I wanted to close the case and be done with it. I knew the why, they were zealots, protecting the earth. A construction effort tears down trees? Destroy the equipment. A woman helps a company get away with polluting? Kill her. A senator doesn’t do enough to protect the earth? Kill him too.
The only thing I didn’t know was why Phoebe ended up on that altar. The more I thought of it the less I cared. The thing that mattered was she had and she’d gotten off it.
An hour of paperwork, then a second hour, a call came in but I made Wilson and his partner take it for us. He owed me and I wanted to wrap up a long incident report form. Then about halfway through my morning, someone I hadn’t expected to see showed up.
“I’d like to make a statement.” Ethan looked terrible; his mass of tight curls slicked back into a stub of a ponytail. The tension seemed to stretch his skin too tight, or maybe it was just the first time I’d seen him after a shave.
“I’m sure the FBI will take it.” I returned to the form in front of me. Ethan’s role in all this was still a little blurry for me. I wasn’t willing to put him on the “friend” list just yet, even if he wasn’t a definite “foe.”
“They did. Last night and then again this morning with the organization’s lawyers. I want to make sure the SIU knows I had nothing to do with it too.”
“Nothing?”
Danny raised his eyebrow at me, not stopping my question but chiding me. I gave in to his look.
“All right, let’s grab an interview room.”
****
Phoebe was a spirit witch. When she read you she got an exact image of what you were thinking about. If she caught you thinking about a cat, she saw the color of its fur and eyes, even the pattern on the cushion it was resting on. It was a handy skill, one I assumed Simon had as well.
It was Simon’s other skill as a spirit witch that made me put him in the observation room, his ability to know immediately when someone was lying. I wasn’t willing to give Ethan the benefit of the doubt and I didn’t want to call him on his lies. I just wanted Simon to tell me what they were.
“Make your statement.” I sat across from Ethan at the small interview table. Danny sat at the head of the table, chair pushed back in a way that told me he’d let me run the show. I was grateful. Florescent light poured down on Ethan, bouncing off the white linoleum floor and the white walls. I hoped the artificialness of it bothered him.
“Terra Prima had nothing to do with the violence.” He paused and I took the opening.
“What about you, personally?”
“I had no idea. I don’t believe in violence. I don’t even eat meat.”
“When I saw you the night after Representative Lloyd’s attack you called it ‘a victory for the trees.’ But you’re saying you didn’t have anything to do with it?”
“You know the Saints lost the Superbowl and you didn’t have anything to do with it.”
My mouth hung open for a second, surprised he’d dare to bring up the Saints. I was being too nice. I didn’t even glance at Danny. This wasn’t about playing good cop and bad cop; this was about being mean.
“If you had no idea what was going on why’d you ask Phoebe to take a ritual bath?”
“I had other plans,” he said, coolly.
“If those other plans were so important how did she end up on that altar?”
“George scheduled me for a late interview. By the time I got back Phoebe was gone. I thought she’d stood me up.”
“She ever stand you up before?” Danny asked, his tone a lot nicer than mine.
“No.”
“And you didn’t get worried?” I said, my voice sarcastic. “Didn’t go looking for her?”
“I did actually. I went to her place, the coffee shop she likes, and I called around to her friends. I left a message with you.”
I swallowed my next angry question; I hadn’t been home yet to check my messages.
“When did you find out what was going on?” Danny took over.
“Later last night, George called me to bail him out.”
“Did you?” I asked.
“No! I love Phoebe. I ignored him and went to her place. She wouldn’t let me in. There was…there was someone…” He paused, groping for a way to explain Mark’s presence. “She wouldn’t even speak to me. I’m going to try to see her today.”
“How many employees does Terra Prima have?” Danny asked, gently turning the subject.
“Thirty and about eighteen regular volunteers, college kids, housewives who care that sort of thing. The seven who did this were five volunteers and two employees. We’d offered to hire a few of the volunteers, thought they were good people, but they didn’t want to come onboard. Now I know they were probably worried about the background check.”
“Background check?” I said, feeling sympathetic despite myself.
“Every employee has a full background check, just in case.”
“George and Rina passed?”
“With flying colors, Rina was a nurse, worked with a surgeon and George was in the war, a decorated veteran. I mean he drank too much, but other than that nothing in his background.” Ethan shook his head. “I guess I don’t have anything else to say really, just that I didn’t know what was going on, I don’t agree with it, and Terra Prima feels the same way. What happened was terrible, and I hope the victims get the justice they deserve.”
We thanked him and wrapped up the interview. I let Danny walk him out so I could check with Simon. It didn’t take long.
“Not lying, not a word, and seriously, Mal, he’s pretty sick about all this.”
“Yeah, well…”
“He loves her.”
I started to say something but a strange look came over Simon’s face.
“What?”
“We need to get back to the squad room.”
We walked down the hall, fast steps, almost running. I expected a ghost, a goblin, some supernatural creature and instead I saw Phoebe. She was wearing a green wrap dress, one I knew she wore to cheer herself up. Her hair was down, spilling around her in silken golden waves. She looked great, strong and confident, but looking at her, Ethan looked terrible.
They stood next to my desk, a foot or two apart, watching each other. Ethan took a step forward, maybe trying to take her hand or hug her and she took a step back. Beside me Simon flinched over whatever emotion Ethan felt.
“Phoebe, I love you, I didn’t know.”
She looked at him without any pity.
“You have to believe me!”
Phoebe could sense lies the same way Simon did. She had to know he was telling the truth but she only said, “I don’t care.” When she turned away from him to walk toward me, I wanted to applaud but Ethan started to follow her so instead I calmly said, “Mr. Georgio, there’s some paperwork for you to finish up.”
“I’ll help you with it,” Danny interceded and I went after Phoebe.
“Any chance you’re in the mood for lunch?” Phoebe asked.
“Sure.” I smiled. “Sushi?”
“Brilliant idea.”
****
The walk to Haroku’s, our favorite sushi shop, took us a few blocks from the squad room. February decided to be unseasonably hot; temperatures soared into the low seventies, threatening to go higher. If the weather held until Mardi Gras, there would be more naked bodies than usual. I grinned, thinking about how the parades would start soon, along with the parties the girls and I would go to. I could picture Rhythm dancing up a storm but wondered if Phoebe would be willing to get crazy for beads.
“I can’t wait either,” she said.
“You reading me, Pheebs?”
She nodded. “I’m reading everyone now, no more trying to play it normal, no more respecting people’s privacy. I don’t want to end up on an altar when some asshole offers to take me to a picnic.”
“So that’s how you ended up out there?” I asked, as we slid into the bright purple velvet booth. Normally we sat up front in the ar
tistic wire chairs next to bistro tables, but today I wanted a bit of privacy so the booths in the back would have to do.
“Yup. George shows up and says Ethan is running late, he’ll meet me at the picnic.” Our waitress interrupted her and Phoebe ordered her usual lunch of tofu and veggie rolls with a grim look.
“But there wasn’t any picnic.”
“No,” she said angry. “And if I’d read him, I would have known. If I’d been what I am, a spirit witch, instead of playing normal, well, I wouldn’t have been up there.”
I suddenly wished I’d paid more attention to the speech by the victim’s advocate we had to sit through back in December. As it was I could only stumble through, searching for something helpful to say. “It’s not your fault, Pheebs. You’re the victim, remember?”
“I feel so stupid. And pissed, really pissed.” Her voice rose as talked, until she was almost shouting. “He was a nice guy. A decent guy, the kind you take home to meet your parents, and you know what? I ended up tied to a fucking altar!”
Now she was shouting and I didn’t stop her.
“No more. No more nice guys, no more decent guys. It’s married men, shady characters, players, and generally bad guys from now on. Because they might cheat on their wives or dump me for no reason but none of them, not one of them, not ever, tried to sacrifice me, damn it!”
A better person might have reminded her Ethan hadn’t either; it was some people he worked with. I hadn’t liked Ethan enough for that and it didn’t sound like she wanted me to defend him, so I fiddled with my chopsticks.
“I’m reading everybody I date from now on. That’s part of who I am. They’ll have to deal with it. And I’m not looking for nice guys anymore. I’m dating the guys I like, the guys that work for me.” She was losing steam, calming down the longer she talked.
“Guys like Mark?” I asked slyly.
“Exactly! Socially stunted with tons of personal issues but really great in bed. He’s perfect. Well, not exactly perfect, he’s seeing someone new, but another guy like him. Does Jakob have any other single friends?”
“I could ask but I doubt it. There is this guy James though…” A minute later I was telling her about the mysterious and slightly insane Rowan, the bracelet, and most importantly the left-behind pair of jeans.
After her first rant, she was back to being Phoebe. I suspected it was only skin deep for now. She had a lot to deal with before she’d be completely back to her old self.
We walked back to the office planning the weekend out, dancing on Friday night, maybe a road trip on Saturday, and a big decadent brunch on Sunday. By the time I hugged her goodbye, I thought she was going to be all right.
With my worries for Phoebe calmed and after a phone call to Jakob proving he was all right, I threw myself into the last bits of the case. There was a meeting with one of the lawyers from upstairs, Ravenna Evans, a woman who earned her nickname, “the ice queen” with every emotionless act.
Rumor told she never dated, never had lunch out with anyone, and ate only raw meat. I didn’t believe the last one but with the way her long black hair was forced into a perfect bun and her pitch-black eyes glinted coldly I could believe the first two. She wasn’t happy to get “an SIU problem” and kept grilling me for hours.
When I got out of the meeting I had a message from Anna. I called her before I even glanced at the clock.
“Nancy’s gone.” Anna’s voice sounded wooden and she didn’t even say hello.
“Gone?” I asked.
“Gone. Took everything, left me, gone. I told her to get out when we had it out over the baby but I didn’t expect her to just go.”
“Maybe she’ll be ba—” Hold on, stop that meaningless comfort. “The baby?”
“Yeah, I’m pregnant.”
“Holy shit.” Danny looked up at me, but I waved him away. This wasn’t a squad room kind of thing.
“Thanks, Mal. I feel much better now.” Anna laughed.
Anna was pregnant. Raya had gotten her new witch. No more long drives to Houston, no more sex she didn’t understand. Anna could go back to her life. Except Raya’s meddling destroyed most of Anna’s life.
“I’m going to call Aden and tell him about it. Uh, would you mind…would you mind coming over? Sort of to hold my hand? I don’t know how he’s going to take it and with Nancy leaving…I sort of don’t want…”
“I’ll be there in a matter of minutes,” I declared, eager to do something to help. I hastily shoved papers into folders and asked Danny to cover the last of the forms. Generally doing as much as I could as fast as could to try and get out of there. I turned from my desk, slinging my purse over my shoulder, and nearly ran into Amadeus.
I was glad I’d caught myself; he didn’t look like he could handle it if I didn’t. His face was bruised, angry purple and red mixing with semi-healed green and yellow. He looked like an accident victim a week after the crash, holding himself stiffly, and standing up like the effort cost him. It was after five. The sun was set so he could be out, but he looked like he’d be better off at home in bed. I swallowed hard. I knew who made him look like that.
He’d made his living being good looking once; now it almost hurt to see him. I wondered how bad you had to hit a vampire for them to take that long to heal. “So…”
“You shouldn’t have been there and I shouldn’t have done it.” His face was stern.
“Is that an apology?”
“It’s what you’re going to get.”
“Fair enough.” I struggled with what else I could say. Thank him for helping me save Phoebe? Apologize for how Jakob hurt him? Threaten him with more if he ever did used me again that way? I decided to stay out of it, and only said good night as I pushed past him on my way out the door.
Anna lived in a subdivision of two and three-story brick houses with wide open yards and stone entry ways. Neat brick pathways snaked toward front doors dividing manicured green lawns and accenting bright white granite. Her house came toward the end of the block, four houses down from where her parents lived, smaller than most with only two stories and a wide granite porch.
A gift from her father, the house had room for a family. He’d bought it hoping she’d fill it with babies, something that seemed pretty far off when I first met her, but now it could happen before the end of the year.
I knocked in the flickering light of Anna’s gas lamps, seeing the house as a place for someone to grow up. I could picture Anna making hot dogs on the grill and maybe a swing set in the backyard. I could see Halloween costumes on the porch and rainy days curled up at the front window but it was hard to complete the pictures.
Would there be a dad involved? Another mom? Anna’s life was completely turned upside down and all because of someone else’s whim. Whatever I thought of Raya’s offer to me it changed when I saw my friend’s face: Anna looked helpless and alone. I never wanted to worship someone who made me feel like that.
I hugged her firmly before I even went inside. “It’s going to be okay.”
“You think, so?” she asked, sniffing a little.
“I know so.”
We walked into the living room and sat down in front of Anna’s phone. The leather couches still faced the giant fireplace but everything felt foreign. Anna dialed the number off a business card, her hand shaking. “Fire control technologies, Aden speaking.” His voice sounded crisp.
“Uh, hi Aden. It’s uh.” Her voice was shaking so I held her hand. It seemed to help. It helped more when he recognized her.
“The most beautiful woman I know. Are you going to breeze into my life again? I’m happy to drop everything for you.”
“Uh, actually this is a little more serious. I was uh, well, wait is this a good time to talk?” I looked at Anna and shook my head. Usually she was the most confident person in the world; today her confidence was gone.
“If it’s serious, I’ll make the time. What’s wrong?”
“I’m pregnant.” Just like that, just flat out lo
ud. I put my arm around her while we listened to the silence on the other end of the phone. Eventually it had been too long and she asked, “Are you there?”
“Yeah, I am.” There was a pause. “Look, Anna…” He stopped again. “Look, I can be there in a few hours. Would you…would you promise not to make any decisions until I get there? We need to talk about this.”
“Um, sure, yes, I mean, I guess.” It wasn’t the answer either of us expected. The earnest worry in his voice threw me and I could tell Anna felt the same way.
“Just don’t worry, okay? I mean it’s your body and your life but don’t do anything drastic until we talk, all right? I’m shutting down my computer now. I promise I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Ummm, okay.”
“Are you alone? You shouldn’t be alone. Can you call a friend? Go out to a movie. What about your girlfriend, what’s her name? N—something?”
“Nancy, she left.” Anna’s voice went wooden. “I’ve got a friend here. I’ll be okay until you show up.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay, I have to hang up but don’t worry okay?”
“Okay,” she said, clicking the button to hang up.
We were quiet for a minute before I noticed she was crying. I found a box of tissues and handed her one.
“That went better than you thought, right?”
She nodded, blowing her nose loudly.
“Why the tears?”
“I don’t…I don’t know…” she cried.
“All right, let me distract you. This is all part of Raya’s plan. You’ll be okay.”
“I know, I know everything is part of Her plan, I’m just not sure I can—”
“No,” I cut her off. “Not like the comforting vague part of her plan nonsense, like Raya came to me the night you went to Texas. She wants another fire witch in your family, and She wants it to be one with Aden’s family. She laid the whole thing out for me but it’s kind of gross.”
Anna’s jaw hung open for a second before she snapped it shut with a smile. The tears stopped. Then she reached over and kissed me on the cheek.
Blood, Dirt, and Lies Page 28