Deadly Night (14 page)

She spoke first. “All right. I guess I like you,” she said softly.

He laughed. “I
know
I like you,” he told her.

Then she fell silent, but after a moment—and he could tell she found it hard to ask—she said, “Can you stay…the night?”

Was she afraid?

“I’m all right. Honestly,” she said, as if reading his mind. And then she moved, rising on an elbow to look down into his eyes. “I’m not afraid.”

Was she a mind reader?

“And I really didn’t ask you in for…this.” She gave him a little smile. Her hair was a complete mess, and her eyes had that brilliant green-gold quality that tugged at his heart.

He pulled her against him. “Too bad. I wouldn’t have minded,” he told her.

She didn’t answer, just rested easily against him. They were silent, and it was okay.

In a while, they made love again. He didn’t know who initiated it. Maybe they just moved together simultaneously. She was bolder this time, playing with his body in a way that all but turned his blood into liquid fire.

At length they slept.

He watched the house, anger sizzling inside him as if his insides were meat on a grill. His blood was boiling, charring his soul…and dripping into the fire.

He fought the anger.

Anger drove a man past control.

Anger made a man behave foolishly and rashly.

A genius did not give way to anger.

He should be grateful, even though they had snatched his prey right out of his grasp and the urge within him was growing to unbearable dimensions. They had done him a favor, he tried to tell himself. She had not been alone among strangers, as he had believed. She had been with a group of people she knew. People who would have reported her missing immediately.

It was good. It was all good.

But Flynn was still in with Kendall. His vision for the future. A painful vision now, for he ached to see those eyes looking into his own. Perhaps with laughter. Then excitement. He wasn’t her lover, not yet. For now, he just watched. He could wait his turn.

But the agony came back.

Flynn was in there. Seeing those eyes, touching that sweet flesh, knowing her.

He turned and walked away.

But the hunger…

It was growing.

Brilliant men were in control. Brilliant men did not make mistakes….

But how had she known? How had Kendall Montgomery known to hunt down the girl, the little blonde who was so full of herself, so intent on having a high time? How had Kendall known to find her and insist that she stay with her group?

Tea and Tarot.

It couldn’t be real, could it?

She knew. For the love of God,
she knew.

To his amazement, he felt what a genius should never feel.

Panic mingling with the unstoppable hunger.

Kendall awoke, immediately aware that he was lying next to her, that his leg was thrown over hers, that his arm was heavy across her abdomen. She opened her eyes and turned toward him, and discovered that he was already awake and watching her.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so deeply and so well. Or when she had last awakened in her bed with a man beside her.

Never, she realized. Never in this bed.

The great affair of her life so far had been Rob Thierry. He had left New Orleans to answer the call of the big city. To his credit, he had tried to get her to go. Maybe she should have. But she hadn’t, and last she’d heard, he was working at a good job as a stage manager off Broadway. She wasn’t still pining for him; she just hadn’t found anyone else she wanted.

No, she’d had to wait around for a hard, embittered widower. A man as crazy in his own way as she was surely becoming herself.

But she was so glad he was there. His shoulders were revealed above the sheets, bronzed and broad, and his head looked so right against her pillow, his dark hair mussed and a hint of beard shadowing his jawline. And his eyes…

Those dark blue eyes, not icy now but still so unfathomable as he studied her.

He touched her face. “Kendall,” he said, and it was as if her name had a deeper meaning.

She smiled slowly.

Then they heard a phone ringing. A cell phone, from out in the hall.

“Not mine,” she told him.

“Mine.”

He jumped out of bed. She couldn’t help but notice that even in the full light of day, he had a gorgeous body. It was scarred in a few places, but muscled, firm and beautiful.

She followed him.

He had dug his cell phone out of the pocket of his pants and was frowning as he listened.

“I’ll be right out,” he said, and snapped the phone closed.

“What is it?” she asked.

“That was Zachary.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Apparently someone has been decorating the plantation for Halloween.”

“Oh?”

“There are voodoo dolls on the front lawn.”

“Voodoo dolls?”

“Three of them. With pins through them. And red slashes across their throats.”

M
iss Ady was ready when Kendall came for her. She was in a cotton dress and a little pillbox hat. She was wearing gloves, and carried a little flowered handbag.

She was bright and cheerful. “Rebecca wants you to know that she’s mighty grateful you offered to take me in,” Ady said. “Seems like it’s been hard for them to take off time at the morgue lately. They’re still catching up, even after all this time,” she said seriously. “And there’s new crimes, too. They blame it all on the city, but it’s not just the city, you know, it’s Orleans Parish, and that’s a fact. Seems we get to see the best man can be, and the worst of it, too.”

“I’m happy to take you. And I’ll bet Mason is happy that I’m taking you, too. He gets to finish decorating the shop without me,” Kendall assured her.

“Well, Rebecca went on in early, so she can take a break and pop over to the doctor’s office. She went in at six this morning, so she can take her lunch break at ten.”

“Wonderful. I’ll get a chance to see her.”

Ady went to a doctor in the CBD, or central business district, right over Canal Street from the Quarter. She’d been going to him for a long time. He had managed to stay in private practice, despite the medical trend to form huge partnerships. That meant survival for many physicians, Kendall knew, but she was glad for Miss Ady that Dr. Ling was on his own, so the elderly lady never ended up shuttled from partner to partner. Many of his patients were older, like Miss Ady, and he was always willing to listen to stories about little aches and pains that some other doctors might just put down to old age.

They had a wait of about twenty minutes. Dr. Ling tried not to overschedule, but he was always willing to spend a little extra time with any patient who needed it. While they waited, Kendall chatted with Miss Ady about the city, Halloween, the expected rise in tourism for the Halloween weekend, and MissAdy’s grandchildren. Anything and everything, so she didn’t keep thinking about the night that had just passed, as if thinking too much would ruin it. And she wanted to hang on to the way she felt for as long as possible, because she felt wonderful. Excited. As if she’d discovered something new, which, in a way, she had.

So she didn’t want to think about all that might be
wrong
with what she had done. He wasn’t exactly the easiest going guy in the world. And he had a real bone to pick with Vinnie, for some reason, and she loved Vinnie. Friendships could be more valuable than any one-night stand. Except she was hoping against hope it would be more than just a one-night stand. No matter how he rankled her, she just wanted to be with the man. Big mistake. They had met the wrong way. No matter what he said, he still disdained her for being a so-called psychic. And she resented him for thinking ill of her and was totally indignant that he could think badly of Vinnie. The rest of the world might suspect she was resentful of him for having inherited the Flynn plantation, while she honestly didn’t resent him or his brothers at all. He’d left that morning in a mood of grim retrospection, almost as if they were strangers again. The way he’d looked at her, she wondered if he wouldn’t have suspected
her
of planting the voodoo dolls if not for the fact that he’d been with her all night.

When she had needed him, though, he had come through.

“Girl, are you with me?” Ady asked her.

“What? Yes, of course, I’m sorry.”

“I’m going in now. You wait out here for Rebecca.”

“Don’t you want me to go in with you?”

“No, I would appreciate it if you would just wait here for Rebecca. I’ve been taking good care of myself for years, and I’m no coward. I know how to give all the right answers and ask all the right questions,” Ady informed her.

So Kendall was left with her own thoughts and worries once again. And she started to wonder if she hadn’t ruined Ann’s wild vacation, or if chasing down the young woman had even been the right thing to do.

Ady hadn’t been gone long before Rebecca arrived. Kendall stood to give Rebecca a big hug as the other woman looked at her anxiously and asked, “How’s Mama?”

“She just went in a couple of minutes ago.”

Rebecca searched her eyes. “Did she pass out? Do something that worried you?”

Kendall shook her head. “No.” She hesitated. “Rebecca, I’m sorry. I can’t explain it. Something just made me think she should come in for an exam.”

Rebecca might not have been sure Kendall’s instincts were correct, but she apparently believed her heart was in the right place. “Okay. We’ll wait and see what’s up.”

“You can go on in with your mom, if you want,” Kendall said.

“Lordy, no. She’s got a bit of a crush on Dr. Ling, I think. Anyway, she taught us never to lie. Whatever is going on, she’ll tell us both.” They sat on the sofa together. Rebecca gave Kendall’s knee a pat. “So how you doing, my friend?” she asked.

“Fine, thanks.”

“You still missing Miss Amelia?”

“Well, I’ll always miss her. We don’t stop missing people.”

“You should have gotten that plantation, not those wretched boys who came out of the blue!”

Kendall was surprised by her friend’s vehemence. “What would I do with a plantation?” she asked.

“Sell it, of course.”

Kendall laughed. “Actually, ‘those wretched boys’ are all right.”

Rebecca grimaced. “Not according to Dr. Abel!”

Jon Abel was Rebecca’s direct boss. There were a number of medical examiners for Orleans Parish, but Rebecca was one of Dr. Abel’s lab assistants. As she looked at her friend, waiting for an explanation, Kendall suddenly remembered the man she had seen at the bar the other night, the one who had looked familiar to her, though she hadn’t been able to place him at the time.

It had been Jon Abel.

“Why? What does Dr. Abel say?”

“He was so angry. Seems the Flynns came on like gangbusters, demanding that some old bones be given preferential treatment. Well, honey, he can be a pisser to work for at times, but I can’t say I blame him this time around.” Rebecca smiled then. “They sure are good-looking fellows, I’ll grant ’em that,” she said.

“You’ve met them?” Kendall asked curiously.

“I saw the oldest when he came into the lab. I didn’t actually meet him, just saw him aggravating Dr. Abel. Which I don’t like, ’cause then the doc gets all grouchy. I thought he’d be pitching a fit, wanting me to work harder and faster. But he just put those bones in a drawer—I think he got a kick out of that. And how that Flynn boy found a speck of blood in his graveyard is beyond me. He had his FBI friend bring that one in. It’s probably too compromised to give us much. But Abel didn’t even get on me over that. Said we should send it off to the folks up at the Smithsonian who do the work for Quantico, though I can’t see anybody up there getting all excited about a drop of blood when nobody’s even found a body.”

“Wouldn’t those bones be considered parts of bodies?” Kendall said.

Rebecca waved a hand in the air. “Honey, we got shootings to deal with. And drug O.D.s. Bones just aren’t anything to get excited about.”

“But…people have disappeared here!”

“Yeah. Lots of them. We’ll never get the final toll.”

Kendall was silent for a moment. If not for the fact that Jenny Trent was missing and she herself had had that strange experience with that tarot card, wouldn’t she still believe the same?

“Rebecca, are you telling me that Abel isn’t going to do anything about those bones Aidan Flynn found?”

“I didn’t say that. I just said that he was shelving them until he finished with more important things.” Rebecca stared at her curiously. “What’s the matter with you, girl?”

Kendall shook her head. She honestly didn’t know the answer to that question.

“Doc Abel seems to dislike the lot of them, though I haven’t even seen the youngest one yet, but I saw the middle brother last night.”

“Last night?”

Rebecca nodded. “I was at that place you like, the Hideaway, ’til all hours. Why do you think I look like something the cat dragged in this morning?” she asked.

“You look fine to me,” Kendall said.

“Girlfriend, you are one fat liar. Anyway, they’re saying there might be some big Halloween bash out at the plantation, can you imagine that?”

Kendall didn’t have to form an answer, because Ady came out of the inner office just then, followed by Dr. Ling.

They both stood. Dr. Ling greeted them cordially, then said, “I’ve set Miss Ady up to have a biopsy. There’s a tiny speck on her lungs.”

“Oh, dear Lord!” Rebecca said, a hand over her heart.

“Now, now, I don’t want you all getting excited. Miss Ady and I have talked this out, and she understands everything. I think we’ll be nipping this right in the bud, and Miss Ady is going to be just fine. I’m proud of her for coming in. Most patients wait until they’re really sick before doing anything, and that’s when we’re in trouble.”

Rebecca had an arm around her mother. “You feeling okay, Mama?” she asked.

“Right as rain—now that I’ve seen Dr. Ling.”

Kendall smiled. It was true. MissAdy really liked Dr. Ling.

“I can take Mama on home,” Rebecca told Kendall after they said their goodbyes to the doctor.

“You sure?” Kendall asked, smiling at Miss Ady. “I don’t mind.”

“No, you’ve been a godsend already, girl,” Rebecca told her.

Ady took Kendall’s hands and stood on tiptoe to plant a kiss on her cheek. “You got the sight, and you know that, Kendall,” she whispered. “Most of us, we just play at it. But you’ve got it, the real gift. The sight.” She drew away, still holding Kendall’s hands. She winked and nodded, as if they shared a sacred and secret knowledge.

Kendall should have felt good, but instead she just felt cold. She was sorry to be right about Miss Ady, and she was terrified she might be right about others, too.

As she drove back to the French Quarter, she thought about Ann, and wondered if she would ever know if the girl had sailed away safely.

Jenny Trent had disappeared.

And the only other time she’d seen Death smile…

Had been with one of her closest friends. SheilaAnderson.

Aidan was hunched over the front lawn, not touching the little dolls as he stared at them. He had an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach because of what Jeremy had just told him. Jeremy had seen dolls just like them before.

At Kendall’s shop.

“I thought I should get you out here before calling the cops,” Zach said.

Aidan stood, looking at the house. Workmen were everywhere, and two electricians’ vans and one from a plumbing company were parked nearby. A truck from Southern Plaster and Molding was just pulling up the drive.

“You think maybe some crazy electrician did this?” Jeremy asked, only half joking.

“No, this is someone local, someone who really is crazy,” Aidan told him. “What fool thinks he can scare away the three of us with voodoo dolls?”

“Maybe a fool who wants to get his hands on this place. It’s worth a lot of money, you know? The thing is, the house is actually in good shape, structurally,” Zach said. Aidan stared at him. “Seriously. I have the engineer’s report. The repairs are mostly superficial. Some work on the columns, updating the electric and plumbing. The place needs a lot of paint, some new woodwork. But the contractor has everyone moving already. We’re in good shape. Maybe someone out there was hoping that the house would be in total decay and we’d just take a hike and leave it for him. But it’s not—and
we’re
not.”

“We’re not calling the cops, either,” Aidan said.

“I guess they
would
just think we were being pains in the ass,” Zach agreed.

“They’re just voodoo dolls,” Jeremy acknowledged.

“Pretty grisly voodoo dolls, though, don’t you think?” Zach asked.

“I say we bag ’em and tag ’em,” he suggested. “None of us has touched them, and at some point we may need to look at them for prints or trace evidence. If our prankster gets more serious.”

Aidan wasn’t sure this was just a prank, but he agreed with his brother in principle. And he refused to believe Kendall had had anything to do with this, even if Jeremy was right and these were the same dolls she carried in her store.

After all, he knew exactly where she had been all night.

They bagged the dolls. Then Zachary told Aidan, “I have some interesting information for you.”

“Oh?”

“I did a little hacking. Come on and I’ll show you.”

Zachary had his laptop computer set up in the only place where there were no workmen: Amelia’s bedroom.

This room, at least, had been kept up. It sported a huge sleigh bed in dark mahogany, with a dressing table, wardrobe and side tables to match. French doors led out to the balcony, and in front of them, in contrast to the dark wood, sat a freshly painted beige wicker table with chairs upholstered to match the drapes and comforter. The hardwood floors had been cleaned and buffed, and an Oriental rug with a floral motif covered the floor. There was nothing musty about the room, nothing that hinted of age or decay, or even that the longtime owner had died here.

Zachary had set up his computer on the dressing table.

Aidan and Jeremy pulled up the wicker chairs and sat on either side of Zach to see the screen. “I cross-referenced all kinds of things to come up with this list. It actually goes back about ten years, and then—with an interruption of pure confusion after Katrina—it looks as if it continues, and it’s escalating.”

Aidan read the chart his brother had pulled together. There were ten intriguing and never-solved missing persons cases in the area. The first went back a decade. The second, seven years. Then five years. Then there were two from the year before the storm. Then, since the storm, there had been five more, including Jenny Trent.

Each of the women who had come to the area never to be seen again had been between the ages of twenty and thirty. Each had been starting out on a long vacation. They were all single. And in every case, the disappearance hadn’t been reported until they’d been gone for several weeks, because they didn’t live with anyone who would be concerned immediately. In two of the cases, they hadn’t been reported missing until they had been gone several months.