by Terri Garey
Odessa shrugged, laying down her knife and reaching for the aluminum foil to cover what was left of the pie. "I could tell you lots of things, but Miz Bijou wanted you to figure it out for yourself first. I done told you all I can."
My patience was wearing thin. "What's with all the secrecy? We already know that Peaches and Bijou did more than just sell flowers. Why didn't they just hang a sign out front that said, 'The Blue Dahlia—Savannah's Finest Psychics,' and be done with it?"
I'd never seen the Evil Eye, but I'm sure the look Odessa gave me would qualify. "You don't know as much as you think you do, missy."
"Missy? Ow!" Somebody had just kicked me under the table, and I had no doubt who.
Kelly kept her expression bland and her voice even. "What about the tarot cards, Odessa?" She reached in the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out the card marked "the Tower."
"Do you know what this means?"
Odessa glanced at the card, then away. "All I know is them cards don't always mean what you think they mean."
More double talk, and I'd had enough of it for one evening. "This is crazy." I stood up. "I need some sleep."
Odessa slammed the refrigerator door shut on the pie, making me jump. "Don't call me crazy, girl. I ain't the one going 'round here talking to dead people."
My mouth fell open.
"Huh. Ain't a whole lot of sleeping gonna be going on in this house tonight, neither."
With that as her closing volley, Odessa waddled out of the kitchen. A few seconds later we heard the front door slam behind her.
I wanted to tell Joe and Kelly about my visit from Sammy, but I was hesitant to talk in front of Spider. Instead, I asked, "What was all the noise upstairs?"
Spider answered gloomily. "We didn't find anything. Everything was just the way we left it, except the battery on the camera was dead."
"Yeah, you might as well call it a night." Joe spoke up, wiping his mouth and tossing the napkin on his empty plate. "And don't worry about your stuff—your camera will still be there in the morning."
For once, Kelly seemed to agree with Joe. She stood up. "Thanks for coming over, Spider. Give me a call tomorrow, and we'll work out a time when you can come back and get your equipment." She smiled at him as he reluctantly unfolded his skinny frame from the chair. "Who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky and have something on the voice recorder."
"Yeah," Joe said with a perfectly straight face. "Maybe you'll get lucky."
Spider gave him a sour look but didn't bother to answer. He followed Kelly as she led him out of the kitchen toward the front door.
"I have to tell you something," I said to Joe.
He picked up his empty plate and carried it to the sink. "Why do I not like the sound of that?"
"Because it's bad. It's really bad."
He quirked an eyebrow at me, obviously in a better mood with pie in his belly and Spider on his way out the door. "Bad like in good! Or bad like in bad?"
"I'm serious, Joe." Biting my lip, I blurted, "The Devil wants to make me do it."
Joe looked at me quizzically. "Come again?"
"That, too," I said morosely.
"You're making no sense, Nicki." He leaned back against the kitchen counter, both hands gripping the edge. "What are you talking about?"
"The Devil. Satan. The Big Evil Kahuna. He's here, in this house. He wants me to sleep with him, marry him… oh, hell, I don't know!" The skeptical expression on Joe's face was throwing me off, plus I was feeling guilty for some reason, as though thinking about sex with a horny devil was the same as having it. "I don't think he wants me to send any more souls into the Light."
"And you're just now telling me this?" Joe's good mood was gone.
"I just found out, while you were upstairs." Not entirely true, but this wasn't the time to go into details. I'd known Sammy wanted to sleep with me, but I hadn't known for sure who he was, or that he wanted me to help him recruit souls for his "army."
"He calls himself Sammy, and he's posing as the owner of Divinyls." The lightbulb went off, and I almost laughed. "Pretty clever name, now that I think of it."
"You've got yourself all worked up over nothing, Nicki." Kelly walked back into the kitchen, obviously having overheard the last bit of conversation. "The Sammy I know isn't the owner of any store. He's just a poor, lost soul who needs a favor."
Poor, lost soul my ass. "No, he isn't," I said calmly. "He's the Devil."
She made a disgusted noise. "He isn't the Devil."
"Just because he doesn't wear a red suit and carry a pitchfork doesn't change the facts."
"What a thing to say. I can't believe you."
"You never wanna believe anything I say, Kelly," I shot back, out of sheer frustration. "You only wanna believe what you wanna believe. I've never seen anybody so stubborn in all my life."
"Look in a mirror," she snipped.
"You and your mirror are what got us into this mess!" I shouted.
Kelly flinched, but I wasn't finished. It all made sense to me now.
"Sammy said he wouldn't let Peaches go into the Light until he got something from this house?"
"He didn't mean it," she said quickly. Too quickly. "He was desperate for help, he said. Since we came to Savannah he's been very nice."
The hair rose on the back of my neck. "You've been talking to him since we got here?"
.Kelly looked vaguely uncomfortable. "Only a couple of times."
Great. Who knows what he'd been telling her. "Do you know what he wants?"
She shook her head, frowning. "He hasn't been able to come through clearly enough to tell me."
"I know what he wants." My voice was rising again. "He wants me, and if he can't have me, he'll take you!"
Color rushed back into Kelly's cheeks. "You just can't stand it when you're not the center of attention, can you?" She put her hands on her hips, giving me look for look.
"Peaches tried to warn us—she said he was coming." I stared at her, remembering the morning Peaches had shown up in the backseat of my car, fearful and hurried. "She said not to believe a word he said." My thoughts turned inward, but I spoke them aloud. "He isn't holding her here," I murmured. "She's already gone into the Light. He just wanted to bring us here for some reason."
Both Kelly and Joe were frowning. Their glances met, and it pissed me off.
"Look, I'm telling the truth. Sammy is the Devil, and he was here, in the living room, while you were upstairs ghost hunting." I curled my lip, giving Kelly a glare. "And I don't believe for one minute that Spider just stopped by. You probably called and invited him over on purpose so he could help you 'commune with the spirits.'" I waved my hands in a "woo-woo" manner.
"You're just pissed because Spider obviously likes me more than he does you."
"Stop it." Joe hadn't raised his voice the way Kelly and I had, and his words were all the more effective because of it. "You're acting like children."
At the exact same time, Kelly and I both said, "I'm not—she is!"
"You both are," Joe said calmly. "Now sit down and let's figure this out."
I'd had no idea that having a twin sister could be such a major pain in the ass. But I hadn't forgotten Sammy's parting words. Kelly was in danger, whether she believed me or not.
I sat.
Kelly hesitated, tucking long hair behind her ears in an impatient gesture. Then she sighed and sat down across the table from me, while Joe pulled out a chair.
I took a deep breath, pushing annoyance aside. "This has nothing to do with Spider." Kelly was frowning, drumming her fingers on the table, but I went on. "This guy Sammy—I first met him at the Vortex on Halloween night." Risking a quick glance at Joe, I saw that he was frowning, too. "He came into the store a few days later, bought some things, tried to hit on me, but I turned him down. Then I found out he was buying the store across the street—"
"Caprice's old store?" Joe asked sharply.
I nodded. Joe knew all about the hidden voodoo room at Indigo, ju
st like he knew everything else about my old friend Caprice and her dark side. "I had my suspicions about who Sammy was at the time, but now I know for sure. He's the Devil. He admitted it."
Kelly gave a small roll of the eyes, but I caught it.
"He's using you, Kelly." That got her attention. "He told me so."
"Really?" Her skepticism was still there. "So tell me again. What does the Devil look like?"
I hesitated. Joe was sitting right there. "Picture a young Billy Idol, only way hotter."
Kelly shrugged, made a face. "Not my type."
My, aren't we picky for a girl who hasn't had a man in four years?
Frustrated as I was with her attitude, I kept the thought to myself. "Well, Spider sure seems to be your type. Maybe Sammy's using him as bait or something. He got you to try the dowsing, didn't he?"
Silence.
"I've never lied to you, Kelly." I looked her straight in the eye. "I'm scared. This isn't just a matter of helping a few lost souls find their way into the Light… it's a war." I swallowed hard. "We need to stick together on this."
Kelly's lip trembled. She glanced at Joe, then back at me. "I had no idea having a twin sister would be such a pain in the ass."
I said nothing—I could hardly blame her for saying what I was already thinking, now could I?
"Okay," she said, "I believe you. But I don't know what we're supposed to do. What if Peaches is still here? What if we could help her somehow? And what about Bijou? What was it she wanted us to find out, but wouldn't let Leonard or Odessa tell us?"
I sighed, letting my shoulders sag. "I don't know, Kelly. We don't even know where to begin to look."
A clinking noise whipped all three of our heads toward the sink. Joe got up, walked over and looked down at the empty plate he'd just put there. "What the …?
Kelly and I both jumped up and went over, and there, on the plate, lay a small metal key.
"I guess we know what to do now," I murmured, glancing over at Kelly.
"Yeah," she murmured. "Look for something to unlock."
* * *
CHAPTER 14
Forty-five minutes later we'd been all over the house and found only one room that was locked—the bedroom that Leonard had already told us belonged to Bijou—and the key didn't fit.
I'd noticed that Joe hadn't said much during our search, and when he did, his words were terse and directed mostly toward Kelly. Something was bothering him, and I didn't think it was just the fruitlessness of our hunt. When the three of us found ourselves about to enter the kitchen, back where we started, I slowed him down by putting a hand on his arm.
"Everything okay?" I murmured.
Instead of looking at me, he looked at Kelly, waiting until she'd gone ahead of us.
She paused for a moment in the kitchen doorway, holding the swinging door open, but let it swing closed when she saw us unmoving, my hand on Joe's arm.
He turned to face me, and it was clear my suspicion that something was bothering him had been right. His mouth was set in a grim line and he didn't look very happy.
"What is it, Joe?" I had an uneasy feeling that had nothing to do with the events of the evening. "What's wrong?"
"So Sammy was the blond guy at the Vortex on Halloween night. The one who was hitting on you."
My heart sank, though I wasn't sure why. I hadn't done anything wrong. Lusting in my heart wasn't the same as being unfaithful, was it?
Joe didn't wait for my answer, my expression apparently telling him all he needed to know. "You didn't bother to mention that he'd come into Handbags and Gladrags looking for you. Anything else you haven't bothered to mention?"
I put my hands on my hips, defensive without wanting to be. "Joe Bascombe, are you jealous?"
He didn't bother to deny it. "Hell, yes, I'm jealous. I'm also tired, frustrated, and mad as hell! You're keeping secrets from me, Nicki, and I don't like it."
"What secrets?" I tried to keep my voice lowered, but he wasn't the only one who was tired and frustrated. "I told you all about Sammy earlier, right there in the kitchen!"
His lip curled. "Oh, yeah. I particularly liked the way you described him—'Like a young Billy Idol, only way hotter.'"
I felt my face flush, and bit my lip to keep from losing my temper. "I was just trying to describe him accurately, so Kelly would know we were talking about the same person."
He didn't answer, and I sighed, guilt winning out over any desire to fight. "You're right. I should have told you about him coming to the store."
"You didn't tell me about seeing the woman's ghost from the funeral home earlier today either," Joe pointed out, all too quickly. "I had to hear it from Kelly."
"I meant to tell you, really I did." Silence. "Every time I thought about it I got distracted…"
"By what? Or should I say who?"
I shook my head, not used to seeing Joe like this. He was always so calm, so in control—had I really given him reason to be so jealous?
"And what about Spider man?"
I blinked, not sure where that question came from.
"What about him?"
"Was Kelly right? Are you jealous because he seems to be paying more attention to her than to you? You've been needling her about him pretty hard."
My mouth dropped open, and I was—for once—speechless.
Joe turned away, running a hand through his hair. "Okay, okay. Maybe that was uncalled for," he muttered, "but he sure seems like your type." He shot me a look, adding defensively, "Goth. Edgy. Tattoos and all."
I opened my mouth to argue, but surprised myself with the realization that I didn't want to.
Joe had worked all night the night before, driven a long way, and despite the fact that he was mad, he was here with me. If he was jealous, well, so be it. I could handle a little jealousy.
So instead of biting his head off, I said, "You're my type." Moving in closer, I put a hand on his arm and added softly, "No tattoos and all." I squeezed his bicep, feeling the tension slowly drain from it as he looked me in the eye.
"I'm not used to this," he said. "It's been a long time since I've cared enough to get…" His voice trailed off, and I reached up a hand to touch his lips, letting him know there was no need to say anything more, but he shook me off, obviously wanting to. "I keep seeing things in my head, Nicki, imagining things I don't want to imagine, and it's making me crazy."
I frowned, knowing how jealousy could eat at a person. It had been a long time for me, too, but I knew what it was like to imagine the person with whom you were involved with someone else. I'd had to force thoughts of Kelly and Joe together out of my head all too often, and remind myself that whatever happened between them happened long before I met either one.
"You can trust me, Joe." I never broke eye contact with him. "I'm not going to do anything stupid."
He sighed, pulling me close until my head rested against his chest. "I sure hope not."
Not exactly a resounding statement of confidence, but it felt so good to be in his arms that I didn't complain. Actions spoke louder than words, and sometimes it was better to let them do the talking.
We just stood there, holding each other, while the future waited quietly, biding its time.
"What now?" Joe sank down on the living room couch, looking exhausted. It was late, and he'd been up longer than any of us.
"I have no idea." I was tired, too. "I just don't get it. Why doesn't Peaches or Bijou just show up and tell us what's going on?"
"Maybe we should split up," Kelly murmured.
"No way." I hadn't forgotten Sammy's little visit, and I wasn't eager for another one. "We're sticking together—like the three Musketeers. All for one, and one for all."
My comment was punctuated by the sound of a soft snore. I glanced over to see that Joe's eyes were closed and his head had fallen back. He was out of it.
"Okay, so we're the two Musketeers." I smiled, thinking how cute he looked when he was sleeping. I would've liked nothing better than to
curl up next to him with my head in his lap.
"There's still one place we haven't looked," Kelly whispered. "The flower shop."
True. There was no entrance to the shop inside the main house. We'd have to go outside, to the far end of the porch to try the front door, or down the narrow back stairs to the courtyard to try the rear.
The front porch definitely had my vote—at least it was well-lit.
"Should we wake him up?" I wanted to, but Joe looked so peaceful. His dark head lay against the blue and white cushions, long legs sprawled, hands loose in his lap.
Kelly shrugged. "Let him sleep. We won't be far away."
She was right. Prince Charming had been on enough wild goose chases for one day.
I heaved a sigh. "Let's get it over with."
We let ourselves quietly out the front door. The night was still—no traffic on Victory Drive, no lights in the surrounding houses. Only a few crickets chirping somewhere in the darkness. Now that the electricity was on, a couple of porch lights made it easy to find our way past the old rockers and hanging plants… I tried to ignore the shadows beneath the oaks in the front yard.
A security spotlight lit up the entrance to the Blue Dahlia. Kelly slid the key into the lock. "It fits." There was an audible click as she turned it. "Why didn't we think of this before?"
I held my breath while Kelly opened the door, and gave a sigh of relief when no burglar alarm sounded. It was quiet, no green lights to indicate motion sensors. I felt for a light switch on the wall and flipped it.
The room looked just as it had when we'd arrived earlier in the day, minus Leonard, of course. The air was rich with scent, magnolia potpourri mingled with roses and other flowers. The blue and gold striped wallpaper looked darker without daylight to brighten the colors, but it was still a cheerful little store.
"I'm sure this is considered breaking and entering." I locked the door behind us, nervous about being in someone else's place of business after hours. "Nobody said we could come in here."