Malevolent (9 page)

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“It’s just a headache,” she said.

“I’ve got some aspirin if you need it.”
 

The amount of concern in his expression made her wonder just how bad she currently looked. Probably pretty awful. She struggled to get up from the chair and into a standing position, hoping that if she appeared more collected she might actually become more collected.

“No thanks,” she said. “I’ve got some in my purse. I was just resting for a minute to see if it would go away.”

Jimmy nodded. “Sometimes I get those bad ones…migraines they call them. I have to sit in a dark room with my eyes closed for a couple hours before they’ll go away.”

“You should try breathing pure oxygen from one of your tanks the next time it happens,” she said, automatically slipping back into nurse mode.

“Really? I ain’t never heard that, but I’ll sure give it a try. Thanks.”

Emma forced a small smile. “Have you looked at my car?”

“Yes, ma’am. I got your battery problem all fixed up. Good thinking using the chewing gum. I ain’t seen that one in a while.”

“I can’t take credit for that. The security guard at the hospital knew that trick.”

“It’s an old one, but it works. Anyway, you’re all nice and tight now, and I didn’t see any other problems with the car. Being that it’s only two years old and a Nissan, there’s usually not a lot that’s going to go wrong.”

“Could the battery cable have come loose by itself?”

“They don’t really do that, ma’am. When was the last time you had it worked on that they would have disconnected the battery?”

“About a month ago at the dealership. Could it have been loose then and finally came off last night?”

Jimmy frowned. “The chances of it happening that way are low. I mean really low. If it had been a day or two ago that they worked on the car, I’d say sure. But a month is a long time. You would have had problems a while back if the dealership had left it loose.”

Emma tried to absorb everything Jimmy was saying, but her pounding head was making connecting the dots hard. “So it probably wasn’t a mistake by the dealership, and it couldn’t haven’t come loose on its own accord.” She stared at him. “Are you saying someone did it intentionally?”

Jimmy shifted a bit, looking more than a little uncomfortable. “Given what you’ve told me about the last repair, that seems the most likely explanation.”

“He wanted me stranded in that parking lot.” Emma felt the blood drain from her face and she sank onto the chair again. “Oh my God.”

A million scenarios flashed through her mind, each one worse than the next. If Jeremy hadn’t been with her, would he have attacked her then? Or was he simply playing more games with her, like with the scarf?

“It’s none of my business,” Jimmy said, “but I have to say I don’t like the way this is headed. If someone’s bothering you, I think you should talk to the police.”

Suddenly, the walls of the tiny room felt as if they were closing in on her. She jumped up from the chair, desperate to get away from there. “What do I owe you?”

“No charge.”

“I have to pay you something for your time.”

Jimmy touched her arm. “You can pay me back by being careful and getting help.”

Her eyes stung with unshed tears. Everything—David’s death, the break-in, the scarf, the car, and now the concern of a stranger, had her completely undone. “I will,” she said. “And thank you. Thank you so much.”

“You let me know if you need anything.” He handed her the keys. “It’s parked up front.”

Emma took the keys and rushed out of the building. She jumped into the car and pulled away, the tires screeching as she rounded the corner. She turned the air on full blast and directed it toward her face. The overwhelming desire to run coursed through her, but the one thing that eluded her was where to run to. The only answer she could come up with was “somewhere safe.”
 

But she didn’t know where that was.

###

Shaye was looking up information on David’s employer when a call came in from Emma. If she hadn’t seen her client’s name in the display, she wouldn’t have known who it was. Emma’s voice, which had been low and smooth, even when she’d been obviously upset, was high-pitched and frantic.

Shaye gripped her phone. “Slow down so that I can understand you.”

“He disconnected my battery,” Emma said, slowing her pitch and pacing enough for Shaye to understand. “If the security guard hadn’t walked me to my car last night, I would have been a sitting duck. But that’s not the worst of it. Today when I took the car to be repaired, some kid on a skateboard gave me a scarf that some other guy told him I’d dropped.”

Shaye frowned, certain that between the car battery and the scarf, she’d missed something important, but she had no idea what. Although she could understand Emma now as far as speech went, she was making no sense. “I don’t understand the scarf part.”

“I know. Sorry. I had to stop talking for a minute so that I could breathe.”

Shaye heard Emma intake and blow out several breaths, and her concern ticked up another notch. If Emma had been frightened before, she was terrified now.
 

“I didn’t drop the scarf,” Emma said. “It was one David gave me last Christmas. I threw it out with a bunch of other stuff last week. I didn’t want anything in the house that reminded me of him, so I started going through everything and put it all in a trash bag and threw it out. I know I did. And that scarf was in there. I’m certain it was in there.”

Shaye felt her back tighten. Emma was rambling, but Shaye couldn’t blame her. She didn’t understand all the particulars, but what she understood so far was that someone had gone through Emma’s trash and recovered the scarf, then had a kid deliver it to her. The things she’d feared most about this case were all coming to fruition. Someone was hell-bent on terrifying Emma, and even worse, he’d had no trouble finding her.
 

Which meant he was following her or had a tracking device on her car.
 

“I understand how scary this is,” Shaye said, “but I need you to do your best to stay calm, and I need to see your house. Can you do that? Can you meet me at your house?”

“Yes. No! He’s got to be following me, right? I took my car to a mechanic my aunt used. I’ve never been there before today. If I go to the house, he’ll follow me there. He’ll see you. And when he finds out you’re a private investigator, he might come after you, too. I can’t have that on my conscience.”

“Take a breath. I agree wholeheartedly that I don’t want him to find out what I do, but surely there’s some way of going there that he wouldn’t find suspicious. What about a Realtor? You said you were looking into selling.”

“I already have a Realtor. She lives in the neighborhood. If he’s been watching, he’s already seen her at my house measuring.”

“Okay,” Shaye said, trying to think of another reasonable cover. She glanced around her mostly empty apartment and smiled. “What about an interior decorator? You said the house was old. Doing some updates before you list it would improve value, right?”

“Yes. That’s what the Realtor said, but if he’s watching, how would he know you’re a decorator?”

“Don’t worry about that. I have an idea. What time is your shift?”

“I’m off today.”

“Great. Then can you meet me there in an hour?”

For several seconds, there was only silence, and Shaye wondered if Emma was going to flat out refuse.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Emma finally asked.

“Positive. And please don’t worry. It’s going to be fine.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you there in an hour.”

“Great.” Shaye jumped up from the couch and grabbed her purse. “Don’t go in the house until I get there.”

“I’m not about to. And Shaye?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks for not quitting on me.”

“Never.”
 

Chapter Six

Shaye slipped the cell phone into her purse and hurried outside to her car. Corrine had recently redone several rooms in her house. The big books with fabric swatches and floor samples were in the coat closet. She hoped. With any luck, Corrine would be at work and unavailable to ask a million questions or launch into trying to convince Shaye to move back home.

Unfortunately, luck was not with her that day. Corrine’s car was parked in front of the house, which meant she’d probably run home for some paperwork or other items she’d taken home to work on and forgotten that morning. Shaye parked behind her and headed into the house and opened the coat closet. She was relieved to see the sample books still sitting on the shelf.
 

As she pulled the books down, Corrine came out of the hallway from the kitchen.
 

“Shaye,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you.”

Shaye grinned at her adoptive mother. “Are you complaining about it?”

“Of course not.” Corrine walked over and gave her a hug. “I just figured you’d be busy unpacking or decorating. Well, maybe not decorating.” She looked down at the books in Shaye’s hands and one hand flew up to her chest. “Be still my heart. You
are
decorating.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m working a case.”

Corrine’s eyes widened. “A case? So soon?”

“The client showed up yesterday while I was moving in.”

“Please tell me it’s Nancy Drew and the Case of the Matching Drapes.”

Shaye laughed. Corrine’s worry sometimes made Shaye feel as if she was being smothered, but she knew Corrine’s heart was in the right place. And given the amount of horrible things Corrine saw and heard every day, Shaye gave her more leeway than she would have on the overprotective vibe.
 

“I’m afraid not,” Shaye said. “I need to meet with the client and neither of us want anyone who might see that meeting to know what I do. She has an old house, so…” Shaye held up the books.

“You’re pretending to be a decorator.” Corrine bit her lower lip. “I don’t know whether to be happy that you won’t be flashing your PI status around or worried that you and a client think you need to hide it.”

Shaye leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry about either. It’s a meeting with a client in her house in broad daylight. Everything will be fine.”

“But you’ll call me when the meeting is over, right?”

“I’ll call. I have to dash.”

“Okay. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Shaye hurried out to her car and tossed the books on the passenger’s seat. She waved at Corrine, who was standing in the doorway, a worried look on her face. Shaye shook her head as she pulled away. Most younger people were annoyed when their parents got into overprotective zone, but then technically, Corrine had never gotten out of it. Not where Shaye was concerned.
 

And Shaye would be the first to admit that sometimes it was a little frustrating, but she couldn’t get irritated with Corrine. The woman had quite literally saved her life. The best medical care, the best tutors, the best mental health care. Without all those things, Shaye had no doubt that she could not have become a productive adult. Corrine had taken her in as a teenager, one with no past, and given her the future she couldn’t have gotten from the state. The fact that Corrine was only twenty-nine when she took Shaye in made the woman even more impressive. She’d been only five years older than Shaye was now, and Shaye couldn’t imagine taking on the responsibility of caring for a perfectly healthy child, much less one with the issues she’d had.

Shaye’s past might be a forgotten trip through hell, but she’d won the lottery in Corrine.

She merged onto the highway and drove over the bridge to Algiers. The historic community was a mixed bag, depending on the street you drove down. Some homes looked as if they needed to be bulldozed. Other blocks held some beautifully renovated homes and others in the process of being improved.
 

Emma’s aunt’s house was one of the nicer homes on the block. Emma claimed her aunt had taken good care of it, and it showed. The siding on the outside was painted light gray and showed no signs of buckling or peeling. Turquoise shutters and trim provided an upbeat feel to the home, and huge rose azalea bushes made it homey. It was a shame that such a pretty place was the location of such horrible things.

Shaye parked at the curb and grabbed a small duffel bag from the backseat, then climbed out of the car. Duffel over her shoulder, she walked around to the passenger’s side to collect the sample books. As she closed the car door, Emma pulled up and parked behind her.

Shaye took a good look at Emma as she climbed out of her car and hurried toward Shaye. The circles under her eyes were darker than the day before, or maybe her skin was paler, if that were even possible. Her movements were twitchy and she glanced around as if she thought something was going to attack her any moment.
 

“Let me help you with those,” Emma said and took some of the sample books. She looked down at them and then back at Shaye. “Sample books,” she said, her voice low. “That’s perfect.”

“I told you to trust me.”