Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd

by Web of Lies (pdf)

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  106 JENNIFER ESTEP

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  ling through the salon like static electricity, just itching long ago grown over the metal that had been melted into to zap me. I scooted my stool back another foot from the my hands. I curled my fingers around Violet’s purse, hopdwarf. ing the imitation leather would shield my hands enough of the four elements, two were opposites, and two to block the burning sensations in my palms. Didn’t were complementary. Fire and Ice didn’t go together, but work. Never did. So I sat there and watched Jo-Jo. Fire and Air did, just like Stone was the natural comThe dwarf slowly passed her palm over Violet Fox’s panion to Ice. Each element also had various offshoots, face. Air elementals made great healers because of their like metal for Stone, water for Ice, and electricity for Air, ability to tap into and use all the natural gases in the air—

  that some folks could tap into. Jo-Jo Deveraux was an Air including oxygen. Right now, Jo-Jo was using her magic elemental, which meant her magic was the exact opposite to force oxygen into Violet’s body, making it circulate of my cool Stone and Ice power. Being in the presence of under the skin of her face, using the air molecules to heal someone using so much of an opposing element always what had been so viciously broken.

  made me twitchy and unsettled. Jo-Jo’s power just felt Again and again, Jo-Jo moved her hand over Viowrong to me, as would any Air or Fire elemental’s magic. let’s face. Every time she did, the girl’s nose got a little Just like my Stone and Ice power would seem foreign to straighter, her jaw a little squarer. The swelling eased, them.

  and the nasty streaks of color faded from Violet’s cheeks. But the worst part was the spider rune scars on my Watching Jo-Jo work always reminded me of a book I’d palms. As Jo-Jo brought even more of her power to bear, had as a child. one that featured a cartoon character. If the silverstone metal embedded in my skin began to itch you looked at the pages one at a time, the character didn’t and burn. Silverstone was a very rare metal, with the unmove. But if you flipped through the sheets fast enough, usual property of being able to absorb and store all kinds he’d walk from one side of the paper to the other. of magic. Many elementals wore runes made out of silTen minutes later, Jo-Jo dropped her hand. Her eyes verstone and used them to contain bits and pieces of their dimmed and lost their milky, magical glow. So did her power that they could use when needed. Sort of like magpalm. “There,” the dwarf said in a low voice. “It’s done.”

  ical batteries. My mother, Eira, had used her snowflake

  “He also kicked her once,” I said. “In the stomach.”

  rune that way, although it hadn’t saved her in the end. Jo-Jo nodded. “He bruised her kidneys bad, but I fixed But silverstone not only absorbed the magic—it hunthat too.”

  gered for it, as though the metal was hollow and eager, The dwarf got to her feet, wet a washcloth in the sink, aching even, for elemental power to fill it up and make it and used it to wipe the blood off Violet’s face. The girl whole. I could feel the silverstone’s desire for more magic, didn’t stir. She hadn’t made a sound the whole time Jo-Jo for more power, even though the skin on my palms had was working on her. Not surprising. Her body had gone Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 106-107

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  through a serious trauma. She’d probably sleep for at least murmured. “I thought it was strange she wanted to leave an hour, maybe longer. Being healed by magic always before the end.”

  took a lot out of a person, as the body tried to adjust from I raised an eyebrow.

  being injured to suddenly being well again. And using as

  “We were watching a western. The Good, the Bad, and much magic as Jo-Jo just had would wipe out all but the the Ugly with Clint Eastwood. Sophia hardly ever leaves strongest elementals.

  before the big showdown at the end,” Jo-Jo explained. That was one reason I tried not to rely on my magic

  “Her favorite part is when Lee Van Cleef dies.”

  too much, tried not to use it for big things. I didn’t like Sophia Deveraux, the Goth girl dwarf, was also quite being left weak and helpless afterward, even if I had rethe movie buff. Westerns, action flicks, mob movies. She tired from the assassin business.

  loved them all. The more violent they were, the better. Jo-Jo finished cleaning up Violet and threw the bloody

  “Anyway,” I said, finishing my story. “We left the rag into the trash can. Finn slipped Violet’s glued together dwarf’s body for Sophia to dispose of and brought the glasses on her face. Then he leaned back and gave her an girl here. once she’s awake, I plan on asking her some appreciative glance.

  serious questions about Fletcher and where she heard the

  “She cleaned up good, didn’t she?” he said in an admirname Tin Man.”

  ing tone.

  Jo-Jo stared at the girl. A frown made the blue mud

  “She’s unconscious, Finn. At least have the decency to mask on her face crack. She hadn’t bothered to wipe it off leer at her when she’s awake,” I said.

  yet. “She looks . . . familiar. What did you say her name Finn laced his hands behind his head and grinned. “I’ll was again?”

  be sure and do just that.”

  “Violet Elizabeth Fox.” I plucked the girl’s driver’s liJo-Jo washed her hands again in the sink. She grabbed cense out of her wallet and passed it to Jo-Jo. another rag to dry them off, then turned to me. “Now,”

  The dwarf scanned the laminated card. Her frown the dwarf drawled. “You want to tell me who this girl is, deepened, and bits of blue mud flaked off her cheeks and and why someone was beating her?”

  settled on her pink housecoat. “She lives up on Ridgeline I filled Jo-Jo in on everything that had happened the Hollow Road.”

  last twenty-four hours, starting with Sophia and I foil“Do you know her?” Finn asked. ing Jake McAllister’s attempted holdup of the Pork Pit, to Jo-Jo shook her head. “No, but I’m pretty sure I know Violet Fox coming in and asking for the Tin Man, to the the crotchety old bastard who’s her grandfather.”

  shooting, to Finn and I tracking her down and saving her from the dwarven hit man.

  “So that’s where Sophia went in such a hurry,” Jo-Jo Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 108-109

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  Since Jo-Jo was stronger than either Finn or me, she picked up Violet, carried the girl into the downstairs den, and arranged her on an overstuffed sofa. I pulled off Vio10

  let’s bloody jacket and shoes; then Jo-Jo covered her with a soft, warm quilt. The dwarf trudged into the downstairs bathroom to wash the blue mud off her face. I stepped through the doorway that led into the kitchen. Most people went straight to Jo-Jo’s salon when they came to the house, but my favorite room had always been the kitchen. A skinny room with a rectangular butcher’s block table set in the middle surrounded by several tall stools. Appliances done in a variety of pastel shades ringed three walls, while the fourth opened up into the den where Violet Fox snoozed. Runelike clouds could be Finn and I looked at each other. “Grandfather?” we asked found everywhere, from the placemats on the table to the in unison.

  dish towels piled next to the sink to the fresco that covJo-Jo nodded. “Warren T. Fox, of the Ridgeline Holered the ceiling. When I was younger, I used to lie on the low Foxes. The girl looks a fair bit like him in the face. I kitchen floor for hours and stare at the painting on the see it, now that the blood’s gone.”

  ceiling, pretending the clouds really were moving. one of

  “And who is this Warren T. Fox?” I asked.

  the few childish fancies I’d allowed myself after the loss of

  “He used to be a friend of Fletcher’s,” the dwarf said. my mother and older sister.

  “But they had a falling out a long time ago. Haven’t spoFinn was already in the kitchen, pouring himself a ken since, to my knowledge.”

 
cup of chicory coffee. Jo-Jo always kept a pot on in case Jo-Jo stared at Violet, who was still unconscious in the Fletcher dropped by. Now that the old man was gone, chair. An emotion flickered in the dwarf’s pale eyes. ReFinn drank his share—and then some. I breathed in, engret. I wondered why. Jo-Jo shook her head. More mud joying the warm, comforting caffeine fumes that always mask flaked off her face.

  reminded me of Fletcher Lane. Then I went over to the

  “C’mon,” the dwarf said. “Let’s make the poor girl refrigerator, pulled open the door, and peered inside. comfortable, and I’ll tell you what I know.”

  “What are you thinking? Sandwiches?” Finn asked in

  *

  *

  *

  a hopeful voice.

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  “No. I’m in the mood for something sweet.”

  the hollow. Stella knew Fletcher and Warren were both I grabbed the butter out of the fridge, then rummaged in love with her. She’d go out courting with first one, through the cabinets. Flour, oats, dried apricots, golden then the other. She liked playing them against each other. raisins, brown sugar, vanilla. I pulled them out, along Pretty soon, they were fighting over her.”

  with some mixing cups, a baking pan, a spatula, and a

  “So who got her in the end?” I asked.

  bowl. Finn settled himself at the kitchen table and drank A wry smile curved Jo-Jo’s lips. “Neither one of them. his coffee while I worked. By the time Jo-Jo walked back She ran off with a boy from the city. But by then, it was into the kitchen, I was sliding the batter into the oven. too late for Fletcher and Warren to repair their friendship.

  “Whatcha making?” the dwarf asked, pouring herself Fletcher moved into the city to start the Pork Pit. Warren a cup of coffee.

  stayed where he was up in the hills and took over his fam“Apricot bars,” I replied, wiping my hands off on a ily’s general store.”

  cloud-covered dish towel. “Which I’m going to turn into I looked at Finn. With his walnut hair, green eyes, and a poor man’s cobbler. They’ll be done in a few minutes, smooth smile, Finn was the spitting image of Fletcher at which should give you just enough time to tell us all his age—and handsome to a fault. I wondered what Warabout Fletcher and Warren T. Fox.”

  ren T. Fox had looked like in his youth, to give Fletcher Jo-Jo nodded. She took her coffee to the table and sat Lane a run for his money.

  down next to Finn. I leaned against the refrigerator so I

  “Warren’s store, is it called Country Daze?” Finn took could keep an eye on the oven. It just wouldn’t do to get another sip of his chicory coffee. “Because that’s where the apricot bars too brown.

  Violet Fox gets her paycheck from every two weeks.”

  “Fletcher and Warren grew up together in Ridgeline Jo-Jo nodded. “Been in the family for four generations Hollow,” Jo-Jo said. “Best friends who were thick as now, counting the girl in there.”

  thieves. More like brothers. Always together, from sunup My gray eyes flicked to Violet Fox, who continued to till sundown. Sophia and I knew their parents. Grandsleep on the sofa. “If Warren and Fletcher had a falling parents too.”

  out all those years ago, why would Warren’s granddaughFinn shook his head. “Dad never mentioned anyone ter come looking for Fletcher now?”

  named Warren Fox to me. Never. Especially someone Jo-Jo shrugged. “I don’t know. But if the girl or Warwho was his best childhood friend. What happened beren are in trouble like you think they are, asking Fletcher tween them?”

  Lane for help would be the very last thing the Warren T.

  “A girl,” Jo-Jo said. “They both fell in love with the Fox that I know would do. Pride’s one of the most imsame girl. Stella. She was a pretty thing who lived up in portant things to him. Which is why he never made up Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 112-113

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  with Fletcher. Stella humiliated them both, and Fletcher the front door to the house banged open. Heavy, familiar reminded Warren too much of that.”

  footsteps sounded, and a moment later, Sophia Deveraux I grabbed a cloud-shaped oven mitt, opened the oven enter the kitchen. Her black Goth clothes looked out of door, and took out the apricot bars. The smell of warm place among the pastel appliances, like a storm cloud sudfruit, sugar, and melted butter filled the kitchen, along denly passing in front of the sun.

  with a blast of heat. A combination I never grew tired of,

  “Want some dessert?” I asked, fixing another bowl of especially on a cold, gray night like this one. I grabbed apricot bars and ice cream for her.

  another oven mitt, set it on the table, then put the pan

  “Um-mmm.” Sophia grunted yes and sat down next on top of it. Finn’s fingers crept toward the edge of the to Jo-Jo.

  container, but I smacked his hand away.

  Finn waited until Sophia was halfway through her ice

  “I’m not done with them yet,” I said.

  cream before he asked her the inevitable question. “Any

  “Come on, Gin,” he whined. “I just want a taste.”

  trouble picking up the body?”

  “And you’re just going to have to wait, like the rest Sophia’s flat, black eyes met his green ones. “Nuh-uh.”

  of us.”

  The Goth dwarf’s version of no.

  Jo-Jo chuckled, amused by our squabbling. I moved I looked at Sophia’s clothes, but I couldn’t see any blood over to the cabinets and got out four bowls, some spoons, spatters on her T-shirt, jeans, or boots. Even though the and a couple of knives. I also grabbed a gallon of vanilla fabric was black, I was good at noticing that sort of thing. bean ice cream out of the freezer. After the apricot bars But Sophia’s clothes were spotless as always. The truth was had cooled enough so they wouldn’t immediately fall I didn’t know exactly how Sophia Deveraux disposed of the apart, I cut out big chunks of the bars, dumped them in bodies I sent her way. Didn’t know if she buried ’em, burned the bowls, and topped them all with two scoops of the ice

  ’em, crushed ’em, or put ’em in cold storage. Hell, I didn’t cream. My own version of a quick homemade cobbler. even know where she took the remains in the first place. Jo-Jo swallowed a mouthful of the confection and But the grumpy Goth dwarf could get rid of evidence sighed. “Heaven, pure, sweet heaven.”

  like it had never even existed. DNA, hairs, fibers, blood. Finn didn’t agree with her. He was too busy stuffing his Not a thing remained after she got through cleaning up a face to chime in.

  murder scene. I’d often wondered if Sophia had the same I took a bite. The ice cream was a cool, soft, creamy Air elemental magic Jo-Jo did, if she used it to help her decontrast to the warm, heavy richness of the apricot bars, stroy evidence. In addition to smoothing out wrinkles, Air and both melted together in my mouth in a symphony of magic was also good for disintegrating things like flesh or flavors. Jo-Jo was right. I’d outdone myself again. sandblasting blood off a floor. But I’d never seen Sophia do We were scraping up the remains of our dessert when any sort of magic, Air or otherwise, never felt any kind of Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 114-115

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  power crackle off her. Another mystery I’d never been able to puzzle out, along with why Sophia’s voice was so broken and raspy. She was only a hundred and thirteen, far too young for her body to be failing her already. Dwarves could easily live to be five hundred or older. Sophia Deveraux 11

  wasn’t forthcoming with any answers, but still I wondered. Sophia finished her cobbler, pushed her bowl back, and looked at Jo-Jo. “Movie?”

  “I paused it,” Jo-Jo said. “Still on the TV in the den, if you want to finish it.”

  Sophia nodded, got to her feet, and walked into the next room. I gr
abbed her bowl to rinse it out in the sink. I reached for the faucet to turn on the water—

  And someone screamed.

  I whirled around, one of my silverstone knives already I slid my silverstone knife back up my sleeve and ran water sliding into my right hand. Another scream rang out, folin the dirty bowl before I turned to face the college girl. lowed by some frantic rustling. Sophia sighed and stepped

  “Sweetheart,” I said in a cool voice. “That’s a butout of the den. A moment later, Violet Fox lurched into view. ter knife. You couldn’t even file your nails with it. Put it The girl looked no worse for wear, despite her ordeal. down before I take it away from you.”

  The only hint anything violent had even happened was

  “Who are you people?” Violet Fox asked in a shaky the crusted blood that coated her sweater. And the fact voice, still clutching the pitiful weapon. She stepped back that her black glasses were just a tiny bit off center on her until her body pressed against the refrigerator. If the door nose. Finn hadn’t fixed them perfectly. or maybe Jo-Jo had been open, she probably would have stuffed herself had straightened the girl’s nose more than it had been inside, like a box turtle retreating into its shell. “Where before. occasionally, the dwarf would throw in a little am I? What do you want with me?”

  rhinoplasty while she was working her healing Air magic. I sighed and looked at Finn. He was much better at An added bonus, if you asked me.