Acheron Highway: A Jonathan Shade Novel (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

I stared at the incision in her chest.
 
“May I?” I asked, pointing at the wound.

Miranda nodded and stepped closer to me.
 
“It hurts, but I find myself touching it all the time.
 
It’s like having a painful tooth that you can’t stop probing with your tongue.”

I touched the flesh above the wound.
 
It wasn’t red or inflamed, and there was very little blood.
 
It was normal flesh but cool to the touch, which made sense since she had no circulation.
 
Then again, it could have been the weather.
 
The incision was a clean, straight cut.
 
She flinched as I parted the flesh a bit with my fingers.

“Does this hurt as much as it should?” I asked.

“It hurts but it’s nothing like you’d expect.”

No blood.
 
Of course, the heart wasn’t pumping because it wasn’t there.
 
Miranda didn’t look overly pale, though.
 
Definitely magic.
 
I parted the flesh a little more and revealed bone.
 
I could see that the breastbone had been cut too.

“How did he do this to you?”

“He cornered me in my office, held up his left hand like a catcher’s mitt, pointed at my chest with his right index finger, made a downward move, and I felt this awful burning.
 
Then my heart shot out of my chest like that alien bursting out of John Hurt in that movie.”

I nodded.
 
“And then?”

“He caught my heart.
 
It was still beating in his hand.
 
He said he’d protect it.
 
Then he turned and left my office.”

I looked at my fingers and saw smeared blood and viscous, clear fluid on them.
 
Can you say nasty?
 
“You never lost consciousness?”

“No.”

I got up, walked into the kitchen, and washed my hands.
 
I grabbed a paper towel from under the sink and dried them.
 
“What’s stalker boy’s name?” I asked.

“Zach Banner.”

“Hang on.”

I pulled out my cell, scrolled through my contacts, and pressed a button.
 
A moment later, a familiar voice answered.
 
“DGI, this is Phil.”

“Hey, Phil, Jonathan Shade here.
 
What’s
shakin
’,
m’man
?”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to talk to you, Mr. Shade.”

“Oh.
 
Would you rather talk to Kelly?”
 
Phil had a rather unpleasant visit from my partner, Kelly Chan, stored in his recent memory.
 
Kelly is a magically engineered assassin with attitude out to here.

“Uh...”

“In person?”

“What do you need?”

“You have a Zach or Zachary Banner working there?”

“Not anymore.
 
He quit a week ago.”

“Can you tell me in what capacity he was employed?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“You must really have the
hots
for Kelly.”

“Come on, Mr. Shade.
 
Cut me a break here.”

“Is he a necromancer?”

“Yes, but I didn’t tell you that.”

“Got an address and phone number?”
 
I grabbed a pen and looked for something to write on.
 
I didn’t have any paper handy, so I grabbed an unopened credit card offer from the stack of mail on the counter and flipped it over.

“Just a second.”

He gave me an address in Highlands Ranch, and I jotted it down on the back of the envelope.
 
He also gave me two phone numbers.
 
One started with area code 303 and the other with 720.
 
Both are Denver numbers, so I figured the 303 was the landline and the 720 was his cell.
 
“Thanks, Phil.
 
Kelly sends her love.”

When I hung up, Miranda said, “Necromancer?”

“Guy who has power over the dead.”

“Yeah, but I’m not dead.”

“So you keep saying.
 
Let me try the numbers Phil gave me.”

The 303 number was disconnected.
 
The 720 number went straight to voice mail.
 
He didn’t have a voice greeting, so I used an Irish accent and left him a message.
 
“Harry, I’m still
waitin
’ for
ya
down at the pub.
 
I forgot me wallet, so bring me some cash.”

“What was that all about?” Miranda asked after I ended the call.

“Don’t want him to know anyone’s looking for him.
 
He’ll just delete a wrong number.”

“So you’ll take the case?”

“I’ll kick it around a bit, but I do have some personal business on the back burner, so if that heats up, I may have to stop working on your problem.
 
Then again, we may be able to get this done now, so I’ll pop over to his house and see if he’s home.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Suit yourself.”

#

Highlands Ranch is a suburb to the south of Denver.
 
Last time I checked, there were nearly one hundred thousand residents, so it’s not a small place.
 
A few of my old friends lived there, but they were married with kids, so we rarely spoke.
 
To be honest, I hadn’t spoken with many of my friends in ages.
 
Zach Banner’s house sat on a cul-de-sac tucked into a residential area off Wildcat Reserve Parkway.
 
I didn’t get out to Highlands Ranch very often.
 
Fortunately, I had my
iPad
with MapQuest directions, so I zipped into the neighborhood like I’d been living there for twenty years.

Miranda hadn’t spoken on the ride over.
 
She kept reaching into her blouse and caressing the incision.
 
Esther sat in the backseat and kept looking at my eyes in the rearview mirror.
 
When I caught her, she turned away then looked back when my eyes returned to the road.
 
She wore her concern like concrete shoes.
 
I wanted to tell her I was all right, but she knew better.

I parked at the curb in front of the address Phil had provided.
 
The neighborhood was mostly two-story frame-and-brick houses.
 
It seemed like a family-friendly area, so I wondered why a single guy would live here.

“Wait in the car,” I said.

Esther stepped through the side of the Firebird.
 
“You were talking to Miranda, right?”

I nodded.

“I think it’s good you’re working her case,” Esther said.
 
“Let’s you think about someone else.”

“Yeah.
 
Get moving.”

As we approached the house, Esther moved ahead of me so she could check things out before I reached the door.
 
If the guy came to the door with a shotgun, she could warn me.
 
As I stepped onto the porch, Esther stuck her head through the wall.

“I don’t see anyone here.”

I rang the doorbell.

Esther disappeared into the house for a moment then joined me on the porch.
 
“I don’t hear anyone in there either.”

An Oldsmobile pulled into the drive next door, and a guy in his twenties hopped out, carrying a bag of groceries.

“What’s up?” he called with a nod.

“Seen Zach around?”

He pulled
earbuds
out of his ears and let them dangle.
 
Even from twenty-five feet away, I could hear speed rap music booming from the little buds.
 
“Sorry, man,
jammin
’ out to some Tech N9ne.
 
What did you say?”

“I asked if you’d seen Zach.”

“Who’s Zach?”

“Guy who lives here,” I said, pointing at the house.

“Sorry, dude.
 
I don’t really know the neighbors.
 
You might ask my grandpa.”

“Is he home?”

“Well, I had his car, so unless he decided to take up hiking, he’s inside watching golf or an
NCIS
marathon.
 
Hang on.
 
I’ll get him.”

I looked out at Miranda and gave her a shrug.
 
Then I hopped off Zach’s porch and approached the neighbor’s house.
 
Esther did her scouting ahead of me a bit then popped back to my side and gave me the all clear.

A man who looked to be in his mid-seventies stepped out on the porch.
 
He gave me a nod, shook my hand with a firm grip, and said, “Name’s Walter Hendricks.”

“Jonathan Shade.”

“Ryan said you were asking about Zach.”

“That’s right.
 
I swung by his job, but they told me he quit.”

“Hmm.
 
He told me he got fired, but I suppose it’s the same difference.
 
No more checks.
 
He and his wife left town to visit his mother in Tucson for a few days and asked me to keep an eye on his place for him.
 
I thought they’d be back by now.”

“I see.”

“Not the answer you were looking for?”

Ryan appeared in the doorway, head bobbing to his music.
 
Keeping an eye on his grandfather.
 
Good guy.

I pulled out a business card and handed it to Walter.
 
“I thought he was single.”

“Private investigator.
 
Interesting.”
 
He looked me up and down, taking in my jeans, sneakers, and button-down shirt.
 
“More Magnum than Rockford, I see.”

“I thought about growing a mustache,” I said, “but it itched too much.”

He smiled.
 
“No, Zach’s not single, but he evidently misses the lifestyle.”

“He and his wife having problems?”

“Not publicly.
 
I don’t see her that often.
 
Usually on Sundays when she goes to church.
 
Her job sends her out of town a lot and, well, let’s just say Zach doesn’t like being alone.”

“I see.
 
Pretty good with the ladies?”

Walter laughed and gave me a wink.
 
“Escort services.
 
If he were any good with the ladies, I’d have asked him to teach Ryan a thing or two.”

Ryan didn’t seem to hear the comment thanks to the tunes.

“Listen, if you see or hear from Zach, could you give me a call?”

“Sure thing.”

Miranda got out of the car and approached us.
 
“Anything?” she asked.