by K. B. Draper
Kanyon cut him off. “How about hacking? Can you hack into computers?”
He scoffed and rolled his eyes like she’d asked a question so dumb, like if he ever watched Battlestar Galactica. “Like, duh.” He snorted. “I’ve hacked into lots of computers, mail accounts, Facebook pages, and cheats for Dungeons and Dragons. I can get into the backdoor of just about any website, like the DMV, the–”
“Lexi Cruze’s fan site?” Kanyon asked then held up her hand to stop the thought. “Never mind. We’ll talk about it later. I don’t need you to hack anything right now. I want you to search for fights, pro and semi-pro. I’m guessing boxing or UFC. Some event that’s happening tonight, say within a fifty-mile radius. Then figure out which of those fights have the biggest odds or which fight would be the biggest payout if there was an upset. You think you can do that?”
“Sure. That’s super easy. I can do that in no time.”
“Great. Call me when you get the results and then we’ll talk about next Saturday.”
“Sweet!” Theo high-fived himself.
Kanyon suppressed a groan opting to give the guy an encouraging chuck to the shoulder instead.
“So, I guess we’re going to a fight tonight?” Daylen asked, sliding back into the car.
“Lenny said he had a big tip and he needs cash …” She shrugged. “Let’s just hope he’ll be there to watch his big payoff.”
“Agreed. Kanyon, you really don’t have to do this. I can handle this from–”
“I want to.” Daylen nodded as she took in Kanyon’s determined look. “What do you need to do in the meantime?” Kanyon asked as she started her car.
“I should probably check in at the office and let my Aunt know what’s going on.”
“So, to the Townsend Agency, Farrah?” Kanyon asked as she waited for directions.
Chapter 6
Daylen’s office was in a quaint area which had been revived in the last twenty years. The neighborhood offered eighty-year-old houses and buildings that over the years had been rehabbed for more modernized living. Charming homes lined the streets with small mom and pop stores, a pharmacy, a book store, a few boutiques, a hair salon, and a scattering of restaurants offering second story lofts and apartments for cozy and convenient living. Daylen navigated Kanyon to the south edge of the neighborhood to a large Victorian style home which stood out in contrast to the smaller surrounding bungalows. Its expansive yard was outlined in a six-foot-tall, black, ornate wrought iron fence set atop a stacked stone foundation.
The gates were open, allowing an unobstructed view of the full estate. Kanyon could now see the house was bigger than she originally thought. It had an inviting wraparound porch complete with rocking chairs and a chair swing. There were second and third story balconies that looked over a lush yard that was obviously maintained by an extremely talented landscaping crew.
“This is your office?” Kanyon asked with awe.
“It’s the family home and for the last century or so we’ve been operating the business out of here as well. Just follow the drive and park behind the house.”
“It’s really amazing and freakin’ huge.”
Daylen smiled. “It’s a little bigger than the trailers we had on set.”
“Just a little.” Kanyon pulled around to the back of the house. “This must be a full city block.”
“Give or take.”
They parked between a smoke grey supersized SUV and a … Kanyon couldn’t believe her eyes. “That’s a ‘57 Bentley S1, black over silver,” Kanyon stammered.
Daylen followed Kanyon’s bugged out eyes to her Aunt’s car. “Think it’s a ‘58. It’s a boat, but she won’t give it up.”
Kanyon had an appreciation for cars. It was kind of her thing. Where other actresses bought purses and designer dresses, Kanyon bought cars. Sure, she had maybe one or two purses, but only because her mother claimed “she would die” if Kanyon tried to wear her preferred canvas messenger bag on the red carpet. Dresses fell in the same “just ‘cause I have to” category. She had several, but only because her mother filled her closet.
Kanyon exited her car to admire the Bentley. She didn’t have anything like it in her collection and her collection was impressive, not Leno’s level, but impressive nonetheless. She ran a fingertip down the hood. “I so want to drive this car.”
“Whenever you stop drooling you can come in.”
They stepped into a mud room that, to Kanyon, didn’t look like it had ever seen a speck of mud. She wiped her feet instinctively before stepping into a kitchen that she half expected to look like Scarlett O’Hara’s. Well, if Scarlett’s house had electricity and stainless steel appliances.
“I should probably warn you about,” a large, black man walked into the kitchen, blocking the inner doorway, “Eddie,” Daylen finished. Eddie was the size of a tank and looked just as lethal. “Eddie helps us around the house and flexes a little muscle on cases when we need it. Eddie, this is Kanyon McKane.”
Eddie gave Kanyon a once-over and grunted an unimpressed acknowledgement.
“Eddie’s not really the talkative type.”
“I see that.” Kanyon shifted to give an obvious and over-dramatized up and down assessment of her own, clearly not affected by the natural intimidation that Eddie exuded. “Takes care of the house? Does he do windows and mirrors or does he just stare at them, they break, and then you get new ones?”
Eddie scoffed, but it was obvious Kanyon had just gained a little respect in Eddie’s eyes.
“Aunt Ruby in her office?” Daylen asked. Eddie moved from the doorway and gave a head nod upstairs.
Kanyon followed Daylen through the doorway and down a short hall toward the front of the house. Daylen pointed out internal landmarks as they went: restrooms, storage rooms, and dining room. When they got to the front of the house they wound around through a living room to the entry way and went up a grand staircase. At the top Daylen veered to the right and resumed the tour, two more bathrooms, a couple of spare rooms, and closets. “Aunt Ruby converted the front bedrooms into offices. I work out of one and she works next door in what used to be the library.”
They approached two large double wooden doors and Daylen knocked as she entered. The room was huge and nearly two stories tall. The two side walls were covered floor to ceiling with books, complete with a rolling wooden ladder. Kanyon had always wanted to slide across shelves of books on one of those.
The wild, red-headed woman from the photo in Daylen’s bedroom was sitting behind the desk. Kanyon smiled at her and then eyed the rolling ladder again. “Go ahead, climb up and slide around,” the woman said, waving a hand at the ladder. Kanyon hesitated, taken off guard at the sense that the woman just read her mind. “Well go on. Get it out of your system.” She threw her arm out again pointing at the ladder.
“Seriously?” Kanyon asked as she began to step toward the wall of books.
“Slide away,” she responded with an amused smile at Kanyon’s excitement over such a childlike thrill. Kanyon took off toward the ladder. “We’ll talk about you driving the Bentley later.”
Kanyon nearly tripped over her own feet. How in the world did she know I wanted to drive her car? Kanyon shot Daylen a questioning look and Daylen shrugged. Kanyon recovered enough to take two satisfying trips down and back along the rows of books.
“Better?” Daylen asked with a grin when Kanyon returned to her side.
“Much.”
“Aunt Ruby, this is Kanyon. Kanyon, Aunt Ruby.”
“Oh, I know who she is.” A wide, welcoming smile rose to her lips. “Nice to finally meet you, Kanyon. This meeting is long overdue.”
“It’s nice to meet you too. I’m sorry we haven’t met before, but Daylen doesn’t like to take me out in public. I seem to–”
“Fall victim to a series of unfortunate events?” Ruby finished.
Kanyon’s early suspicions of liking the woman were confirmed. The sparkle the photo captured was nothing compared to the spa
rkle of her “all-knowing” intelligent eyes, which were even more powerful in person. They were slightly unsettling, but they intrigued and drew Kanyon in. “Something like that,” Kanyon replied with a shrug and a half grin.
Ruby laughed softly. “Yes. Speaking of that, which one of you wants to tell me about the trouble you got in this morning?”
They both shot a finger at the other. Ruby lifted an eyebrow. Daylen sighed in resignation then took a seat in front of her aunt’s desk. Kanyon swung around looking for an escape route, but she was halted mid-spin by Ruby’s snapping fingers. She turned back and was directed to the chair next to Daylen with a silent, but powerful finger instruction. Kanyon sat obediently as Daylen replayed the events of the morning. Kanyon was thankful Daylen skipped over yesterday’s little mishaps, but her relief was short-lived as Ruby turned her focus to her.
Ruby wasn’t letting the small question of why they were together at Daylen’s house this morning go un-explained. “And we were at Daylen’s because?” Ruby knew the circumstances already, she had seen everything before it unfolded and then had her premonitions confirmed in the morning newspaper. But she enjoyed watching Kanyon fumble around as she attempted to explain.
“Well,” Kanyon started, a little embarrassed. “I kind of had one of those unfortunate events.”
“Why don’t you tell me about it.” Ruby instructed softly.
For a second Kanyon felt caught in Ruby’s gaze. She swallowed hard as she planned to fast-forward through most of the details. As she started she found herself unable to filter the facts and told her story in full self-deprecating detail. She became uncomfortable as she approached the bathroom scene with Lexi. She forced herself to break eye contact with Ruby, refusing to get a full omission when it came to the more intimate details of the encounter. Kanyon finished the story looking at her hands and the floor, basically anywhere but at Daylen who had turned in her chair, giving her full attention to Kanyon.
With both women distracted, Ruby watched the feelings of guilt, fear, and loathing pour from Kanyon and the equally powerful feelings of guilt, concern, and love come from her niece. She smiled. Yes, this meeting was long overdue. However, it wasn’t with her and Kanyon that fate had taken too much time connecting. She knew from the first time she saw Kanyon and Daylen together on the screen that they were connected. That was one of her other gifts as a Seeker. She could see the threads of connection between people, animals, and things. To her they looked like neon beams of light streaking through the air. The different colors signifying different relationships. The golden light that connected Kanyon and Daylen signified the Seeker and Guardian relationship. But unlike Eddie and her, Kanyon and Daylen’s golden light intermingled with a red thread, which pulsed like a slow rhythmic heartbeat. Ahhh, so we’re finally starting to get somewhere. She smiled at the emotions, not just in the air, but evident on her niece’s face. She did a little internal shrug. So what if I had intervened and given the fates a little nudge to get things going in the right direction?
Kanyon finished her tale then fell silent. She blinked a few times as if to clear a fog from her head then looked around confused, as if she had just woken from a dream. Daylen was looking at her compassionately with her hand on her knee. She didn’t know what had caused her to divulge the details of yesterday’s fiasco, but she had a feeling it had something to do with the red-headed woman with the all-knowing eyes and feigned innocence.
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? You let me think–”
Kanyon took her eyes from Ruby and let them go to Daylen. “I didn’t let you think anything. You assumed. Anyway, it’s not important,” Kanyon replied with a hint of underlying frustration, not at Daylen for her assumption, but at the discomfort of being exposed and vulnerable. As she scrambled to rebuild her walls of defense and self-protection that had mysteriously been destroyed, she threw another curious look at Ruby. She got a raised eyebrow and a shrug. Yes, there’s something more to this woman, this detective agency, and she was starting to think maybe something different about Daylen.
“It is important,” Daylen cited, not wanting to drop the issue.
“It’s really not. It’s fine,” Kanyon said in a softer tone this time, attempting to reassure Daylen she wasn’t mad or offended by her assumptions.
Ruby stepped in. “That’s quite the interesting tale, Kanyon. Sounds like you have a real-life nemesis on your hands. And here I thought you and Daylen had just hooked up and spent the night together.” What’s a little more fun and nudging going to hurt?
Daylen nearly fell out of her chair, whipping her head around. “You know I … We aren’t … You know that I’m seeing–”
“Oh right, Peter, the lame-o nurse or whatever,” Ruby said with an eye roll and dismissive wave.
“His name is Richard not Peter and he’s an Otolaryngologist,” Daylen said defensively.
“An ord-ina-ry-lame-what-ologist?” Ruby asked. Kanyon laughed.
“Otolaryngologist. An ear, nose, and throat specialist and he’s not lame-o,” Daylen explained, shooting them both a look of non-amusement. But if she was actually being honest, and she would never admit it to either one of them, he was a little on the lame side.
It was official. She definitely liked Ruby, Kanyon thought as she tried to stifle another laugh. She was still highly suspicious of her, but she liked her. She quickly decided Ruby’s favorite pastime was dropping people into uncomfortable situations. A favorite hobby of her own. “Well, I did throw myself at her. I tricked her in to taking me home with her, but she turned me down. Probably because Peter has such a big … tongue depressor.”
Ruby snorted out a laugh.
Daylen quickly caught on to their little game and decided to not only turn the tables, but one up the stakes. Running a seductive finger up Kanyon’s arm, Daylen lowered her voice to a sexy whisper. “Richard does have a nice size tongue depressor. But, I didn’t turn you down. I took you home and was going to show you …” Daylen bit her bottom lip for added effect, “my tongue dep–” Before she could finish, Kanyon’s phone rang.
Paralyzed by Daylen’s images, Kanyon jolted so violently at the interruption she nearly fell out of her chair.
Daylen smirked in satisfaction. “You okay?”
Kanyon scoffed. “Yes, totally. It’s the chair. It’s got a wobbly leg or something.” She rocked it back and forth to emphasize.
“Yeah, probably the chair,” Daylen teased, giving Kanyon a knowing wink.
Her phone rang again and Kanyon jumped again, half-stumbling, half-standing as she fumbled quickly to retrieve it from her pocket. She straightened. “Deathtrap,” she said, pointing at the chair.
Daylen nodded in mocking agreement and Kanyon turned to look at her caller ID. Theodore. Maybe she was going to like the little geek and his impeccable timing after all. “Find something, Theo?” She turned to Daylen, signaling for a pen and something to write on. She scribbled down notes and then listened a few more seconds. “Yeah, sure we’ll talk about Saturday. Tuna sandwiches and a picnic sounds … good.” She narrowed her eyes at Daylen. “I’ll have Daylen call you to figure out the details. Thanks, big guy.” Kanyon hung up and handed the information over. “I hate tuna.”
“Looks like we have a fight to go to tonight.”
“I’ll call Roz to get us tickets. It starts at seven o’clock. Pick you up at six?” Kanyon asked as she started toward the door.
“It’s a date,” Daylen responded before she realized what she had just set herself up for with the simple phrase.
“Not the most romantic venue …” Ruby muttered just loud enough for Daylen to hear.
“We’re just retrieving my car from the soon-to-be-dead Lenny,” Daylen whispered.
“Whatever.” Ruby waived her off. “Let me know how it goes.” Before Kanyon could follow Daylen out, Ruby called, “Kanyon.”
Kanyon leaned back into the doorway. “Yeah?”
“Don’t let Peter have anymore of her time tha
t should be yours.”
Kanyon was speechless. She had no idea what Ruby was talking about. Her time that should be yours? This had to be just another one of Ruby’s ways of trying to throw her off. But she didn’t have the playful sparkle in her eyes from before, it was back to the all-knowing glare. “Right,” was all Kanyon could manage to say as she got her feet moving again. She paused a second before entering the office that Daylen had pointed out earlier. She leaned against the wall and took a second to take in the events of the last twenty-four hours; the chaos at the convention, waking up at Daylen’s, Daylen’s unexplained dizzy spell or whatever it was, the tingling sensation that shot up her arm when she touched her, the sense that Daylen was in danger, the Lenny debacle, Daylen’s SUV being stolen, Theo and his stupid horn.
“You okay?” Daylen asked as she took in Kanyon’s awkward demeanor. “What are you doing out there? I thought you were behind me.”
“I was.” She pointed awkwardly back down the hall. “Ruby just wanted …” to confuse the hell out of me, “an autograph.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry about her. She’s a little much sometimes.”
“No, no it’s all good. I like her,” she hesitated, “a lot actually.”
“She’s still a little too much sometimes. I mean the Richard thing and taking you home stuff. Obviously, we didn’t …” She pointed back and forth between them.
“Hook up and spend the night together?” Kanyon said with a smile, back to enjoying the discomfort Daylen was struggling with.
“Right.”
“Right. Of course we didn’t because I mean, there’s Peter and his big tongue depressor and all,” Kanyon said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
“Richard, and yes there’s that. Well, not really that. You know what I mean.”
Kanyon found herself not liking Richard suddenly. Or his tongue depressor, which she was sure was itsy-bitsy and just as lame as he was. She thought quickly of Ruby’s words, “Don’t let him have anymore of her time that should be yours.” She shook the words off. She was being ridiculous. Ruby was just screwing with her. She didn’t even know Richard and why did she care who Daylen was dating? They’d spent years working together, had both seen different people, and she never even gave it a second thought. Okay, maybe there’d been a second thought, but there hadn’t been third or fourth thoughts. So why was she now wanting to take Richard’s tongue depressor, whatever size it was, and turn it into his own personal butt stick? She forced the image out of her mind. “Do you need a ride somewhere before I take off?”