Grim Rising (Aisling Grimlock Book 7)

by Amanda M. Lee

  I jerked my head up, surprised. “Six weeks?”

  Neil nodded. “He certainly wasn’t in Ms. Grimlock’s backyard for the duration of that time. In fact, the medical examiner commented in his notes that the second body – who has yet to be identified or even reported missing as far as anyone can tell – was so well preserved that there was a good chance he was embalmed.”

  “Embalmed?” My stomach twisted. My zombie theory was looking more and more likely. “Huh.”

  “How did you get the medical examiner’s notes?” Green asked, incensed. “Did you bribe someone? That’s against the law.”

  “I merely went to the department office and asked,” Neil said mildly. “They were quite helpful. They seem to be looking at both cases as medical mysteries rather than murder. When I informed them that I needed the files because you were trying to charge my client with murder they seemed a bit baffled. It seems they hadn’t ruled either death a homicide.”

  He was good. I had to give him that. Neil’s cool detachment and dedication to his job had Green practically frothing at the mouth.

  “You are not privy to the inner workings of my investigation,” Green snapped. “No matter how you argue, you can’t change the fact that Ms. Grimlock had a dead body in her backyard.”

  “I believe we covered that this morning,” Neil said, studying his fingernails as he feigned boredom. “That backyard area is shared by multiple residents. Ms. Grimlock is hardly the only one with access to the property.”

  “No, but she is the only one who has access to two dead bodies in as many days,” Green fired back. “That makes her a suspect.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, something acidic on the tip of my tongue, but it died there when the door flew open without anyone knocking.

  “Not the only one.”

  Griffin appeared in the doorway, his chest heaving as he gripped the door handle hard enough that his knuckles whitened. His wild eyes searched the room until finding mine. His expression was hard to read, but there was definitely anger present. How much of that anger was directed at me was hard to ascertain.

  “What are you doing here?” Green hopped to his feet. “This is a closed interrogation.”

  “You can’t interrogate her without arresting her,” Griffin argued, standing toe-to-toe with Green and refusing to back down.

  “And he doesn’t have enough evidence to arrest her,” Neil said. “That will also be addressed in my evening court filings.”

  “Wow,” Green sneered, his eyes flashing. “It sounds as if you’re going to have a busy night filing complaints against me. Three of them.”

  “Twenty-five,” Neil corrected, causing Green’s mouth to drop open. “My secretary is printing them now and transporting them here so I can file them in a timely manner.”

  “Twenty-five,” I sang out. “You’ve been a very bad boy.”

  Griffin shot me a quelling look. “Aisling, don’t make things worse.” He turned his full attention to Green. “Mark … .”

  “Detective Green.”

  “Detective Green,” Griffin gritted out. “You’re acting as if Aisling is the only suspect you have.”

  “She is.”

  “No, I was with her downtown the other night and I share the townhouse with her,” Griffin argued. “Why am I not a suspect?”

  I realized what he was doing. “Don’t even think of pointing the finger at yourself,” I warned.

  “Definitely do not do that,” Neil agreed.

  “I’m not,” Griffin said. “I’m just pointing out that more than one person was present both times.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Neil interjected. “Neither case has been ruled a homicide.”

  “What?” Griffin furrowed his brow. He clearly hadn’t heard the entire conversation. “Then what is she doing here?”

  Mark began to look worried. “She’s a suspect.”

  “You don’t have a crime,” Griffin exploded, holding out his hand to me. “Aisling, come on. You’re done here.”

  I spared a worried glance for Neil, but he nodded for me to go, clearly understanding that Griffin was about to melt down.

  “You can’t just take her out of this room,” Green snapped. “I haven’t released her.”

  “If you want to keep her you’ll have to charge her,” Neil pointed out. “Do you want to charge her with murder even though your deaths haven’t been ruled homicides … or even negligent accidents, for that matter? If so, I’ll have her out of court in five minutes. I will also secure a restraining order against you in the process.”

  “You seem to think highly of your abilities,” Green growled. “What makes you think a judge will side with you?”

  “Because I clearly know more about the law than you.” Neil pressed his hand to the small of my back and prodded me forward. “We’re leaving now.”

  “We definitely are.” Griffin gripped my hand tightly as he led me through the door, mustering a dark glare for Green as we left. He didn’t hug me. He didn’t stroke my hair and tell me it was going to be okay. Instead he flicked a pair of hard eyes to me and pressed his lips together.

  “I’m sensing the love is going to be hard earned tonight, huh?” I was going for levity but it fell flat.

  “You don’t have to earn my love,” Griffin replied. “You already have it. You do have to earn my forgiveness, though. You’re in big trouble.”

  “But I didn’t do anything,” I protested.

  “You promised to stay in the townhouse all day, but then climbed through a window.”

  “I didn’t promise,” I clarified. “I was very careful when you brought that up. I simply sidestepped the question.”

  “Oh, well, that makes it better.”

  I scratched my head as I considered the conundrum. “Are we really going to fight?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fine. I’ll need food first. I’m starving.”

  “I believe that’s already arranged.”

  17

  SEVENTEEN

  We returned to Grimlock Manor rather than head home to argue in private. I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea, but when I saw the expansive Mexican fiesta bar Dad had ordered set up for dinner I wasn’t about to complain.

  Griffin was mostly quiet for the duration of dinner, answering the occasional question from my father and brothers, but opting not to embark on any dangerous conversational tangents.

  I stuffed my face with tacos until I was sure I’d bust, casting the occasional glance to my left in the hope that he would offer me a smile or reassuring hand squeeze, but Griffin was clearly peeved. That didn’t bode well for me.

  My father, as if sensing my distress, decided to wade into dangerous waters before Griffin finished eating. “This isn’t her fault.”

  “I didn’t say it was.” Griffin remained focused on his plate. “I don’t blame her for the bodies.”

  “What do you blame her for?”

  “Sneaking out.”

  “Well, I don’t want to make things worse, but you should’ve seen that coming,” Dad offered. “She’s not the type of woman who can remain locked in her own home for long stretches.”

  “I know exactly what type of woman she is,” Griffin growled. “She’s the type of woman who apparently wants to give me a stroke.”

  Dad chuckled, catching me off guard. “You two are going to have a fiery marriage. It’s going to be fun.”

  Griffin finally raised his eyes and scorched my father with a dark look. “I don’t think ‘fun’ is the word I’d use.”

  “Then you’re not seeing the bigger picture,” Dad said. “She couldn’t stay in that townhouse, given the circumstances.”

  “And what circumstances were those?” Griffin challenged. “The ones where I told her that she had nothing to worry about because they didn’t have evidence? They can’t arrest her for doing nothing.”

  “And yet Detective Green is clearly going to try,” Cillian said calmly, drawing Griffin’s attention. “I kno
w you’re upset. You’re still dealing with what happened to Aisling in December. As much as you try to be brave and pretend you’re over that, you’re not. None of us are.”

  “He’s right,” Redmond said. “We all got a nasty jolt of reality when she was hurt. We all worried we would lose her. You’re not the only one who loves her.”

  “No, but I love her in a different way,” Griffin argued. “I know you all love her. That’s one of the reasons I can live with the overbearing nature of this family. It’s the love that makes you bearable. Even when you were calling me Detective Dinglefritz and threatening to cut off my hands, I knew that it came from a place of love.

  “The fact remains that I love her in a different way,” he continued, causing my heart to constrict when his voice cracked. “I don’t want to say I love her more, because that’s not fair to you, but … well … I love her more.”

  “You don’t love her more than I do,” Dad argued.

  “In a way, I do,” Griffin said. “I refuse to get into this with you. It’s not fair to you. It’s not fair to me. It’s certainly not fair to her. We’re not grading on a curve here. There’s plenty of room for all of us to love her.”

  “Then why are you being such a pain?” Dad asked. “She’s been through a lot the past year. I used to think you were something she would have to survive, that you would take off. Now I know that’s not true, but punishing her for something she didn’t do simply isn’t fair.”

  “I’m not punishing her, and you really don’t have a place in this particular conversation,” Griffin snapped. “I am not angry because of the body on the street. I am not angry because of the body in the backyard. She didn’t cause that. She did nothing wrong.”

  “So you’re upset because she sneaked out of the house?” Braden asked, taking me by surprise when he inserted himself in the argument. He generally prefers sitting back and watching Griffin and me argue. “That’s what she does. That’s part of her personality. If you’re going to be angry at her for that, then why are you even with her?”

  Griffin narrowed his eyes. “I’m with her because I love her. I am not trying to change her. I am not even angry that she sneaked out. Part of me expected that. I am angry because she lied.”

  “I didn’t lie.”

  “Close enough.”

  “So, if I told you I was going to call Redmond and have him pick me up so we could visit the voodoo lady at the mall you would’ve been fine with it?”

  Griffin tilted his head to the side, considering. “Fine? Probably not. I would’ve argued with you. But I wouldn’t be angry. I wouldn’t feel as if you punched me in the gut with a lie.”

  I stilled, dumbfounded. “You feel as if I punched you in the gut?”

  “I don’t expect you to modify your behavior to fit my needs,” Griffin replied. “I think we do a pretty good job of meeting each other’s needs.”

  “If this is about to go to a dirty place, I’m exercising my right to protect my needs and actually punch you in the gut,” Dad warned.

  Griffin ignored him, recognizing the blowhard nature of the words. “I love you the way you are. You may not think you lied to me because you were careful in how you worded things, but that’s not how I want to live our lives. I don’t want to spend all of my time ripping apart every little thing you say to determine if you could be lying. I would rather take you at your word.”

  “So if I’m going to run away from the police and enlist a brother to do it, you want me to tell you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Huh. Would you have yelled if I told you?”

  “Yes.”

  “See, I don’t like the yelling.” I grabbed a tortilla chip from the bowl at the center of the table. “I always try to avoid the yelling.”

  “Yes, well, that’s part of my makeup,” Griffin said. “You can’t modify it. There will be times I’ll yell. You need to get used to that.”

  “Okay, well … okay.” That seemed fair. Even I couldn’t come up with a reason to push further. “I’m sorry. I thought you would melt down.”

  “She was also upset because you didn’t kiss her goodbye,” Aidan offered. “She pouted about it all day.”

  “I wasn’t even with you all day,” I challenged.

  Griffin pursed his lips. “I see.” He leaned forward so he could rest his brow against mine. “I will kiss you goodbye from here on out whether we’re fighting or not. Does that make you feel better?”

  Strangely enough, it did. “You won’t make jokes about me thinking like a chick when you do it, will you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Okay.”

  Griffin pressed a soft kiss to my mouth, ignoring the way my father and brothers groaned. “We’re still going to talk about a few things, but the crisis has passed. You can stop eating.”

  “Thank God.” I dropped the half-eaten chip on my plate. “I think I might burst.”

  Griffin smirked as he shook his head, taking a moment to bask in the mirth before sobering and focusing on Dad. “I need to know everything you guys did today.”

  “Well, it wasn’t much, but we got a few leads,” Dad supplied. “Aisling claims that the first body had a symbol on it. We found it in the voodoo section of Eternal Sunshine Cemetery this afternoon.”

  “Is that what you were doing?” Griffin rolled his neck. “One of the uniforms I talked to when I was entering the police department said that Green believes you guys were trying to hide bodies or something. They searched the area where they found you, thinking that’s where you were hiding bodies.”

  “I guess a cemetery would be a good place to do it, but Detective Green sounds like a real idiot,” Cillian said. “The symbol represents a snake creature that supposedly takes over the dead. I’ll do some further research tonight. Maya is working a double shift.”

  “I know you guys aren’t going to believe me, but the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to wonder if Jed Burnham was hissing,” I said. “I said it sounded as if he was smacking his lips, but he might have been hissing.”

  “Here we go.” Dad pinched the bridge of his nose. “Zombies aren’t real.”

  “I’ve been telling her that for days, but she won’t let it go,” Griffin lamented.

  “You don’t know they’re not real,” I challenged. “You’re picturing zombies from movies, the ones that bite and spread an infection. I think we’re dealing with a different type of zombie.”

  “And how do these zombies work?” Griffin asked, keeping his expression placid.

  “I think someone is working bad mojo on bodies and causing them to rise.”

  “To what end?” Dad prodded.

  I shrugged. “Maybe they’re sending them after me. I’m still not convinced that Angelina isn’t behind this. I told you how bad my insults were the other day. That can’t be a coincidence.”

  “Yes, well, insult horror aside, I still don’t think we have enough information to say it’s definitely zombies,” Dad argued. “I think it’s far more likely that someone is using bodies, perhaps planting them in areas near you, because they want to distract you from something else.”

  “That first guy ran into me,” I said. “He was walking. I know you have Braden’s human puppet theory to consider, but I swear he was walking of his own volition. No one was carrying him.”

  “She right,” Griffin confirmed. “He was walking on his own.”

  “Then perhaps something else is going on,” Dad suggested. “Maybe someone in the medical examiner’s office is involved.”

  “I can start checking on that tomorrow,” Redmond offered. “I have a contact in the office, and she’s more than willing to share information.”

  I made an exaggerated face. “This isn’t the woman you failed to perform with on the terrace, is it? I’m guessing she won’t help if you have nothing to offer her in return.”

  Redmond scowled. “If you bring that up again I’ll shove your head in the toilet and start flushing.”

&n
bsp; “Do I even want to know what you two are talking about?” Griffin asked.

  “No,” my brothers answered in unison.

  “I’ll tell you later,” I said, patting his hand. “You have to wait until we’re done fighting. The story is like a reward.”

  “Now I’m looking forward to it.”

  “I think we’re all going to have to wedge bouts of research into our days for a bit,” Dad said. “Until then, I think it would be better for all concerned if you and Aisling stay here overnight, Griffin.”

  I jerked my head in his direction, confused. “Why?”

  “Because your brothers and father can serve as alibis if necessary,” Griffin answered. “On top of that, the police department can’t get inside the gate to watch us. I’m sure they’ll be out on the street – and now everyone will be under some sort of surveillance. It will be much harder for them to keep track of who is coming and going because they can’t see through the wall.”

  “Oh.” That sounded mildly interesting. “I guess I can live with that if Dad promises me an ice cream bar tomorrow.”

  “And why would I do that?” Dad challenged.

  “Because I had different rules as a child and I’m traumatized by it.”

  Dad scowled. “Oh, geez. I’ll never hear the end of this, will I?”

  “Nope.”

  “Fine. You may have an ice cream bar tomorrow.”

  “And an omelet bar in the morning,” I pressed.

  “And an omelet bar in the morning,” Dad conceded, causing Griffin to grin.

  “You really know how to lay down the law with her,” Griffin supplied.

  Dad averted his eyes. “She’s still recovering. She needs good food to do it.”

  “And people say I’m whipped,” Griffin muttered.

  “Eat your taco, Griffin,” Dad ordered. “If your mouth is full you can’t say anything stupid.”

  “That’s never been the rule for me,” I pointed out.

  Dad winked. “That’s because you’re gifted.”

  He wasn’t wrong.

  GRIFFIN WAS USED to sleeping in my childhood bedroom. We’d spent enough nights here due to danger and serious injury that he bought a toothbrush for the bathroom and stored some clothing in the closet. It was almost like a second home for us, even kind of a vacation home because others cooked, cleaned and did our laundry.