Sleight (14 page)

She stood up too, and arched her back. “Yeah, but I need to text Kayla first.”

A FEW HOURS LATER I was back in my own apartment, getting cleaned up and ready for bed.

Kenwoode had been caught off guard by Justine’s presence but he had smoothly shifted gears and adapted. We had all made the trip upstairs and had headed to the library to talk. It had been funny to watch Justine’s reaction to Mr. Goodturn’s home. I’d caught her gawking with her mouth open more than once. Breno had poked his head into the library while we were talking. He’d bobbed his head shyly, glancing at Justine, and then gone off down the hall to his bedroom.

Kenwoode had listened quietly while we took turns filling him in. He frowned at me when I told him about trying to lure Tank and Dell into a trap. There was no doubt that I was going to have to answer to him on that later. When Justine had shared her experience at the mysterious clinic he had just nodded. After we finished he assured Justine that he would try to help her but that it would have to wait until he had a little more information from an associate. He had warned her about discussing her knack with her parents to which Justine had nodded, winking at me. There was no way she would disclose any of the details to her mother.

She’d borrowed Kayla’s car so she had her own way back. While we were riding the elevator down I suggested making a phone call to Danton. He had probably been ticked off that she hadn’t been at the Greenberg’s when he’d headed there earlier. I convinced Justine that calling him and giving him the opportunity to take credit for finding her would take some heat off of Kayla.
And
it would put her and me in his good graces. She agreed with no argument and called him. Watching her while she was talking with him was both amusing and nerve wracking but in the end he agreed to meet her at her folk’s house. I walked her to the car and she gave me a long hug. I was feeling better about things in general, especially my relationship with her, as I headed back up to Mr. Goodturn’s apartment suite.

I had the weekend to get my act together before returning to school. That would have to include an email from my mother to the admin secretary letting the staff know that I’d be back on Monday morning. It’s complicated when you not only have to take care of your own stuff, but cover all of the parental business too. While making money was still important, it was less pressing than normal because I wasn’t paying rent. At least I didn’t have to worry about performing in the park on top of everything else.

In addition to getting my schoolwork in order, I would have to plan the details of corralling Baffle, helping out Trey and putting the finishing touches on my academic plan. Then there was the little matter of protecting myself from Sonja’s hunters, and finding out where she was hiding. It had sounded like she might be living right out in the open, under an alias. I’d lived in fear of her for a long time and I had decided when I’d stumbled upon Dell and Tank that I was going to go on the offensive. Her knack was lethal and not to be considered lightly, but she was still just a person. I’d managed to escape from, or avoid her, a handful of times. It seemed smarter to turn the tables and look for her instead.

After a shower I spent some time doing the research Kenwoode had suggested. What I found online was actually scary. There were photos of oil paintings that had been created during the renaissance period that looked exactly like Mr. Goodturn, only younger. The resemblance was too close to be coincidental. It meant that he was at least four hundred and fifty years old. I was stunned. Why would he keep that a secret from me? Then again, I had kept a few secrets to myself and they weren’t nearly as insane as being older than the United States. I decided to do more research, and get some help from another source, rather than ask Kenwoode anymore questions along those lines.

I was going to have to start making my own luck. I was getting ready to call it a night, but before I hit the bed I decided to text Justine to see if she was alright.

u okay?

It took a few minutes for her to respond.

Y. PLOMS

Parents-looking-over-my-shoulder. I kept my response brief.

have ur back

A two second delay, then:

T
Y


With her parents watching her there wasn’t an opportunity to discuss much other than making sure she was okay. My number was blocked so her mom wouldn’t have been able to tell who was texting her. I couldn’t imagine the hell she was going through with her mother dogging her ev ery moment. There had been a time when I would have been wistful, envying the love and overprotected-ness of parents; but I’d become accustomed to not having to answer to anyone and wouldn’t give it up willingly. I hadn’t thought of my little brother Billy much since Mr. Goodturn had been hurt, and my father even less. When I
did
think about Dennis it created a twisting knot of worry in my gut. There was going to come a time when I would have to go back and figure out my family issues.

When they did enter my thoughts it always led to thinking about my mother. Not the fictional mother that I had created in my Seattle life, the flesh and blood, loving but flawed woman that had raised me. I wondered for the thousandth time why she had left without me and Billy. And I could never come up with a good answer. She’d managed to save herself, leaving me and Billy adrift. Why she had asked my dad to take us to Aunt Barbara instead of doing it herself had never made sense to me. Leaving it in a note had been even more confusing. Why do we make the choices we do?

While I was torturing myself with that thought my phone trembled.

u awake?

              yes             

thanks for checking on me my parents were like right on top of me when you texted

just wanted to make sure you were okay hard day for you

yeah but you made it better I’m looking forward to Mr K helping me will you be there with me?

if you want me to and if okay with him

thanks

get some rest tomorrow might be rough I hope your parents let you breathe

OMG. Yes!

night

bye and thanks for being there for me

That exchange lifted my spirits in a way that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. It was just a few weeks before Christmas and I’d been feeling definitely un-Christmassy because of all my issues. It felt like things were starting to break my way. My phone jittered again.

Guess who! I told u I’d come visit as soon as I could! We’re driving up next week! Better clear ur schedule cuz ur all mine!

Maddy.

Oh geez.

THE NEXT MORNING I woke feeling anxious and didn’t know why.

Then I remembered Maddy’s text.

And then I remembered why.

Missing her had been killing me and having her coming back for a visit should have been the best news I could have received.

It’s all about timing.

If she was in town I was going to be juggling time between hanging out with her and trying to help Justine. I had a bunch of other stuff going on, none of which I wanted Maddy in the middle of because a) I didn’t want her to get hurt and b) her parents already had me and the craziness in my life on their parental radar. Plus, and this was the biggest issue, Maddy and Justine didn’t like each other.

I had Saturday and Sunday to
‘get my ducks in a row’
(thank you mom for
that
helpful hint) before I had to worry about Justine, and maybe longer because I couldn’t see her parents letting her go back to school right away. Maddy and her folks were rolling into town on Thursday and had invited me over for dinner.

Great, except that it wouldn’t be if my personal house of cards came tumbling down.

Before Maddy had left town I’d opened up to her about everything. She’d been super mad about my ‘protecting’ her from Baffle’s bomb threat. She was going to be more than irritated that I’d been screwing with Dell and Tank. Explaining about Justine and what that was all about would go over like the proverbial lead balloon. I decided I could put off worrying about that for at least a day.

So instead I started worrying about Sonja. I had a pretty good idea what area of town she was living in. My problem was that the cops might too. I didn’t want to run into them while I was playing detective. I had one advantage. While they had a
description
of Sonja, I knew
exactly
what she looked like.

Last year I’d been squeamish about Mr. Goodturn doing something permanent to her. I didn’t have any such qualms now. She’d screwed him up, and almost killed me and Breno. God only knew what she had done to Justine. I was more and more convinced that she had been the one who had snagged Justine and possibly done something to her that had caused her knack to manifest. It might be only a matter of time before she tried to use Justine in some way.

Probably, possibly, might and maybe.

It was all guessing, but I had more knowledge about who and what she was than the police did and I thought I was the only one, beside Kenwoode, who might be able to do anything about her.

I had to come up with a way to take her out and make sure that it would prevent her from trying to hurt anyone ever again. I was wrestling with that thought when someone started banging on the door to my room. That could only be one of two people.

Opening the door I greeted Kenwoode, curious as to what would pry him away from the library. “Mr. Kenwoode? Is everything all right?”

He’d been waiting in the hall with his hands clasped behind his back. Even at this early hour he was dressed in a suit. Stepping over the threshold he nodded at me and waited until I closed the door. For a dramatic touch I closed it with my knack. His expression didn’t change. Not impressed I guess.

“Good morning Benjamin.” He stood quietly, his eyes travelling over the interior of the bedroom. An eyebrow arched in what I took as a surprised note of respect that the place didn’t look like a teenager was sleeping there.

“Good morning. What’s up?”

Cocking his head to one side he raised his eyebrows. He walked over to a straight-backed chair tucked into a corner by the windows.

Once he’d seated himself I took a seat on the bed. I had a pretty good idea as to why he had come looking for me.

“Benjamin, I think we need to speak very directly about the risks you took yesterday,” he said, backlit by the early morning sunlight coming in through the window behind him.

Bingo. “Yeah. It didn’t work out, but no harm no foul. Right?”

Lifting his chin he stared hard at me with his ice blue eyes. “No. That is
not
right. That is the mind of a very young man not giving enough consideration to the distinct possibility that events could have unfolded much differently.”

Getting confronted this way didn’t feel good and I frowned too. “I don’t remember asking your permission.”

“That is also the response of the immature mind,” He grated, matching my intensity.

“You want to be my guardian now? You’ve been here for almost a month and this is the first time you’ve shown any interest. What gives you the right—”

“I will not banter back and forth in an emotional tug of war. You sought out my help for your friend Justine. You have come to me seeking answers about your attributes. There is a cost. My support for you is conditional. I insist that you comport yourself in a manner that does not compromise my position or interests.”

That took the wind out of my sails but it didn’t put out the fire I was feeling inside. I tried to take control of my mouth.

“I’ll apologize for what I just said, but not for what I did yesterday. Those two clowns were a threat to me and Breno and even though it didn’t work out the way I wanted, I think I handled it pretty well.”

His jaw muscles flexed. “Not acceptable. Yes, the end result wasn’t a negative. Your resourcefulness, something I respect about you, was impressive but there were a number of variables that you allowed to be uncontrolled.”

Being verbally spanked and complimented in the same breath didn’t appeal to me. It left me feeling off balance. “What? Would you have helped me if I’d asked?”

“Yes.”

Not anywhere close to what I thought he was going to say. “You would?”

“Do you require me to say it twice to give it validity?” He asked tersely.  “I think not. I’m not Harald. I’ve lived a normal life span and don’t have his capacity for patience. I explained to you how important he is and how important you might be. You already know the sacrifices that have to be made to live the way you do.” He noted my look of surprise. “Oh come now. You can’t think that your charade would stand up to close scrutiny. No. You know more than most your age. You can do more than anyone your age, anyone that I am aware of. You have to accept Benjamin, that being able to command the differences that you possess demands more than the self-indulgent life of a child. You are more important than these four walls. And you can positively impact and protect thousands of others.”

It felt like the first time I’d volunteered to give my Aunt’s cat a bath. I’d known it wouldn’t be easy but I’d been unprepared for the fanged and clawed tornado that had tried to rip the skin off my arms and face.

“Got it,” I said.

“Do you? Because be warned Benjamin. I will not engage in this type of scolding again. You choose to move on a foolishly dangerous quest without the counsel of others, and I mean me, then I will wash my hands of you.”

“If I’m so important don’t you have to work with me no matter what? I mean, if it’s not Mr. G then aren’t I your only hope?”

He sighed angrily. “You’ve watched too many movies. There is always another answer, another leader. Perhaps not the first, best choice, but an option nonetheless. Do not flatter yourself. It does not suit you.”

I guess that should have put me in my place. Only it didn’t, not completely. I could feel the color rising in my cheeks again. “You’re not my dad, uncle or even Mr. G. So I’ll buy in to you advising me, but...”

“But what?” he asked, his tone level and his mouth tight.

“Give me some help here! If you know I’m struggling with trying to figure it all out, give me some help.”

“Benjamin that is exactly what I am attempting to do. Do you think that I believe that your entire intention was merely to have those two cretins incarcerated?” The tiniest quirk of his lower lip suggested a smile fighting its way up from the depths.

“What do you mean?” But I was pretty sure I knew what he meant.

The smile that had been trying to emerge faded. “I haven’t the faintest how you intended to do it, but I would guess that your little escapade was designed to flush out information as to where Harald’s former bride is hiding. Yes?”

Maddy had been able to do this trick of intuiting what was going on in my head; but with him I was guessing that it was more than that. “Is that one of your knacks? Mind reading?”

“Not exactly. Not nearly as precise as you might suspect, or I might wish.” The tension that had been holding him ramrod straight in the chair seemed to diffuse. He leaned against the back of the chair and crossed one leg over the other.

“Benjamin, we can attack these issues separately or we can prepare for them together. Which do you prefer?”

I squirmed uncomfortably on the bed. “Uh, together.”

“Right then. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. How were you planning on discovering Sonja’s whereabouts?”

Well that was blunt. “There was something that Dell said when I was eavesdropping on him and Tank. He referred to where she lived as a fancy condo. There are a lot of condos in the waterfront area but only a few that would qualify as super fancy. I was going to have a friend do some digging to see which one of those properties had a single woman renting out a penthouse.”

He threw an arm over the back of the chair, and crossed his legs. “And how pray, did you determine that she would choose a penthouse location?”

I couldn’t resist a smirk. “Ego. She’s arrogant. Sees herself as better than. She’d like being high above everyone else.”

He nodded in appreciation. “Possibly, possibly. This friend of yours that’s going to do some ‘digging’…I think I might be able to speed that part of your research along.”

“Yeah? How?” I asked.

Waggling a finger at me he said, “Trade secrets Benjamin. I may be retired but my skills are still more than up to the task. Why do you believe that the condominium would be located down by the water?”

“Dell said it was a waterfront building. It could be anywhere on the sound but I figured the most likely spot would be close to where she worked before. The downtown CPS branch.”

“Hmm. Let me look into that.” His eyes were half closed while he seemed to consider whether my hunch was correct.

“There’s something else.” I said. “When I was watching yesterday, Dell was able to get into the apartment building with no problem. We need to do something about that. I forgot that Sonja had rented an apartment without Mr. G knowing about it. She must have given him a keycard.”

“Yes, that was an oversight. I’ll have Mr. Giacomo change the key codes.”

His take charge approach had initially irritated me but now I felt much less stressed than I had been in days. It felt good to have someone else sharing the burden.

“What’s our first step?” I asked, shifting my weight on the bed.

His eyes flicked back in my direction. “First, let’s discuss perspective and preparation.” I nodded as he cleared his throat apparently preparing to ‘school’ me. “Your enterprising nature is admirable Benjamin, but what you did yesterday amounts to what my generation would call
‘going off half-cocked’
. Let’s allow our adversaries to make errors of that type. Luring them into an ambush wasn’t a necessarily bad idea, but the execution was poor.”

I chafed at the criticism, but held my tongue.

“Since you are comfortable with baiting them we will play to their belief that you are unaware of their efforts. They likely to be more aggressive since their first attempt failed. I recommend that you return to your apartment to reassure them that nothing is amiss. Hopefully they will see your absence yesterday as just bad luck on their part.”

“What about Breno? The big guy, Tank, said they would do a twofer. Won’t they wait until he’s back in his place too?”

Uncrossing his legs he leaned forward at the waist and clasped his hands. “I have a plan for that. The second issue is Sonja. She is the true target. The two you engaged with are merely the means of acquiring the target. She will not come to us without significant motivation; and incapacitating her hunters will only result in her recruiting new ones. What we need is a scenario where the reward for her outweighs the risk. But we will need to pick a neutral location. She won’t engage us near her residence and she won’t revisit your apartment or the warehouse.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“She won’t risk a second loss on familiar soil, and she won’t want a confrontation close to home. Predators don’t hunt near their lair, and they don’t return to an area where they’ve been injured.”

I thought about his choice of words:
‘acquiring the target’, ‘familiar soil’.
My early suspicions about his having a military background came crawling back. The assumptions and the level of certainty he had about all of it, made me curious. “How do you know?”

“Because it is how I would think if I were in her position.”

Raising an eyebrow he went on. “Now, there are a few additional matters for us to discuss.”

I nodded.