Immortal Secrets (17 page)

I looked away. “Both my parents died six months ago in a car accident.”

“I don’t mean to jump at ghosts, but the DA in New York wants to open that case back up. They’re not sure it was such an accident after all,” Jenny said.

I turned and looked at Jenny. “She worked for a big firm. If she did anything for the Demarco’s it was probably without knowing it.”

“Actually, that’s why it might make more sense for it to be her. Are you sure she didn’t give you a disk or a flash drive or anything? Maybe she didn’t want to tell you about it but put it on a disk with something else she gave you?” Jenny asked.

I shook my head. “The only thing she gave me in the last year or so was my pendant.”

“What pendant?” Jenny asked.

“Look, I know that I was supposed to hand all of that personal stuff over to you guys but I couldn’t let it go. So, I made sure that I kept it out of view and wore it under my clothes anytime I left the house,” I said.

“This is why I never saw it when I searched your room. Of course, I might not have thought anything of it. I was looking for a folder or some sort of digital storage device. I guess it’s possible that something could be inside the pendant,” Jenny said.

“Perhaps I could have a look at it,” Dr. Greene said.

Jenny turned toward him. “Are you a jeweler as well as a college professor?”

“No, but I have found that each of us seem to have gifts based on traits that already existed. I have always like working on puzzles and analyzing things. Perhaps I could examine the pendant,” Dr. Green said.

I handed the pendant to Dr. Greene. “I want it back when you’re done, Charlie.”

He looked at me. “Excuse me, did you just call me Charlie?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, isn’t that your name? And I figured that since we’re not doing the whole teacher student thing anymore, it would be okay to call you by your first name. Sorry, if that seemed presumptuous.”

“Oh, I don’t mind if you use my first name. Actually I prefer it, but my name if Phillip. Most people call me Phil,” he said.

“Okay, but at the house I heard Jeff tell Allison to tell Charlie something or the other. I thought that was you,” I said.

He nodded his head. “Ah, yes. Now, I see the confusion. In the field we refer to each other in a very military sort of way. Jeff is Alpha, Allison is Bravo, and I am Charlie. It’s easier than remembering what our names are this week.”

“Okay, people, I think that does it for now. Let’s give Phil a chance to look the pendant over. Let’s all meet and discuss our options over breakfast in the morning,” Jeff said.

As everyone started to get up from the table, Jeff grabbed my hand. “Can you stay for a second? There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

I sat back down. “Does this mean I’ve screwed up somehow? Are you angry with me?”

He shook his head. “I could never be angry with you.” He leaned over and tenderly kissed me.

I didn’t want to break free of our lip lock, but I wanted to know what Jeff needed to talk to me about. “Okay, so what is it?”

He looked down at the table. “It’s about Allison. I need you to not be too hard on her about this whole Robison mess.”

“Yeah, I was coming over tonight to find out the deal on that. Carl said that he and Allison were in Dallas all weekend,” I said.

“She was in Dallas for most of the weekend. Believe me it wasn’t hard for her to fake out Carl and the police,” Jeff said.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

“I just want you to see it from her perspective,” he said.

“So the bottom line is that she was behind what happened to him?” I asked.

“Yeah, but I can see why she did it.”

“Look, I don’t like Brenda’s husband and I’m not going to feel bad about what happened to him. But are you really going to stand here and condone the beating that he took? I was on the receiving end of a few beating from my ex. I have an idea of how it feels.”

“No, I don’t condone it. I just want to tell you something about Allison. I think you’ll view her actions in a different light.”

“Okay, so what is this eye opening thing I need to know?”

“Did you notice anything odd about the way Allison acted at the hospital the night that Brenda was taken to the ER? Especially given what you now know about her?”

“Now that you mention it, I was surprised that she didn’t want to or couldn’t be in the same room with Brenda. That was especially true that first night in the ER.”

“Allison told me she couldn’t stand to be in the same room at first. I wasn’t all that surprised. She had a bad experience very similar to Brenda’s.”

“What sort of experience?”

“She was living in Europe, in France I think. It was before I met her. Anyway she was attacked by three men who were drunk. Allison was raped and badly beaten when she tried to resist. They left her for dead. Any normal woman would have died.”

“Oh my god, what happened to the men?”

“Nothing happened to them. Women didn’t have many rights back then. Also she healed so quickly that she couldn’t prove that
it
had happened. Even if the authorities had believed her, they would have accused her of being in league with the devil. I think that experience might have changed her. Sometimes she seems like she is two different people. One side of her is sweet and loving. The other side is hard and capable of savage violence.”

“Hold up, she didn’t have any rights and what was that about being in cahoots with the devil? When was this?”

“Oh, sorry, it was roughly five hundred years ago.”

“Wow, it’s been eating at her a while. So, why didn’t she just use her
little mind
trick to stop them?”

“As you know, Allison can only suggest things. If someone is truly committed to a course of action, it is unlikely that she can change their minds in a short period of time. Her gift is extremely powerful, but doesn’t always work.”

“So when she saw Brenda’s husband getting
away
with it, she snapped. Didn’t she?”

“In a way, yes, but she knew exactly what she was doing. I’m certain Allison knew she would be causing problems for you.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m starting to come around to your way of thinking. I can’t condone what she did. I guess I can see why she would want some revenge. In her mind, Brenda’s husband was a substitute for the men who attacked her.”

“Phil and I have already spoken to her about this, rather harshly I’m afraid. Allison knows she needs to apologize to you. She owes you at least that much.”

“What do I tell her?” I almost whispered.

“Tell her whatever is in your heart. If forgiveness is in your heart, and I hope it is, tell Allison that you forgive her. If you can’t forgive her, tell her what you think of her. She’s a big girl, she can take it.”

“How could I not forgive her? She helped save my life earlier tonight.”

“She also contributed to the problem. Her actions gave the bad guys an excuse to pull you out of school and away from your friends. It was such a good excuse that Jenny had no choice but to go along with it.”

“So, when should I talk to her about this? You think tomorrow morning would be a good time?”

“She’s waiting for you in the backyard, right now. Allison knows I was speaking to you first. She’ll wait for you to come out there.”

“Okay, but first I need to tell you something as well.”

“What is it?”

“You and Allison scare me, in more ways than one. You can both kill without hesitation. I’m also getting more and more jealous of Allison all the time. She’s smart and brave and pretty, not to mention that she will be young forever.”

“Tonight we killed because I believed there was no other option. I regret it, Allison regrets it. I wish there had been another way.”

“Isn’t this where you tell me how silly it is for me to be jealous?”

“I think you already know that. The only woman that I want is you. I love you, never doubt that. Besides, dating Allison would be like kissing my sister.”

I leaned over and kissed him on the neck and put my mouth right next to his ear. “I love you and I want you in my life forever. So, you need to decide soon whether you want me as your wife or just want us to live in sin. I can wait, but not forever. Otherwise one night I am just going to crawl into your bed and have my way with you.”

He took a deep breath. “I think Allison is waiting for you.”

Chapter Fifteen

I walked out the back door and onto a large wooden deck. Allison was sitting at a picnic table on the deck. She seemed oblivious to the cool night air.

I sat down across from her. “Hey girl, I was just looking for you.”

Allison looked down at the table. “I guess Jeff already talked to you about Brenda’s husband. I’m sorry and ashamed of how selfish I was. I know I put you in harm’s way.”

I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “It’s okay, I get it. You know, I was beaten by my ex boyfriend. It was bad enough that I thought he might kill me next time. I suppose part of my running to the feds was out of revenge. So, I understand why you did what you did.”

“No hard feelings?” She asked.

“Nope, you saved my life earlier tonight. They would have gotten around to killing me eventually, no matter what you did. Besides, how could I be mad at you? I love you. You’re like the big sister I never had. As far as I’m concerned, we’re family now.”

Now she looked up and I could see her eyes were moist with tears. She was trying to maintain her composure. “Wow, I was prepared to beg for forgiveness. I wasn’t prepared for you to call me your sister. Just for the record, I’m not apologizing for kicking his butt. He had that beating coming.”

I frowned. “Isn’t that what those kind of guys say when they slap
us
around?”

“I know you’re right, but I wasn’t willing to just let him walk away. The system couldn’t touch him, I could.”

“I can’t argue with that. So what happened? I want to know everything,” I said.

Allison started telling me her story of how it all went down. I just sat
t
here and listened to her talk. I could see it in my mind as she laid it out to me. After Allison and Carl had lunch with me, they went back to Carl’s dorm room. She spent about thirty minutes laying out some basics of writing as essay. Of course, it’s always easier when you can plant suggestions directly into someone else’s mind.

It didn’t take long for Allison to bring up the idea that she wanted to go to Dallas for the weekend. Allison offered to take Carl, and assured him that she would pay for everything. It probably wasn’t a very hard choice for Carl. He could either stay in Lubbock and be ignored by snobby girls who weren’t even in Allison’s league or go to Dallas with Allison. He chose to go to Dallas with the pretty red head
sporting the
bright smile.

Allison knew that Carl wouldn’t be able to resist telling his friends they were going to Dallas together. She also realized that when Carl got back, he was sure to leave the impression that it had been a romantic getaway.  That was the trade she was making. Carl would be her unwitting alibi and in return she wouldn’t try to correct anyone’s impression of what had happened over the weekend.

They drove straight to Dallas. Allison checked them into an upscale hotel. She set Carl up in their suite, gave him her credit card and encouraged him to use it. She didn’t tell him what she was doing. Allison only said she had some business to take care of and wouldn’t be back until much later. She left the suite knowing that every time Carl used her credit card, he was making it look like she was still in Dallas.

Allison got into her Mustang and let the horses run. She put the pedal to the metal and used her little mind trick to keep the police away from her, all the way back to Lubbock. Allison stopped at a convenience store just before she got to Lubbock and changed clothes. Gone was the classy looking red head in a simple cotton blouse and loose fitting slacks. In her place was the trashy looking vixen in skin tight spandex pants and an extremely low cut top. Neither piece of clothing left much to the imagination. She was also wearing a brunette wig, just for good measure.

She knew from years of experience that any guys she ran into would be so busy checking out her butt and her boobs that they wouldn’t even remember what her face looked like. She of course would be trying to mix up the mind of every single person she came across until she left Lubbock again. Hopefully that would be in just a few hours.

Allison arrived at the bar, a little before eleven o’clock. She knew Robison would be there. He was always there on Friday nights. Allison had done her homework and knew that most weeks, Robison picked up women from the bar and took them to the hotel up the street.

As soon as Allison walked in the club, she spotted him. He was about six feet tall with dark hair and a mustache. He was a stocky looking guy. Robison was standing near the bar, talking to three other men. Allison sat at the bar, where Robison could get a good look at her. Considering that she was dressed like a tramp, it wasn’t too hard to get his attention.