by Mairsile
Nikki gave her a soft smile and thought, Sincere, Lilah Rose. Definitely sincere.
“Nothing unusual. She slept in this morning, getting up around noon.”
“Hangover?” Nikki asked, pursing her lips to keep from grinning.
Lilah’s face turned red, and Nikki could tell she was incensed. “None of your fucking business, asshole. And stop talking about me like I’m not here. It’s rude.”
“You’re welcome to give the report, if you want?” Nikki offered.
“No. If you think I’m telling you what I do and where I go every second of the day, you’re crazy,” she said, outraged. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back. “This is such bullshit.”
“It’s important to know where you’ve been in the event of suspicious activity in that area,” Nikki explained calmly, then looked at Buck. “Continue.”
Buck didn’t hesitate. “She spent some time with a horse that was about to foal, then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beauty salon. She’s been home for about an hour.”
“Thank you. You can take off now, but I’ll need you on point by 6:30 in the morning, no exceptions. Understand?”
“Roger that,” Buck replied, reminding himself that he was being paid a lot of money to take orders from a woman. “Y’all have a good night.”
Nikki and Lilah sat in an edgy silence for a few moments. Finally, Nikki tried to smooth things over. “I really do like your hair. It looks,” she searched for the right word, “hermosa.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lilah asked testily.
“Sorry, it means beautiful,” Nikki translated.
Lilah’s lips turned up slightly. “Oh. Well, um, thanks.” Hmm, that was nice.
“So, what do you have planned for tonight? Are we going out?”
And now back to being an asshole. “Look, no one asked me if I wanted a guard. I don’t. I’m a grown adult, and I don’t need you snooping in my business.”
Nikki shook her head. Damn stubborn woman. “Ms. Dupree, please, be reasonable. I’m just trying to keep you safe, not run your life. I know that I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”
“Damn straight you couldn’t. I’m not some ditzy blonde who needs a big strong woman to take care of her.”
“Do you think Rebecca would agree if she were still alive?”
Lilah’s eyes welled up and her face turned red. “I hate you!” she yelled and ran into the house. She was right, Rebecca would not agree. The first time Lilah met Rebecca was in biology class in her sophomore year in college. Rebecca thought she wanted to be a veterinarian until she had to dissect a sheep’s brain. Lilah helped her get through the class and stay in the program, and because of that, Rebecca became very overprotective of Lilah. Rebecca and her parents lived just north of Corpus Christi and when the two best friends weren’t at college, they were at each other’s houses. They were inseparable.
“Shit!” Nikki punched the pillow on the chair and chunks of foam rubber flew up in the air. She followed Lilah into the house and found her in the kitchen with Dorothea. She checked the perimeter visually, audibly, and olfactorily, and once satisfied, walked over to Dorothea.
“May I have some water, please?” She didn’t really need to drink but it was a good way to begin a conversation.
Dorothea reached in the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. “I’ve got a roast in the oven, and tapioca pudding for desert. You’ll join us for dinner, ¿Sí?”
“Yes, thank you, I’m sure you’re a wonderful cook,” Nikki replied, looking over at Lilah, who was glaring at her. “But I think perhaps I might be in the way.”
“Nonsense,” Dorothea declared. “Plenty of room at the table. Isn’t that right, Delilah?”
She baited her. Clever human.
“Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever,” Lilah grumbled. “Is she going to the bathroom with me next?”
Smirking, Nikki looked at Dorothea. “Well, if you insist. I am kind of hungry.” Like the water, she could go weeks without food, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sit beside Lilah at the table.
“Good, because I’ve already set an extra place at the table for you,” Dorothea informed her.
Lilah stood up, scraping her chair across the floor. “Yeah, you can have my spot. I’ve decided to go out.”
Damn. “That will be fine, Ms. Dupree. I’ll be happy to drive you.”
“No, wait, Delilah,” Dorothea said. “We’ve got people coming over later to plan the wake, remember?”
“Oh, yeah… I remember.” God, I don’t want to sit through that. They’re going to do a boring boo-and-hoo wake that’s more about them than Rebecca. That’s not who Bec is… was. Damn it. I need to see her. I don’t believe she’s really gone. I need to see my friend. Lilah blinked away a tear and realized they were staring at her. “Oh, sorry. I guess I should be here to help with that, huh?” Say no. Say no.
Dorothea patted her on the shoulder. “You were her best friend, honey. Don’t you want to help plan the celebration of her life?”
Lilah looked up at her with large, watery doe-eyes and Nikki’s heart broke.
“Actually, Ms. Dupree,” Nikki said. “I need to make some inquiries in the city tonight about the investigation and your help would be invaluable.”
Her eyes opened wide and a smile crossed her lips. “If I can be of help to catch her killer, I’m all over that. Let’s go. And listen, call me Lilah.”
Her face was placid, but she couldn’t control the smile in her eyes.
Twenty minutes later, after barely touching their supper, Nikki and Lilah were on the road to Corpus Christi. Lilah was so happy to get out of helping plan the wake that she was unusually conversational and affable.
“It was almost like you read my mind,” she said, smiling at her.
Pleased, Nikki replied, “I could tell that you were uncomfortable with the idea, and I really do need to check on a couple of things. Um, this is going to sound really insensitive right now, but one of the things I need to check on is at the mortuary. I don’t have to do that tonight, if you’d rather not?”
“You mean at the funeral home where Rebecca—?”
“Yes,” Nikki said softly. “If you promise not to run off, you can stay in the car if you don’t want to come in. It won’t take me very long.”
“No, I need to come in. I need to see her. Alone.”
Nikki’s dark eyes shone bright with satisfaction. Now, to figure out what I’m pretending to check on. She did need to check on the body and make sure the bite marks were forgotten. Even though they had been able to heal the puncture wounds while the body was still warm, once embalmed, the marks would stand out again. But that was certainly not something she could share with Lilah. When she heard Lilah’s thoughts about needing to see her friend, she knew Lilah needed to view the body in order to believe she was really gone. It was the only way for her to begin healing.
They walked through the door and into the parlor of the funeral home. The smell of embalming fluid was the first thing they noticed when they walked in, and the tall, pale, funeral director in a black suit, with his oily hair slicked back, was the second.
“May I help you?” he asked.
“Yes, I’d like to see Rebecca Lilymont,” Lilah requested.
“I’m so sorry; that is not possible tonight. The viewing isn’t until tomorrow, and I believe the wake—”
Nikki cut him off. “This is Rebecca’s best friend, and she just wants a few minutes alone with her.”
“Please. I just want to see her,” Lilah implored. And make sure this isn’t some sick mistake. Lilah hated funeral homes. Hated the flowers, the wall paintings meant to comfort her, and the striped settee barely large enough to seat one person. She hated that she had to be in one again.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but—”
“That’s all right,” Nikki said, noticing the disappointment on Lilah’s face. She held out her hand to the funeral director, a twenty-dolla
r bill hidden in her palm.
The director looked down at his hand and smiled. But that wasn’t enough for Nikki. When they shook hands, she also sent her influence into the director’s mind, telling him to provide a private room with a chair so Lilah could sit and be comfortable.
“Yes, I believe I can make a room available. Give me just a moment,” the director said, scurrying out of the room.
Lilah was beginning to see Nikki in a different light and it irritated her. When her mother was killed in the car accident, Lilah blamed herself, so much so that her guilt turned to self-loathing, and that pushed her toward a few indiscriminate relationships that ended badly. It didn’t matter. She found she liked being naughty. It gave her the attention she was craving and filled the void. Although she was a lesbian, she sought comfort from a man to punish herself. Still, a man’s comforting arms was all that drove the loneliness away. At least for a little while. But with Rebecca’s death, Lilah was completely lost and completely lonely.
“How did you do that?”
Nikki shrugged. “I just slipped him a twenty. No big deal.”
“It’s a big deal to me,” Lilah confessed. “Thank you. I’ll pay you back when we get home.”
“No need. If you pay me back, then my kind gesture would have been for naught,” Nikki explained.
Lilah gazed at her curiously. Is she trying to buy her way into my good graces? There’s not enough money in the world to do that. Still, she is right, it was a very kind gesture.
“And don’t flatter yourself. I am not trying to buy your compliance,” Nikki said, smirking at her surprised reaction.
“I never said you were.” Damn. It’s like she can read my mind.
The pale man in the black suit returned and escorted them into a small, candlelit room with a closed casket and a single chair. A large spray of red and white plastic roses stood to the right of the casket.
As Lilah walked into the room, the director opened the lid and secured the hinge.
Rebecca, with a forced smile on her waxed-looking face, had her hands crossed over her heart. She was wearing a violet dress and had a crucifix necklace lying on her breastbone.
She doesn’t look real. Lilah had seen death before at her mother’s funeral. But that didn’t make it any easier.
“I’ll be just outside if you need anything,” Nikki said.
Nikki instinctively reached out to touch her, to hold her and take away her pain, but then sighed and withdrew her hand. Instead, she surveyed the room, noting that there was only one entrance and no windows. Satisfied that it was safe to leave her alone, she backed out of the room.
Lilah stood at the head of the casket, tears flooding her eyes. She looks like she’s asleep. “Wake up, Bec. I need to talk to you.” She straightened the crucifix, her fingers touching her friend’s cold, pale skin. She recoiled, her tears splashing on Rebecca’s rigid body.
Nikki felt the fear in Lilah and opened the door to check on her. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop on her, but she couldn’t turn away.
“Bec, what will I do without you? Who’s going to tell me when I’m acting like an ass? And I have been, Bec.” Lilah played with a petal on the fake rose in the spray beside the casket. “I’ve been lashing out at everyone, and I don’t even recognize myself anymore. First my mom, now you. I can’t… what am I going to do, Bec? Everything is so… it’s like I’m falling off a cliff and there’s no one left to catch me.”
Nikki wanted to go to her, to tell her that she would be there to catch her, but the funeral director walked up, distracting her. Irritated with the interruption, she grabbed the man’s wrist, pushed her compulsion into his mind, and began asking questions.
“Was an autopsy done on her?”
“Yes, I believe they did an autopsy,” the oblivious director reported. “But I wouldn’t know the results of it. You’ll need to ask the police that.”
“Trust me, I intend to. Was there anything unusual about the deceased?”
“There were several strange puncture marks along her neck and wrists. We only saw them after she had been embalmed. Our makeup artist covered them up rather skillfully, I thought.”
Nikki increased her electrical impulse. “You will delete that from the record and forget you ever saw the marks. Understood?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Good. Now, send the embalmer and the makeup artist to me at once,” she commanded.
“They may have already left for the day.”
“I don’t care. Get them up here, now.”
The director nodded and hurried off to his office, leaving Nikki alone with her thoughts. She knew that she should have come sooner and taken care of all of that, or had Vince do it. People talked, especially when something was out of the ordinary or strange. How much stranger could it get than bite marks that couldn’t be seen until the blood was drained out of the body? Sloppy. Sloppy work, Delgadillo.
Nikki could hear Lilah whimpering, and she walked in at normal speed so as not to frighten her. She was sitting in the chair, her head hanging down. Nikki didn’t say anything, she just stood beside her, letting her know she was there. She looked up at her with those same watery doe-eyes that tore at her heart.
“Is it time to go?” she asked, wiping her eyes with a tissue.
“No, take all the time you need, Ms. Dupree… Lilah. I just wanted to make sure that you were all right.”
Lilah stood up and smoothed down her jeans. “I’m all right,” she said, stepping up to the casket. “In fact, I’m really very angry, Nikki.”
Nikki could feel that she was, but she couldn’t tell who she was angry with. “If I have done something to offend you—”
Lilah turned to her, her eyes squinting, her forehead creased. “Feel guilty much?”
The quick shift in moods caught Nikki off guard.
She sighed. I’m being an ass. “No, I’m not angry at you this time. I’m angry at whoever did this to Rebecca. I’m beyond angry. I’m flat out pissed.”
“You want revenge?” Nikki asked, relaxing a bit at not being the cause of her anger. I wish I could tell you that I have already exacted revenge for their heinous act. I wish I could tell you that the men who did that to your friend are nothing more than ash lost on the wind. I wish…
“Damn straight I do. Mark my words, someone is going to pay for killing my friend.” Lilah turned back to the casket. “I’m going to find out who did this to her and kill the bastard myself.”
Nikki could feel the hate and anger welling up inside of Lilah. She was completely serious and that worried her. Gone was the innocent young college woman she had fallen in love with. The one who giggled in her arms as she held her close to keep her warm. She had a feeling it would be a long time before she giggled again, and that made Nikki sad. “I think you should let the police handle this. These people are dangerous.”
“And how would you know that?” she asked, turning back to her. Lilah’s green eyes were dark, serious, determined. “No one has a clue who did it.”
“I know they’re dangerous because they killed your friend and left her out in the open. They’re sending a message.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her knee. “And I intend to find out what that message is. Look, I can’t stop you from guarding me, but you can’t stop me from going after the bastards who did this.”
“And are you prepared for the consequences?”
“I don’t care about the consequences; the murderer has to pay.”
Nikki shook her head. “And if anything happens to you, who pays then? Your father and Dorothea, that’s who.”
Pain shot through the anger in Lilah’s eyes and for a moment, Nikki thought she saw submission. But the moment was gone in a heartbeat, replaced by a mischievous glint. “I’m not worried. Not with you dogging my every step.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence, Lilah, but like I said, it’s too dangerous.”
Lilah put her hands on her hips, defiant
and angry. “If you refuse to help me, I’ll tell my father that you’re a coward.”
Instantly Nikki was beside her, her hands grabbing her shoulders. “If keeping you alive by any means labels me a coward, then so be it.” Her anger stemmed from feeling like a coward when she erased Lilah’s memory. She didn’t have the courage to keep seeing her, not only because of the danger surrounding her, but of the thought of committing to someone again. Lilah was her first serious love after her fiancé in the 19th century and it terrified her. At the time, she thought she was in love with the man because that’s what was expected of her during the 1800s. Fighting in the Civil War as a man made her realize how glad she was that Ludovico turned her and got her out of a loveless marriage. A few years after she had been turned, and the war had ended, Nikki tried to find her fiancé again. She felt reasonably sure that she was in control of her bloodlust and would not harm him because of it. But by then her fiancé had married someone else and they had a child. She wasn’t disappointed but still she vowed never to marry or fall in love. That vow was broken when she met Lilah.
Lilah’s mouth hung open, and her eyes opened wide.
She could see the wheels turning and knew that in spite of her surprised look, Lilah wasn’t finished yet.
“Look, I’m sorry. I’m sure you’re very brave,” Lilah offered.
The door opened, and the funeral director motioned to Nikki.
“Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” Nikki said and walked out of the room.
“Take your time,” Lilah said.
Nikki closed the door behind her and followed the director to his office across the hall. There were two people inside. She didn’t wait for the introductions; she needed to get back to Lilah. She grabbed the embalmer’s hand and pushed her coercion into his mind. Then she repeated the action on the makeup artist and funeral director. After she sent them away, she went back into the visitation room. Lilah was not there.
Chapter Seven
November 6, 2016
Corpus Christi, Texas
Rush hour traffic was beginning to taper off just as the dinner rush hour began to increase. Lilah darted through the traffic and across the street. She imagined that Nikki would be furious with her, but she’d just have to get over it. When she saw her best friend lying in that casket, something snapped in Lilah. It wasn’t only the loss of her best friend, who had supported her through her mother’s death, but it was the feeling of helplessness, of being powerless to protect those she loved. If they killed Rebecca because of her, how would she ever be able to live with herself again? She had to know what happened, and she knew she couldn’t do that on her own. She walked up to a restaurant across the street from the mortuary and leaned against the wall, waiting for Nikki to find her.