Boyfriend from Hell (Saturn's Daughters) (32 page)

There were so many ways I could answer that. For the sake of family harmony, I simply responded:
She found me. Your mother, I presume?

That was all the socializing I could tolerate for a while. We were obviously not a chatty family. I collapsed on the bed with a law book and let Milo sleep on my middle.

But I couldn’t concentrate. I needed to prove I hadn’t killed Max. I needed to find out who had. That should take the pressure off me, keep the cops off my back by diverting their interests elsewhere.

I probably shouldn’t have stolen the Escalade.

I really truly did not want to be tortured with the arrest scenario again. I didn’t take rough handling with a smile. If I’d had the ability to create tornadoes back in my college days, an entire precinct would have been gone with the wind. Along with a crooked provost or two.

So—who would cut my brakes and why? I really would have to work that out, wouldn’t I? Damn. Nothing was ever simple.

I ran my hands into my newly thick hair and tugged. It hurt. The hair was real. My legs were real. Tim, the invisible kid, was real. I was pretty sure it was too late to move to Seattle and a normal life—especially if my boyfriend would visit me from hell wherever I went.

It would have been nice to believe Max really did love me, but wishful thinking didn’t do anyone any
good, and it certainly wasn’t going to bring Max back or change my newly weird life.

I could wield
justice.
I could get even with bullies.

The question remained, what price did I pay to do so?

I
cooked up a pot of Spanish chicken for supper—enjoying the luxury of having a sliver of time to spare and someone to cook for. Julius was appreciative, and he made relaxing company, unlike his annoying son.

I fell asleep early over my books.

I woke up at 3:00
A.M.
thinking about Vanderventer being hospitalized for burns. And remembering that the Invisible Kid should now have a place in the apartment right below me. Why lie awake and fret when I might be able to do something for a change?
I craved the freedom of actually having the power to act. Was that how people in authority felt every day when they got up?

I’d always despised authority figures, and now I might be one. Sort of. Freaking weird.

I crawled out of bed and donned jeans and a Henley and my new athletic shoes. Dropping Milo into my bag—he was outgrowing it already—I sneaked down the stairs to the second story. I didn’t know which apartment had been vacant, but I heard a TV in one. Would the kid have a TV already? Maybe that was how he spent his stolen cash.

But he’d given me the info on Dane and his granny, so I was willing to offer him a chance to redeem himself.

I knocked softly. Remembering that Tim was terrified of bullies and most of the world, I slipped a note under his door rather than shout and risk waking Andre on the floor below.

He opened it a moment later and watched me warily.

“It’s time the Zone acquired a posse,” I informed him. “You want in?”

He blinked several times, flickered a bit, then opened the door wider. “I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling. It passes.” I glanced around. The apartment had apparently come furnished. Well, shoot. Most of the stuff was better than mine. Too late to take up Andre’s offer now. “Can you turn the invisibility on and off with any accuracy?”

“Sometimes. It’s harder when I’m nervous.”

I nodded. “That makes sense. Harder to think
when nervous. I don’t want to make you nervous, but I have a tough job and think you might be the guy I need.”

He glanced uneasily at my shoes in the corner. “I’ll give back your shoes, but Mrs. Bodine gave all my stuff to Goodwill.”

“If I had money, I’d take you shopping and help you buy it back, but we’ll just have to make do for now. Keep the shoes. Did you leave me the note about the limo running over the kids at the bank?”

He twitched. “Yeah. The bastard hit Jennifer. She’s one of the nice ones who don’t think I’m a freak. I’m sorry about the deposit, but I’d just copped the bolt cutters and had to turn them back before the florist missed them. I had to take the bag then or starve.”

“You picked the wrong damned days to rob us, but I understand the necessity of using chaos as cover. Maybe we can make that work for us. I want to nail the guy I think ran over Jennifer. Are you with me?”

“Nail him? Crucify him?” He looked interested and horrified.

“Mostly I want to make him pay, but first, I need to know for sure if he’s guilty. I don’t like picking on innocent people.” I’d studied my printout of the bank deposits but had no proof except that the senator was one slippery bastard. “Everyone ought to have their day in court, right?”

“That’s why you’re here at three in the morning?” he asked in confusion. Not the brightest lightbulb in the lamp.

“Well, you’re not actually sleeping,” I pointed out.
“Neither was I. Most people aren’t at their best at this hour, but I’m betting we are. I want to make a hospital visit.”

“You’re nuts, aren’t you?” he asked without inflection.

“Probably. But I caught you, didn’t I? Let’s catch someone really bad this time.” Before they got me first. I was damned tired of hiding. I was thinking
acting
instead of
reacting
to threats was a better move.

To hell with cops and threats. I wasn’t going down without a fight this time.

“What’s the plan?” He eyed the shoes with longing, probably figuring sandals were safe and I wasn’t. He was right.

“I want a demon to think I’m a witch,” I said with satisfaction.

• • •

Going out the front door, holding our breaths in hopes Andre didn’t hear us, I checked to see which Victorian we occupied now that I was actually
using
the front door. The one with brown and yellow trim. I’d known it wouldn’t be the pink one.

At my behest, Tim took my keys, slipped over to my apartment, and grabbed Max’s jacket and mine. Andre had had my Harley delivered to the backyard, so Tim met me there. No point in alerting any lingering spies that I was still around.

Tim was skinny enough to wear my leather jacket. I wore Max’s. Milo rode in my well-protected messenger bag. I trusted the cat’s instincts more than I did mine. Or maybe he was just my talisman.

I’d already Googled the news stories and knew where Vanderventer had been hospitalized. At this time of night, we could get there in an hour, but high-security D.C. hospitals wouldn’t let just anyone in. I called Tech Head, and he agreed to meet us there. After I’d given him the Escalade’s equipment, he would have walked on hot coals for me. Fortunately, it was Vanderventer I wanted walking on coals. I just needed wireless gear from the techie.

We met in the shadows of the hospital parking garage a little after 4:00
A.M.

Tech Head nodded at Tim. “This the guy you want wired? He’ll never get past security.”

We both looked at Tim’s tattoos and rings. I hoped the doors didn’t have metal detectors. He shifted from foot to foot, but if he flickered, it was hard to tell in the dim light.

“We’re about to experiment,” I told him. “Show us how it works.”

Tech wired him up and explained the system. I could tell the kid was wound tight. I plugged in my earpiece and we tested the distance from the top to the bottom of the garage. I could hear everything Tim and Techie said. While on the roof, I also located the hospital service entrance.

“We’re good,” I told my biker friend. “Let the boys know where I am if all hell breaks loose.”

“Roger, wilco.” He saluted and jogged off, quite willing to leave the troublemaking to me. He’d picked the nice safe alternative of working
behind
the scenes of action. If I’d been smart, I’d have done the same,
but no, I had to sign up to be a lawyer on the front lines, in the public’s face. And now I was doing it supernaturally, and less lawyerly.

I couldn’t believe I was doing what I was doing right before my last final exam. I was a day and a half away from finishing law school and about to blow ethics out the window. But this might be the only time Vanderventer would be where I could find him. They’d probably let him loose tomorrow.

“We’ll get you a set of pretty scrubs,” I promised Tim. “What color do you like?”

“Salmon,” he said grudgingly, following me out of the garage and around to the black hole of the hospital’s service entrance.

Behind the hospital, engines steamed, Dumpsters reeked, and mysterious boxes of hazardous waste were locked and waiting for pickup. A linen truck was being unloaded. I waited until the driver went inside, then hauled myself into the interior of the van. I found a couple of sets of scrubs and threw one out to Nervous Nellie. I tugged the other on over my clothes. The jacket and Milo were problematic.

I carried both as if just arriving for work. Tim imitated me. We strolled through the door the van driver had left open, found a couple of open lockers, and stored the jackets. I kept my bag slung over my shoulder and pushed Milo’s head inside. “Hide, fellow,” I told him.

We made awkward partners. Tim could disappear if he heard anyone coming. I couldn’t. I knew how to
use the computers on the information desks to locate patients. Tim didn’t.

I posted him as guard once I found a desk in an empty corner and told him to speak into the mic if he saw anyone approaching. Information desks are usually run by senior citizen volunteers. Their computers have to be simple. This one had the login and password taped to the bottom of the keyboard.

Once I knew what room Vanderventer was in, I steered Tim toward the elevator. “If anyone questions me, just stay invisible and cause a disturbance,” I told him. “We’ll keep this simple.”

I was out of my friggin’ mind and taking this justice business too far. I didn’t even know for certain that I could visualize punishment. What if the guy was innocent and I pictured something bad just because I got mad? I’d have worried my new superpower only worked in the Zone, but I’d battered the reporters at the funeral home, and even caught Tim while I was cruising down the highway.

But I
hadn’t
imagined Max slamming into a bank.

That really wasn’t my fault. It hadn’t been until Max’s funeral that I started doing totally weird things. Maybe I could blame my insanity on my ex’s family.

I could only hope Tim was with me when I strolled past the night desk, pushing a linen cart. I’d thrown a sheet over my messenger bag, just in case hospital flunkies didn’t carry around purses containing cats. I guessed they’d be considered unsanitary. Oh well.

Vanderventer’s room was quiet and dark. I left
the linen cart in the hall, slipped inside, and closed the door, hoping that was Tim’s frightened breathing I heard next to me. I’d spent a year in a hospital nowhere as elegant as this one. I still knew the routines. I moved the emergency button away from the bed while glaring down at the sleeping patient.

The senator was even better looking with his cleft jaw in stubble and his dark hair mussed. I ought to have pulled out my compact and let Max have a gander, but that would have been indulging too far. Milo peered out and growled threateningly, even though the patient was sound asleep and not menacing anyone. Kitty intuition worked for me, but I still needed proof that, at a minimum, he’d been the one who hired the goons who’d shot up Chesty’s and endangered my friends. If he’d been driving the limo that hit the kids, I didn’t know if I could keep him from roasting in hell through and through.

They’d tented the covers over his burns, so the charcoal must have landed on his feet. I’d wanted him to take a pleasant dip in hell and fry his toes a little so he’d know what torment felt like. Interesting metaphorical interpretation. Good thing I’d restrained myself from damning him as I had Max. Looked like I’d have to experiment with my justice powers. Did I have to be angry or terrified to actually send someone to hell, or was there a magic phrase? Since I was on a fact-finding mission, I probably shouldn’t experiment now.

One of the senator’s hands sported a small bandage but the other was unharmed. Tim stationed himself
on the injured side and flickered out. I stayed close to the door, ready to flee at the first sign of danger. I’d had Tim wired, mostly for his safety and in hopes of taping a confession, but no amount of wire would save me.

“Hey, Dane,” I said softly. I’d told Tim to tug the patient’s nose to wake him, but I couldn’t see if he was following my instructions. “Max sends you greetings from hell.”

Vanderventer stirred restlessly. I watched a handful of the senator’s hair rise up from its scalp as Tim yanked it.
That’s my boy.
Dane woke instantly, to full alert.

“Remember me?” I asked sweetly.

His head swiveled until he located me in the dark. My scrubs were a bright enough green that I wasn’t totally invisible. I didn’t know if he could make out my face.

“Who are you?” he demanded, hunting for the call button I’d intelligently relocated.

“Your worst nightmare. No one can enter, and the devil is on your shoulder, waiting to send you to join Max in hell if you lie.”