week,” Maxine ordered. “I might be able to help you.”
I seriously doubted that was true. “I’ll keep it in mind. In the meantime, I’m watching you.” I held my fingers up to my eyes before flashing them in Maxine and Dauphine’s directions.
Redmond grabbed me by the back of my neck and dragged me out, waiting until we were clear of the battling madames to speak again. “Just once I’d like you to make a situation better instead of worse when you open your mouth.”
“I’ll keep it in mind as a Christmas gift for you next year.” I narrowed my eyes as I watched through the window as the two women gestured wildly. “What do you make of that?”
Redmond shook his head. “Nothing good. This entire situation is surreal.”
“You’re telling me.”
“Let’s get out of here. I think we need to conduct some research on this Madame Dauphine.”
“Ha! I told you she was guilty.”
“I didn’t say she’s guilty,” Redmond clarified. “I’m simply not convinced she’s innocent.”
Well, that was at least something.
14
FOURTEEN
“What’s the word?”
My father and brothers were in Dad’s office – which actually doubled as an imposing library – when Redmond and I arrived at Grimlock Manor. I didn’t bother to hide my surprise.
“Is no one working today?”
“We’re done for the day,” Dad replied. “We always finish early when you’re not on shift.”
“That’s because she insists on talking to the charges,” Braden said. “I don’t do that because I’m a diligent employee.”
“Quiet, please!” Dad rolled his eyes. “Are you supposed to be wandering around, Aisling?”
I blew out a wet raspberry so Dad would know what I thought about the question. “Oh, now you ask? I happen to know that you cleared Redmond’s schedule so he could help me.”
“That’s because I wanted to make sure you weren’t taken into custody twice in one day,” Dad said. “I let that happen once before, and I’ve never gotten over it. I still have nightmares about that legal bill.”
“That was a fluke.”
“You were arrested for throwing a construction barrel at Angelina’s head,” Dad reminded me. “You were out exactly five minutes before you took off, and two hours later you were arrested for punching her in the middle of the mall.”
He said it as though it was something to be embarrassed about. “You always say that persistence is important for success.”
Dad pursed his lips. “I hate it when you repeat things I’ve said.”
“You just hate it when I’m right.” I slid into the chair across from his desk. “Are you angry because I called Redmond?”
“No, I expected you to call Redmond,” Dad replied. “You always call Redmond when you want someone to coddle you.”
“No, I call Jerry when I want someone to coddle me. I call Griffin when I want someone to cuddle me. I call Braden when I want to fight. I call Aidan when I need some twin power action. I call Cillian when I need research or a quiet presence to be around. I call Redmond when I need someone to do something stupid with me because he always thinks it’s a good idea regardless. And I call you when I want to be spoiled.”
Instead of reacting with anger, Dad smiled. “You seem to be feeling better than you were this morning. Did you make up with Griffin?”
“No. He didn’t even kiss me goodbye when he left.” I felt stupid admitting that in a roomful of men, but I have no female friends and Jerry was working late.
“Oh, poor Aisling.” Cillian slung his arm around my shoulders. “Are you panicking because he didn’t kiss you? Are you doing that girl thing where you make up various scenarios in your head – none of which are rooted in reality – and convincing yourself that he’s going to break up with you?”
“I wasn’t before, but I am now.”
Aidan poked my side. “Griffin isn’t going to break up with you. He might be a little upset – okay, he’s going to be very upset when he realizes you snuck out of the townhouse – but he’ll get over it. He always does.”
“She says she’s looking forward to a fight because Griffin has been holding back since she got injured,” Redmond volunteered.
“I told you that in secret,” I protested, annoyance bubbling up. “Can’t you keep a secret?”
“No one in this family can keep a secret.”
“I can keep a secret. I think I must’ve been adopted.”
Dad snorted. “Yes. You don’t look anything like us. That must be it.”
“No one needs the sarcasm.”
“You eat sarcasm like other people do ice cream,” Braden pointed out. “As for Griffin, if he breaks up with you I’m sure Dad will let you move back in here.”
I formed a fist and seriously considered plowing it into Braden’s face before Dad stopped me with a look.
“Now isn’t the time,” Dad said. “We need to figure out what’s going on. There must be an explanation – one that doesn’t involve zombies, because I don’t want to hear that word mentioned again. Now … think.”
My brothers, in their infinite wisdom, decided to think by sticking their heads up their behinds.
“Maybe it was a dream,” Aidan said. “We could still be waiting to wake up.”
“Maybe Aisling didn’t see what she thought she saw,” Redmond offered. “It wouldn’t be the first time she imagined something ludicrous.”
“Maybe he was a puppet,” Braden suggested. “Maybe someone made it look as if he was walking by attaching strings to his appendages.”
“Really, Braden?” Dad’s tone was dry. “You don’t think Aisling would have noticed strings? Think before you speak, boy.”
“She thought he was trying to bite her,” Braden pointed out. “Maybe she got confused when the strings were cut.”
“And what type of giant would be able to control a human puppet without anyone noticing?”
“An invisible one.”
Dad dropped his forehead into his hand. “What did I do to deserve this brood?”
“I think that’s between you and your god,” Cillian teased, gr
abbing a book from the shelf and sitting in the chair next to me. He was always calm, whatever the circumstances, and didn’t appear bothered by the human puppet and zombie talk.
“I think the human puppet idea is idiotic,” Aidan interjected. “I’m ashamed to be related to you, Braden.”
“I’m always ashamed to be related to him,” I offered. “It’s a zombie infestation. Why can’t you guys just accept that?”
“Because zombies aren’t real,” Redmond answered. “You must know that, kid. You’re dramatic and theatrical at times, but you’re smart. Smart people know that zombies aren’t real.”
He made sense, of course. “Smart people also know that when a woman says ‘size doesn’t matter’ it really does.”
Redmond’s jaw tightened. “Who told you about that?”
I smirked. “You just did.”
“No, who else?”
I refused to look at Aidan, who suddenly found something interesting to stare at on the bookshelf. Four days earlier, while drinking heavily, he’d told me a rather hilarious story about Redmond at the bar, and I’d been waiting to bring it up for days.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I lied. “I guessed and got lucky.”
Redmond made a face that even our mother – the woman who is probably eating people to sustain herself – couldn’t love. “Someone told you something.” His gaze bounced between our brothers. “Something that was supposed to be private. It was part of the Grimlock bro code … and someone broke it!”
“I would like to point out that it’s very wrong of you guys to cut me out of something like the Grimlock bro code simply because I have ovaries.”
“Oh, geez.” All four of my brothers made disgusted faces.
“Do you have to say things like that?” Braden whined.
“Ovaries is not a dirty word.”
“It’s not,” Dad agreed. “Don’t say it, though. As far as you’re concerned, you don’t have ovaries.”
“I don’t have a penis either.”
“Don’t say the P-word.” Redmond extended a finger. “I know that was pointed at me.”
“From what I hear, your P-word wasn’t pointed at anyone,” I teased, grinning at the way Redmond shifted.
Grim Rising (Aisling Grimlock Book 7) Page 14