Now & Grim: A Grimlock Family Short

by Amanda M. Lee

  “Whatever.” Aisling took another gulp. “I’m a freaking delight!”

  Dad heaved out a sigh as I shifted from one foot to the other. Thankfully neither of us had to soothe Aisling’s hurt feelings because Griffin picked that moment to rejoin us.

  “Anything?” he asked.

  “We think he might be in the women’s bathroom,” Dad supplied.

  Griffin furrowed his brow. “The women’s bathroom?”

  I related our conversation with the two actresses, watching with unbridled amusement as Griffin’s expression turned sour.

  “Well, that’s just disgusting.” Griffin rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess we know why he was killed. The question is: Who hated him enough to finally pull the trigger – er, load the sword, so to speak – and knock him off?”

  “That’s a concern for the police,” Dad argued. “That’s not our job.”

  “I am the police,” Griffin reminded him.

  “Not the Royal Oak police.”

  “No, but … .” Griffin broke off when he saw the look on Aisling’s face. “What’s your problem?”

  “Dad says I’m not a delight and he likes Maya better than me.” Aisling jutted out her lower lip. “I want to go home.”

  Griffin stared at her a long beat, as if ascertaining how serious she was. “You’re drunk,” he said finally. “Have some more water and you’ll feel better.”

  “Nothing will make me feel better.” Aisling’s tone was mournful. “Dad says I’m not a delight. Can you believe that?”

  Griffin smiled. “I think you’re perfect the way you are.” He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Now drink your water.”

  “Whatever.” Aisling viciously twisted off the bottle cap and glared at Dad as she guzzled.

  For his part, Dad heaved out a sigh as he watched Aisling’s theatrics. She was always a lot of work – like … a freaking lot – and he was used to her mood swings. As the only girl in the clan, she managed to wrap him around her finger at a young age. She manipulated him whenever she felt the world was doing her wrong … which was often because she believes she’s the center of everyone’s universe.

  “Aisling, you know I didn’t mean it the way you took it,” Dad protested, giving in. “How could you possibly think that I would like Maya more than you?”

  “Hey! My sister is an actual delight,” Griffin argued.

  “This all started because that’s how I described her,” Dad said. “Aisling took it to mean that I only liked Maya, not her.”

  “Oh.” Griffin shrugged. “She’s drunk. She’s dramatic when she’s drunk. It’s worse when Jerry is around to egg her on.”

  “I can only imagine.” Dad shook his head. “Sweetheart, you know no one can hold a candle to you, right?”

  “Oh, don’t pump up her ego,” I complained. “It’s big enough to swallow the Earth whole as it is.”

  “You need to shush!” Aisling wagged a finger in my face. “Dad is talking to me now.”

  “Oh, I can’t even … .”

  Aisling turned a pretty smile in Dad’s direction. “I forgive you.”

  Dad looked relieved. “Great.”

  “For a spa day with Jerry on your credit card later in the week,” she added.

  Oh, who didn’t see that coming?

  “Fine.” Dad was only too happy to throw money at the problem to make it go away. “Will you please check the bathroom for our soul?”

  Aisling was back to being happy. “I would be thrilled to do it.” She drank more water and then walked toward the bathroom door. “I’ll be back in a jiff.”

  “I can’t wait,” Dad muttered. He watched her disappear with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. “I don’t know how you put up with her, Griffin. There are times I think you might be a saint.”

  The honest and heartfelt statement caught me off guard. “Are you sure you’re not drunk, Dad?”

  Dad ignored the jab. “I love that kid, but … she is so much work.”

  “Believe it or not, she’s worse around you guys,” Griffin offered. “When it’s just the two of us, she’s easy to get along with and downright sweet.”

  Dad was understandably dubious. “She’s sweet?”

  Griffin nodded without hesitation. “She feels the need to act tough around you guys because you’re all burly and manly. When she’s with me, she’s sweet … and cuddly … and she likes to take baths and stuff.”

  The look Dad shot Griffin was one step short of murderous. “Don’t push me.”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault she likes joint baths.” Griffin’s smile told me he was having a good time. He enjoyed messing with my father as much as Dad enjoyed messing with him. “She can’t get enough of them … or me.”

  Dad crossed his arms over his expansive chest. “You know, there was a time you feared me.”

  “There was.”

  “I really miss that time.”

  “I like things better now. In fact … .” Griffin broke off when Aisling poked her head out of the bathroom. “Good news?”

  “Yes. The bathroom is much cleaner than most other park bathrooms I’ve seen.”

  Griffin’s smile slipped. “Not that. What about your soul?”

  “He’s in here … and he’s disgusting. He thought I was going to pee and wanted to watch. He won’t shut up about it.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “He actually said that?”

  “Yeah. He’s gross.”

  “Well, then get rid of him,” Dad barked. “I don’t want a perverted soul running loose. That’s … unseemly.”

  “I need the scepter to do it,” Aisling reminded him.

  “Oh.” Dad shook his head and dug in his pocket until he came up with the item in question. “Don’t let him talk you out of doing what needs to be done. I know you like having conversations with people, but now is not the time.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Aisling waved off Dad’s admonishment and focused on me. “Do you want to help?”

  The question caught me off guard. “I … do you need help?”

  Aisling nodded.

  “But that’s the women’s bathroom,” I argued, discomfort rolling through my stomach.

  “I’m the only one in here – and I want you to hear something,” Aisling pressed.

  She seemed serious, but I wasn’t in the mood to be mistaken for the kind of guy who hangs around women’s bathrooms out of choice so I was equally determined to get my way. “That’s the women’s bathroom and I can’t go inside. It’s against the law.” I looked to Griffin for support.

  “It’s against the law to peep while you’re in there,” Griffin countered. “If no one is in there, though … .”

  “We can’t guarantee no one will go in,” I protested.

  “We can.” Griffin held up his badge. “I’ll turn anyone away who tries to enter.”

  Ugh. Now suddenly he wanted to help us break the law? When did that start? “But … .”

  “Just go.” Dad’s patience was clearly wearing thin. “Aisling has something to show you and she won’t let it go until you do what she wants. You know her well enough to recognize that.”

  “So you want me to give her whatever she wants?” Wait, my sister wanted me to join her in a public bathroom, so I think that came out wrong. “Why can’t one of you go with her?”

  “Griffin was my first choice, but he can’t see souls,” Aisling said. “There’s no way Dad is going into a public bathroom – with or without me – so that leaves you. Suck it up.”

  She had a point. Still … . “I don’t know.”

  “The faster you do it, the faster it will be over with,” Griffin supplied.

  “Fine.” I blew out a sigh. “If either of you ever tell Braden and Redmond about this, I will never forgive you.”

  “Duly noted,” Dad said dryly. “Go see what she wants … and make sure she absorbs that soul. She tends to let the souls talk too much and she gets emotionally involved. I need to break her of that.”

 
; I mock saluted. “Don’t worry. That won’t happen on my watch.”

  “NO WAY!”

  I should’ve known Aisling really wanted me to be the one to join her in the bathroom because she was desperate to get me away from Dad and Griffin. Simply put, she knew it would be easier to bring me to her way of thinking without them nattering in my ear.

  “You have to.” Aisling was serious – and apparently mostly sober – as she tapped her foot on the cement floor. “He says he won’t go until he knows who killed him.”

  Tim Graham was a sniveling mess as he cowered in the corner of the women’s bathroom. Once he realized I could see him – just like Aisling – he turned demanding. Then he claimed he wasn’t a pervert. When that didn’t work, he started whining and crying. I would’ve ignored it, but Aisling was a soft touch when it came to the souls. That was the only time she seemed to embrace her female hormones, which was an annoying turn of events.

  “It’s not going to happen, Ais.” I was adamant as I crossed my arms over my chest. “We’re not going on a mission to solve his murder. We don’t even care that he died.”

  “I care.” Aisling was plaintive. “He died right in front of us. Can you honestly say you don’t want answers?”

  “I find it distressing that he died in front of us, but mostly because Maya wanted a quiet night out,” I replied. “As for why he died, we know why. The dude is a pervert.”

  “I am not a pervert.” Tim straightened his shoulders. “I’m misunderstood.”

  “Yeah, you might want to dial back that response,” Aisling said dryly. “I believe that’s the refrain of rapists the world over.”

  Tim was scandalized. “I am certainly not a rapist!”

  “That’s good for you, because if you were we would have no choice but to suck and run,” Aisling said.

  “That’s what we’re going to do regardless, Ais.” I adopted my best “I’m your big brother and you have to do what I say” voice. I wanted her to know I meant business. “We cannot waste time trying to help this guy. That’s not part of our job description.”

  “Please?”

  “No.”

  “Pretty please with sugar on top?”

  “No.”

  “Puh-leez!” Aisling adopted an over-the-top tone that always wore me down. “You’ll be my favorite brother forever if you do this.”

  I heaved out a sigh. She’d already won and we both knew it. “That’s not true. Aidan is your favorite brother. It has to do with that twin thing.”

  “Aidan is only my favorite fifty percent of the time. You can be my favorite the other fifty percent of the time.”

  “And why would I want that?”

  “It comes with perks.”

  “Like?”

  “Like I’ll irritate only Redmond and Braden for the next six weeks,” Aisling offered. “You can treat it like a vacation.”

  That didn’t sound ungodly bad. “Fine.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Dad won’t like this, though. In fact, he’ll pitch a fit.”

  “Well, Dad will just have to deal with it because we both know he won’t enter a public bathroom.” Aisling was haughty. “Now, come on. We have to find a killer if we expect Tim to go quietly.”

  “That’s right.” Tim mimed smoothing his Shakespearean costume. “I want answers … and I want them now.”

  “Don’t push me,” I warned the spirit. “My sister might be able to boss me around, but I won’t put up with it from you.” I had to put my foot down somewhere, right? Here seemed as good a place as any. “If you say one wrong thing to me it’ll be right into the scepter for you.”

  As far as threats go, it wasn’t my finest offering. Still, I felt a little better.

  “Now, what do we need to know?”

  7

  Seven

  “I’m sorry, but … what?”

  Dad’s frustration was palpable when Aisling and I exited the bathroom. He expected me to hand him the scepter, ultimately clearing our exit. Instead, I told him the soul was still running around and Aisling wanted to question a few people before we went on our merry way.

  He was not, to say the least, thrilled with my decision.

  “You know, people have accused me of being the one to spoil Aisling for as long as I can remember.” Dad sounded philosophical but I knew he was simmering right under the surface. “They said I was turning her into a monster. Heck, there was a time when all four of my sons said the exact same thing. They said I was ruining her by constantly taking her side and encouraging her whims.”

  I shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable. “I’m not spoiling her. I just happen to believe she has a point.”

  Dad held up a finger to quiet me. “You are spoiling her. I have no idea what she did to you inside of that bathroom, but she did something.”

  Two young women who were skirting around us to enter the facilities slowed their progress enough to give Dad an odd look.

  “Is something wrong with the bathrooms?” one of the women asked nervously.

  “No.” Dad’s reaction was bland. “You’re fine. I was simply talking about what my son and daughter did together in the bathroom.”

  My cheeks burned when the woman turned her full attention on me. “It’s not like he makes it sound,” I offered lamely.

  “Of course not.” The woman looked mildly disappointed. “It couldn’t possibly be as bad as he makes it sound.”

  I waited until the women were out of earshot before scorching Dad with a disgusted glare. “Did you have to phrase that the way you did? Now they think I was in there doing some Flowers in the Attic stuff with Aisling.”

  Griffin, who didn’t seem nearly as agitated with the situation as Dad, absently ran the back of his knuckles over Aisling’s spine as he furrowed his brow. “What’s Flowers in the Attic?”

  “It’s this smut book Aisling smuggled into the house when she was, like, twelve,” I answered. “It was about four kids – all brothers and sisters – being hidden in the attic of an old mansion. Two of the kids get older and start doing it.”

  Griffin grimaced. “And you read that?”

  Aisling shrugged. “I heard about it and thought it sounded interesting.”

  I couldn’t help but smirk at Aisling’s reaction. “Braden stumbled across the book by accident and made a big deal out of it, so Dad found out she was reading the smut book and had a meltdown.”

  “Braden didn’t stumble across it,” Aisling said, using air quotes and a scowl to emphasize her point. “He was going through my room to find blackmail information and that’s all he came up with.”

  “And how did you handle the smut book?” Griffin asked Dad, his eyes lighting with legitimate curiosity.

  Dad held his hands palms out. “I don’t recall.”

  “Oh, you recall.” Aisling made a hilarious face. “You banned all smut from the house – including Braden and Redmond’s Playboys, which they said they read for the articles and you considered agreeing with until Mom got hold of you – and then you threatened to go through every book in the house until Mom stepped in and said the book was fine.”

  Even though it was an uncomfortable memory, Dad smirked when he was reminded of Mom’s meltdown. “She wasn’t happy that we shamed you for reading. She said she didn’t care what you read as long as you read, and then bought you a pile of romance novels from the bookstore to prove it.”

  Aisling grinned. “Yeah. Some of them were funny, like ‘His Pirate Booty’ was one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever read.”

  “I don’t even know what to make of that.” Griffin shook his head, his hand constantly roaming Aisling’s back as he forced himself to focus on the problem at hand. “If you’re not going to absorb the soul without figuring out who killed him, then we need to work together. We have limited time.”

  “I can’t believe you’re encouraging this.” Dad folded his arms over his chest. “This is not how we’re supposed to work. We’re supposed to suck and be done.”r />
  “Yes, we’re like prostitutes,” Aisling intoned dryly.

  Dad wagged a finger in her face. “You’re on my last nerve.”

  “I guess that means I’m your favorite tonight,” I said, puffing out my chest. “I will collect on that bet, Aisling, so don’t even think of trying to welch on it.”

  Aisling rolled her eyes. “The night isn’t over.”

  “It’s going to be.” Dad’s tone was firm. “I don’t care what you told that soul. You’re going to go in there and absorb him and that’s the end of it. I’m not spending more time here working on a case that isn’t ours to begin with. It’s simply not going to happen.”

  Aisling loved a challenge, especially when it came from our father. She matched his stance and crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes until they looked like mirror images glaring at one another. “I’m not going back into that bathroom to absorb the soul until I ask a few questions. You can’t make me do it … and I’m not going to do it.”

  Dad wasn’t about to back down. “Oh, you’re going to do it.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  Dad’s temper ratcheted up a notch. “Yes, you are.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  I licked my lips and forced a smile for Griffin’s benefit. “This could go on all night. It’s actually worse than going into the women’s bathroom with my sister.”

  Griffin grinned as he lightly pinched the back of Aisling’s neck in an effort to get her to stop arguing with Dad. “Baby, I can see you feel quite strongly about this. Do you have any suggestions for where we might go first to ask questions?”

  Dad made a protesting sound with his tongue. “Now you’re going to take her side, too? I thought you were the smart one. I expect this stuff from him.” Dad jerked his thumb in my direction and caused me to frown. “You’re a police officer. You’re supposed to tell her she’s being an idiot.”

  Aisling was appropriately affronted. “Excuse me?” Her voice turned shrill. “I am not being an idiot. I want a few answers. That’s not me being an idiot.”