Dead and Disorderly (Behind the Blue Line Series Book 2) (3 page)

Nahia didn’t do tarot reading for other people, generally speaking. Maybe for her friends at parties sometimes, but certainly not for money and not regularly. She just didn’t like giving people bad news, and for her, the cards were accurate and not terribly shy about their doom-and-gloomy sides.

That said, she didn’t mind turning to the cards herself when she had a question, just to provide perspective and a bigger picture view. A deck of Renaissance tarot wrapped in velvet was kept in a teak box on the shelf above and to the right of the register, her personal stash for when she was bored. She was shuffling to do a simple three card spread on her checkout counter in the empty store just after she opened, when the bell above the front door pealed.

She looked up to see her best friend Nigel’s smiling face. He had the kind of face that made women swoon, all angular cheekbones and strong jaw. Add those to a muscular six-foot frame, dark hair and light green eyes, and he was the kind of pretty that truncated women’s vocabularies. Today he was in her favorite suit, slate gray and black shirt, making him look like a cinematic mobster, and not a missing persons detective.

“Morning, sweets! Your parents’ plane get off okay?”

His attempt to play coy only incensed her further, so she nodded once curtly instead of speaking. They both knew her parents’ anniversary vacation was not what he came to talk about.

“Something wrong?”

“I’m mad at you,” she said, but couldn’t quite keep the grin out of her voice. She didn’t look up at him as she continued to shuffle the oversized cards.

He stopped and leaned against the glass counter, running a finger through the bowl of stone Zuni fetishes she kept on the counter to entice her customers. “Nye, I’m sorry about last night. Something came up, and I—”

She stuck her tongue out at him and set down the deck on the purple velvet she had spread out in front of her. “You aren’t sorry about a damn thing. Why do you persist in this futile matchmaking game of yours?”

He straightened and put a hand over his heart, the picture of affected umbrage. “I’m shocked you would think that I would do that to you.”

It was the big cow eyes that gave him away. “Because I wasn’t conscious for the last five times you tried?” She crossed her arms and leaned against the stool she kept behind the counter for the days when she was truly busy. It was fun to tease him, because he was so happy with his fiancée, and he was doing his damnedest to give her the same thing.

He held out both hands, his face in a full-on pout. “Now, don’t be like that. That last time was just…bad. How was I supposed to know he had a pregnant girlfriend?” 

She harrumphed and grabbed the duster from the counter behind her and set out to dust the store. “Not helping your case there, boss.”

His footsteps trailed behind her as she stopped at various displays and attended to them. “So how was last night? Was it the real deal?”

As irritated as she was with him, she wanted to continue bawling him out, but opted to go with the more peaceful change of topic. “Oh yeah. Easily, one of the best intelligent hauntings I’ve ever experienced.” Not to mention the smokin’ hot and surprisingly smart and sensitive company she’d had. In all, it was actually kinda spectacular, but she didn’t want to give him that satisfaction.

“Really. So have you sorted through the evidence and everything?” When he wasn’t busy on a case, Nigel served as her ad hoc assistant, helping her process the pictures, video and audio from her adventures and helping her with the in-depth historical research for the locations. He was damn good at ferreting out newspaper reports and family histories, and she was always grateful for his assistance.

Nahia shook her head and moved back behind the counter as soon as the entry bell rang again. “Not yet. Got video, audio and pictures to deal with still.” She didn’t want to tell him she hadn’t gotten to it the night before because she’d gone to dinner with Nico. It would only encourage him.

“Great! I’ll come by tonight after work. We’ll have some pasta, you can continue to bitch me out for trying to make you happy, it’ll be great!”

The way his green eyes lit up when he talked about helping her made the fact that she had to decline hurt more than it should have. “Actually…” she drew the word out because she really didn’t want to have to say what her plans where, but was running out of options, “I already have someone lined up to help me with that tonight.”

Nigel’s eyes got big and his brows made a break for his hairline, but he didn’t speak until the customer in the store paid for her items and left. “Do tell.”

Nahia sighed and dropped her chin to her chest. There was no way around it. “Nico is coming after he finishes his shift. He said he wanted to help me with it because of what all went down last night.”

Surprise immediately slid into speculation on his face as he leaned against the counter on his elbows. “‘What all went down?’ Oh, this I’ve gotta hear.”

She rolled her eyes and hopped up on the stool, crossing her legs daintily. “Nigel. It’s not like that. It was an intense hunt, very interactive.”

“Between you and Nico,” he supplied, waving his hand while his face remained the picture of innocence.

It was all she could do to hold back the irritated growl and the urge to smack him on general principle. “Between us and the entity. It spoke to us.”

Her best friend narrowed his eyes and looked askance at her. “Like on the tape, right? Like inaudible to most people, but picked up by the DAT and you, right?”

“Like you and me having this conversation right now. We heard it walking around downstairs, and so we followed the footsteps. Once we got upstairs, it spoke, and then it slammed a door. It was kinda crazy. I think Nico wants to help me research and go through the tapes because he’s trying to make sense of what happened. You sent him into the titty bar and told him he was going to the library. Jacked up his whole worldview.” She fixed him with her most disapproving and disappointed gaze, because she knew he would crumble pretty quickly.

Nigel choked back a giggle and tried to maintain a serious expression. “That wasn’t my intention, really. I just thought you two would get along well, and I see I wasn’t wrong.”

“Not the point, boyo, and you know it. I’m gonna let this pass because it worked out well, as far as the hunt went, but next time, just come yourself and leave the matchmaking alone. Besides, there are easier ways to get me to bring a date to your wedding.” She joked, of course, because her best friend wasn’t like that, but she had to tease him a little since his fiancée was putting her in a flaming pink bridesmaid dress. “I ordered the dress by the way.”

“Imani’ll be pleased. This wedding planning thing is making her completely nuts.” His cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he picked it up to look at the screen. “Besides, you and Nico would look great walking down the aisle together.”

She had no problem imagining her friend’s suggestion. Her in the loud pink dress and him in the dashing tuxedo, it was a pleasant fiction to indulge. As much as she felt a connection to the handsome detective, that kind of distraction could only go badly in the long run. Dating normal people only underscored and highlighted how little she fit into that category. “And I told you to settle down with that shit.”

Nigel nodded in understanding, looking appropriately contrite, and came around the counter to hug her. “I gotta run. I have to meet the juvenile prosecutor over some stuff. Call me!”

She kissed his cheek and then waved him out the door. It was still early in the day and the store would be empty for a while, at least until lunch, so she returned to her original goal of throwing a tarot spread.

After shuffling the deck one last time, she pulled off the first of the three cards she would draw. The Empress, in the upright position. She chuckled softly, since the card indicated a woman or feminine energy, mystery, intuition and higher powers. Nahia looked around the store for a moment, taking in her esoteric inventory. Yeah, that card was definitely her. The next card she pulled was the King of Swords.

Nahia glared heavenward. “Really?” The King of Swords was definitely not what she’d expected, but wasn’t exactly surprising. He represented a man, a strong, intelligent, just man. Clear-thinking, honest, and armed, that was Nico to a ‘T’. Apparently the cards were feeling especially accurate today. She now dreaded picking up the third and final card.

The bell over the door saved her and she spent the next half an hour with a miniature rush on herbal tea and scented candles. Every few minutes, though, she found herself staring at the deck in suspicion. When she was finally alone again, she grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge she kept in the office and then returned to deal with the tarot. She refused to be fearful of a simple deck of cards.

Sitting down on the stool, she steeled herself and grabbed the top card, the last one in the spread. With more trepidation than she’d ever admit to, she turned it over and hung her head. Apparently all the fates were laughing hysterically, right at her. She set the card down and sighed, deeply. The Lovers, in the upright position, it didn’t get much clearer than that. “Of course.”

With the last of his errant runaways returned to their parents, Nico found he had not terribly much to do at work. That was a good thing, since he had barely slept since he’d parted company with Nahia. She was…he shook his head and laughed at himself, since he was still unable to think of a word that fully encompassed the force of nature that was Nahia.

Between her and the events of the previous night, his brain hadn’t slowed down enough to even look at sleep, much less engage in it. Between racing down her curves and trying to figure out what the hell was going on with the disembodied voice, his mind was exhausted.

He sighed, his lips automatically smiling at the mere thought of her. She was unconventionally stunning, and there was nothing more he could say about it. The way her jeans clung to her ass, her legs, her…he wasn’t objectifying a woman he barely knew, really, Nico chastised himself. He was just so struck by her, and not just her looks. Her intellect, her quirky personality, it was all so different and captivated, and now he was mooning like a twelve-year-old boy.
Great
.

Looking over his excruciatingly organized desk, he decided to bite the bullet. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, at least in the in-depth concrete way, what happened at that house. The whole idea of it was creepy and disturbing. The scientific side of him was inordinately curious about the origin of the voice last night, and the slamming door. He wasn’t one to necessarily believe in ghosts in the first place, having had no such experience before, and now… Hell, now he didn’t know what to believe. Was it a ghost? Maybe. Could she communicate with them? Given last night’s performance, probably. Could she really help this restless soul? He had no freakin’ clue.

At war with his scientific side was his more philosophical side. Should he really be looking into this? Did he believe helping her would accomplish anything? He couldn’t deny the creepy feelings he’d had in the place, which had only intensified as they’d gone upstairs. Honestly, he’d half-expected them to find the walls completely drenched in blood or something equally visually traumatic, and had been relieved to find the place merely dusty. But setting the spirit free? He still wasn’t entirely sold.

Still, Nico found himself sifting through property records and police reports in hopes of bringing some info with him when he met up with Nahia later on that evening. He didn’t want to disappoint her, that much both sides of his personality could agree on readily. The fact that she’d agreed to his offer of help was impressive enough, since she was obviously not used to working with rookies in the field, but the thought of coming to her empty-handed was just unconscionable.