by Julie Kenner
I frowned, because I hadn’t had time to discuss Eddie with Stuart, for obvious reasons. And since Stuart was announcing his candidacy later this afternoon, I really didn’t think a phone call would be appreciated.
“There’s another possibility,“ Cutter said. “Other than his work papers, I mean.”
I looked at him curiously.
“I’m still trying to find out if your husband had another safe-deposit box. If he did, that might have all your answers.”
And if he didn’t, I thought, the mystery of Eric’s death would just keep getting deeper and deeper.
After Cutter and Eddie left, Laura and I parked ourselves on the back porch and started plowing through the boxes filled with Eric’s old stuff. The day was cool, with a nice breeze blowing in off the ocean, and we worked quietly for a while, but it was a noisy kind of quiet, and after a few minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“What?“ I demanded.
Laura looked up at me from her bent-over position, where she was trying to tug a file folder out with her one good hand. “Excuse me?”
I leaned over and grabbed the folder for her. “Something’s on your mind,“ I said. “You might as well come out with it.”
Her lips twitched, then she cupped a hand over her mouth as if hiding a smile.
I sighed. “Okay. Now what?”
“Kate, there was nothing on my mind, I swear. But now...“ She trailed off, her eyes dancing. ”“Now, I’m definitely intrigued. So spill.”
Inside, I cringed, because I’d royally blown that one. ”There’s nothing to spill.”
“Kate, I have a teenager. Out with it.”
I closed my eyes, trying to decide what to say. I didn’t want to tell her what happened. The moment had been too surreal, too intimate. And somehow telling Laura would make it seem all the more real.
At the same time, though, Laura was the first truly close non-Hunter friend I’d ever had. We’d shared problems with our kids and with our marriages. And, yes, I wanted to know what she thought. From a psychological perspective, Laura was right; I’d practically been jumping up and down, begging her to ask me.
So I told her. I kept my language matter of fact, just as if I was relaying a fight or a kill. But when my recitation was over, I couldn’t help it. I ended on a sigh.
“Wow,“ she said, sighing a little bit herself.
“It was just an in-the-moment thing,“ I said. “I don’t think he even realized what he was doing beforehand.”
“But you kissed him back.”
“I know,“ I said, my voice choked with agony. I slumped in my chair, feeling lower than dirt. “I’m pathetic, Laura. I feel like I’m going to drown in the guilt.”
“No.“ She shook her head, her emotions rolling off her in forceful waves. “From someone who just went through the unfaithful thing, trust me. You are fine. Extenuating circumstances and no lust aforethought. Your Honor, my client is completely innocent.”
“And David?”
She leaned back in her chair. “Him you’ll have to watch like a hawk.”
“Great.”
She laughed. “Oh, Kate, I’m kidding. You almost died. The whole situation was emotional. He got a little carried away, that’s all.”
“But the thing between us,“ I said. “That’s not going to go away.”
She looked at me, her eyes warm and appraising. “You’ve been attracted to him from day one, Kate. And he’s been hot for you, too. You know it, he knows it. Even I know it.”
I could feel my cheeks heat.
“It’s human to be attracted to other people, Kate. So long as you don’t do anything about it, you haven’t broken your vows.”
She was right, of course. And yet I still felt as though I’d crossed a line. But since it was never, ever happening again, best to not dwell on it and simply move on.
I bent down and pulled a fresh stack of file folders into my lap. Laura followed my cue and started leafing through her own pile. “Nothing personal,“ Laura said after a few minutes of silence, “but Eric kept a lot of crap at his office.”
“No offense taken,“ I said. She was right. The boxes were filled with page after page of nothing. Eric’s notes about acquisitions and the provenance of books the library had acquired. A few scribbled references to things we had done as a family or that he hoped to do: notes about the hotel we stayed in when we took Allie to Disneyland, notes about the cost of taking a whale-watching cruise, and papers on which he’d scribbled various confirmation numbers for our vacation trips. All hopelessly out of date now.
“We have to go through them all, though,“ I said. “Or I do, anyway.”
“I don’t mind helping,“ she said. “Even if it is a pain to rummage through with only one good hand. It keeps my mind off tonight.”
“Nervous?”
“A tad,“ she admitted. “Thanks for the dress. Especially considering what happened.”
“Extenuating circumstances,“ I said. “Trust me. I saw the look in his eyes. If I’d asked about Eddie before the whole demon incident, I would have been golden. And you’re going to look fabulous tonight.”
Her nose wrinkled. “I’ve been out of the game a while.“ She pondered that. “Actually, I was never really in the game. I married Paul right after high school.”
“I know the feeling,“ I said. “When I started dating after Eric died I had no clue what I was doing.”
“And everything turned out okay for you,“ she said. Then her face clouded. “Well, I mean—”
“Never mind,“ I said. “I know what you mean.”
Since she apparently didn’t want to revisit the whole David issue any more than I did, she bent down and grabbed another handful of file folders from the box, using her good hand to pull them out and plop them on her lap. “You owe me big time.”
“Believe me, I know I do.”
I was about to offer her a lifetime supply of brownies when the phone rang. I hurried into the kitchen and grabbed it up, only to find Delores Sykes, the cathedral’s volunteer coordinator, on the other end.
Immediately, I regretted not checking the caller ID.
”Delores,“ I said. “Hey, listen, I’m sorry I haven’t been in to get any more inventories to type. I’ve been crazy busy, but I do plan to come in soon and pick a few more up.“ That much was true. I needed to see if the cathedral archives had any reference to our mysterious stone. And wasn’t that going to be a fun endeavor?
“Oh, sweetie, I understand. What with the holidays and school starting back up, you must be a basket case.”
“Pretty much,“ I acknowledged. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, I’m not really sure. Father Ben is on the other line, but he asked me to call you. He was hoping you could come to the cathedral and have a little chat with him.”
“Now?”
“If you can. He seemed to think you’d be very interested in what he had to say. He said to tell you it was about your mutual friend. Andre, I think he said his name was. Does that ring a bell?”
“Oh yeah,“ I said. “That rings a very loud bell.”
Usually it takes fifteen minutes to drive from our house to the cathedral. We made it in ten, with Laura clutching the dashboard with her good hand and muttering the entire time about how she really couldn’t manage with two broken arms and would I please try to get us there alive.
“Kate,“ Ben said, as soon as I plowed through his office door. He crossed himself, then looked at me gravely. “The trouble that has come to San Diablo,“ he said. “If we are right, it is almost unimaginable.”
That didn’t sound good. I swallowed and sat in one of the chairs. “What is it? Do you know what the stone is? Do you know where Andramelech is imprisoned?”
“The Stone of Solomon.“ He looked to Laura. “It was your research that turned the tide. The mention you found of the archangel focused the research in Rome on Saint Michael and—”
“Wait, wait,“ I said, holding up a hand
. “I appreciate that Laura did a great job, but can we back up a second? What stone of Solomon?”
“Like King Solomon?“ Laura asked.
“You know this stuff?“ I was impressed.
She shook her head. “That’s the only Solomon I’ve heard of. Back in Old Testament time, right?”
“Exactly,“ Father Ben said. He leaned back in his chair, apparently realizing that as bad as the news was, neither Laura nor I were going to be suitably impressed until he’d brought us up to speed on the whole Solomon thing.
“When Solomon was building the temple at Jerusalem,“ Father Ben began, “the demon Ornias pestered and harassed so much that no work would get done. When Solomon learned of the demon’s interference, he prayed that God would give him authority over the demon.”
“Wait a sec,“ I said, interrupting. “I do know this story. The archangel Michael helped Soloman bind the demon and forced him to do the work. To build the temple instead of bothering everyone so they couldn’t get any work done.”
“That’s the story,“ Ben said.
“But there’s more.”
“Indeed there is.“ He looked from me to Laura. “After the temple was built, the demon was no longer needed to work. So he was trapped in the stone, again with Saint Michael’s help, to be left there for all eternity.
“But? I’m definitely hearing a but in this story.”
“Actually, no,” Ben said. “That was essentially the end of Ornias.”
“Oh.” I frowned, considering that. “Nice to know that some trapped demons stay trapped.”
“Except Andramelech was trying to untrap him,” Laura put in.
“Exactly,” said Father Ben.
“That’s all well and good,” I said. “But so what? We still don’t know about this damn stone. Is it the stone they used to build the temple? And if it is, why are the demons congregating in San Diablo? Or have we just become the chic new demon destination?”
Father Ben smiled despite himself. “I don’t know where the actual stone is,” he said. “But I do know that it is not mere rock. It’s a gemstone. And once Ornias was bound, King Solomon had the stone cut down using the exact method told to him by the archangel himself.”
“Because?”
“Because then the demon’s space would be confined.”
“Cramped quarters,” Laura said.
Father Ben smiled at her. “Once we had Laura’s information about the archangel Michael, the Forza archivists were able to find additional references.”
I gave Laura a pat on the back as she preened a little.
“So what do we know?” I asked.
“The stone was imbued with the power to trap and bind demons. King Solomon, of course, originally trapped Ornias, but many lesser demons soon followed.”
“How?”
“The stone is a trap—don’t ask me how it works, I don’t know. All I know is that throughout the years it has been infused with demonic entities. Trapped there, for all eternity.”
“But there must be a way out,” Laura said. “That’s why Andramelech was so hot to get it.”
“Until he got trapped himself,” I said.
“Exactly,” Ben said. “The stone has been well protected through the years, passed down as a treasured and guarded secret. But even so, Andramelech believed for centuries that he could not only find it, but that he could free his compatriots and they would become his loyal followers.”
“Right,” I said, because that part I knew. “Go on.”
“He came and went in human shape, rallying his human followers, telling them his secrets and promising them great things.”
“His secrets?” I asked. “What secrets? And how do you know?”
“Because we know what else he told them,” Father Ben said. “A few who turned to the church after Andramelech’s grip on their soul faded a few years ago have since revealed some details. None knew the particulars of the ceremony to release Ornias—although they intimated that other humans might have such information—but they did reveal other key information about the stone.”
“Like what?” Laura asked.
“Like how it worked. And how they intended to use its inherent nature to locate and claim it.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll bite. How does it work?”
“It is a magnet,” he said. “A demon magnet.”
Laura looked at me. I shrugged.
“With the archangel’s help, King Solomon had the stone set into a ring,” he explained. “And when a human wears it,” he explained, “it lures demons to them. The ring causes a shimmer in the ether, and the demons can see where the ring is. Maybe even who has it. The purpose, of course, is to allow the wearer to trap the demon in the ring. The dark trick, as the writing calls it, is to be performed only by a soul willing to make the greatest sacrifice.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“I’m afraid we don’t know,” he said. “But don’t you see the significance? Andramelech intended to turn the tables on the wearer. Somehow he planned to be drawn to the ring, and then instead of being trapped, he intended to capture the ring for himself.”
“But his plan failed,” Laura said. “And we still don’t know where the ring is.”
I didn’t say anything. My body had gone completely cold as Father Ben’s story filtered through my mind. Wearing the ring attracts demons. And once the demons knew where the ring was, they’d stop at nothing to get it back from its new owner.
I blanched, feeling suddenly nauseous. “Eric’s ring,” I said. “Dear God, all this time the demons have wanted Eric’s ring.”
“You have the ring?” Father Ben asked, clearly astounded.
“No,” I whispered, my whole body icy with fear. “Allie does.”
Thirteen
As I maneuvered the car at a breakneck speed toward the school, Laura called the house. On the third try, Eddie finally decided to answer the phone, and when Laura switched her cell phone over to speaker, I heard his gruff, “Whoever the hell this is, it damn well better be important.”
“Allie’s room,” I yelled. “The right-hand drawer of the hutch on top of her desk. Go see if there’s a man’s ring in it.”
I heard him shuffling toward the stairs. “Dammit, Eddie !” I yelled. “Faster!”
“Keep your panties on,” he shouted back, but I could hear the tempo of his steps increase, and his breath started coming in puffs. “Damn frou-frou furniture,” he muttered. “Where am I supposed to be looking?”
“Her desk. By the window. There’s a little drawer on the right-hand side. There’s a ledge on top of it that might even have a small black address book.”
“I see it,” he said, and I silently prayed that she hadn’t taken her father’s ring to school. “There’s no ring in here, though,” he finally said.
I looked at Laura as I approached a red light.
“Run it,” she said.
And I did.
“Allie!” I yelled, racing through the halls. Coronado High is a closed campus, and parents are supposed to check in at the front office. Fortunately, the school hasn’t yet started locking its doors against outsiders, and I was able to barrel inside, ignoring the signs reminding me to get a visitor’s pass.
The bell had just rung, and all around us, students stopped and stared. I didn’t care. I needed to find my daughter.
I stopped Bethany, one of the cheerleaders. “Have you seen Allie?”
Her eyes widened, and she pointed down the hall. “She just got out of P.E. I don’t know what she has next. Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I called, sprinting toward the gym. “Family issue. No worries.”
I barreled through the double doors that led into the gym, then paused to get my bearings.
“That way,” Laura said, pointing off to the left. We’d both been in the gym dozens of times, but only for school events. The locker rooms had never been part of the equation.
“I’ll go check,” I said. “You
go back to the office. Find out what her next class is, just in case she’s not here.”
“Check,” she said, then sprinted toward the door.
“No,” I called. “You’re not her mom and we’re not supposed to be here. Forget the office. Just go find David.”
She waved with her good arm, then clutched her injured wrist close to her chest as she raced across the basketball court, her loafers clattering on the polished floor.
I sprinted in the opposite direction and found the girls’ locker room. I burst through the doors, calling my daughter’s name.
“Mom!”
I found her huddled in a towel on the floor in front of her gym locker. My heart split in two, and I rushed forward, desperate to hold her and make sure she was all right.
Mindy was with her, holding her hands and telling her it was going to be okay.
“Allie!” I knelt in front of her, grateful when Mindy moved aside so that I could fold my daughter into my arms. I held her tight, hugging her so close I probably injured a few ribs. After I’d soaked her in, I pulled back, then turned to Mindy. “Your mom went to get Mr. Long. Can you go find them and tell them we’re down here and that Allie’s all right?”
“Um, yeah, sure. But—”
“Mindy!”
“Okay, okay! I’m going!” She sent one pitying look back toward my daughter, then disappeared into the gym.
I turned back to Allie, my hands grasping each shoulder as I looked her over once more, anxious to prove to myself that she really was in one piece.
She put up with my examination until I tugged at the towel. That’s when she slapped my hand away. “Mom! What is with you?”
“Are you okay? You’re not hurt?”
“I’m fine. Why would you think— Oh. Did something happen?” She turned her head, scoping out the empty locker room for stragglers. “Is it about demons?” she asked in the world’s quietest whisper.
“Well, yes,” I said. But now I was the one confused. “But weren’t you—”
I cut myself off, realizing with a start that we’d been at cross-purposes here. Allie hadn’t been attacked by a demon at all. But if she hadn’t been attacked, then what had happened ?