Heart of the Witch (18 page)

Ravyn was silent during the drive, and Nick didn't try to talk to her. The hysterics hadn't started yet. They would probably happen when she knew for sure the dead girl was her sister.

He felt a tightening in his throat and wondered if he might cry before she did. He hadn't known Sorina extremely well, but he'd liked her. A lot. She was warm and friendly, one of those people he immediately respected. One of those people the world couldn't afford to lose. Like Annie.

When they arrived at the police station, Nick led Ravyn inside and spoke to the woman at the window.

Betty smiled, her plump face lighting with pleasure. "Hey, Nick, how are you?"

"I've been better. I need to see…" He stopped when he saw Betty look over his shoulder and grimace.

He turned. Jacqueline stood behind him, awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other. He hadn't seen her since he'd turned in his badge. Hadn't spoken to her since the night Annie died. He couldn't. The guilt wouldn't let him.

She looked good—but then she'd always been a beautiful woman. She was tan, with large brown eyes and an athlete's trim body. Her short auburn hair framed her face, bobbed at the line of her jaw.

Ravyn looked from her to Nick but didn't speak.

Finally Jacqueline said, "Hello, Nick."

He gave her a nod. "Jacqueline."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see Carlos." Carlos and Scott were the lead detectives on the case, and he damn sure didn't want to talk to Harris.

"Follow me back," Jacqueline said.

Nick and Ravyn followed as the woman slid her badge through an electronic reader and opened the door, holding it with her foot so they could pass through. She walked the pair back to Carlos's desk, and the detective looked up when they approached.

"I'll leave you with him," Jacqueline said. "Take care of yourself, Nick."

"You, too. Thanks," he replied. He didn't watch as she walked away, but he breathed easier when she was gone.

Carlos stood and shook Nick's hand. "What brings you here?" he asked.

"The girl they found in Bricktown. Has the mother ID'd the body yet?"

Carlos didn't speak for a few moments, probably wondering how Nick already knew about the crime, but he didn't ask. "They can't find the mother." His eyes went to Ravyn, and Nick saw that the detective recognized her. He and Harris had interviewed her, no doubt.

"This is Ravyn, the sister."

Carlos nodded, then addressed Ravyn. "Would you mind taking a look? See if it's your sister?"

Nick placed a comforting hand on her arm. "Are you up to it?" he asked. "You don't have to."

For a split second he saw a crumpling of her features, and knew she was about to lose it. But as quickly as it came, the expression was gone, and he wondered if he'd imagined it.

She lifted her eyes. "Where is she?"

Carlos drove Nick and Ravyn to the morgue. Nothing was said during the trip. Ravyn sat with her hands clasped in her lap, staring out the passenger window.

Nick spread Carmex under his nose as they pulled into the parking lot, and he offered some to Ravyn. When she shook her head, he shrugged and followed her and Carlos inside.

Nick hadn't been here for years, but even using the lip balm, the olfactory assault was the same as he remembered: the sour stench of decay, a smell like rotting produce left out in the sun too long. Even though the smell of antiseptic was strong, it couldn't mask the other underlying odors. He clamped his lips together and tried to breathe as little of the putrid air as possible.

Nick and Carlos stood a few steps back as the ME pulled out a metal drawer. A sheet covered the victim from the neck down. Her grayish skin was so pale that it almost made her blond hair look black. There were no visible marks on her face, but Nick could only imagine what the flesh beneath the sheet must look like.

Ravyn stared, dry-eyed and expressionless, for what seemed like several minutes.

Sighing, Carlos leaned toward Nick and whispered, "So, it's not her?"

His throat tight with unshed tears, Nick stared in amazement at Ravyn's stoic demeanor. "No," he whispered when he could speak around the stone in his chest. "It's her."

Carlos's eyebrows drew together. He glanced at Ravyn. "Miss… is this your sister?"

She stood silently for a few more moments. Then, nodding, she stepped back and walked past them out of the room.

Ravyn sat alone in her darkened living room. She hadn't turned on a light since Sorina's death. Hadn't left the house. Hadn't cleaned up the remnants of their sleepover. Watered-down margaritas still sat on the coffee table amid a bag of Doritos and a bowl of bean dip.

They'd cast a protection spell. It had worked—inside the house. But Sorina had gone outside and left herself vulnerable. The evil couldn't pass the brick dust, but it could entice Sorina outside. Or at least, from every indication, including the police investigation, that's what appeared to have happened. Sorina, for some reason, had left the house in the middle of the night.

Ravyn remembered how she'd felt the death chill right after the Tin Man first attacked her. She'd known something more would happen, yet she hadn't done anything about it. She hadn't gone and done her duty, hadn't helped the police. If she'd done more to assist the authorities in capturing him…

A raw ache tore at her chest, traveled up her throat and stopped there. She hadn't shed a tear. Hadn't cried since she was a child. Would she feel better if she did? She thought not. Tears wouldn't bring Sorina back.

A knock sounded on her front door. She thought about ignoring it, but it could be the authorities. They might have found out something about the killer. They'd interviewed her after she'd identified Sorina's body, but she could tell they were again disappointed in her answers. Still, there was nothing more she could offer.

She opened the door. Justin stood there, a large box in his arms, his eyes bloodshot and tear filled. He was good-looking, although his buzz cut, tattoos and large-gauge ear piercings weren't her thing.

"I thought you might want some of her stuff," he said, his voice raw and strained.

"Come in." She led him inside. As he set the box down and opened it, she said, "You don't need to." Reaching out a hand to stop him she added, "I'll go through it later."

He nodded. "If there's anything else you want that's not here, let me know."

"Thanks." She noticed a black garment at the top of the box. She reached out and picked it up. It was a witch costume, and she smiled at the memory. When they were in junior high, Sorina had dressed as a witch for Halloween. Ravyn had been nervous and humiliated, but Sorina thought it was hilarious. Ravyn had always envied her sister's gusto for life and her nonchalant attitude. Everything had been easy for Sorina. Everything except surviving to her twenty-eighth birthday.

Underneath the witch costume was a photo of Justin, Sorina and Ravyn. Justin pulled it from the box and let out a sob, dropping to his knees. Ravyn stood awkwardly, then reached out a hand and placed it on top of his head, not saying anything. Not knowing what to say.

After a moment, he stood. "I'm sorry. This is just so hard. I feel so guilty. I was gone when it happened. If I had been in town…"

"It wouldn't have made a difference."

He nodded and wiped at his eyes. "I better go. Your mother is out in the car."

Ravyn was taken aback. "Is she? Why?"

"She has Arthur. Since you're allergic, she didn't want to come in. She didn't want to bring him inside, and she didn't want to leave him alone in the car."

But Ravyn had meant to ask why the hell was her mother here, period, not why hadn't she come in. "Why does she have Arthur?"

"I travel too much, so she's taking him."

"No, she's not," Ravyn said.

"What?"

Ravyn didn't answer. Instead, she swept out the door and to Justin's car.

Her mother looked at her through the window, then opened the door and stepped out with the cat in her arms. "Ravyn, darling, how are you? I didn't want to bring the cat in, but I so wanted to see you." Gwendyl's face was mottled and covered with tears. For once, her makeup was streaked and haphazardly applied.

"Give me the cat."

"What, dear? You don't need to be near him with your allergies. I'll take care of him."

"You couldn't take care of your daughters, you can't take care of yourself, so how the hell are you going to take care of the cat?" Her mother's face blanched, and fresh tears leapt to her eyes. Ravyn was unmoved. She reached out, palms up. "Give me the cat."

Gwendyl's gaze dropped to the scar on Ravyn's palm. The cat squirmed in her arms, and she eased her hold. Raising her head to meet Ravyn's eyes, her face pale, she silently handed over the cat.

Ravyn turned to go back into the house when her mother spoke. "You were never satisfied. Nothing I did was ever enough."

Haltingly, Ravyn turned back. "Nothing you did? Good God, you put every man that came into your life before us. And the only one you stuck with for any length of time was the sonofabitch that raped my sister."

Justin gasped, and Gwendyl cut her eyes at him. She turned back to Ravyn. "That's not true. Don't say that."

"You know it
is
true, Mother. You knew it, and you let it go on. I wanted to leave so many times. I wanted to get away from you, but I couldn't leave my baby sister behind. Now she's gone. The only reason I had to ever look at you again is gone. Get out of my sight and don't ever come back."

"Please," Justin interrupted tearfully. "Please don't fight. Sorina wouldn't want this."

The two Skylers looked at him but didn't respond. He shook his head and climbed into his car, slamming the door and blaring a rock station on the radio.

"I'm your mother," Gwendyl growled at Ravyn. "I love you, and I did the best I could."

"You mean, like the time you burned my hand when I was eight years old, just so I'd remember not to do magic in front of your husband? Just so he wouldn't know you were a witch?"

Gwendyl shook her head. "That's not true. I did it to protect you, to protect our secret for all of us. You were such a wayward child, always up to something, always practicing magic. I just wanted to show you what could happen. I didn't mean to hurt you." Her lower lip trembled and she reached out a hand. "I love you, Ravyn. You're all I have now."

Ravyn shifted her sister's cat in her arms, comforted by the feel of his warm body, knowing that Sorina would have wanted her to care for him. She stared at her mother, then shook her head. "You should have thought about that a long time ago. It's too late for us."

Ravyn stared toward the front of the funeral home. She watched her mother's performance through a blur of grief, feeling oddly removed from the events around her. Justin took the mike after her mother left the podium, but he couldn't form a coherent sentence, so deep were the sobs strangling his throat.

Sorina's ashes would be scattered in a ritual, but for now they sat in an urn at the front of the room. Gwendyl and Justin had asked Ravyn to say a few words, but she'd refused. The only things she needed to say were to Sorina. There was no need to address this group of people, some of whom were complete strangers to her.