Chapter 17
DELIA PROMISED TO check the records as soon as she could, so I drove home. By now, it was nearly seven and I was exhausted. I wanted to stay with Sandy but I had been neglecting my own life due to the havoc that had been playing out, and I was hit with a weariness that felt bone-deep. Kelson poured me a glass of wine, and I knew she wanted to ask how Sandy was doing, but I didn’t dare say anything. I couldn’t chance any rumor getting out until we were ready to play out our plan.
As I carried the wine up to my bedroom, where I was planning on taking a long shower to wash the smell of the sea off me, Franny met me at the top of the stairs. I wasn’t in a chatty mood, but she seemed lonely, so I nodded for her to come in my bedroom.
“It’s all right this time. Come on in, but I warn you, I’m undressing and getting in a bathtub full of bubbles.” I set the goblet down on the counter and began to draw my bath. I poured in a couple capfuls of amber bath gel, then stripped.
Franny shook her head, but at least she had stopped tsking every time anybody did something the least bit risqué. “I wanted to ask you something. I’ve been reading a number of books on politics.”
I groaned. “No heavy-duty political discussions, please. I just can’t handle it tonight.”
“No, I won’t, but I am wondering if the Otherkin have the right to vote? Since women didn’t get the right to vote until August 18, 1920—which if you will notice is over one hundred years after I died—then have the Otherkin secured that right? And if so, all of you? Or just some? Can vampires vote?” She shrugged as she leaned against the counter, a disconcerting sight because she was leaning partway through the counter as usual.
I stepped into the steaming water and carefully lowered myself into it, balancing my goblet on the side of the tub. I settled beneath the bubbles and leaned back, closing my eyes as the steam began to work into my muscles. As I took a sip of wine, I thought that for the first time in almost a week, I was able to relax. Leaning my head back against the bath pillow, I glanced over at Franny.
“The answer’s not black and white. There are a lot of gray areas. Most Otherkin have the right to vote. Vampires and Fae are special cases. If you’re Fae, and you have a physical address outside of the Fae realms, yes, you are allowed to vote. If you live in the courts of Winter or Summer, no, because those are sovereign nations and not within the boundaries of the country per se. Vampires—well, since they technically died, no, they aren’t. There are bills being pushed through Congress now to allow them to register again, if they agree to pay taxes and follow the laws. I think they call them ‘second-timers.’ However, a number of the vampire community, especially the old guard, see that as capitulation and want nothing to do with it.”
“It’s very complicated, isn’t it?” Franny let out an audible sigh, which I always found odd since ghosts didn’t breathe. They didn’t even have lungs. “I wonder if they’d allow ghosts to vote, since we’re dead as well. If vampires can, why not spirits who lived in the country before we died? I found an online mention of an astral support group for spirits and I’d be interested in joining it, but I’m trapped here and couldn’t make the meetings.”
I stared at her. “You really want to join something like that? I thought once you were free of your body, you’re supposed to move on—if you can. I mean, you’re trapped here, but if I find a way to break the curse, why would you want to hang around? Aren’t you supposed to go reincarnate or something like that?”
She blinked, looking almost hurt. “You don’t want me here?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m asking, not telling you. I thought you’d be itching to get out there and see the world after being trapped in this house for over almost two hundred years.”
Franny shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what I want. I haven’t really even thought about it in a long, long time because it seemed futile. A masochistic sort of thing.”
That I could understand. “Well, I’m working on it. So you maybe should start thinking about possibilities again. I’m determined to set you free. Then, if you want to, you are welcome to stay here with us. But if you want to travel and…whatever it is spirits do…you’ll be free to go. I like you, Franny. I admit, at first you drove me nuts and sometimes you still get on my last nerve, but overall? You’re a good-hearted woman. I’d like to see you have the opportunity to be free. You don’t deserve to be stuck in this house.”
Her smile broadened into a grin. “Thanks. Same to you. And you get on my nerves too. But you and the vampire, well, you’re okay. I’m glad you bought the house. Now, I know you want to relax so I’ll leave you alone.” She waved, then vanished through the floor.
I blinked. Her abrupt comings and goings never failed to startle me, even if just a little.
KELSON HAD DINNER waiting for me when I wrapped myself in a robe and went back downstairs. It was spaghetti and meatballs, and cheesy Parmesan bread, and I carried my plate to the kitchen table, starved. My appetite came roaring back with a vengeance. As I forked up a meatball, my phone rang. Sighing, I set the fork down and answered.
Delia didn’t bother with small talk. “I checked the records at the county treasury department. The bids were all registered so I was able to find the name of the person bidding against Sandy. There were a couple, but only one kept pressing until she outbid him.”
“And who might that be?” I stared at my plate, my stomach growling.
“His name is Link Wallace. But get this. I checked into his background and discovered no mention of a Link Wallace, not one who lives in Bedlam. So I looked up his address. He’s renting. He took the apartment a year ago, right before the auction. I called the landlord. He says that he’s never had trouble from Link, but when I asked for information on him, the landlord told me that while the guy had no credit background, he put down the first six months’ rent. He listed no job, no prior residence, no references, but money talks, you know.”
“So the landlord overlooked the absence of all that in favor of six months’ rent.”
“Plus security deposit. Yeah. Said he’s never heard a word of complaint either about or from Link, and he gets his rent on time every month.”
“Mystery man, then.”
“Link has a roommate. He added him to the lease the next month. Name of Roger Lee. Again, no background, no mentions, nothing.”
“If they are merfolk, you know they’re using assumed names, and given you can’t find any background on either, then chances are Link and Roger are what Gillymack says they are.”
“Oh, they’re mermen, all right. I also found out from the landlord that Link said one of the prime reasons he wanted to rent the apartment was that it was oceanfront. Apparently he swims every single day, and so does Roger. The landlord thought they were balmy for it, but asked me if they might be on an Olympic swimming team. Seemed a good coverup as to why I was investigating, so I told him maybe.”
“In the water every single day? They have to be mermen,” I said.
“Right. And the fact that Link couldn’t give any prior addresses, has no employment? All of that speaks to someone covering up their true identity.”
“So can you go over and check out their place? See if there’s any evidence they were the ones who set the fire?”
Delia let out a sigh. “No, because I don’t want to tip them off. If they vanish, Sandy will have to constantly watch over her shoulder. I think we should go ahead with the plan for the party.”
“The question is, how do we make sure they find out about it without being too obvious?”
“I know how, so leave that to me. You and Max just make sure you plan out a party for Wednesday night at Chively Manor. We want this done and over with.” She paused. “There’s another issue, though, to think about.”
“What’s that?”
“What if this goes beyond a couple disgruntled mermen? What if this is a bigger plot working its way back to the throne? Suppose the king of the Meré has decided he wants his strip of beach back?”
I thought about it for a moment. “Then we’ve got bigger issues on our hands than just somebody after Sandy. Well, we’ll have to start doing some digging into how deep this goes. If we can convince her to sell the Strand back to the city, that will probably remove her from being one of their targets. That’s one plus. Okay, I’ll call Max and he can put the plans into action. I’ll text you back to let you know for sure that he can get the manor for Wednesday night.”
As I put in a call to Max, I wondered what the hell we would do if Delia was right and the merfolk had decided to renege on their deal. For one thing, they had been paid for the land, so they would be out of luck in any court of law, but that didn’t always stop people who were determined to ignore legalities. For another thing, I had a feeling the Bedlam City Council would slap some pretty heavy-duty sanctions on them and where that would lead, nobody knew.
Max rang back to tell me that he had secured the mansion for Wednesday night.
“I paid off a birthday party to go elsewhere. But we’ve got it and I’ve already booked the caterer. Can Aegis and his band play?”
“If it’s late enough, I don’t see why not, but I’ll ask to make certain. I’ll call Delia. She said she had some plan to make sure the two mermen would know about it. I hope this works.” I hung up and called Delia back. “It’s a go. Max has the manor and he’s hiring a caterer. He’ll send out invites tonight. This has to look real, so it shouldn’t just be a handful.”
“I’ll ring him after we talk and discuss who should be there. I’m going to have Deacon write up a big front-page story for the paper about Sandy’s recovery from a ‘mysterious illness’ that put her into a coma and mention the party as a celeb event.”
Deacon was a werewolf shifter with a nose for news. He was on the staff of the Bedlam Crier. He was also a good friend of Delia’s and had been on the force until a motorcycle accident put an end to his running days.
“Sounds good. Will it come out tomorrow morning?”
“Yes, and I also asked the local-access channel to run a feature about her on the news—they’ll run it tonight on the late news, and tomorrow twice.” Delia hesitated, then added, “If this doesn’t work, there’s not much we can do except keep an eye on her, and on Link and Roger. I just don’t have enough evidence to get a warrant.”
“I know,” I said, hoping that we wouldn’t come up empty. “I know.” After a quick call to Max to fill him in on what we were planning, I attacked my food. I was halfway through a second helping when Aegis appeared. He kissed me, sniffed the air, and licked his lips.
“Do I smell spaghetti?”
“You do. It’s on the stove. Kelson made some for me. Sit down. I have news. Sandy’s awake.” I told him about everything that had gone on. “Gillymack’s really pushing Delia’s last nerve, I can tell you that.”
“Gillymack needs to grow up, get a good job, and quit being an asshole.” Aegis helped himself to the food. “I need to feed tonight…and I’m not talking spaghetti. I’ll have to go out, but first, I want to talk to you about Sid.”
I debated on apologizing to him about being so pushy about Sid, then decided no, I had every right to state my opinion. “Oh?”
“I’m going to have a talk with him. I won’t let the band come between him and Sylvia, and if it is, he needs to get his priorities straight. I’ve learned a number of things over the thousands of years since I born, and the most important thing is that family matters. It doesn’t matter if you’re a god, or a vampire, or a witch or human or Fae. You take care of those who are in your life.” He took my hand. “I never want to mess us up. I want to do what’s right. If you ever want me to go, I will, but I want to be with you, Maddy. And that means leading by example. We’re going to take the record deal, on condition that they cut down on the touring.”
Just when I thought I couldn’t love him more, I found myself falling even deeper. I brought his fingers to my lips and kissed them, one by one. “Aegis, I’ve never met a man quite like you.” Though in my heart, memories of Tom fluttered past. Until he’d been turned, Tom had been a lot like Aegis. Which was probably why I had fallen for Aegis so quickly and so deeply. If only Tom had been able to continue to be like Aegis after he was turned, but he hadn’t been strong enough.
“Aegis, I love you. It’s that simple. I love you and I’m grateful you’re in my life.”
“I wonder if you’ll say that in a decade—or will you get tired of me?” But he winked, and I knew he was joking.
“Only if you stop baking, dude.”
He put down his fork and pushed his chair back, and I slid over to sit on his lap, draping my arms around his neck. I kissed him, long and hard, and he ran his hand beneath my robe, tickling his way up my leg to gently brush against my thatch.
“I wish I had the energy right now,” I said, my voice husky. “I want you too, but I’m so tired.”
“Then let me finish eating, and I’ll give you a backrub and a foot massage and tuck you into bed.” And so the evening went along quietly, and he carried me upstairs and did just what he promised. I fell asleep within minutes.
Next morning, I woke to a plate of muffins next to the bed, and a request for date night on Saturday. Aegis never failed to leave a reminder that he was thinking of me. My phone pinged and I glanced at it. It was a text from Zara.
i had both treatments. we’ll know by friday if it works. i’ll let you know, my dear.
I stared at the message for a moment, then texted back.
i hope everything goes the very best. love you and will be waiting for your call. xxoo
As I crawled out of bed, my body creaked. It was feeling the effects of the swimming the day before. I ached in places I had forgotten I had muscles. My phone rang as I was poking through my closet, looking for something to wear.
“Morning!” It was wonderful to see Sandy’s name on Caller ID.
“Hey, I’m bored. They’re going to spring me tonight from the hospital, but can you come visit for a while today? I’ve got a guard on my door to make certain I’m not going anywhere, and frankly, I’m bored and I hurt. I haven’t been out of bed for more than a few minutes in days and I’m not used to not exercising. And this cast is driving me batty! At least my sprained ankle mostly healed up while I was in a coma, and my eye’s no longer swollen. My hip still aches but the bruises have faded. Pretty much, the only injury I have left is the broken arm.”
“Hearing you complain is the best thing in this world, woman. You just slow down there. Yes, I’ll come by. I have to check in on the new guests first, but I’ll be there. Meanwhile, you just behave and stay safe. I don’t know if Max told you, but we…” I stopped, suddenly realizing that cell phones were all too easy to spy on. “Listen, we’ll talk when I get there. I’ll head over after breakfast.”
“Bring some of Aegis’s goodies? All they’re feeding me here is gelatin, oatmeal, and eggs.”
“Will do,” I said, laughing again. “It’s so good to hear your voice, lady.”
“Same back at ya.”
After she hung up, I decided to wear stretchy blue jeans, a tank top, and the easiest underwire I could get away with. I never went outside in sweats—that wasn’t me—but I wanted comfort today and I wanted to feel easy in my clothes.
I grabbed my purse, let Kelson know I was going to be out, and headed for my CR-V. But as I turned the key, the ignition didn’t start. I tried again, twice, but something was wrong. I opened the hood. Not that I knew anything about fixing cars, but it was what everybody did and I wanted to see if there was anything obvious I could tell the mechanic when I called him. I had enough gas, so that wasn’t it.
But as I stared into my engine, it was obvious what was wrong. The hoses were all slashed and my engine looked like somebody had taken a tire iron to it. And when I glanced down at the tires, I saw that they had been slashed too. Slamming the hood, I ran over to Aegis’s Corvette. It too, had slashed tires. So somebody had trashed both of our rides. I looked around for Kelson’s car, and it, as well, was a mess. Mr. Mosswood didn’t drive, and our other guests hadn’t checked in yet. Delia’s cousins and the newlyweds were gone, so the B&B was empty except for the four of us.
I pulled out my phone and punched in Delia’s number. “Yeah, can you come out or send somebody? My car, Aegis’s car, and Kelson’s have all been vandalized and our tires slashed. It must have happened after sunrise or Aegis would have noticed it. He was baking early this morning, so he was in the kitchen and would have seen somebody messing around out back. We have flood lights trained on the cars.”
“Does either of your cars have a car alarm?”
“Are you kidding? Nobody pays attention to car alarms when they go off.” I paused, a thought tickling my brain. “Delia? What if Sandy’s attackers were tailing me last night when I left the hospital? What if they… Hold on.” Another thought hit me. “Max. He probably called Jenna on his way back to Sandy’s house. What if somebody bugged his car?”
“She’s being guarded at the hospital.”
“I know, Sandy called me this morning to ask me to come over. But…can you call your guard and make sure that he’s actually on duty?” I had a horrible premonition. While waiting for her to call back, I dashed inside to warn Kelson of what had happened, and I called Max. There was no answer. I put in a call to Alex, Sandy’s assistant. I didn’t want to worry Jenna.
Alex answered.
“Hey, Alex, did Max stay at the house last night?”
“No, I thought he was going to stay at the hospital. He called to give us the good news and said he’d be home later, but when he didn’t show, I just assumed he decided to stay with Sandy. Anything wrong?”
“Maybe. Can you keep an eye on Jenna? And tell those goons watching the house to be extra vigilant.”
“Will do. Call me when you know more.”
An incoming call message flashed and I signed off with Alex and took Delia’s call.
“Good hunch. My guard didn’t answer. I’m on the way to the hospital now.”
“I’ll see if Ralph can drive me over. Max didn’t make it home last night, and he did call to tell Alex and Jenna about Sandy waking up. I think somebody intercepted his call and then tried to make sure that I was stranded. I’m phoning Ralph now. Call me if you have any news.”
Ralph showed up five minutes later. He was on a big old Harley Davidson, custom outfitted to work with his goat legs. He tossed me a helmet.
“This is all I’ve got for wheels today, so I hope you don’t mind.”
“Right now, you could be driving a tank and I wouldn’t complain.” I jammed the helmet on my head and swung over the back, gripping his waist. “To Straitwater Hospital, please.”
We zoomed out of the driveway and Ralph swung onto the main road. He was a good driver, I had to give him that, as we sped down the asphalt. I whispered prayers to Arianrhod the entire way. Please let Sandy and Max be all right. Please let them be okay.
By the time we reached the hospital, there were several squad cars there. I hopped off the back of the bike before Ralph brought it to a complete stop and handed him his helmet.
“Thanks. Can you wait in case I need a ride elsewhere?”
“Sure, Maddy.” He looked terribly sad. “I hope everything’s all right.”
“So do I, Ralph. So do I.” As I beat a quick run to the doors and pushed my way in, I saw Delia and her men spreading out through the hallways.
“Sandy’s all right, but whoever it is, he tried to smother her. He’s still in the hospital. We’ve got men on all the exits, and with her.”
I thought…where would I go if I wanted to hide, and I was one of the merfolk? He couldn’t just vanish, and the hospital wasn’t big enough for anybody to just blend into a crowd.
Then it hit me. They had a therapy pool. I knew this because a coven member had used it a few months back when she dislocated her knee and she needed to exercise without putting weight on the muscles.
“Therapy pool!” I told Delia. “If we lock down the hospital for twenty-four hours, he’ll have to try to get in there because merfolk have to immerse themselves in water after eighteen hours.”
“Perfect.” She turned toward one of her deputies. “Have them turn off the water to all the rooms that are empty, post guards on every patient room. That should flush him out. No pun intended. Meanwhile, split into teams and go room to room.”
I tapped her on the shoulder. “Remember, Gillymack had some sort of chameleonlike charm. Maybe they thought of that, too, though that seems a little far fetched.”
“Right.” She turned back to her men. “Keep your eyes open. He may be camouflaged.” She turned to me. “You take Sandy home. She’s in more danger here than she would be there.”
“I can’t—Ralph brought me here on his motorcycle. Any word about Max yet?”
“I’ll have Jordan take her home, then.” She shook her head. “No, and I’m worried. I’ve put out an APB on him.”
“I’ll ask Ralph to help me look for him.” I turned and ran back to the doors. Delia motioned for them to let me out.
I was almost to the bike when there was a huge kerfuffle at the door, with officers shouting and running out onto the sidewalk.
I turned to see two streaks flash by, blurs of movement so fast they were almost impossible to see. I didn’t even stop to think. I tried to tackle the nearest and, to my surprise, managed to land on top of the merman. He rolled over, taking me down, and he grabbed me by my throat, his eyes black. I brought my knee up, angling for his groin, busting him right in the balls. He screamed, let out a curse, then collapsed into a fetal position. I scrambled to hit him again—once more in the balls. It had worked the first time, I figured a second dose would just reinforce it.
At that moment, Delia shouted and I looked up to see Ralph on his cycle heading toward the second merman. He revved his engine and swerved around in front of the man, cutting it so that the merman ran straight into the bike.
Ralph leaped off, grabbing him by the throat and holding him up, off the pavement. Delia and her men raced over, along with a doctor. As they arrested the mermen, the chaos rumbled thick around us. We had caught the men who tried to kill Sandy. But where was Max? And was he all right?
TWENTY MINUTES LATER, Delia had squad cars racing to the residence where Roger and Link were living. They found the dark blue sedan that the men had run Sandy down with. There was damage on the front where they had hit her, as well as fibers of her clothing caught in the grill. They also found several ghost snails, and pictures of Sandy, Max, and Jenna pinned to a bulletin board. Delia arrested both mermen on attempted murder charges, arson, and assault.
Ralph helped me into the hospital. I was limping from my tussle with the merman, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was that Sandy was okay.
As I sat there, catching my breath, I remembered that I had my Friend-Finder app on my phone. I opened it and looked for Max’s position. The GPS pointed to a winding road near Sandy’s place. I showed it to Delia and she dispatched a unit out to check. I wanted to go with them, but she wouldn’t let me.
Ten minutes later, they radioed back to say they had found his car. He had been run off the road and was injured, but alive. He had been trapped when the driver’s door slammed against a tree and he was too hurt to climb out the passenger side. Another hour and the fire department was able to bring him in. Max had a broken leg, two broken ribs, and a dislocated shoulder. Like all cats—big or small—he really didn’t enjoy going to the doctor, and as they wheeled him in on the stretcher, he was swearing up a blue streak.
“Roger and Link must have wanted to stop you from interfering with their plans to kill Sandy, so they tried to make certain you wouldn’t be able to get to the hospital,” Delia said. “They thought they killed Max. So getting to Sandy would be much easier.”
“What stopped them from smothering her?”
“Just then, a nurse brought in her meds for the morning and found them. They shoved her out of the way and ran.”
I let out a long sigh. Thank gods for nurses and their rounds. “Are you going to contact King Leonal?”
“Yes, but it will take time to sort out. If Gillymack was right and the prince is behind this, we’ll have to walk very softly or risk a nasty confrontation.”
“I want to talk to Sandy. To make certain she’s okay.”
Delia walked me to her door.
Sandy was sitting on the bed, wearing her clothes. She was rocking back and forth. “They got the Meré?”
I nodded. “Yes. Both of them. But…” I didn’t want to rein in her relief, but I felt she had to know. “You’ll have to be cautious until we find out who’s really behind all this. I think you should sell the piece of the Strand you bought. Find another place for the Oyster Bar. Sometimes, it’s safer to walk away than keep on fighting. We think that perhaps there are higher-ups in the Meré community behind this.”
She shivered. “I think for once it’s not worth the fight. And Max? Are they telling me the truth? Will he be all right?”
“He’s bruised and a little broken, but nothing that won’t heal. Looks like they ran him off the road.”
“His wife was killed in a car accident. I hope this doesn’t bring up bad memories for him.”
“Me too.” I sat there, holding her hand, saying nothing. It was over, but it didn’t feel done. Not till we had talked to the Meré king. And even then, who knew what the fallout would be for relations between Bedlam and Ocana, the merfolk city? Unraveling all of this was going to take a very long time, I had the feeling.
After a while, the nurse came to tell us Max was fine, and we went to see him. But I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that while Sandy was safe now, especially if she gave up that strip of land, a storm was coming that would affect us all.