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  Was Lucas part of what was happening with Abe?

  Chapter Seventeen

  “What do you remember about yourself before you showed up here?”

  I figured the best way to get him to give himself away was to get him talking.

  “As I explained before, I do not recall much of anything.” He glanced around at the mall and the traffic. “I have a feeling that the place I come from is a long way from here.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Nothing looks right.” He sipped his hot chocolate. “Nothing is as it should be. Even the air is different. Yet, I could not tell you what that difference is.”

  Not a great start, but it was something.

  Lucas smiled at me. “Tell me about your husband.”

  My mind and heart shied away from that request. “I don’t like to talk about him.”

  “But you seem so happy with him in the images Lady Addie showed me today. Did you love him?”

  “Yes.” I drank the hot chocolate, and looked away, hardening my heart. “But he’s gone now. I have to go on without him.”

  “For Lady Kate’s sake. That is why you agreed to become what you have. To protect your daughter.”

  I took a deep breath. “I never knew my parents. Someone found me walking along the road. There was never any clue as to who I was. There was no one to take me in. I was passed from one family to another. I never had a home—until I met Jacob. I can’t let that happen to Kate.”

  “I understand.” He squeezed my hand. “My apologies for reminding you of something so painful.”

  That was more than I’d planned on saying. He had that effect on me. I needed to turn the conversation back to him if I wanted to learn if he had anything to do with Martin’s death.

  “A second zombie was killed today,” I told him. “Both men had their hearts ripped from their chests. There was no blood.”

  “Interesting.” He turned to me. “And you have taken it on yourself to solve the matter of their deaths.”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “Have you ever heard of anything like that?”

  “I could not be certain, truthfully.” His reply was smooth. “If I had, I might not remember it.”

  “I’ve seen a lot of strange things working for Abe. I watched a man change into a wolf once. I know there are creatures out there that can do terrible things. That’s why I wasn’t really surprised about you being a sorcerer.”

  He took it all in. “And so now you think I killed the two zombies you found.”

  “What? No.” What did I say that gave me away?

  “Lady Skye.” He smiled in a bitter way. “Whilst I am a trifle confused about who, and what I am, and how I came to lose my magic—I am not blind nor unintelligent.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  He touched my cheek. “I know you too well for you to lie to me.”

  Fine. “Did you kill them?”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Because you showed up on the same day that this started.”

  “What about Abe’s former wife, Mary Gable?”

  “His wife?” My voice squeaked, and people looked at us. “His wife?” I whispered. “Why do you say that she’s his wife? Even if he has a wife, why would she be involved?”

  He shrugged, and studied the skaters again.

  “And how do you know about her?”

  “I apologize for listening in on your conversation with Abe. I am very connected to you. It was merely an afterthought.”

  “Come here.” I grabbed his arm, and dragged him to the small group of fir trees at the edge of the skating rink. “Do you know Mary Gable? Are you involved with her and these murders, Lucas?”

  “No. I do not know this woman. And I am not a part of this matter—except that you are part of it. I barely caught the implication when he said her name.”

  Abe had acted strange when I’d told him the woman’s name who’d called in the paramedics for Mr. Welk.

  That meant Lucas had been listening. How was that possible? “What do you mean that you’re well-connected to me?”

  “You were the first person I reached out to. I felt you there before I saw you.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “I was falling—you stopped me. I don’t know how or why, but we’re intrinsically connected to one another. It has always been so.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” I swallowed hard. “We aren’t connected at all. I don’t even know you.”

  “Your heart knows me.” His left hand slid down to my chest where my heart was beating a thunderous song. “Your brain is more reluctant.”

  I started to protest again. He stopped me by putting his cool lips on mine.

  I stopped thinking, stopped protesting. Everything he said made sense. His words lodged in me like starlight and told me that everything was all right. I didn’t have to be afraid. I would never be alone again.

  All of this from a magic user who couldn’t recall who or where he was.

  That was what made me move away from him. Lucas talked a good game, but I didn’t think he could deliver. He’d managed to slip under my defenses, and this insanity was the result.

  “Mommy?” I heard Kate call. She was off the ice, and looking for me.

  “I have to go.” I stepped away from him.

  “Of course.” He let me go as though he’d never held me tightly to him. “Trust yourself, Skye. You will know what to think and do.”

  I ran to see Kate. She only wanted to know if she could have hot chocolate. I paid the man in the kiosk the money, and she went to sit with her friends.

  Lucas was still standing by the trees. I ran my hand through my hair as I stared at him. I didn’t want to believe what he said—I knew it was true. It seemed impossible, but it was as plain as the stars above my head, and the ice crunching beneath my boots.

  I shook my head.

  I’d had some bad dates in high school. My foster parents said I was a loser magnet. They were right. Jacob was the first decent man I’d ever known.

  I didn’t know if I could trust myself about Lucas. It had been so easy for him to find that chink in my armor, and make my poor little heart beat fast. What if it was all part of what was happening to Abe?

  When I looked up again, Lucas was gone. I searched around the skating rink, but I couldn’t find him.

  It was getting late. I told Kate to say goodnight to her friends and helped her take off her skates.

  “Where’s Lucas?” she asked as we got into the van without him.

  “He had to leave early.” I started the engine.

  I knew if I were lucky, I’d never see him again.

  ***

  Addie had a hot bath ready for Kate when we got back to the inn. She had hot coffee—with a nice rum kicker—ready for me.

  “About before,” she began gruffly.

  “Save it. We both play an important role in all this. If you start being all sweet and likeable, I’ll think you’re possessed or something.” I added a grin to let her know there was no hard feelings. She was right about me missing Career Day. I had to try harder.

  “Where’s the magician?” she asked.

  “He might be gone. It’s not a permanent arrangement.”

  “I see.” She put her hands on what had been her wide hips. “Just as well, I imagine.”

  “Do I get to take a bath before I have to go to bed?” Kate asked with seven-year-old impatience.

  “Come along.” Addie smiled, and reached for her hand. They never really connected, but it made both of them feel better.

  That night, Addie’s hand actually touched Kate’s.

  Kate made a surprised squeak—said it was like static electricity—but she could feel Addie’s hand.

  “Maybe soon, I’ll be able to carry you up these stairs.” Addie laughed.

  “I’d like that.” Kate grinned. “Mommy says I’m too big.”

  “Nonsense! When I was her age, I could haul 100 pound sacks of dog food!”

  I went
upstairs behind them, and sat in Jacob’s closet to finish my coffee.

  I wished something about his death made sense. From the photos, it appeared to be an animal attack. The question was—why had the police said he was killed in the wreck? His body was too far from the SUV we’d crashed in to say that he was thrown.

  Maybe it was a cover-up. I thought about the werewolf I’d seen change. Could a creature like that be responsible? It didn’t explain the police ineptitude—unless they knew the explanation wasn’t something they could write down in a report.

  I’d interviewed every officer involved with the wreck that night. None of them questioned what was in the report. Maybe it was time to talk to them again.

  Kate was ready for bed. We read a story together about an evil troll who became good when someone loved him.

  “Do you think that could really happen?” Kate smiled. “Not the troll part, but someone evil becoming good because someone loves them?”

  “I don’t know.” I pulled her blanket up to her chin. She was growing up too fast. She shouldn’t even have been thinking about that kind of thing. “I don’t think anyone is ever completely evil or good. We’re all a mixture of both, I guess.”

  “Are we doing anything tomorrow? It’s Saturday, you know.”

  “Nothing that I know of. Maybe we’ll stay in, and watch old movies.”

  “I’d like that. Grandma loves old movies. She sits by the TV watching them, and crying, all the time.”

  “Maybe we should watch some funny old movies, huh? Goodnight, Kate. I love you.”

  “I love you too, Mommy. Try not to make too much noise walking around all night. It doesn’t bother me, but Boo is a light sleeper.” She held up her teddy bear before she tucked him under the blanket with her.

  “Sorry. I’ll be quiet for Boo.”

  It was scary raising Kate, especially without Jacob. We’d argued all the time when I was pregnant about what was important, and what we should do with our baby who was on the way.

  The one thing we hadn’t thought about was being a single parent family. All of the ideas Jacob and I had talked about rattled around in my head. I just wasn’t sure any of them mattered.

  Addie was sitting in her old chair by the fire, knitting something that was invisible to me. I didn’t doubt that it was real to her. Her face was scrunched up as she moved her hands back and forth.

  I sat in the opposite chair, and wished the fire could warm me. I didn’t get cold, but I was never warm either. I tried to keep that fact that my hands were always cold away from Kate, but she was too perceptive not to have noticed. If she ever asked, I planned to tell her that I had poor circulation.

  “What have we got ourselves into here, Skye?” Addie asked.

  “It’s as close to real life as we’re gonna get. That’s what I think about every day.”

  “How is it going at work with the new woman?”

  “I don’t know. She’s has a few family problems. Abe wants her there. That’s all that matters.”

  She looked up at me. “Is she important to him?”

  “She seems to be. He wants to keep her away from the really bad stuff. Brandon says he wants to sleep with her.”

  “Brandon? What does he know?”

  I stared into her slightly unreal face. “What do you know about Brandon?”

  “Well I had to know something to get either you or Jacob brought back, didn’t I?”

  “That’s true.” I’d never thought of it that way before. “What do you know about Abe? I know he brought back Jacob’s father. Did he ever say anything to you about Abe, and what he did for him?”

  Her gaze flew away from mine. “Is that the time? They’re repeating a show on TV that I want to see. We’ll have to talk later. Goodnight, Skye.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Addie disappeared. I sat in front of the fire for a long time.

  The more I thought about what Lucas had said, the more I knew I had to ask Abe about Mary Gable.

  Why would his ex-wife call in about Mr. Welk’s death? Had she been the one who called about Martin?

  Was she the one who killed them?

  I felt like a pendulum, swinging from side to side. I reminded myself that this was the way an investigation was supposed to be. Lucas was a logical suspect because of the timeframe. Mary had known about Mr. Welk before anyone else.

  The gold wedding ring made me lean toward Mary as a suspect. The ring, and the placement of the man on the sofa, seemed feminine to me. There was also the wine bottle and glasses.

  It made sense that Mary could want to get back at Abe if they were divorced or separated. I’d never heard anyone mention her name before. Did anyone else even know about her?

  I decided that there was no time like the present, and went to find Addie to let her know that I was leaving for a while.

  She was in Jacob’s room, looking over my files and charts on the wall in the closet. I knew she had been in there before. I didn’t care since what I was working on affected her too. It had taken a terrible toll on Addie to lose her only child.

  “I don’t see anything new in here.”

  “I know. It’s hard to get anything done with no resources.”

  “You’re so busy gallivanting around, you don’t have time to look for your husband’s killer.”

  I curbed my temper. “I’m going out. I’ll be back before Kate gets up.”

  “Good. See that you are.”

  From the moment I’d met Addie, she’d given me grief. She hadn’t wanted Jacob to marry me—or anyone else—though she’d badly wanted grandchildren. I had tried for Jacob’s sake to get along with her. It had never been easy, especially after we’d moved in with her.

  “Do you always have to sound that way?”

  “What way?” She blinked. “Did I sound different than usual?”

  “When my twenty years is up, and Kate doesn’t need either of us anymore, I’m going to come over there and kick your ass. I’ve wanted to since I met you.”

  She smiled. “Come on then. Better women than you have tried.”

  “We’ll see about that. I’ll be back.”

  “Just one question before you go.” She stared hard at me. “Did you love Jacob? I know he loved you. I could never tell with you.”

  I didn’t have to think about it to answer. “Yes. I loved him. Is that important now?”

  “It is to me.”

  “All right.” I took out my keys. “I’ll see you later.”

  I went out to the van. The cold night made everything quiet around me, except an owl hooting under the eaves. There was no traffic going past the old inn. In Nashville, the nightlife would still be going strong, but out here, families were asleep.

  I thought about Lucas one more time, wondering where he was. Had he left for good?

  The moon was rising in the cold winter sky, only a few wispy clouds surrounding it. A lonely guitar was picking out a few tunes that floated out in the night.

  I thought about late night patrols during the short time Jacob and I had been partners. He made me laugh at his stupid jokes. We talked about books we’d read, and movies we hated. Once we were married, the department had split us up. It was okay to be married, but not in the car together. They said the emotional tie might cause us to make a mistake.

  When I wasn’t with him, I thought about him. I worried about him when I went out on maternity leave. It was different when we were together on the job, and could watch each other’s backs.

  He hadn’t wanted me to go back to work after Kate was born. We’d argued about me staying home versus the money we needed to raise a child. In the end, we’d compromised, and I’d taken a desk job—for about two weeks until I couldn’t stand it anymore. It was supposed to keep one of us alive for our daughter. I figured we’d take our chances.

  It hadn’t mattered. The job hadn’t taken Jacob away. It was a sleepy truck driver who came into our lane as we were coming home after our anniversary dinner. The only thing
I could give thanks for, as I looked into that truck’s headlights that night, was that Kate was at home with Addie.

  I drove to Nashville on the mostly empty roads, the moon coming in at my shoulder through the window. I passed that spot on the road where Jacob had died every day. I stared at it as though some new answer might impart itself to me. Addie was right—my investigation had stalled out.

  I parked the van when I got to Deadly Ink, and went inside where all the lights were on. No one ever seemed to sleep there either. Dex was working on an intricate tattoo that covered a pretty girl’s left shoulder and part of her back.

  Rocky told me that Abe was in his office. “Did he call you?”

  “Nope. I just need to see him.”

  Dex had been listening, and nodded to Rocky. They weren’t Abe’s bodyguards, but they vetted his visitors.

  I followed the familiar path back to Abe’s office. The door was open. Brandon was there, leaning back in his chair, a glass of bourbon in his hands. He had a laptop open on the desk.

  Abe was drinking too. “Skye! Come in! Have something to drink with us.”

  “That’s okay. I want to talk to you, Abe. Alone—if that’s all right.”

  Brandon grinned. “Hey, I know when I’m not wanted.” He got up, and stumbled out of the office with the laptop. His words were slurred. “I’ll let you know when I find your cell phone, Abe.”

  “Thanks you my friend.”

  I waited until he’d cleared the room, and then shut the door.

  “This must be something extraordinary,” Abe said. “What is the problem?”

  “Mary Gable. I think she might be the problem.”

  He put his empty glass on the desk. “This isn’t a subject I want to discuss with you.”

  “I know. But I think you have to discuss it with someone. Since I know the truth about her, it might as well be me.”

  “The truth?” He laughed. “You have no idea of the truth. You should leave now.”

  He forced me to play my trump card. “Or should I say that Mary Gable, your ex-wife, is the problem.”

  He went very still, staring at me. Slowly, he removed his dark glasses. His terrible, blank eyes made me shiver.