Even Villains Have Interns (14 page)

“If you bring us the evidence, we can sort
everything out and be on our way. Miss Samson doesn’t need to stay
here any longer.”

“Evidence. I’ll go get that.” Morrow walked to
the door nodding like a concussed chicken.

The handcuffs dropped to Delilah’s lap with a
metallic clink. “Daddy, I think you’re over doing it,” she said as
he sat on the table.

He looked down at her with dark eyes that struck
fear into law enforcement everywhere—the untouchable villain, the
one who always got away. “What in the Sam Hill do you think you’re
doing?” The Texas twang was faked, but it made her giggle. “I drove
by that nut house on the way through town. What are you mixed up
in?”

“Nothing. Travys left his dorm at a weird hour
so I followed. I’ve no clue what was going on, but if you can get
my phone back I have pictures.”

“This isn’t about the Golden Hunt, is it? Your
mother will have bovine-producing fits if you’re nosing around them
again. We’ve only just managed to get the FBI to stop calling,
asking for your phone number.”

“Was it Jake?”

“It was Jake.”

She winced. “I’m so sorry. I really did not mean
for him to get so attached. All I did was collaborate on the
arrest. We never even had a meal together.”

“Smith women are very easy to obsess over,” her
father said sympathetically. “Look at me, I met your mother once
and couldn’t stop thinking about her.”

Delilah rolled her eyes. “I know. I’ve only
heard the story a few thousand times.”

“And one of these days you’ll have a very
similar story to tell. Some gentleman who captured your attention,
or you, depending on the scenario.” He stood up and straightened
his tie. “Put the handcuffs back on, the detective is headed this
way.”

“Talk fast and don’t melt his brains. Or ruin
his career! Detective Morrow is a good resource and I like
him.”

Her father raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

“Not like that. He’s a friend.”

“Who you shared no information with and who
doesn’t consider you a friend. My darling daughter, you are getting
a dictionary for Christmas.” But he did touch the watch with his
Agree-With-Me ray in it, so at least he was going to dial down the
mind-to-Slurpy rays.

Detective Morrow came in with a large box.
“Phone, bag, and this box you were holding when we arrived.”

“I’d only just found it,” Delilah said. “I found
Travys tied up in the basement and while I was waiting for the
ambulance I walked around the house searching for other
victims.”

“What ambulance?” Morrow demanded. “The one you
didn’t call because you didn’t report anyone missing and didn’t
call 911?” He slammed the box on the interrogation table. “I
repeat,
what the hell
, Delilah?”

She crossed her arms.

“I think you might be a little out of your
league,” Doctor Charm said. “Do you have evidence gloves,
detective? This isn’t something I’d touch lightly.”

“You recognize it?” Morrow asked.

Delilah frowned at the box in confusion.
Hieroglyphs and languages were not Daddy’s department.

“A number of years ago, when I was fresh out of
law school, there was a bizarre kidnapping case in Colorado.”

“The lotus blossom smell!” Delilah burst
out.

“Precisely. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn
this once belonged to Lady Grimoire, matriarch of a significant
branch of the superhero family tree back in the day. That was
before The Company started pruning things to the point of
extinction. An odd policy, I always thought. Very
anti-superhero.”

“Ahem.” Delilah cleared her throat and kicked
her father in the shin. “Back to the task at hand. Can I be
released? I’m starving, and tired, and I’m very late for work.”

With a grave smile her father turned to the
detective. “Naturally. Detective Morrow, I think you will need the
expertise offered by Miss Samson. This is not an ordinary
case.”

“I need to know what happened,” Morrow said.

“Miss Samson will write a statement, you will
release her. I will liaise between the two of you until the killer
is brought to justice.”

“Killer?” Morrow looked at her. “What killer? I
thought this was about your intern getting kidnapped.”

“Travys was helping me review the mayor’s case.”
Delilah shrugged. “He must have found more than he let on. Maybe he
thought he could solve the case by himself. Too many movies about
teenage spies and investigators I suppose. How is he doing? You’ve
purposefully failed to mention his health this entire time.”

Morrow grimaced in response. “He’s fine. They
gave him a pint of blood at the hospital, but otherwise he’s fine.
No drugs in his system, nothing that some bed rest and a few steaks
won’t fix.”

“Tell me,” her father said, “is blood theft a
common crime in this area?”

“No.” Morrow shook his head. “I’ve been on the
force for over thirty years and I’ve seen some weird sh—stuff.” He
shuffled his feet a little at the slip up. “But this is new.”

“An overly aggressive blood bank, perhaps?”

“Maybe.” Morrow sighed. “All right, Delilah,
I’ll bring you the forms. Once the statement is filled out, I’ll
let you go. But that better be the most thorough document you’ve
ever written. The chief is ready to eat me alive. You’re our best
contract worker and you screwed with a crime scene. Rookies aren’t
even that dumb and they can barely tie their own shoes.”

***

Delilah walked out of the precinct two hours
later in a huff. Half the day wasted and she was still hungry.
Lunch, or an early dinner, that was the first course of action.
Then she’d book Daddy Dearest a hotel, or a flight home, and check
on Travys. Then maybe she’d have time to search for a new job in
the Help Wanted section before bed. It didn’t matter what Wil said
over the phone, she was sunk in Chicago. All that time carefully
building a relationship with the police, growing her contacts list,
making a place for herself… Gone. Straight down the loo.

All because she trusted a handsome man not to
abandon her. Well, Alan Adale could keep his cold bed and shadowy
hands to himself.

Superheroes and villains... Maybe it only worked
if the girl was the good one. Her mom had been a superhero before
marrying Doctor Charm, but her mother also had the kind of body
that made men trip over themselves to please her. The best
compliment Delilah had ever been offered was that she was regal.
Most people called her stern. Or aloof. Or cold.

Cold seemed to be a favorite.

Or the old stand-by: heartless.

Well, she tugged her gloves on and bit her lip,
it happened. There were only so many times a girl could hear her
date confess he asked her out for sex alone, or because he wanted
to date her sister, but Angela was hard to talk to. Angela looked
like Mom, and was sweet as honey and happily married, and—Delilah
reminded herself firmly—it wasn’t her sister’s fault all males were
born with only two brain cells and a couple ball sack’s worth of
stupidity. A het woman just had to roll with their infantile
fascination with balls and accept the inevitable social gaffes.

Being a lesbian was sounding more attractive by
the hour.

“Delilah!” Alan’s voice made her turn. “Are you
crying? What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

She wiped her eyes and threw her head up. “I had
something in my eye. What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to Detective Morrow because I
heard you were arrested.”

“Yes, I was pulled in at four this morning.
About five minutes after you left, actually. Convenient timing. But
everything’s fine now.” She gave him a bright smile and tried not
to think of stabbing him. Her New Year’s resolution was going to be
to date every blond man in the city. One by one she’d pick off the
herd and break their hearts. It would be a cathartic exercise to
complete before her passport arrived.

Hmmm. Passport.

She changed directions and headed for the
nearest post office. An official passport would make life so much
easier. Muddle the trail a bit. And she could switch names;
Cassandra More, Ellie Fine, maybe Ann. Ann the librarian.

No, not a librarian. The temptation to get a job
in New York would be too strong. She needed something that kept her
out of the country a lot.

Alan caught up with her. “Where are you
going?”

“Why do you care?” She stopped and glared at
him. “Oh wait. You don’t. Funny thing that.”

“I do too and you know it.”

She waited for the brutal cold that came with
hard lies. Nothing happened.

“I got back to my office at ten, dealt with a
ton of... Never mind. I’m sorry I didn’t come back for you right
away. The tunnel went all the way down town and I wanted to keep
Kalydon in my sights. He and the Hunt went to somewhere off Lake
Street. It’s a mess. I need—”

“You aren’t lying,” Delilah said,
interrupting.

Alan stared at her in confusion. “Why would I be
lying?”

“Because everyone tries to lie to me.”

“I haven’t.”

Her heart raced as she tried to remember all
their many conversations. Alan had never lied. There were
implications there she wasn’t quite ready to explore.

“Delilah?” Alan stepped forward.

And she stepped back.

“Hi, sweetheart.” A heavy hand landed on
Delilah’s shoulder. “Am I interrupting anything?”

She looked up at her father. Replacing Alan
would be as easy as finding another green-eyed blond with the body
of Adonis and a dry sense of humor Terry Pratchett would envy.
Replacing Daddy was infinitely more difficult. “Aren’t you supposed
to be somewhere? Catching a flight? Talking to Detective Morrow?
Anything at all?”

“Nope. I was going to go buy you lunch and talk
to you about all this. But it seems I’m going to make an awkward
third wheel. Who is the nice young man?”

“Someone who is neither nice nor young,” Delilah
muttered, shooting Alan a glare that would have turned a lesser man
to ash.

Alan frowned. “Delilah...”

“He knows your name?” Doctor Charm asked,
reaching for his watch.

Delilah grabbed his hand to stop him. “Doctor
Smith is a recent expert in strange languages like the one found on
the box at the crime scene.”

“What box?” Alan asked.

She ignored him. “Alderman Adale is Chicago’s
deputy mayor, the pro tem mayor under the circumstances. He’s
following the whole case very closely.” The muscles in her
shoulders tightening until she thought bone might break. “Don’t you
both have jobs? It’s the middle of a work day!”

Alan raised an eyebrow. “Smith?”

“Yes.”

“Then I assume I have the immeasurable pleasure
of addressing the one and only Doctor Charm.” Alan nodded his head
in a semi-bow.

It was a terrible twist of fate that gave her
the ability to unlock things but not break the earth apart to
swallow her whole when she most needed it.

Daddy’s eyebrow went up as he turned to her.
“Where do you dispose of bodies in this town, sweetheart?”

“You can’t kill him.” She floundered for a
second. “I don’t have a reason why you can’t kill him, but you
can’t. Dad, you need to go home. Right now. Leave town. Alan, you
need to go to work. And erase my phone number. I’m going to
lunch.”

They both started following her.

She spun and faced them. “Alone! I am going to
lunch alone.” To think.

She stopped at the first hole-in-the-wall
Mexican place she found and ordered the house special. After a
glass of
horchata
and more guacamole than she strictly
needed, the locks on the cupboards stopped popping open.

This needed to end. Tonight.

Alan said he’d chased Kalydon down the tunnels
to the lake. There was a lot of ground to cover there. Plenty of
places to enter the old bootlegging tunnels. The property on Wacker
Street probably had a subterranean entrance, something the owner
paid to keep off the public records.

Tonight, she’d find it and make them pay.

Dear Mom,

Can you remember to pack an extra stocking
for Christmas? We might have a surprise visitor and I want to make
sure there’s enough to go around.

Love,

Delilah

White wine swirled around the inside of a
crystal glass. Alinea had been known for its
avant garde
menu for nearly two decades, and the debonair Doctor Charm had
danced past the maître d as if there wasn’t a two-week waiting
list.

“Do you drink?” the doctor asked.

“No.”

He put his glass aside. “So you are a superhero.
It seems alcohol and mutations don’t mix.”

“Maybe I’m Mormon.”

The doctor smirked. “I doubt it. I’ve met a few,
and there’s nothing in your background to suggest religious
affiliation.”

“You checked?” Alan asked, only mildly
surprised.

“Wouldn’t you check on the potential bachelors
in a town your favorite child was moving to? There’s a very short
list of acceptable men out here.”

Alan pretended to be interested in the menu.
“Having children isn’t a problem I have.”

“Oh, do you have children already?”

He stopped reading, eyes widening in horror. “I
meant I don’t have any children to worry about!” Alan folded the
menu in exasperation. “Why are we here?”

“I’m trying to help you,” Doctor Charm said.

“How?”

The waiter stopped to refill Alan’s water glass.
“Are you ready to order, sir?”

“The Winter Sampler for two, please,” Doctor
Charm said. He paused while the waiter walked away before saying,
“We have two options. One, I erase your memories of recent events.
You won’t remember your time with Delilah, but you won’t have the
heartache either.”