Who Do, Voodoo?, page 22
“Damn. The messenger.” Lulu jerked out a card from the Rolodex and dialed.
I went into the hall and called Nick. “Lulu’s here. I’ll tell her about Osaze’s and then I’ll be right down. Where are you?”
“Near the Collins driveway, in a red zone,” Nick said. “Do you want me to come up?”
“No. You’ll get a parking ticket. I won’t be long. I hope,” I said. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need luck, Liz. You need faith. You can convince her to go to Osaze’s. I know you can. Call me if you need me,” Nick said.
Lulu was still on the phone. Her face was a splash of red. Not a good look with the gray-mauve lipstick. She flung a box of pens against the wall. She pleaded, then shouted at the caller about a pickup.
“I’m in charge of the Collins account now and if you can’t do what I want, then I’ll find another messenger service to handle Collins Talent business.” Lulu waited for the dispatcher’s response. “Good.” She slammed the receiver. The phone rang again.
Lulu checked the number on the screen before picking up. “Dude.” Her mood switched from raging to coquettish. She grinned; her tone was a singsong tease. “Will you record me off the board tonight? I need a DAT to play for Sam Collins next week. This show will convince him to put me in the studio—I know it will. Make sure there’s not too much echo on my voice and keep my guitar in the background, okay?”
As she chatted, I watched the message light flashing red at the top of the phone. My calls went unanswered along with anyone else whose numbers Lulu didn’t recognize. Robin would never be that unprofessional.
Lulu laughed and cleaned her fingernails with the tip of a letter opener as she talked. “I’m not worried. I told you—I have guaranteed good luck now. It’s like winning the freaking lottery, dude.”
“Lulu.” I wanted to stop her from saying anything more. If she was talking about the “Fame” spell, she was making a huge mistake.
She turned her back to me and lowered her voice. “I have to hang up. Someone is here. I can’t talk. I’ll see you tonight.”
Lulu set the receiver in its cradle, then dumped the contents of a carton onto the pile on Robin’s desk. “I gotta finish moving my stuff so I’m ready for Sam on Monday.”
With the empty carton in hand, she brushed past me into the hall. I followed.
“Lulu, wait. We need to talk. It’s important.” I took her arm. “You could get hurt.”
“Are you threatening me?” She jerked out of my grasp. Her eyes flashed.
“No.” I raised my palms. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to help you.”
“Help me with what? What do you want to tell me? I’m busy.” She spun away and moved down the hall toward her desk with me trailing behind. She stopped at her desk in reception.
I sat on the beige-leather visitor’s couch, facing her. “I have bad news.”
“Did they charge Robin?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the news?” Lulu fiddled with files on her desk.
“Tawny Dalton is dead.”
Lulu continued to pull files and read without looking at me. “Who’s Tawny Dalton?”
“She was a friend of Sophie’s who bought a voodoo spell. I thought you might know her.”
“Nope,” she said with a shrug. “Is that why you were calling me? To tell me that?” She opened a drawer and emptied its contents into the box.
I shook my head and took a breath. “No. It’s about Sophie’s voodoo spells.”
“I know . . .” Lulu smiled. “They work.”
“Please, wait until I’m finished before you say anything else. It’s important. Okay?”
“Okay, but . . .”
“I know about the curse on the spells. Buzzy and Tawny both bought spells and died because they triggered the curse,” I said.
Lulu circled her hand like a bored teenager, urging me to go on.
“There’s a spell for ‘Fame’ in the spell book with the initials L. M. next to it.” I leaned forward. “Lulu, if you bought that spell from Sophie, I’m warning you—don’t talk to anyone about it. If you already have, the curse is in motion, and you’re in serious danger.”
“That’s not true. I’m fine.” She swept her hand through her hair. “In fact, I just told someone how the spell was working out exactly the way Sophie told me—”
“You already told someone about the spell?”
“Sure I did,” she said. “That spell turned everything around for me as soon as I used it. First I got a club booking, and now I’m Sam’s assistant. All of the artists and Sam’s important friends will know me now.”
Nice of her to write Robin off so easily.
“You don’t understand about the curse, Lulu. Didn’t Sophie tell you to keep the spell to yourself?”
“I remember Sophie telling me not to tell Robin. Sophie couldn’t stand her.”
“You weren’t supposed to tell anyone,” I said. “Sophie’s uncle can protect you if you come to his house tonight. He’s performing a hex-breaker.”
Lulu twirled a purple pen on her desktop. She looked up at me and smiled. “Nope. I’m singing at the Troubadour tonight. Isn’t that cool? You should come there instead. Don’t stress about the stupid curse. Sophie’s dead. It can’t hurt me. Come and see my show.”
I buried my head in my hands and then looked up. “No. I want you to come with me.”
She fidgeted and glanced at the computer screen. She picked at her nails. Then she began loading the box again.
“Lulu, you can’t sing tonight,” I said.
Lulu stiffened. “Yes, I can, and I’m going to. You can’t stop me. Nobody can stop me.” She threw a stapler into the box, then stood with her hands on her hips. “That bitch Robin sent you here to scare me, didn’t she? I know she doesn’t want me to have her job. Just like she didn’t want Sophie and Sam together, either. She’s jealous of me. Sam will see how talented I am, and he’s going to help me. Robin’s pissed because I told the police I saw her coming out of the parking lot, isn’t she? Well, tell her it’s not my fault she’s going to prison.”
How could Lulu see Robin in the parking lot unless she was there, too?
Lulu opened her bottom drawer and took out a deck of cards so familiar I held my breath. The last time I saw those beige skeletons, they were spread on the counter at Botanica Mystica: Madame Iyå’s homemade tarot deck that was used to harass Robin.
I walked to the side of Lulu’s desk.
Lulu held the tarot deck in her hand. “I deserve my shot working for Sam. I do everything around here and more, especially this week. You don’t know half of the crazy stuff that happened. Lawyers, police, the press, and they all want to talk to Sam. And I’m the one who is protecting him. I’m the only one who knows what to do around here. He’s going to reward me, too. He owes me. Even Sophie told me that Sam likes me better than Robin.”
“I know this deck.” I took the tarot deck out of her hand, unwrapped the rubber band, and began to fan the cards.
Lulu reached for the deck. “Give me that.”
“You believe in the occult, don’t you?” I sat on the couch with the cards. “Do you know how to read these?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Oh, come on, Lulu. We both know what these are.” I fanned the cards again. “This deck was designed by a very powerful voodoo queen. You really should respect their potency. Maybe you already know what kind of trouble they can create for someone. Do you know the tarot employs the same theory as the I-Ching? The cards will speak to the moment if you lay them out a certain way.” I was inventing as I went along. “I’ll tell you what. If you don’t believe me about the curse, what if we ask the cards if you’re in danger? Will you come with me to Osaze’s if the cards say you’re threatened?”
Lulu sat still, her wary eyes fixed on the tarot cards. She didn’t know what the cards meant. I needed her to believe that I did.
“I’ll lay out all the cards for the answer. The deck inherited your energy by sitting in your desk. It will use your energy to unveil your destiny,” I said.
I dealt the tarot cards on the floor facedown. A row of eleven cards spread in front of me. Then I counted the remaining cards on top, solitaire style, until the deck was exhausted. Three of the seventy-eight cards were missing.
Lulu bent forward in her chair. “Do you really think the cards can read my future? Will they tell me when I’ll be a star?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
Chapter Thirty-one
“We’ll use the top eleven cards for your reading,” I said to Lulu, pointing to the tarot deck spread on the floor in front of me.
The waning moon shone through the window at the end of the hall. I picked up the eleven cards and swept the rest aside. Applying the same grand gestures my mother used at her readings, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I tapped the first card and held it up.
“Let’s see what we have here.” If I got one card that looked like danger, I could run with a story that would get her to Osaze’s. Simple enough.
A female skeleton with flowing auburn hair sat on a throne: “EEIPRSSST.” I concentrated to allow the anagram to unfold. The first letters that jumped out were the three Ss and the P-I-E. Sophie. No, that wasn’t what I wanted. I looked again and I saw it: priestess.
Lulu got out of her chair to see the card. “That looks like Sophie. Well, except for the bony face.” She giggled, then caught herself. “Oops, didn’t mean . . .”
“It’s okay, Lulu. I think you’re right on.” Strangely right on. “The skeletons on the cards are symbols that feed on our thoughts. Let’s keep reading.”
“But I’m not thinking about Sophie.” Lulu sat down, her elbows on her knees. She flipped a pen against her palm. “Except that she gave me that . . .”
Tarot deck. With Sophie’s cards in my hand, their scheme began to unfold. Sophie drafted her little ally, Lulu, to harass Robin.
“Sophie was the source of the spell. We’re on the right track.”
Lulu tapped the pen faster. “What’s the next card?”
I turned it over: “GIIJNNO CEFORS.” Two skeletons in skirts, three coins drawn over their heads. I took a minute to unlock the anagram: joining forces. That was weird. The card confirmed my suspicion: Sophie and Lulu were in league with each other.
“It’s a pact,” I said. “Did you and Sophie make a pact when she gave you the spell?”
Lulu shook her head quickly. “No.”
I couldn’t call Lulu on her lie. I had to get her to Osaze’s first—even if I was furious with her. When Lulu planted the tarot cards at Robin’s door, the chain of events leading to Sophie’s murder began.
I held the next card up. “ABGIILNOOT”: obligation. Ten coins, no skeletons.
“Are you sure there wasn’t a pact, Lulu? Because this card shows its result: coins, money, fame. But they’re attached to an obligation. A trade maybe? Did you do something for Sophie?”
“What is it? Let me see.” Lulu took the card from my hand. “Aha. Look—it’s lots of money. The spell was for fame, and fame brings money. I’m gonna be rich. It worked. I’m not in danger. I told you so.”
The shadows from the lava lamp danced along the walls. I sensed a presence in the hall. I felt energy in the cards I held. I couldn’t erase Sophie from my mind.
“You’re not in danger yet,” I said to Lulu. A whisper—Sophie’s voice?—urged me to turn the next card: “AEEILNORTV.”
Skeletons fled an arched, gray-stone structure. I closed my eyes and saw two people leaving the Greek Theater. One was Sophie.
“They’re fans going wild at my stadium concerts,” Lulu said. “That’s so cool.”
“AEEILNORTV”: revelation. Something about Sophie, a pact, the Greek. But, damn it—what the hell did Lulu have to do with Sophie that night? My stomach went sour.
“Turn over another one. Am I going to be super-super famous?” Lulu circled her hand again at me to move on. Her knee jerked up and down while her sneakered foot tapped the floor. “Come on, what’s the next card?”
The next card was “MNOO”: moon. A full moon with the face of a skeleton floated in the center of a starless night sky. The moon was full the night Sophie died.
I looked down the hall through the window. A thin cloud veiled the waning moon. I held up the card. “It’s the moon, Lulu. This one is your warning. Osaze told me he has to perform the hex-breaker before the waning of the full moon the night Sophie died.”
I heard the whisper again. There’s more.
“I think it means I’ll be famous by the next full moon.” Lulu ruffled her hand through her hair. “After Sam puts me in the studio. This is so exciting. Turn over one more card. C’mon. This is fun.”
Fun? My nerves jangled. The reading wasn’t getting Lulu to Osaze’s. I closed my jacket tight to my chest. The scent of roses: my scent, Sophie’s scent, drifted into my nostrils. I thought about the night of the party. Lulu was next to Robin when Sophie spat out her warning. Was Sophie directing the message at Lulu?
“Come on.” Lulu poked my arm, shaking me from my thoughts. “What’s the next card?”
I flipped it over. Neither one of us spoke. “ADEHT”: death. The skeleton lying dead in the woods held a white rose. Sophie’s favorite flower.
“The curse.” Lulu bolted back. She stood, pushing the chair away from her desk. “I’m done. I don’t want to see anymore.”
I did. Lulu had watched me as the cards unfolded. She wouldn’t look at me now.
“We have to finish the reading. The cards are telling a story. Look.” I laid the cards on the sofa next to me for her to see, pointing at each card as I read. “The priestess joined forces with someone and made a pact. There was an obligation, maybe a favor, then a revelation, maybe a betrayal. A full moon, and a death.”
I revealed the next card. Nine vertical swords hung over a skeleton on a bed. “GILTU”: guilt.
Lulu pulled a large black purse from under the desk, sliding its strap over her shoulder. She picked up her keys, then stopped, drawn to the card. “What is that one?”
“Guilt. The cards are telling us who Sophie’s killer was.” My heart was pounding.
“Bullshit.”
I looked up. “Don’t you want to see if the cards get it right?”
“It was Robin.” Lulu looked away.
“Then the next card will confirm that. Ready?”
“I’m leaving.” Lulu circled her desk.
“One more, Lulu, one more.” I snapped the card with my thumb.
She hesitated, watching my hand. I turned the card over.
The dancing, black-haired, and skirted skeleton played a guitar. The anagram scrawled beneath read “FLOO”: fool. The voice whispered, Lulu.
“It’s you, Lulu. It’s everything about you.” I looked up at her. “Tell me what happened between you and Sophie that night. It’s time to tell the truth. I can help you.”
Lulu backed away, clutching her purse to her chest. I waited. She stared at the card. Then she looked straight at me.
“I don’t need your help. The voodoo worked. Don’t you see? It was meant to be. Even Sophie was surprised when I told her about my booking. She told me I owed her. Sophie was obsessed with Sam. She hated how close he was to Robin so she made up a plan to make Robin quit. She said if I didn’t help her, she’d reverse the fame spell I bought. She made me scare Robin with the tarot cards her dead husband got and with Robin’s messed-up photo. When Robin guessed it was her that night, Sophie turned on me.” Lulu spat out her words. “Sophie put the voodoo on me, but I made her pay, the bitch. I have to go do my show now. My audience is waiting for me.”
“No, Lulu. It’s too late. We have to tell the police the truth.” I blocked her path. Lulu tried to push past me. I grabbed her arm. “Don’t.”
Lulu’s eyes flashed like a cornered animal. She wrenched out of my grip and shoved me to the side. I lost my balance and fell backward on her desk, the sharp edge jamming into my back.
She grabbed a glass paperweight off the desk and cocked her arm. “Let me leave now, or I’ll kill you, too.”
I gripped the side of the desk and shoved Lulu away with my foot. The paperweight flew from her hand and shattered the lamp. Lulu lunged at me, knocking me into the wall. She swung her purse and hit the side of my face. I touched my cheekbone. Blood dampened my fingers. I wobbled and tripped over the desk chair onto my knees.
Lulu fled toward the stairwell. I pulled myself up and followed, yanking my phone out of my pocket as she dashed through the door.
“Nick—Lulu killed Sophie. She’s coming down the stairs. I’m right behind her. Stop her. Get the police.” My words fell out in gasps. I clomped down the stairs.
“How did . . .”
I hung up to get a grip on the railing. Then I took the steps, two at a time. My back and side burned with pain; the cut on my face throbbed.
Lulu was a flight below me. The glare of the fluorescent lights in the stairwell stung my eyes.
She wore sneakers; I was in heeled boots. Damn heels, useless. I catapulted down, following the sound of her steps and the jangle of her purse. By the time I passed the third floor, Lulu was two sections below me, nearing the lobby. I wouldn’t catch her in the stairwell.
I filled my lungs and shouted, “Security. Somebody. Stop her.” My voice bounced against the gray concrete bricks and echoed above me. I was a flight above the lobby. Lulu bounded through a door to the parking lot. My heel caught. I slipped and twirled around. I grabbed the rail; my knee slammed on the step. I yelped. I pulled myself up and hopped down, pain shooting from my knee to my hip.
The lobby door nearly smacked me in the face when it flew open. The guard came halfway into the stairwell, and then Nick pushed him aside.
“I told you something was wrong up there,” Nick said to the guard. Then he started up the stairs toward me. “Liz, are you—”
“Not me, Nick. Lulu. Stop her. Garage.” I pointed to the door Lulu had disappeared through. “Don’t let her get away.”
