by Jamie Quaid
Apparently there was no rest for daughters of Saturn.
I stopped by the bar and picked up Andre’s checkbook before hitting the freeway. Bill’s bar was a sad place without Bill’s big bulk behind the counter. I left more determined than ever to right what Acme had done wrong.
I preferred the solid Harley to my plastic Miata, but I had to admit, sporty red convertibles had more panache for driving up to million-dollar condos. Jaw set, I flashed my license, and the guard at the gate let me through. Max was thoughtful that way. Of course, he’d probably have my name stricken from the register after tonight.
He hadn’t returned my earlier call, so he didn’t deserve a warning of my arrival. I had a hunch he wasn’t studying up on the latest congressional bill for screwing the taxpayers. The devil in me wanted to see what Max the Senator did on Sunday nights.
So I was playing girlfriend games. It happens.
I took a real live working elevator up to the top floor—marvelous how technology actually worked outside the Zone. My phone rang as I pushed the doorbell.
I checked caller ID. Not Max. I answered anyway.
“They’ve arrested Andre,” Julius said wearily. “Charged him with first-degree murder. The press is crawling all over the Zone.”
I had promised to curb the swearing, but a few epithets crossed my glossy lips. I’d hoped they wouldn’t charge him so quickly, but Vanderventers owned this part of town.
Julius knew all that. It was the media in the Zone that he worried about. I took a deep breath and tried to sound sane. “Are they in your face yet?”
“At the door. I’m not answering. Schwartz is outside patrolling, keeping them to public places. They can’t find anyone to talk to on a Sunday night. I just wanted to warn you.”
“I must have escaped before they got the word. I’m over at Dane’s, waiting for him to come home.” Since the good senator obviously wasn’t answering his door, I had to assume he was out. “You might want to try calling some of your lawyer friends, asking them who’ll be arraigning the case. Get back to me if you find out.”
“I don’t have many friends anymore, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“Your books are still used in the classroom, Julius. You’ve earned respect. You’ll get it. Do you know any lawyers who will take his case?” I sat down cross-legged in the hall and rested my back against the wall.
“I’ll ask around, but the Vanderventers—” He caught himself, realizing I was sitting outside a Vanderventer door. “Paddy said he’ll help if he can.”
I thought about that. “Tell him to hold off. Until we know what’s going down at the plant, it’s better if his family still thinks he’s cuckoo.”
I wasn’t convinced he wasn’t cuckoo, but for now, he seemed saner than the rest of the world.
“Don’t do anything rash,” Julius said quietly, “but Andre may have a problem with confinement.”
I grimaced. I didn’t know about all of Andre’s problems, but I could imagine his reaction should anyone push him too far. Heads would roll. Literally. Special Ops with PTSD—ugly.
“I’m on it.” I hung up. Andre’s checkbook weighed heavy in my bag. Andre wasn’t poor by a long shot, but it didn’t matter how much money he had if he got a judge who wouldn’t allow bail. He could totally freak in jail, and then he really would off somebody.
It knotted my insides to ask for anything, especially from Max the senator. We were a few universes apart these days. He had his problems. I had mine. It would be better if the twain never met. But I couldn’t let Andre down. The pincers of eternal conflict squeezed my skull tighter.
The elevator door finally clanked and slid open. There were two condos up here, so I didn’t rush to stand. Damn good thing.
Senator Vanderventer stepped out with Glenys MacNeill, the late Max’s sister, hanging on his arm.
I could almost hear the Max inside the senator screaming Help! as if he were still caught behind my mirror.
16
The devil made me do it, I swear. Even if he was wearing Dane’s disguise, that was my Max that Glenys was drooling on. So it wasn’t for the sake of Max’s everlasting soul that I stood up and sauntered toward the couple stepping off the elevator.
I had on three-inch Ferragamos from the Goodwill store, and I was probably still half a head shorter than Glenys. Max’s family wasn’t small. I’d never let my size stand in my way. I smiled wickedly through my Luscious Ruby lipstick. I didn’t just swing my spandex-clad hips; I rolled them like a hooker. I shook out my glorious mane. I stunned the Max I saw in Dane’s eyes. He hadn’t been around enough lately to appreciate the new me.
Glenys narrowed her eyes and clung more possessively to Dane’s arm. Even if she didn’t know the soul inside his body was that of her brother, the senator was still her second cousin, for pity’s sake. Did the girl know no shame? If she had any brains or compassion at all, she would have recognized by now that the man who had walked out of the hospital a few months ago was no longer the same Dane she’d grown up with.
“Hello, Danny boy,” I purred. “I’m not into threesomes, so if you want to get it on with the lady, I’ll be moving along.”
“You’re that witch who killed Max!” Glenys cried in sudden fury, finally seeing through my vamp disguise. She dropped Dane’s arm like a hot poker and turned her glare on him. “You’re fucking Max’s whore?”
“Oh, very pretty, Glenys. Such elegant language.” I vowed again to quit cursing. It turned Glenys into an ugly bitch, even though she wasn’t half bad, in an older-woman sort of way.
“I told you I was busy, Glenys,” Dane/Max said apologetically. “I have several meetings scheduled for this evening. Tina is giving me background for one of them.”
Oh, Max, you liar, you. But then, I already knew he was a liar, which was how he’d ended up cursed in the first place.
“Sorry, Senator,” I said pertly. “It’s hard to resist. Sunday is supposed to be my day of rest, and buzzing up to D.C. to be blown off by a booty call kind of tilted my wheels.”
Max glared through Dane’s blue eyes. I smiled boldly, as if I teased and confronted U.S. senators every day. Glenys narrowed her eyes in disbelief, but she made a nice turnabout. She patted Dane’s arm, kissed his cheek, whispered a few sweet nothings in his ear. Then, after giving me a glare, she swung out.
She worked hard on that hip sway, but Dane/Max didn’t even look. Brothers really don’t notice sisters.
“Thanks, I think,” he said, unlocking his door. “She’s hatching some scheme to take over Acme now that Gloria’s out of the way. She seems to think we’ll inherit some of her shares. That’s a distant chance.”
“Her chance might be distant, but Dane has a good likelihood of inheriting,” I reminded him as we entered his chilly apartment.
I kept expecting Harley parts and clutter. Max had been a mechanic with a very loose bookkeeping system and no interest in domesticity, but he probably had a cleaning service these days. And no engines to take apart. One more fine mechanical mind lost to white-collardom.
“Isn’t it lovely that the buzzards are circling before the body is even cold?” I asked, rather than mourn what was no longer. Max was at least back here on earth instead of stuck in the outer rings of hell. For that, I should be grateful.
He opened the bar, poured himself a bourbon, and gestured to ask if I wanted anything. Figuring I needed a clear head for this argument, I didn’t take him up on the offer. My Max would have been swilling cheap beer, my drink of choice. I didn’t think there was any point in learning to swill the hundred-dollar-a-gallon stuff.
“The media is all over the story, by the way,” he said. “Thanks for the warning. It gave the speechwriters time to spin a good ‘we need to be with family’ press release so I could dodge questions I couldn’t answer.” He sipped his drink and stared into the dead fireplace. He didn’t realize I had the answers. After all we’d been through, he should have.
“Cold, Max. Does the fami
ly care at all?” I asked out of curiosity.
He shrugged. “Gloria alienated almost everyone over the past years. I’m not sure how Dane endured her. She’s been demanding I visit, but my getting shot has its advantages. I worked that injury for months. I couldn’t have for much longer.”
I didn’t know how to tell him that he’d been procrastinating over a demon. Had Sarah’s mother been literal or metaphorical about demons walking the earth? I’d seen enough to vote for literal, even if they were disguised as grannies.
To be truthful, I was still a little restless from that sexual battle in the hall, so I wasn’t as focused as I should have been. I didn’t have the hots for the Dane standing there, but I still wanted the Max I heard talking. Listening to him ripped me down the middle.
“I assume you’re here because of Andre,” he said before I could summon a proper response.
“You were never stupid,” I said grudgingly. I didn’t like being so obvious. Oh well, time to lay it on the line. “Seen any more of Dane in the fire? Or do you want to turn that thing on and see if Gloria pops up?”
I picked up the gas remote and waved it like a wand at the logs, but I didn’t push the buttons. I didn’t want to see Dane any more than he did.
“Why should Gloria pop up?” he asked irritably. “Andre killed her. She has no reason to haunt me.”
“Because she’s Dane’s grandmother, and she’s probably dancing in the fires of hell now and realizing her grandson’s down there with her instead of up here.” I threw the remote aside like a hot potato just thinking about it. I much preferred the days when I thought hell was a figment of Bible Belt folklore.
Dane/Max struggled with his better self and, instead of saying something karmically nasty, resorted to trusting me for a change. “Do I want to know why you believe Gloria is in hell? Or is this old news?”
I hadn’t told Andre about the Gloria-fiend I’d seen, but he had enough on his mind. And he’d never visited hell, as Max had. I could trust Max to believe me if I said I had seen a demon. Although he’d probably go ballistic if I told him I’d been at Gloria’s house with Andre. Warped priorities. Still, I needed him to believe that Andre had done the world a favor.
“Long story,” I warned. “Better take a seat. It’s been a really bad day.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” He sank into a comfy pedestal recliner and put up his feet, sipping his bourbon as if he’d been born to luxury. Well, actually, he had. I just hadn’t known it when we were dating.
The opulence made me antsy. Or just hearing Max made me horny. Whatever. I curled up on the couch and refused to look at him as I recited my tale of woe from the gas cloud on. I left out our battle over the homeless guys in the basement and that Sarah had been caught mid-shift. I just said we’d rescued a friend from the plant and verified that Acme was covering up their disaster.
I didn’t want to tell him that I’d been invisible, so I glossed over my time at Gloria’s by saying I’d been hiding, and that no one had known I was there. I didn’t think Max would encourage me to act as a witness under those circumstances.
He rubbed his hand through his hair when I was finished, glanced longingly at the bar, and gallantly resisted. “Gloria turned into a demon?” he asked in incredulity. “Are you sure Andre didn’t gas her into one?”
“Gloria had you killed!” I shouted. “Gloria and Dane were up to their stinking asses in crap. You know that. They’re holding hostages in their dungeon! Haven’t you found evidence of what they’re doing at Acme yet? Or have you been too busy tossing bimbos to try?”
That brought him back to the Max I knew. He glared. “You never were one to win votes with your sterling personality and charm. I can’t interfere in Acme’s business. Period. You sure you want Andre to go free?”
“Damned right I do!” I was running out of steam now that I’d said my piece. I sighed and shoved my mass of hair out of my face. “You really don’t want me running things in the Zone while working out of the judge’s office in my spare time. Right now, the media is crawling all over. Do you want me zapping them?”
That ought to give him pause. I’d literally blown reporters away the last time they got in my way.
Since he had his stubborn face on, I continued my argument. “The Zone needs Andre, not me. So no matter what you think of him, we have to persuade a judge to bond him out. I’m not asking for money. I’m simply asking you to use your influence as Gloria’s grandson. Say she had become senile and violent lately. Tell them Andre’s story is credible, and that your mother’s security guards are capable of collusion. Tell them anything you want. You know they’ll listen.”
“That burns, doesn’t it?” he said wryly, unexpectedly. “I always resented Dane’s influence. I’d always thought that if I’d had his power, I could change the world. It’s not as easy as it looks from the outside.”
“Cry me a river,” I muttered. “You’ve got it a lot easier than the rest of us.”
“In some ways,” he agreed. “But every good deed requires payback. If I make a few calls, they’ll expect favors in return. I swear, some of these guys have scorecards in their heads that date back decades. I’m thinking of creating a spreadsheet to keep up with who owes what to whom and why.”
“Try deciding whether sending someone to hell is worth years of eternal damnation,” I said. “I’m thinking if I visualize anyone else into danger, I’m cutting my life short here on earth. We’re both walking on quicksand.”
Max had been in hell when I’d done most of my mumbo jumbo, but he’d been aware on some level that I’d been throwing my Saturnian weight around. He seemed interested and tired as he fit my complaint with his little bit of knowledge. Apparently deciding he didn’t need to know more, he nodded.
“You really think Acme has invented some kind of gas that causes violent reactions?” he asked, succinctly nailing down my case.
“That’s the only conclusion we can reach. I figure they thought they were developing a weapon, but that’s what happened as far as we can see. I’m no scientist, but even Paddy agrees.”
I’d been hesitant about mentioning Dane’s crazy-inventor father, but if Max would help me, I had to let him know that his new family wasn’t entirely what they seemed.
“Paddy? And you believe a crazy guy?” he asked with rightful suspicion.
“I think he’s crazy like a fox. Now that Gloria’s not breathing the flames of hell down his back, he’s making sense. You want that story, too?”
He shook his head. “Not right now. Let me make some calls before everyone’s gone to bed. Does Andre have a lawyer yet?”
“Just me, for now. Julius is on it, but I have a feeling that the sooner I bail Andre out, the better off the world will be.”
“That almost makes sense. Let me flip through Dane’s call list and see what I can do. I hate making cold calls and not knowing if Dane’s made an enemy or a pal of whoever is on the other end.” He pulled out his smart phone and began scrolling through his contacts.
Not wanting to listen in on any uncomfortable discussions, I wandered around the big room. I really wanted to find his office and bedroom and see if there were any signs of my Max in Dane’s elegant home, but I was too edgy. My nerve ends felt like they’d spit bullets if crossed. I didn’t want to imagine Andre losing his cool in some crappy jail cell with perverts and drunks while I looked for a reason to hook up with an old boyfriend.
Because that was pretty much what I was doing: looking for excuses to trust Max again. It wasn’t smart, safe, or entirely rational, just my hormones talking.
Luckily, my hormones weren’t entirely engaged by Dane’s slick good looks. So I was resisting.
By the time Dane put down the phone, I was back in control again. This was Dane the senator, not Max the biker. He had influence out the wazoo and appearances to keep up. A nobody like Tina Clancy didn’t fit into that picture.
“We lucked out,” he said. “Judge Snodgrass is an old friend of both Juli
us and Paddy. He’s willing to take my word that Gloria wasn’t rational. He can’t get the charges dropped, of course. But the judge can put in a good word and have bail posted. I told him Andre had served with Special Ops and suffers from PTSD, so he’s willing to see it done tonight.”
Snodgrass was my boss. That Dane/Max had been able to extract a promise from him with a single call pretty much proved the senator had landed my job for me.
I wanted to hug him for everything he was doing for us. He looked as if he expected it. I had a sad feeling it wouldn’t stop with hugs. Dane’s testosterone and Max’s memories were a combustible combination.
He was still sitting in his recliner, so I leaned over, stroked his bristly jaw, and kissed him in gratitude. “I owe you more than one, Danny Boy. I’ve got a long ride to Towson and an early wake-up call in the morning, so let’s not think whatever you’re thinking, okay?”
“For saving me from Glenys, I’ll let you go this time, Justy,” he agreed wearily. “But I think we should both just take Dane’s money and retire to the South Pacific.”
“You might have a point.” And I actually meant it, except I kept picturing my mother running from town to town all my life, and knew running from my duties would solve nothing. “But unfortunately, we’re not cowards. So let’s see where this road leads us.”
“I’ve already been to hell. Can’t be much worse,” he said cynically, getting up to see me out.
I thought I saw him standing in his window when I drove away. Lonely didn’t cover how either of us was feeling.
• • •
I drove the freeway to Towson with no traffic or monsters stopping me, only a few lumbering semis to dodge. And I could have sworn I saw another soldier in camouflage strolling down a lane with a screaming infant, but that could have been wishful thinking. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men . . . Lovely dream. I needed to focus on Andre.