Double Dose, page 17
“Oh, that.” What to say? “Just having a bad day. And when I’m having one of those I sometimes shout at the air. Makes me feel better.”
His expression turned dubious. “You shout at…the air?”
“Do you see anyone else around? Now that you’re here, I can shout at you. Want me to?”
“If it’ll make you feel better.”
Don’t be nice to me, she thought. I’m too on edge for nice people.
“It won’t.” She stepped back and held the door. “Come in, come in so I can lock this again. I’m not opening today.”
“Because of your bad day?”
“You got it. How can I scream at the air when there are people around?”
“Not the best way to encourage browsing, I imagine. But I’m glad you’re closed today.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. I had a little talk with my brother about you last night, and he told some surprising things.”
Daley had known this was coming.
“Oh.”
“Like Cadoc has been visiting you for weeks now.”
“A nameless, faceless, voiceless stranger was visiting me. He never let me know anything about himself—least of all that he was your brother. And that was just a few days ago.”
Rhys nodded. “Yeah, he told me. He also told me he’d shown you the first part of the film.”
She was trying to read him, to suss out how he felt about that. She started to think the question at Pard but caught herself.
“It was…interesting, to say the least. I definitely want to see the second half.”
“Very few people have. Including me.”
“Cadoc thinks you should see it too. No, I think he said you need to see it. Something about learning ‘hidden truths’ about your family and its beliefs about its ‘destiny.’”
Rhys sighed. “Yeah, there’s that. Sometimes I wonder if I want to know these hidden truths. But…can’t hide my head in the sand. My father’s grooming me to take over his spot someday so I guess it’s time to take the bit between my teeth and…” He frowned. “Why am I suddenly spouting clichés?”
For sure Pard would have had an acid remark.
Daley said, “I don’t know, but you were on a roll there and I didn’t want to interrupt. Anyway, the digital conversion company is in La Mesa and I have the number…somewhere.”
Where? She’d been scattered after the Thursday night revelations at the windfarm, and then the Friday the thirteenth debacle at the hospital…where had she put the paper Cadoc had given her? Pard would remember…
The cash drawer. Yes. The empty cash drawer. She’d shoved Cadoc’s note in there for safekeeping. She pulled it out and handed it to Rhys who immediately punched it into his phone. He listened for a few seconds, then ended the call.
“Closed on Sundays. Looks like we’ll be heading over the mountains tomorrow. Unless you’re opening the shop.”
“I close on Mondays and don’t plan to change the routine. According to your brother, the owner won’t give a copy to just anyone. Has to be a family member.”
Rhys smiled. “Someone with ethics. How refreshing. Looks like we’ve got a three-hour roundtrip road trip ahead of us.”
“Can you get away? I thought—”
“Hired a new foreman yesterday. Or I guess I should say I promoted him from the ranks. I’m actually getting my life back. We can get the copy in La Mesa, have lunch there or in San Diego, then come back here and have a watch party.”
“I’ll buy popcorn.” She was trying to keep it light but she had a feeling from Cadoc’s attitude that watching the film would not be a fun experience. “But my DVD player’s back in LA.”
“I’ll have them put it on a flash drive and we can stream it on a laptop.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Hey, we still on for dinner tonight?”
Yikes. She’d forgotten about that. If she and Pard had followed through with their plan to go public with healing the horrors, she would have had to cancel. But now…
“Sure. Mama’s Meatball, right?”
“That was the plan.” He gave a little fist pump. “It’s Sunday gravy night.”
“Can we go early? I need a pasta fix.”
“You got it. Pick you up at five thirty?”
“I’ll be ready.”
He headed for the door. “What are you doing the rest of the afternoon?”
“Gonna hang out here and scream at the air.”
His look said he wasn’t sure she was kidding. “Ooookaaay. See you later.”
After she let him out the front door, she checked the front window ledge. No Pard.
“Pard?” she said to the empty shop. “Pard?”
She had a long afternoon ahead of her. Maybe she could find something on TV to pass the time. It had been a while since she’d been able to watch anything without a running commentary from the alien in her head.
She went out back and was halfway up the steps when she heard the voice behind her.
“Not so fast there, Daley.”
Shit!
She turned to face Billy Marks.
“What are you doing here? I told you to stay away from me!”
“Now-now-now, Daley,” he said with a placating smile, “before you go getting on your high horse again, give me a listen.”
“Forget it!”
“I don’t want to get in your way. You work your angle, I’ll work mine. All I need you to do is, when you’re finished with your marks, you send them to me for follow-up to prevent relapse. That’ll be my specialty—no relapse under my guidance. That way we both wet our beaks.”
“I won’t be sending you anybody, Billy, because I’m out of it.”
Not by her choice, but facts were facts. On her own she could do nothing for those people.
His smile disappeared. “Don’t try to bullshit a bullshitter, Daley. Just ’cause you got yourself an angle, don’t think you can keep it all to yourself.”
“Listen and listen well, Billy. There’s nothing to share. And like I told you Friday, we’re done here.”
As she turned to continue back up to her apartment, she heard a clatter on the steps behind her. A hand grabbed her and spun her around to put her almost nose to nose with Billy’s furious face.
“Get this straight, you stuck-up little twat! You still belong to the Family and you’ll do what I tell ya!” He grabbed her by both upper arms and bent her backward over the railing. “Don’t fuck with me, Daley! Nothing I’d like better right now than to toss you over and break your scrawny little neck. But you’re gonna come through for us, or goddamn it I’d do it!”
He shoved her onto the stairs and stomped back down to the ground. She lay sprawled on the treads as she watched him stride out of sight around the corner of her building.
Could things get much worse? Pard was gone, someone wanted her dead, and now Billy Marks was coercing her into preying on people who were already in dire straits.
She heard an engine start and saw a pickup truck down slope pulling away. It looked vaguely familiar, but then all pickups looked about the same to her. Probably someone renting down by the Thirsty Cactus. Maybe she’d be lucky and they’d run over Billy Marks like that girl had run over Jason Tadhak this morning.
If nothing else, she could look forward to dinner with Rhys tonight.
45
Jeffrey couldn’t believe it. He’d sat stunned, paralyzed with shock as that guy had manhandled the goddess. It all happened so quick. Before Jeffrey could react, the stranger had shoved the goddess onto the steps and walked away.
He’d heard her call him “Billy,” which meant he wasn’t no stranger to the goddess. Jeffrey could tell from the git-go she didn’t like him neither.
He’d wanted to chase after him but that would have meant getting out of his truck which would have allowed the goddess to see him. No way was he letting that happen. So he chose instead to drive out to the street and see if he could spot him there.
He eased to a stop in the alley between the Thirsty Cactus and the grocery store and checked the street—just in time to see Billy drive by in a Jeep Cherokee, heading out of town. Jeffrey gave him a long lead, then followed.
Billy led him to one of the budget motels on Adams Avenue in El Centro. Jeffrey parked at the opposite end of the parking lot and removed GK from the glove compartment. He hadn’t had a chance to rinse the blade so it remained crusted with Lugo’s blood. He slipped it between the buttons of his shirt and let it rest against his belly as he watched Billy step out of his Jeep.
He didn’t have no plan. He was playing this totally by ear. Did Billy already have a room here or was he going to rent one? But he didn’t head for the office, and he didn’t head for one of the ten doors in the strip of rooms. Instead he hit the sidewalk and entered the bar next door.
Well, all right. Jeffrey wouldn’t mind a brew or two himself right now.
He reached behind the front seat and grabbed the old Stetson he wore now and again. Might help keep his face hid in case he had to do some prolonged trailing of this dude. He adjusted it on his head, low on his forehead, and followed Billy inside.
46
“Want to tell me what’s wrong?” Rhys said as they lingered over their coffees. Well, cappuccinos.
Daley held off answering because she didn’t know what to say. Instead she stirred her cappuccino with an almond biscotti. Dinner had been delicious. Spaghetti and meatballs sounded so basic, but when made just right, few meals were better. The waiter had divulged how they made Mama’s meatballs—a mix of veal, pork, and beef fried in lard—but no one would spill the secrets of her Sunday gravy.
“I’m sorry if I haven’t been good company tonight.”
“Something I said or did or didn’t say or didn’t do?”
She bit off the soggy end and began stirring again.
“Oh, it’s not you at all.” How could she put this? “I lost a friend.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. How old was she?”
She forced a smile. “It’s a he and he didn’t die. He just up and took off without saying good-bye. One moment he’s there, the next moment he’s gone.”
“Not very nice.”
“No, it’s not very nice. In fact it stinks.”
She almost expected Pard to chime in with some sort of protest, but…nothing.
“It does. Big time. How close were you?”
She held up a pair of crossed fingers. “As close as you can get without sex.”
She almost laughed at the look of relief on his face.
“When did you hear?”
“This morning.” She bit another piece off the biscotti.
“Speaking of sex, you have no idea what watching you dunk and eat that cookie does to me.”
“You mentioned that last week but you didn’t say it makes you think of sex.”
“But it does. Oh, yeah, it does.”
She looked at what was left of the biscotti. “Come to think of it, it kind of makes me think of sex too.”
His eyes practically bulged. “Really?”
“Totally. And you know what? I think we should stop thinking about sex and listen to Nike.”
“You mean, ‘Just do it’?”
“I do.”
She didn’t want to be alone tonight.
Rhys started waving his arms. “Waiter! Check please? Check!”
47
Finally, after sitting at the bar for hours and downing one beer after another, Billy stopped drinking and paid his bill. Jeffrey had seated himself in a corner and nursed a few Tecates. He wanted to stay clear and alert.
Billy didn’t stagger out the door, but he moved with that careful walk of someone who’s had too much to drink but ain’t quite falling-down drunk. Jeffrey gave him a few seconds, then followed.
The sun had set but the clear sky still held light. He spotted Billy shuffling back to the motel parking lot. He wasn’t actually thinking of driving somewhere, was he? No. He went straight to room five.
As he fumbled with the key, Jeffrey pulled GK from within his shirt and came up behind him, timing his approach to arrive just as the door swung inward. He body slammed Billy from behind, propelling him into the room and slamming the door behind him.
The drapes on the front windows were open, allowing in enough light to see faint details of the room as Billy stumbled forward and tumbled onto the bed. Jeffrey didn’t go after him. He knew from experience that drunks could be unpredictable, so he held back to see what he’d do. He might stay face down on the mattress and start to snore, or he might bounce back up and charge.
Billy bounced, screamed, “What the fuck?” and charged.
Jeffrey held GK before him, waist high, and let Billy run straight into it. His eyes bulged with shock and pain as he staggered back, clutching his bleeding belly.
“Wh-wh-what?”
Jeffrey stepped in with the moves that had never failed him in the past: backhanded strike to the right lung, forehand to the heart.
“You put your hands on the goddess,” he said as Billy flopped back on the bed and began a slow, wide-eyed slide toward the floor. “Nobody puts their hands on the goddess and lives. Except me. I was spared to take care of sinners who do.”
Billy’s baffled expression said he didn’t know what the fuck Jeffrey was talking about. Well, Jeffrey had only just begun to understand all this himself. He was tempted to slash Billy’s throat as a final punishment for his sin, but in the past he’d always regretted when he’d given into that temptation. Messy as all hell.
Billy stopped sliding but kept staring as his butt came to rest on the floor. Jeffrey looked around. Had he touched anything? No. He pulled back the bedspread and wrestled a pillowcase free. He used that to wipe the blood off GK, then wrapped it around his hand while he closed the curtains. He used it to open the door, then tossed it back inside as he left. Nobody about, so he strolled to his pickup and drove away.
Time to head back to Nespodee Springs and return to his guard post.
MONDAY—March 16
48
Cadoc winced as half a dozen plates shattered on the floor.
He had hoped to make a quiet entry into the dining room and simply take a seat while he waited to be served. But Maria ruined that. At the sight of him seated at the table her jaw dropped as did the stack of china plates she’d been carrying in from the kitchen.
“Señor Cadoc?” she cried.
Papa rushed into the room, drawn no doubt by the crash, and skidded to a stop on the tile floor as his jaw also dropped.
“Cadoc? Cadoc, what are you doing here?”
“I was hoping to have breakfast and save Maria the trip to my room.”
“You can speak? You can speak! And your skin—it’s almost clear!”
“How observant of you.”
“I’ve got to tell your mother!” He hurried off, calling, “Hefina! Hefina!”
Maria approached him hesitantly. He remembered how beautiful she was before he’d gone into isolation. She’d aged but was still an attractive woman.
“I will fix your usual, sí?”
“Por favor. That would be wonderful.”
As she bustled away he poured himself a cup of coffee from the carafe on the table.
He’d awakened this morning, taken a selfie—he had no mirrors in his suite—and decided he might be ready to face the world. Well, not the world, just his family. He’d already revealed himself to Rhys. He didn’t give a damn about Papa, but his mother…she’d taken his self-imposed isolation hard, especially after losing Aerona to the miscarriage. She’d been left with one child when she should have had three.
He was ready to pour a second cup when his mother rushed in. She slowed to a stop halfway across the floor, then crept toward him with tiny steps, as if afraid she’d startle him and chase him away.
Over the years he’d watched her from the shadows—he watched everything from the shadows—as she’d sunk into depression and gained weight from the meds she took to ease the hurt from her unborn daughter’s death and her firstborn’s withdrawal from life.
He rose and went to her and enfolded her in his arms.
“Mom…I’m so sorry.”
They sobbed together for a while, and then she pushed back and held him at arm’s length.
“What’s happened, Cadoc?”
“I’ve decided it’s time to rejoin the human race. But slowly. By inches.”
“But your skin, your voice…what’s happening? How…?”
He’d promised not to associate his clearing to Daley. Not yet. He’d wait until she revealed her power to the world, then he’d give her credit. But for now he’d respect her wish for privacy.
“It’s just seems to be happening, Mom.”
“It’s the Visitors,” Papa said. “Their return is imminent and already it’s having beneficial effects on the Faithful.”
You’re a monster and a madman, Cadoc thought, but he’d save his vitriol for a time when Mom wasn’t around. For now he’d ignore him.
“Where’s Rhys?” Mom said, looking around. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen both my boys together.”
“He’ll be back later,” Cadoc told her. “At the moment he’s on a voyage of discovery…to San Diego.”
49
The day went swimmingly until after brunch, and then it turned ugly.
The sex had been good last night, really good, lasting until the early hours of the morning when Rhys had left for home. Daley had wanted him to stay, but couldn’t bring herself to ask. The town’s tongues were wagging as it was and the sight of them walking across the street together for breakfast at the Coyote would trigger a blast of blather. So she’d lain in bed alone and lonely.
Pard’s absence was a hollowness behind her eyes. She’d never thought she’d say it, but she missed him, damn it. Missed him terribly.
Rhys had picked her up not too many hours later at seven a.m. and they’d headed off to La Mesa in his Highlander. The trip over the mountains on the 8 had been an uneventful ninety minutes and along the way they’d discussed the first part of the film that they’d both seen. Rhys told her about the ancient scrolls—Teachings from the Empty Places—that were the basis of the Clan’s religion and the film, and how his father had adapted them to a successful investment guide. He declared the content of the Void Scrolls as total bullshit, but couldn’t deny his father’s success with the stock market. Maybe he only thought the Scrolls were guiding him and his own innate savvy was the secret of his success. Whatever, Rhys was not a believer.
