Blood, Dirt, and Lies

by Rachel Graves

  He was blubbering now, words coming too fast, almost falling down. I nodded, and offered him my hand to help. His house really was just there and we were inside his study before his tears had time to dry. He scrubbed the back of his hand across his face, wiping away the wetness as if he were ashamed of it.

  “Tell us,” Danny commanded.

  “Of course.” Meredith swallowed hard. “Sit, please, sit. Drink?”

  “No.” Danny’s words were still tense and I didn’t have a good way to calm him, not when we were across the hall from that coat.

  Meredith poured himself a glass of whiskey and swallowed hard. “There was a naiad in those woods, in a small brook, but she’s gone. She’s been gone for a very long time but if you’re searching for her that means she might be back. I look for her every day and I never see her, but you’re searching so you must know something. What?”

  Danny started to say something but I cut him off completely. “We’re still investigating the homicide we asked you about a month ago. A naiad would be a strong suspect and the victim’s car was found near the park. We don’t have any sightings or evidence there is one there.”

  “Oh.” He sat down in the chair and his body slumped, crumbled in on itself.

  “Who was she?” I asked, guessing the naiad mattered to him.

  “I called her Nia,” he said, wistfully.

  “But that wasn’t her name.” Danny clenched his hands into fists, his voice bitter.

  “No, not at all. It was just what I called her. I was seventeen, going after werebear when I found her. The bear took me on a long chase, one shot already in him, refusing to stop. I was winded and half dead when the woods opened onto a spring and there she was.”

  “And you didn’t kill her?” Danny asked. The fists tightened, his knuckles going white with barely controlled rage.

  “No! I loved her! Loved her then and ever since. Her body. Her hair. Loved everything about her.” He stopped defending himself and took a deep drink before he went back to the story. “I had her, and then my porter found us. I convinced them to help me bring her back to our hotel. She was naked, of course, and scared, so scared we had to tie her up to keep her with us but I would never hurt her.”

  “You brought her back here?” I asked.

  He nodded. “There’s a stream in the park; it’s not much but it was enough for her. For a while anyway, before she left. I could never understand why. I gave her little things, trinkets. Never gave her cause for jealousy, never let anyone harm her, kept her safe, but one morning I came back from a hunt in Africa and she was gone. I’ve walked in the park ever since, hoping she’ll come back.”

  He looked at me with sad eyes and I wondered if he realized he’d raped, kidnapped, and then falsely imprisoned a person with rights. I doubted it. Then again, I doubted he’d ever thought of her as a person or a captive.

  “Have you seen anything in those woods?” I asked, thinking about Simon’s case. “There was a stabbing there a couple of weeks back.”

  “Nothing.” He waved me off. “Nothing that matters: a coven sometimes on the new moon, families, people jogging, or putting in kayaks to go out on the river but she’s never come back.”

  His eyes were shining with tears again when Danny and I left him.

  ****

  “Bastard’s fucking delusional.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” I agreed with Danny’s sentiment if not his tone.

  “If the naiad does come back, I’ll help her charge him with everything in the book: kidnapping, rape, the works.”

  “Uh-huh.” I nodded.

  “You know I thought I could leave it alone, could forget about him and his sick little room of death but then he was hunting us. Stalking us! Sick son of a bitch.” Danny vented and swore most of the way back to the office.

  When we got there, he took his wallet and went into a private room to make a phone call. I stopped myself from asking who or what he was calling, sure it wouldn’t be good for the dejected, old man we’d left. I struggled with my own thoughts for a minute. He’d admitted a crime but we didn’t have a victim. We didn’t have evidence past his confession. There wasn’t much a cop could do, and I hoped whoever Danny was calling would come quick.

  Stuck, I picked up the paperwork from the afternoon with a sigh. I was in the middle of section C, part three, suspects and (or) persons of interests interviewed, when my phone rang.

  “How would you like to be distracted?” Jakob asked smoothly after we said hello.

  “That sounds lovely. What kind of distraction did you have in mind?”

  “A play.”

  “A play?” I had been hoping for something a bit more physical.

  “The Beau Stratagem. There’s a small theater company that wants funding for a new playhouse. They invited me to a show to convince me they deserve it. Care to come along?”

  “What kind of a company puts on plays on a Wednesday night?”

  “The kind that doesn’t have their own stage to show them on.”

  Good point. “Okay, what do I wear?”

  I got the details from Jakob and was almost ready to walk out the door when I realized there might be a way for me to go after Meredith.

  “BRMDC, can I help you?” The cheerful voice offered, but when I asked for Rhythm it fell.

  “She’s in rehearsal, and uh, you know this is Baton Rouge Modern Dance Company, right? I mean dancing is what we do and I don’t want to pull her out of that, I guess, if it was like, really, really important…”

  I promised her it was and waited patiently.

  “I’m in rehearsal. This better be important.” Rhythm’s normally cheerful tone was completely gone.

  “I promise it is.”

  “Oh hey, Mal! I haven’t seen you in an age.” The voice I knew came back, and I imaged Rhythm, her olive skin shining with sweat from the dancing, her long hair probably put up in a tight bun so it didn’t get in her way. “I’ve been super busy; in fact, you’ve got another three minutes of the ‘take five’ I gave them.”

  “Okay then, when did you move here and what do you know about a naiad who was out near Rivermont?” Danny had gotten back to his desk and his head came up sharply. I suspected he would be listening for her reply.

  “Ouf, tough subject. You know technically the naiads are my half-sisters, right? Same dad.”

  Rhythm was a muse, a creature from Greek mythology. With my fuzzy belief in gods, I tended to ignore the way she referenced Zeus as her father.

  “He got around, didn’t he?”

  “Very funny, Mal, yeah, he did.” I couldn’t think of a good way to apologize for saying something completely true but rather distasteful.

  “So about your half-sister…”

  “Lethe, her name is Lethe.” Rhythm bristled.

  I didn’t want Rhythm angry at me and the conversation was getting away from me. As a last-ditch effort, I went with the painful truth. “Look, I ran into a guy who raped, kidnapped, and kept a naiad hostage. If she’s around I’d like her to press charges.”

  Danny nodded his head at me, either congratulating me on my conversational skills or agreeing getting Meredith behind bars would be a good thing. Rhythm sighed.

  “She won’t. She’s not like that. It sucks too.” She took a deep breath, then spoke in the voice people use when they talk about relatives who always make bad choices: love mixed with regret. “I mean the girl remembers pretty much nothing. She ends up someplace, miserable, getting shit on, but she forgets she can leave. The idea of getting out of the situation doesn’t occur to her; she’ll stay wherever some bastard put her until some other bastard picks her up.”

  “So you helped her?”

  “I put her ass on a plane, and called one of my sisters to pick her up from the airport in Italy. Between the nine of us we got her home, but who knows, by now she’s probably lost again.”

  “Sorry to bring up painful memories.”

  “Don’t be, you can’t save people from
themselves, right? Anyway, I should get back to rehearsal. We should get together this weekend, head to Convenire, blow off some steam. I miss you guys.”

  “That sounds great, and I can’t wait to hear about whatever you’re rehearsing.”

  “Hear about it? I hope you’ll come see it!”

  I promised her I would before I hung up and faced Danny.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “Don’t be. There are other ways to handle it.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. He’d said enough about his sister and how she didn’t think the rules applied that I suspected the other ways he was talking about weren’t legal.

  “Have a good night, Mal.” He got up, pushed his chair in and left, completely ignoring my unspoken question.

  Chapter 16

  Tonight Jakob’s suit was black, the shirt a thin blue pin stripe and the tie diagonal slashes of blue and gray. As always he looked hot. He also looked a little out of place. Most of the men at the play wore artfully distressed jeans and untucked shirts.

  We found our seats, comfortable ones in the middle of the fourth row, a perfect view of the show. By the intermission, I was willing to switch seats with someone in the back. At least there, in the dark, I could make out with Jakob instead of paying attention. It wasn’t bad, just too much: avant-garde ultra-modern costumes with huge French wigs from the 17th century paired with a Restoration comedy. I applauded when it was over, more because it was over than because it was good.

  “So what’s next?” I asked, positive our next stop would be more fun.

  “I was going to—”

  My cell phone interrupted him. “Hold that thought.” I pecked him on the cheek before I picked up the phone. We were still leaving the theater and I struggled to hear the voice on the other end in the noise of the crowd. It was dispatch, the officials onsite at a fire were asking for me.

  I got directions and gave them to Jakob. A fire and someone asking for me usually meant E. I hoped this wasn’t like the last arsons we’d worked.

  When Jakob pulled up to the scene I realized it wasn’t. It was much worse because E wasn’t the officer there, Reilly was.

  “Reilly, what are you doing here?” The play had been fine, dinner before it had been great, and even getting called to check something out didn’t really spoil my evening, but Jakob running into a guy who’d been seducing me by fire light; that would spoil things.

  “I’m covering for Fire Inspector Miller. Is this Jakob?” He stretched out his hand with an open and welcoming smile. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Uh, yeah.” Bad idea, Reilly, very bad idea, do not let my incredibly jealous boyfriend know about the beach scene. “We were at a play. Is it magical?” I gestured to the fire hoping my question would distract Jakob from asking how I knew Reilly.

  “In a way. It’s fire and death, like the other night. Fire and death but the magic isn’t fire witch magic. I thought we could go get coffee and talk about it. I didn’t realize you’d be busy.”

  Apparently, Reilly was trying to commit suicide by vampire. I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  “Well I am busy,” I said, stressing the last word. “Really busy, so fax the report to my office.” If I could keep this professional there was a chance it wouldn’t end badly. A small chance but hey, it was a chance.

  “I’m not sure we have a report to cover this. Why don’t we do breakfast?”

  Was the fool actually trying to make a date with me in front of my boyfriend? Oh Sweet Jesus did he want to die? “Uh, not a breakfast person.”

  “Really, the other day at Sunshine’s you seemed okay with—”

  I cut him off. “You know, I’m not really dressed for the cold. If we need to talk about this call me at the office later, okay?” Get the hint Reilly, get the hint please.

  “Will do. You two have a good night.” The smile didn’t leave his face as he turned to Jakob. “It was nice to meet you.”

  I was sorry Jakob was driving. If it was my Jeep I could have driven, putting all my energy into it and avoiding the conversation. We pulled out of the curving driveway and away from the crime scene that had once been a plantation-style home.

  “So Reilly is…” Jakob began, his voice surprisingly level.

  “The fire witch Raya sent to convert me.” Why not go with the truth? What’s the worst that could happen? Well other than clueless but sweet Reilly turning into vampire bait by morning.

  “You two talked about me?”

  “You’re my boyfriend; I talk about you to a lot of people,” I teased, keeping my voice light. Jakob was handling this pretty well. Maybe I was being silly, maybe he wasn’t jealous after all.

  “At Sunshine’s?”

  “Er, no.” I paused, hoping to come up with something to distract him. “What did you think of the play?”

  “I thought the pacing was off but after intermission they pulled it together. You know I’m not going to get upset about Reilly.”

  “Really?” I asked surprised.

  “He’s been sent by a god; he had no choice in the matter.”

  “Uh-huh.” He was entirely too calm. “And the whole thing, the offer to make me a fire witch, doesn’t bother you?”

  “It bothers me a great deal but it’s your choice.” We pulled into the driveway and he turned to look at me. “I don’t want you to think I’m trying to live your life for you. If Reilly has some offer to convey, I won’t stop him.”

  “And you’re not going to give me advice about the offer?” I cocked my head to the side trying to understand how this worked. Normally, Jakob was extremely jealous of other men and ultra-protective of me.

  “No.” He paused for a second, choosing his words carefully. “I watched E grow up torn between the people who loved her and the goddess who chose her. I won’t give you advice because if you decided not to follow it I’d lose you. If you did follow it, and something went wrong, you might blame me. There’s no good way for me to win this battle, so I’ll stay out of it.”

  “Don’t stay too far out of it. I need you.” I laughed and hugged him. He turned the hug into a kiss, and the kiss into an embrace. The mating fire we’d shared this morning had been passionate but this embrace was something else. I could feel his fear of losing me, and I moved to reassure him with my touch.

  “Are we going to have sex in the car again?” he asked after I stopped kissing him.

  “Again? We had sex in the car once, months ago!”

  “Is that a yes?” I could tell from his smile he enjoyed my outrage.

  “Well, we were, but we sure aren’t now.” I did my best to sound upset but he didn’t buy it.

  We ended up on the couch but made it to the bed eventually. I went to sleep thinking about Jakob and how much I loved him, how lucky I was to have him and how I never wanted someone else. I had a few fleeting thoughts of him finding me in a dream, but unfortunately, dreams don’t always go the way we want them.

  “You’re not busy anymore, right?” Reilly looked up at me with his dopey grin. It was cute, it was adorable, but I wasn’t willing to risk returning it. I knew how quickly things could get out of hand with him.

  “This is a bad idea.” I stepped backward and realized we were back on the beach. The fire wasn’t the same, it didn’t have the same force behind it. Maybe this fire was more of a dream fire and the other night I’d actually been there? I didn’t understand and it didn’t matter. “This location is a bad idea.”

  It was my dream and I changed it. Unfortunately, when there was a problem in my dreams I tend to escape to the same place: Jakob’s mill.

  “Uh, this isn’t any better,” I gulped. Jakob might be here. I didn’t think the rational, non-confrontational mood he was in would last if he found Reilly with me in a dream.

  “I agree. Too much river and woods, we need a fire,” he said, and a fire appeared next to us. It ruined the landscape, the wonderful alpine meadows of medieval Germany were a carpet of green grass with mountains behind
them, not a place for a campfire. “That’s better.”

  “No, it’s not better. You don’t understand. Things could get really out of hand here. You need to leave before—”

  “Father says you’re to come with me.” The cherub in a long white dress next to me said, slipping her hand into mine. She pulled me gently toward the stone building by the river. Usually I loved going with her, seeing the mill in action, playing with her by the sides of the river but tonight was different.

  “Hi, Hedda,” I said realizing how bad things already were. She was Jakob’s youngest daughter, a vision of happiness with dark curls and sparkling blue eyes. She’d never lived past six. On occasion, when I had an incredibly bad day, she distracted me from the world. The problem was she didn’t normally show up alone.

  “You like kids?” Reilly dropped to her level to say hello but she looked at him like he was evil incarnate. “That’s got to be weird being with a vampire. I mean, he can’t have kids, you like them.”

  “Okay, you need to leave now.”

  “Why?” He stood up, giving up on the idea that he could get her to say hello.

  “Jakob really wouldn’t like it if he found you here, and I’d much prefer we talk when I’m awake.”

  “You know overly controlling boyfriends tend to become abusive,” he said, his voice touched with genuine concern. He reached out to put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

  “Reilly don’t-” I woke up before I could finish the thought. I was awake, but Jakob wasn’t. He wasn’t asleep either, but something in between. His eyes were open but he didn’t see me, didn’t respond when I called his name. I paced, repeating “we don’t use magic on each other” like a mantra. What was Jakob doing to Reilly? I kept pacing and repeating.

  The daylight shutters rumbled into place around the rest of the house. The bedroom was under enough rock that their noise was the only signal it was morning. I glanced back at Jakob whose eyes had closed.