The Fire and the Veil (Veronica Barry Book 2)

by Sophia Martin

  Veronica took a deep breath. It was a stretch. Grant was a sociopath, and he knew how to be charming. He was a handsome boy. The girls who hung around him at Saint Pat’s were not immune to his looks and charm, certainly, but that didn’t make them sociopaths, too.

  Could that dream she had on Friday night have something to do with it? Were the kids she didn’t recognize from Saint Pat’s? Were they Khalilah’s students? Was the girl she’s been in the dream one of Khalilah’s students? But how would Khalilah know she’d dreamed of her?

  There just wasn’t any way to know what Khalilah wanted. Over a month had passed since that day by the river. If she’d wanted to apologize, she could have done it weeks ago. So. She probably had never intended to apologize. So why do it now? Because she wanted something from Veronica? But what?

  “Something on your mind?” Daniel asked. They exited the freeway on Douglas. The rest of the way was on surface streets.

  “You’ll never guess who I ran into on Friday,” Veronica said.

  “Friday? I give up.”

  “Khalilah Jadeed.”

  “Really? You didn’t say anything before,” Daniel said.

  “I didn’t think anything of it,” Veronica said. “I saw her at Penny Coffee, for maybe five minutes. She acted sort of strange. She said hello, but she didn’t seem happy to see me, and then she hovered for a minute, and she left.”

  Daniel frowned. “That’s weird.”

  “Yeah. Well, I figured she was still… ambivalent, let’s say, about my ability. And I didn’t think about it. But she called me today, just a little while before you came over.”

  “She did?”

  “Yep. She apologized for the things she said to me.”

  “Like that you were trying to con Melanie? That you were working with Slecterson?”

  “Yep, those very things.”

  “How noble of her.”

  “Yeah, that’s kind of how I feel about it. I mean, she could have called me weeks ago if she really was sorry. Why now? I figure she wants something.”

  Daniel pondered this. “What do you think she wants?”

  “I haven’t figured that out.”

  “Something to do with your ability.”

  “No doubt.”

  “Well, keep me informed,” Daniel said seriously.

  “Yes, sir, Detective.”

  “I’m not kidding, Veronica. I want to know what she wants from you. She was helpful when we were looking for Angie, but I didn’t like the way she turned on you.”

  “You know, that didn’t happen in a vaccuum,” Veronica said.

  Daniel said nothing and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

  “How is IA’s investigation going?”

  “Felsen’s on desk duty while they figure out if there’s any solid evidence that she tampered with the crime scene.”

  “I’m heart-broken for her.”

  “Felsen’s a good cop, Ronnie. She’s a good person. She just made a mistake.”

  “She tried to frame an innocent person for Sylvia’s murder.”

  Daniel exited the freeway. “And she dug up some dirt on you, too, I know. It’s never pleasant when someone airs your dirty laundry.”

  “Do you really think that’s what my problem is with her?” Veronica demanded.

  “I think it didn’t help.”

  “Daniel, I didn’t do anything wrong. Not six weeks ago, with the Grant Slecterson mess, and not three years ago, with that case she dug up. So no, that’s not why I have a problem with her.”

  Daniel shrugged, one hand resting on the wheel. “You just don’t know her very well. You two got off on the wrong foot.”

  “She threatened to have her friend at the Sacramento Bee print an article about what a fraud I am!”

  “I’m not saying she’s blameless…”

  “And you know the part that really gets me? She did all that because unlike you, she believed me. She believed I’m psychic. She did it because she was afraid I’d rat her out.”

  “She was trying to help someone,” Daniel said.

  “Whatever,” Veronica said. She gazed out at the strip malls they passed on their way into Roseville.

  ~~~

  Harry barreled along the water’s edge as small waves lapped over his paws. He managed to scare up some ducks and after they flew off, he turned back to Daniel and Veronica as if to say, “Look what I did!” His pink tongue hung out as he trotted up to be petted before bolting off again.

  “He loves it here,” Veronica said, standing a few feet from the water’s edge, Daniel beside her.

  “I don’t blame him,” Daniel said. “On a nice day this place looks like the Mediterranean. White sand, blue water.”

  “Have you ever been to the Mediterranean?” Veronica asked.

  Daniel glanced at her. “No.”

  She nodded with a smile.

  “Still, you have to admit, it’s a pretty lake,” Daniel said.

  “Oh yeah. I’ve been swimming in it a few times.”

  “Really? Wow. I haven’t gone that far.”

  “It’s nice as long as the water’s clear. When the level’s low I wouldn’t want to go in.”

  Daniel nodded. “Maybe someday we could really see the Mediterranean,” he said lightly.

  Veronica looked out over the water, letting the comment sink in. So he foresaw a time when they would travel together as far as the Mediterranean. Like, for a honeymoon, maybe? How did she feel about that? She wasn’t sure. She did want to see the Mediterranean, of course. And she liked Daniel, a lot. In fact, when she wasn’t freaking out, she enjoyed his company more than anyone’s she’d known, even Melanie’s, and Melanie was by far the best friend she’d ever had.

  She was gazing at him, without realizing it, and he noticed. He reached out and took her hand. “You don’t say what you’re thinking much,” he noted. “Did you know that?”

  She smiled. “I was an only child,” she said. “I guess I’m in the habit of living inside my own head most of the time.”

  He grinned at her. “That explains a lot of things.”

  Veronica frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I think you’re not used to letting people into your life much.”

  “Oh.” She dropped her eyes, studying the patterns of the rock that pushed up through the sand. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” he said. “You take good care of yourself. That’s a good thing. It’s become pretty important to me that you be… okay.”

  “Only okay?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “Well, it’s good starting point. Ecstatically happy is my ultimate goal.”

  “Better,” she said. “Do you think I’m high maintenance?”

  The question was out of her mouth before she considered whether to ask it, and she felt her cheeks burn.

  Daniel didn’t seem taken aback, however. He furrowed his brow and his eyes traveled over her.

  “Not in the traditional sense,” he said slowly. “I mean, you don’t spend hours on your hair or get manicures every week. But maybe you are, in another way. I mean, you are different from any of the women I’ve known before.”

  Veronica’s heart was beating faster—it felt unpleasant, and she was uncomfortable. So he did think she was high maintenance. Difficult. Not physically high maintenance—no. An emotional mess. Lovely.

  “See, this is where I wish I was psychic,” Daniel said. “What are you thinking right now, Miss Barry?”

  “Oh, nothing,” she said, trying to sound cheerful. “I—uh—I just appreciate your honesty.” She gave a firm nod.

  Daniel pursed his lips and looked up at the sky. “Okay. Dating-speak 101. ‘Nothing’ means you’re pissed. Let me try this again.” He took a deep breath and caught her hand as she stepped away from him. “Ronnie, wait, please.”

  “No, really, it’s okay. You’ve had to deal with a lot of mixed messages… I get it.” She turned away from him, but let him keep hold of her hand.


  “I didn’t mean to make it sound like you were hard to be around or something,” he said. “I lo—like how you are. You’re unpredictable, but your heart is always in the right place. You may run a little hot and cold, and I’m hoping eventually that switches to all hot all of the time, but you’re complex and that makes you an interesting person. You’re very real. And you have this added quality of knowing things, and hearing and seeing things that I can’t, and that really makes things interesting.”

  She peered at him over her shoulder, through a few strands of dark hair. “So you like the psychic thing.”

  “Yes!” he said. “I never believed in anything I couldn’t hear or touch or see for myself, until I met you. You’ve opened up all of these amazing possibilities.”

  “Would you like me as much without it?”

  Daniel sighed. “Yes. I liked you before I believed you had it. When I thought you were maybe a little nutty, or well-meaning but recovering from a traumatic experience… either way, I liked you when I thought you weren’t a psychic.”

  Veronica let out a breath she hadn’t noticed she was holding. “That’s something, I guess,” she said. She still felt like he either saw her as mentally unstable or as some sort of alien. But at least he liked both options.

  And let’s be real, she told herself. You are a pretty volatile person a lot of the time these days. Not angry or dangerous, but prone to mood swings.

  Usually prompted by something the spirits shared with her, but the reasons didn’t make much of a difference when it came to defining her behavior. If Daniel could deal with that, shouldn’t she just be glad?

  “I’m sorry I’m being so insecure,” she said, turning around to face him. “I’ve been on my own for a really long time. It’s… different, being around someone who knows about my ability and accepts it and still wants to hang out with me. I’m still getting used to accepting it.”

  “Melanie doesn’t seem to have any trouble.”

  “No, she doesn’t. Melanie’s been fine with my ‘gift’ for a lot longer than I have.”

  “Funny how that kind of thing works out sometimes.”

  “Yeah.”

  Harry chose that moment to scoop up a large branch in his jaws and come racing over to her, splattering the jeans she wore with wet sand. Veronica laughed. She always caught Harry’s joy. She managed to wrangle the stick away from him and she hurled it as hard as she could. Harry charged into the water, switching to a doggy paddle when it got too deep to run.

  “So, I wanted to ask you…” Daniel paused.

  She turned to him and raised her eyebrows.

  “Well, you know how I was talking about you coming over to my aunt Eun Hee’s for dinner one of these days?”

  Veronica gave a little gasp. So soon?

  “I was thinking, maybe next Sunday night? There’s a baseball game on TV, and my dad likes to go over there anyway because Samchon Jung-Hwa has a big screen. So you could meet my mom and dad and Sukmo Eun Hee—‘sukmo’ is like ‘aunt’ in Korean. And you’ve already met Samchon Jung-Hwa—my uncle Jung-Hwa, who has the pet store. And maybe Sunny and Jae will be there too. They’re my cousins, Sukmo Eun Hee and Samchon Jung-Hwa’s kids. They’re about our age.”

  “That’s a lot of family,” Veronica said weakly.

  “Yeah, but it would be less stressful because there’d be so many people. In fact, I bet I could convince Jae to come, for sure, and he could bring his girlfriend, and if Sunny brought a guy over—I don’t know if she’s even dating, but maybe I could set her up with someone from the station—then the focus wouldn’t even be on you at all.”

  She could tell he was really hoping she’d say yes. Why not get the uncomfortable family presentation over with? He’d already met Cybele, and that had gone as well as could be hoped. Mainly Cybele had looked him up and down with her heavily made-up eyes and asked him a few really inappropriate questions—when was the last time he’d had an HIV test? Was his sperm viable? Did he think it was a woman’s responsibility to take care of the contraception?—which Daniel had answered in a deadpan, unsurprised tone (last August; yes, as far as he knew; and no, he thought it was a shared responsibility) that Veronica was deeply grateful for. If she could survive that horror show, she could make it through one Sunday night where with any luck everyone would be watching the baseball game on TV and no one would pay much attention to her at all.

  “Okay,” she said. Daniel beamed at her.

  “Awesome. This will be great. You’re going to love Sukmo Eun Hee’s cooking.”

  “You never talk about your mom’s cooking,” Veronica observed as Harry emerged from the lake and dropped the stick on the shore, shaking himself and spraying water everywhere.

  Daniel laughed and turned away from the dog defensively. “My mom doesn’t cook,” he said as he did.

  “Really?” Veronica said, realizing she didn’t know anything about her. “What does she do?”

  “She’s a lawyer,” Daniel said, his face going neutral. “She works a lot.”

  “Well, I’ll look forward to meeting her on Sunday.”

  Daniel nodded, and smiled a bit again. “Yeah, it’s going to be great.”

  Chapter 7

  Veronica was still writing the names for this weeks’ new pairs on the board when her French II students started coming in. She hesitated for a moment when she got to Angie and Lola Hekili—would it be better to put Angie back with Clarissa or Felicity, instead? But it was too late to give that the thought it required. Angie would manage for a week with Lola, even if Lola was still as hostile as she had been from the beginning. “Welcome to public school,” Veronica muttered to Angie’s name on the board.

  “Bonjour la classe,” she called out as she wrote the last two names on the board.

  “Bonjour Mademoiselle Barry,” several students responded.

  That wouldn’t do. Everyone had to respond. “J’ai dit, ‘Bonjour la classe!’”

  “Bonjour Mademoiselle Barry!” more than half the class cried.

  Well, close enough, Veronica decided. “Maintenant on trouve son partenaire,” she said, pointing to the board with the names.

  The students shuffled around to their new seats so that they would each share a two-person table with their French partner. Veronica watched, taking down names on the roll sheet. No Lola, she noted. That was not unusual. Lola was absent at least two days out of five each week. Angie would be without a partner today, and she could sit with another couple instead.

  Once everyone settled down she had them exchange their homework and they went over it together. As they came to the last few questions, the classroom door opened and Lola came in.

  Without a glance at the board Lola strode to the nearest table, which already had two students, and dropped her bag with a thud. She dragged a chair, screeching the whole way, from the side of the room. Veronica considered calling her out for her interruption. If she did, the most likely result would be a trip to the office for Lola and still no partner for Angie. She sighed.

  “Lola,” Veronica said.

  “That’s my name,” Lola shot back.

  “You have to sit with your partner,” Veronica said, gesturing to Angie’s table.

  Lola cocked her head, her chin jutting out a bit, and peered back at Angie.

  “I’m already sitting here,” she said to Veronica.

  “I see that,” Veronica said. “But this table is taken. You have to sit there.”

  With a groan of outrage Lola stomped over and dropped her bag by the side of the open chair at Angie’s table. She slouched into it, glaring around the room at those students who dared to look at her. Veronica was struck by her beauty. She had hard, black eyes with gunky make-up around them, a full mouth, small nose, and high cheekbones. Her inky black hair was utterly straight, falling to brush her shoulders. Her face was closed and her chin still jutted out just enough to give her expression an attitude. Veronica was intimidated by her, but she didn’t want to show it. />
  Veronica turned back to the board and finished with the homework. She told them to turn to page 364 and read a dialogue using household terms with their dialogue partner. Then she circulated, pausing at each table to help with pronunciation.

  When Veronica reached Angie’s table, she saw without surprise that Lola was buffing her nails and ignoring Angie, who read the book silently.

  “Lola,” Veronica said. “You have to practice the words now. This is when you learn how they sound.”

  “I don’t speak French, Miss B. I told you that,” Lola said. “Hey, what do you think?” She held up her hand, presumably so Veronica could admire how shiny her nails were. Veronica’s breath caught.

  On the middle phalanxes of her hand were letters spelling “slut.”

  Veronica looked at the hand holding the buffer. Sure enough, although the ink was fading, she could still make out the word “fuck.”

  “Nice, right?” Lola said. “I just got this buffer. My friend said it was the best, and she was right.”

  Veronica drew in her breath, trying to clear her head, but for a moment her mind was filled with the headlights, and the sound of cars, and the awful feeling of hopelessness that had overwhelmed her in the dream.

  “Ve—Miss Barry, are you okay?” Angie asked.

  Veronica blinked several times, trying to make the dream images stop. She flashed Angie a quick smile. “Sure,” she said, although her ears were still full of the sound of the horn.

  “It’s okay,” Angie said. “I can just study the words on my own.”

  Lola rolled her eyes. “God, be a suck up.”

  The sounds subsided and the dream images faded, but now as Veronica looked at Lola, it was as if she could see energy radiating from her—waves of it; waves of pain. The girl was a raw nerve. Good God, Veronica thought. What happened to you?

  “Better to be a suck up than a fuck up,” Angie snapped.

  “Maybe in your world,” Lola said, angling her head over her shoulder.

  “Okay, enough,” Veronica said. “Lola, you can’t just refuse to do work in my class.”