Текст книги "Secrets of the Demon"

Автор книги: Diana Rowland

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Chapter 23

Marco and I took separate cars to the scene, which was good since I needed some quiet to sort things out and regain my mental balance. Not only was I upset about Roger, but the strange conversation with Pellini had thrown me completely for a loop. I was far more stunned at the fact that Pellini would bother giving me any sort of warning than at the revelation that Knight was “weird.” And I had absolutely no reason to believe that Pellini was being anything but sincere. In a way it was a bit comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one who had the capacity to be unnerved by Knight at times. Not to mention I’d been braced for a confrontation with Pellini and I wasn’t about to complain that it hadn’t materialized. At this point, though, I’d spent enough time with Knight that, if he really was able to discern thoughts or secrets or whatever, he’d have a head full of them by now.

But I couldn’t help but be stupidly warmed by the fact that—at least in this—Pellini had my back.

Who’da thunk it?

The emergency vehicles were clustered along the road a short distance past the apartment complex. I found a place to park behind an ambulance, then walked up to where a knot of people stood about a hundred yards from the road, on the edge of a drainage ditch. Marco dawdled a ways behind but I didn’t worry about him. He seemed to be the type who preferred to observe from a distance as much as possible, which was fine with me, especially since I had the unerring feeling that he totally had my back. It was a comforting feeling, I realized. I’d gone for so long in my life without having anyone on “my side” other than my aunt. And the demons, of course, though any sort of dealings with demons came with its own price. So, yes, I was bemused at the whole concept of having a circle of friends and allies.

I reallyam a dork, aren’t I?

Scott Glassman turned as I approached and gave me a nod and a slight smile. I’d worked on the same team with Scott back when I was a road cop. Bald and stout, he looked and acted like a hick, but he was a sharp and savvy cop with a gift for putting people at ease. He was a sergeant now, as well as a training officer, which I thought was an excellent use of his talents. With him was an officer I didn’t recognize. Dark-skinned with angular features that reminded me deliciously of Denzel Washington, he stood almost a head taller than Scott. Probably his trainee, I realized.

“Looks like you’re It,” Scott said. “Thought it was an accident at first. Maybe the guy went running while it was still dark, decided to cut across the grass, then tripped and fell into the ditch, hit his head, and drowned.”

I started to shake my head, but he held up his hand. “But it ain’t no accident,” he said firmly.

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

He gestured downward and I peered into the ditch. It was a decent six-foot drop down to the bottom where Roger Peeler lay, faceup, with mud streaked across his face and torso. The lower half of his body was still in the water, which didn’t look to be more than a foot deep and only about three feet across at its widest spot.

“Dunno if you can see it from up here,” he said, “but there’s some blood on the back and side of his head.”

I nodded. “I see it.” Now I was interested to see where he was going with this. I had an enormous amount of respect for Scott and his experience. He’d have been a shitty detective, but he was one of the best street cops I’d ever known.

“Saw something like it on a body a buncha years back,” he told me, tone still as conversational as if we’d been talking about whether the Saints would win the Super Bowl again this year. “Guy got jumped in the bathroom at Rosie’s Roadhouse and after he got a good beatdown they shoved his head into the john and drowned his ass.”

I had to shudder. I’d been in the women’s bathroom at Rosie’s before and had been completely grossed out. I doubted that the men’s room was any classier.

“Dude put up a fight,” Scott said, “but whoever was holding him had a solid grip. So solid that his scalp tore a bit during the struggle.”

I breathed a curse, my eyes on the body of Roger. “Same thing here, right?” I asked. Scott nodded. “I told him to be careful,” I muttered. “I told him to not go anywhere by himself.”

“Then he shoulda listened to you better,” Scott replied with a scowl. Then he shook his head. “But I know it’s gonna eat you up for a while. I get it.”

I gave him a small smile. This was why he was one of my favorite people. “Thanks, Scott. So, can you give me the gist?”

He jerked a thumb toward the other officer. “I’ll let Gordon do the honors. He’s my latest trainee, and I’m actually notworried that he’s going to shoot me by accident. Can you believe it? We might have a keeper here!”

Officer Gordon gave me an amused smile and extended a hand. “Tracy Gordon. Pleasure to meet you, Detective. Sergeant Glassman says you’re not clueless, which I understand is one of his highest compliments.”

I gave a low laugh and shook his hand. He had a lovely rich baritone that I could have listened to all day. “I have him thoroughly snowed. Good to meet you.”

He winked, then released my hand and flipped open his notebook. “A Ms. Jeanne Henry, white female, forty-three years old, was out walking her dog at approximately oh-nine-thirty. Her dog, Scooper, a three-year-old Labradoodle, began to pull at the leash and bark and led her to this point where she saw the victim facedown in the ditch.”

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted. “What the hell is a Labradoodle, and how did you know it was three years old?” I asked, mildly incredulous.

His lips twitched. “A Labradoodle is a cross between a Labrador and a Poodle. I asked Ms. Henry how old the dog was—”

Scott interrupted with a snort. “No, Kara, I wish you could have seen this. Gordon here is the smoothest of the smooth talkers. This lady was spilling everything she knew about everything. In another couple minutes he coulda convinced her to give up her account numbers and passwords!”

Officer Gordon merely smiled and dropped his eyes back to his notebook. “Ms. Henry advised that she is an ER nurse, and that as soon as she saw the victim she climbed down and pulled him out of the water and attempted to resuscitate. However, she realized fairly quickly that rigor had begun to set in and ceased her resuscitation attempt. At this time she dialed nine-one-one on her cell phone and notified our agency. EMS responded at oh-nine-forty-seven and verified death. Sergeant Glassman and I arrived at oh-nine-fifty-four and secured the scene.”

I shot a look to Scott. “What do you want to bet ... a year and a half before he’s recruited to come to Investigations?”

“If that!” he replied sourly.

I gave Officer Gordon a nod. “You have contact info for the witness?”

In response he flipped to the next page in his little notebook and pulled a sheet out and handed it to me. On it was everything I could ever want to know about the witness and how to contact her, including home phone, cell phone, work phone, email, place of employment, and her work hours.

“I have no words,” I stated. Holy shit, but I wanted a dozen more like him on the road.

I tucked the page into my notebook, then turned back to the ditch, taking in what I could of the scene. The bank of the ditch had numerous boot marks and shoe impressions, many of them probably from EMS when they’d run an EKG strip to confirm death. But I wasn’t looking for footprints. Even without shifting into othersight the distinctive resonance hummed through me. The golem had done this.

“Has this been photographed?” I asked.

“Gordon here took pics,” Scott said with a nod toward the other officer. “I called out the lab, but I figured we should get some pics before everyone and their brother got to traipsing around down there.”

“And that’s why you’re the best,” I said fervently.

He snorted. “Words mean nothing to me. Buy me a beer later.”

“I’ll do that.” I gave him a friendly clout on the shoulder, then moved to where the majority of the scuff marks were and began to clamber down into the ditch. I wanted to get as much of a feel of the resonance as possible, and since some pics had already been taken I didn’t feel too guilty for possibly disturbing evidence. Besides, I doubt the golem was wearing shoes.

Miraculously, I managed to reach the bottom without tripping and doing a face-plant into the water. I crouched beside Roger’s body as the spasm of guilt tightened my chest again. Should I have done more to warn him that he could be in danger? But what else could I have done? Something. Anything.

I sighed and shifted into othersight, confirming what I’d felt from the top. I looked across the ditch. From my crouched position I could see gouges in the opposite bank. He tried to climb out and was pulled back down.I let my gaze travel over the body. He was wearing his Magnolia Fitness Center T-shirt with TRAINER on the chest, long athletic pants, and sneakers—on his way to work. He came out of his apartment and went to his car,I mused, then saw the golem, took off running.That would explain why he was so far away from the complex. But the golem could be fast. I’d seen that for myself. And Roger hadn’t been running in a while, so he probably wasn’t as fast as he might have once been. It was dark and maybe Roger didn’t see the ditch, or perhaps he thought he could gain some time by going through it?Either way, the golem caught up with Roger and dragged him back down, then simply held his head under the water until he stopped struggling.

I swiped my finger across the mud on Roger’s shoulder, then rubbed it between my thumb and finger. A faint flicker of the resonance seemed to prickle my fingertips. It melted a bit as it held Roger under. But not all the way.This mud had a clay-like consistency, and the dirt in the ditch seemed to be mostly sandy. There were a couple of glops of the mud scattered in the vicinity, but nowhere near enough to account for a whole golem. Or even a decent-sized piece of one.

“Fuck,” I muttered, then stood and clambered back up the bank with help from Gordon and Scott. Brushing mud and dirt off my pants, I scanned the area for Knight. I finally spotted him at the edge of the complex parking lot. He was crouching and looking at something on the ground and I headed his way.

“You find something?” I asked as I approached.

He pointed. “Keys. I’m betting they belong to your victim.”

“That’s his car.” I indicated the dark blue Chevy Nova parked a few spaces away. “The golem was here,” I said, feeling the by-now-familiar prickle of resonance. “Several hours ago, though, I think.”

Knight stood. “It must have been waiting for him—came after him as he was coming out to his car.”

“And Roger told me that he has a five A.M. client, which means it was still dark.” I shoved my hand through my hair. “He probably didn’t see it until it was right on top of him ... tried to outrun it, but he didn’t have a chance.”

We both remained silent for several heartbeats. Marco didn’t say anything meant to be encouraging like You’ll catch whoever’s doing thisor I have faith in you.I kinda appreciated that. Especially since I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have believed him anyway.

Finally I turned and walked back toward the scene.

Jill had arrived while I’d been talking with Knight and was already down in the ditch taking pictures. There wasn’t a whole lot to do other than take pictures, so I waited patiently by the side of the ditch and gave her a hand out once she was finished.

“Thanks, chick,” she said. “Once the CO gets here I’ll take more pics of the body.”

“You rock, as always,” I said.

“This one’s like the others?” she asked, voice lower even though there was no one within a hundred yards. She started walking back to her van and I fell into step beside her.

“Yep,” I replied. “And it’s starting to piss me right the fuck off, too.”

She gave me a sympathetic grimace. “Isn’t there some way a demon can ... I dunno, track it down or something so that you can find who’s making it?”

“I have absolutely no idea if that’s possible, but it’s a hypothetical exercise at this point anyway, because I don’t have enough power to do a summoning right now.” And even if I did, I’d be using it to call Rhyzkahl so that I could tell him about the summoning attempts. But Jill didn’t need to know about any of that. “Right now I’m forced to do my investigation using only mundanetactics.” I gave a mock shudder and she laughed.

“Oh my god, the horror!” She cast a sideways glance at me. “Seriously, though, is anything popping?”

“Too much, if that makes sense.” I made a sour face. “A bunch of strange little details and links, and I’m not sure what fits together or how. Plus, there’s stuff that looks intriguing to me but might have absolutely nothing to do with why anyone was killed and is only managing to distract me.”

To my surprise she wrapped an arm around me and gave me a companionable squeeze as we walked. “You’ll figure it out,” she reassured me. “You’re too much of a bitch not to.”

I jabbed my elbow lightly into her ribs. “Takes one to know one!”

She laughed then lifted her chin toward my car. “Who’s that?”

I looked to see that Knight was leaning against the hood of my car, arms folded casually across his chest. “Oh, that’s right, you haven’t met him yet. He’s part of the task force when we do New Orleans stuff.” And he freaks Pellini right out, which earns him extra points in my book,I thought, masking a grin. By this time we were close to the car. “Jill this is Marco Knight. Marco, this is Jill Faciane, our crime scene goddess.” I glanced at Marco. “Jill, um, knows.”

Jill snorted. “Yeah, I knowthat you’re totally weird,” she said to me, then she stuck her hand out to Knight. “Nice to meet you. I take it you’re weird too?”

A lazy grin crossed his face. “Quite so,” he said, taking her hand. To my surprise his grin abruptly slipped, an expression of shock and sadness flickering there before he released her hand and smiled normally again. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said quietly.

Jill merely nodded, brow faintly furrowed, then she turned to me. “I’ll be right back. I want to put my camera away and check the pictures.”

“Sure thing,” I said, then watched after her as she strode to her van at a brisk clip. I gave Knight a questioning look but his gaze was on her as well. After a few seconds he gave a soft sigh then looked back to me.

“Is everything all right?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, giving me his usual lazy amused grin. I smiled back, but I’d seen that brief flash of ... what had it been? Pain? Longing? Grief? It had been too quick to identify, but I knew the lazy grin to be a mask now.

But I felt no driving need to tear it away. I murmured something inconsequential and then moved off a short distance and pulled my cell phone out. I needed to let Ryan know what was going on ...

I stared down at the phone, hesitating before dialing Ryan’s number. I’d managed to forget the shock of last night for a while, but now it all came rushing back in. Zack’s not human. And Ryan can summon.Though Zack hadn’t said that Ryan was a summoner, merely that he had the ability to open portals. But if Ryan had never summoned before, what on earth could a human do to be labeled a kiraknikahl?Zack had said that his punishment was dire and just. And part of that punishment had to have been something that changed his memory or took it away. But Ryan can do that,I reminded myself. I’ve seen him change people’s memories.Did he do something to a demon or a summoner? Maybe that was why—

I jumped and bit back a yelp at the touch on my arm. I whirled to see Marco standing beside me, a questioning look on his face. “Does it do tricks?” he asked.

I gave him my best stupid look in response. “Huh?”

His lips twitched with a whisper of amusement. “You’ve been staring at your phone for several minutes now. Figured you were waiting for it to do something.”

I flushed and shook my head. “Sorry. Got lost in thought there.”

He flicked a glance to where the coroner’s office van was pulling up, directed to the ditch by Gordon. “Understandable. You got a lot to think about.” He met my eyes. “You’re caught right smack in the middle of some powerful forces.”

I controlled the shiver that wanted to slide down my spine. “Pellini told me to watch out for you,” I said before I could think about it. “Said you know shit,” I lowered my voice in quasi-imitation of Pellini, “and that you fuck people up ... telling them things.”

The smile faded from his face and he looked away, into the distance. “I made some mistakes. Hurt people who didn’t deserve the hurting they ended up with.”

“Pellini?”

His head dipped in a whisper of a nod. “He was one.”

“Do I need to watch out for you?”

His gaze returned to me. “I think maybe it’s the other way around,” he said, amusement brightening his eyes. He leaned against the car and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, then tilted the pack my way, smiling slightly when I shook my head. “You gonna go talk to Miss Lida now?”

I blinked, feeling as if I’d been in some sort of bizarre thrall. “Um, yeah. I want to let her know—”

“And see her reaction,” Knight finished with a nod. He lit a cigarette and took a long draw on it. “I wouldn’t mind tagging along again, especially if you don’t want to bother the agents.”

The shimmer of relief at his suggestion surprised me. “Yeah,” I said slowly. “That would be cool.” I lifted my phone again, then thumbed in a text message.

Adam Taylor’s computer was wiped. Am out on another murder scene—Roger Peeler. Det. Knight is w/ me and we’re going to talk to Lida. Will touch base w/ you after.

I hit the send and looked up to see Knight’s eyes on me. I expected him to give me another amused or sardonic smile, laughing at me for ducking out of having to talk to Ryan, but he merely looked completely understanding. Was he telepathic? Or merely incredibly perceptive or understanding?

“I’m not telepathic,” he said, then grinned when I raised an eyebrow at him. “I promise, I’m not, but I could tell you were wondering that.”

“So what are you?” I challenged. Enough of being kept in the dark.

He shrugged. “I can sense things. It’s hard to explain.”

“Clairvoyant?”

He shook his head, then shrugged again. “I dunno. I get vibes from people sometimes. Can sense if something’s eating at them or if they’re grieving or missing something.” He looked away again, and I wasn’t sure if he was looking at the distant figure of Jill. “Sometimes I can tell what caused it.”

“Sounds awful,” I blurted before I could stop myself.

He turned back to me. “Yeah.” He dropped the half-burned cigarette on the ground and twisted it out with his foot. “Shall we go talk to this singer of ours?”

Chapter 24

A complete stranger answered the door at the Moran house—a young woman about Lida’s age who clearly shared similar tastes in clothing and style with the singer. She was short and petite with pale blond hair pulled up into a high ponytail, heavy makeup, and numerous piercings in both ears. Worry filled her eyes as she took in our badges and official bearing. “Y’all are here to talk to Lida?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. “And you are ... ?”

“I’m Nikki. I’m a friend of Lida’s.” She stepped back and opened the door to allow us in. “She was super freaked out last night after she heard about Adam,” the girl continued as we entered, closing the door behind us. “She called me up and asked if I could come stay the night with her since her uncle’s out of town.” Nikki shuddered. “I mean ... she was in the buildingwhen her manager died and she never realized it.”

“It was a tragedy,” I said. “Is Lida here?”

The blond ponytail bobbed as she nodded. “She’s upstairs. She’s been crying most of the night. Kept saying that if she’d gone to check on him, maybe she could have helped.” Nikki’s lower lip quivered.

“You were here with her all night?” I asked.

“Yeah. I tried to keep her distracted ... ordered pizza, watched pay-per-view, that sort of thing.” She bit her lip. “You really gotta talk to her now? She’s a bit of a mess.”

“I’m sorry,” I said gently, “but it’s very important.”

The worry in Nikki’s eyes deepened as she searched our faces. “It’s more bad news, isn’t it? Should I ... Can I stick around if it is? I don’t think she should be by herself.”

“It might be a good idea for you to stick around,” I told her.

Her face fell. “God. The poor thing.”

“It’s only the two of you here?” Knight asked. “Where’s her brother?”

“Trey came by and picked him up last night,” Nikki said. “Michael doesn’t know about Adam yet. He’s gonna totally lose it when he does find out, but Lida didn’t need to be dealing with that last night. Luckily Trey’s really good with Michael.” She let out a sad sigh. “I’ll go get Lida.”

She turned and climbed the stairs. A couple of minutes later Lida descended the stairs, with Nikki hovering anxiously behind her. I could believe that she’d been crying. Her face was puffy and blotchy, and her eyes were red and swollen as she turned them to me.

“Hi,” she said, voice thin and wan. “I’m a mess. Sorry. I think I’ve been crying ever since the other two cops left last night.”

That would have been Ryan and Crawford “It’s understandable,” I said. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

She seemed to shrink in on herself, but obediently sank to sit on the couch. “You have more bad news, don’t you,” she stated, voice flat.

I hated giving death notifications. Hated them with every fiber of my being. But I knew that drawing it out or couching it in comfortable euphemisms only made it worse. “Roger Peeler is dead,” I told her. “He was murdered sometime this morning.”

She closed her eyes and clenched her hands together tightly. “Oh my god,” she whispered. Nikki gave a soft cry of alarm and wrapped arms around her.

“Murdered?” Lida asked without opening her eyes. “You’re sure?” Her voice cracked.

“Evidence at the scene points to that, yes,” I stated. “We also believe Adam Taylor was murdered as well.”

Her eyes snapped open at that and she gave me a look of pure shock. “But ... but why?Why would anyone want to kill them?” Then she paled. “Oh, shit. Someone’s going after the band. I could be next.”

“That’s a strong possibility,” I admitted. “We have reason to believe that the same, um, person who attacked you at the concert is also responsible for these murders.”

Luckily she didn’t seem to notice my hesitation. “I ... I need to call my uncle. I need security, bodyguards, right?” She gave me a bewildered look.

“We can’t provide you with full-time protection here, though we could possibly arrange for you to stay in protective custody for a short while.” I hoped I wasn’t talking out of my ass, and that the FBI had some sort of safe house arrangement that might be available. I knew that little old Beaulac PD didn’t have anything like that, nor did we have the budget to pay officers to protect her around the clock.

To my relief she shook her head. “No, Uncle Ben has a security company that he’s used before. ATK Security. They do a bunch of high-profile stuff, rock stars and corporate execs.” She gave a shaky smile. “I didn’t think I’d need anything like that for a long time, if ever.”

“I’ve heard of them,” I told her. “They have a good reputation.” They were also shockingly expensive, but I wasn’t the one footing the bill. “Where’s your uncle?”

“In New York, meeting with bank big shots about the buyout. He’s helping with the whole transition.” She pushed a hand through the mess of her hair. “I haven’t told him about Adam yet. He’d want to fly right back, and I know these meetings are really important for his position on the board. But I guess I gotta now.”

“I think he’d want to know,” I said with what I hoped was quiet reassurance. I glanced to Nikki. “You’ll stay with her?”

She hadn’t budged from her arms-around-Lida position. “Damn straight,” she said with a firm nod.

“All right.” I stood. “Lida, get that security as soon as possible. For now, lock the doors, keep a cell phone on you at all times, and call at the absolute first suspicion that something might be wrong. I’ll get a road officer to stay in the area until your security people can get here.”

Lida managed to give me a brave smile. “Thanks. I appreciate everything you’re doing.”

I nodded. “Be careful,” I said. Maybe with enough warnings and precautions I wouldn’t be back here to investigate another murder.

I turned and left without another word, haunted by the mental image of the singer lying twisted at the bottom of those stairs.

I walked down the driveway feeling wrung out and exhausted.

“Can you tell when people are lying?” I asked Knight as I reached my car.

He paused with his hand on the door of his vehicle and shook his head. “Not really. Sometimes I can get a feel for what questions to ask, that’s all.”

Well, that explained why he’d asked about Michael.

“I do think that Lida was genuinely shocked,” he continued, then he frowned. “But ...”

“But?” I prompted after a few seconds of silence.

He shook his head. “Dunno. She’s real worried about something or someone besides herself.”

“Probably her brother,” I offered.

He paused, still frowning. “Nah ... it was there when she was talking ’bout her uncle.” He shrugged. “I dunno,” he repeated. “It’s more of a feeling than something specific. Sorry.”

“It’s cool,” I assured him. “Thanks for coming with me today.”

The smile he gave me was warm and genuine. “It was my pleasure.” He paused and looked away over the lake. The sun shimmered across the water and I could hear the faraway buzz of a motorboat. “Sometimes it’s tough to tell who the bad guys are,” he said, voice oddly rich. “Evil is often a matter of perception.”

Gooseflesh crawled over my skin as I watched him. I’d used those exact words before to describe the demonkind. He continued to gaze out over the water, but his eyes were completely unfocused. “Even the most powerful get screwed,” he continued. “The world was at stake, and he had to make a terrible choice.” Knight was only a few feet away from me but there was something about his voice that made me feel that I’d be able to hear him speaking to me even if I was on the other side of the lake.

“Sometimes the punishment fits the crime far too well,” he said, then closed his eyes. An instant later he staggered, eyes flying open as he put a hand out to steady himself against his car.

His gaze snapped up to me, horror and shame warring in his features. “Kara ... I ...” He swallowed harshly. “I’m sorry if I said anything to—”

“What punishment?” I asked, blood pounding in my ears. “What did you mean? What was the crime?”

Agony rippled across his face. “I don’t know. Kara, I don’t even know what I said, I swear. I’m sorry. Please, believe me.”

I wanted to grab him and shake the answers out of him. He had to have been talking about Ryan.What the fuck had all that meant? His words were seared into my mind. Even the most powerful get screwed.Ryan?

But Knight looked like he was a hairbreadth away from a complete freak-out. It was such a divergence from his usual calm that it pulled me out of my own shock. “It’s all right,” I made myself say. “It didn’t really mean anything. It’s all right.”

Doubt shadowed his eyes, but the horror faded from his expression. He gave an uncertain nod. “I’m sorry. That hasn’t happened in a long time.”

“You okay now?”

He took a deep breath. “Yeah. I’m cool.” He opened his car door and I could see him pulling his mask on, the lazy smile slipping into place, though not fitting quite as perfectly as before. “Y’all be sure to keep me posted on the case, all right?”

I gave him the relaxed smile he needed to see. “You got it. Be careful driving back to New Orleans.”

He winked, then climbed into his car and drove off.

I waited a few seconds, then followed suit, his strange pronouncements still echoing in my head.

What the hellhad all of that meant?