city of dragons 03 - fire magic (18 page)

“We’re not trying to submit it as evidence before a jury,” said Lachlan. He and I were both standing over her. “But we know that you talked to him two days after he disappeared. What did you two talk about?”

She glared at us. “Did you know that he had a girlfriend? I mean, there were lots of women while you were away, Penny, but there was one who was sort of a regular. She started thinking that she actually meant something to him, and when she found out that Alastair was still trying to get you back, she was furious. I bet
she’s
the one who killed him.”

Interestingly, I felt no emotional response whatsoever to the idea that Alastair had a girlfriend. Maybe a bit of mild annoyance that he’d been angry with me about Lachlan, but Alastair was always irrational. It was what it was.

“We didn’t know that,” said Lachlan. “And we’ll be sure to look into this girlfriend, but that wasn’t the question I asked. What did you two talk about?”

“I never did talk to the girlfriend,” said Elizabeth. “Her name was Meader. Sonia Meader. And she worked as a bartender at that Andy’s place. She used to call me, leave messages about how mad she was that Alastair was trying to get back with his hussy of an ex-wife. I think I might have even saved some voicemails—”

“Elizabeth,” said Lachlan. “Tell me about the conversations with Alastair.”

“Oh, what does it matter now?” she said. “He’s gone.”

“We are trying to figure out what happened to him,” I said.

She turned shiny eyes on me. “You don’t care what happened to him. You hated him. You were supposed to be his mate, to love him unconditionally, and you couldn’t do it.
I
loved him more than you did.”

“You did love him more than me,” I said. “Although I don’t really know why. He was never especially nice to you, although he did listen to you on occasion.”

Elizabeth wiped at her eyes. “When he called me after the house burned down, he mostly wanted to talk about money,” she said in a quiet voice. “He wanted me to liquidate some of his assets so that he could get out of the country.”

“He was just… leaving?” I said. After everything he’d done to me, he was leaving me behind?

“He was planning something else,” said Elizabeth, “I think he was going to try to take you with him, but… oh, maybe not, I don’t know. He seemed to hate you so much, and I hated you too, and he said things… but he wasn’t serious, of course.”

“What kind of things?” Lachlan said.

“Threats,” she said. “That he was going to… oh, cut you into tiny pieces and feed you to sharks, that kind of thing.”

Bile rose in my throat.

“He didn’t mean them,” she said. “But… he did want a boat. He was going to escape in a boat and sail far away, and he said he’d take your body and that no one would ever find you, and… He was only angry, Penny. He loved you. You were his mate. He could never have hurt you.”

“He hurt me over and over again,” I said. “Why are you blind to that?”

She was starting to cry now. Tears were streaming down her face, but she wouldn’t bother to wipe at them. “He was my brother. And he’s gone now, so stop saying such horrible things about him. Let him have peace now that he’s dead. Please. Please.”

Lachlan sighed. “Let’s just stick to the facts. Did you get these things for him? The money? The boat?”

“I was working on it,” she said. “But it wasn’t as easy as he was making it out to be, making assets liquid like that. It can’t be done at the drop of a hat. And he was angry with me. He kept yelling at me over the phone, calling me terrible names. And I would hang up on him, because whenever he got into one of his tantrums, that was all you could do with him. Just ignore him. I tried to tell you that, Penny, but you wouldn’t listen, would you? That must be why he would do it, it must be. You would yell at him and get in his face and he’d hit you just to shut you up—”

“Elizabeth,” said Lachlan tightly, his eyes flashing. “Please stop accusing Penny of being responsible for her own abuse.”

“You don’t understand,” said Elizabeth.

“
You
don’t understand,” said Lachlan. “You don’t talk to her that way.”

I had been about to lash out at Elizabeth myself, but I had to admit it was nice to have Lachlan take up for me instead.

Elizabeth buried her face in her hands and sobbed. “Go away, both of you. You’re horrible. Just leave.”

“So, what happened after that?” said Lachlan. “After you couldn’t get the boat for him?”

“I was getting it,” said Elizabeth. “It was just taking time. But by the time I had it, he’d stopped calling me. I called him over and over and over again, but I never could get in touch with him. I didn’t know what happened. It wasn’t until recently, when the police called me to say that he’d been killed by a slayer that I even knew what had happened to him.” She raised her face to us defiantly. “That’s all I know, I swear. So get out of my house and leave me alone.”

* * *

“Do we cross her off the list?” I said, staring out the window as we drove back from talking to Elizabeth.

“I don’t know if we can cross anyone off,” said Lachlan. “We don’t know when he died now. We know it was after that last phone call, but we don’t know anything else. So all those alibis we collected are useless at this point.”

“Well, Richard Remington probably did see Alastair crawling out of the bay,” I said. “That seems to fit with what we know.”

“Sure, but it doesn’t mean he didn’t kill him at a later date,” said Lachlan.

“Why was he in dragon form when he was killed?” I said. “That’s what I don’t get.”

Lachlan tapped his hands on the steering wheel. “How far have you flown in dragon form?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“Well, we know that he was having trouble getting a boat. Maybe he decided he’d just—”

“Fly across the ocean?” I said.

“Or to Mexico or something,” he said.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t think a distance like that is possible. You’d get too tired. You couldn’t do it all in one go. There’s no way.”

“So, if he were trying to get into Mexico, he’d maybe drive himself down close to the border, then shift and fly over.”

“He’d have to be desperate to try something like that,” I said. “Alastair likes—liked—his creature comforts. If he went over in dragon form, he wouldn’t have his clothes, let alone his special shampoo and conditioner.”

Lachlan snorted. “Seriously? Special shampoo?”

“Oh, and various lotions and aftershaves and toothpastes and a certain kind of undershirt and—”

“Sometimes I really wish I could have killed him myself,” Lachlan muttered.

“Well, that makes two of us,” I said, sighing. “But we didn’t, and now we’ve got to prove our innocence. So, do we circle back and go over Richard and Bertram again?”

Lachlan sighed. “I have no idea. I guess we’ve got to check out that girlfriend Elizabeth was going on about.”

“Yeah.” My cell phone started ringing. I pulled it out and looked at it, but I didn’t recognize the number. But it might be someone at the hotel. I gave employees my cell in case they needed me. I answered it. “Hello?”

“Hi there, Penny, it’s Darla Tell,” said the voice on the other end.

“Hi,” I said, sitting up straighter in my seat.

“How are you?”

“Doing all right,” I said.

“No morning sickness?”

My entire body tensed. “How do you know about that?”

“What?” Lachlan said from the other side of the car, noticing my change in demeanor.

Darla let out an easy laugh. “Oh, well, it’s a bit of a funny thing. So, I happen to know Esther Caine from ages ago, and when I came to this area, I thought I’d look her up so that we could catch up. Anyway, she was telling me that she had a puzzle for me, that one of the women in her order, Ophelia Diaz, had been asking about dragon-vampire hybrids, whether it was possible, that kind of thing. And I remembered that we went to that charming restaurant the Pink Flamingo Cafe, and that she was the owner, and I thought, well, could that be Penny? So, I wasn’t sure, but I’d just ask you about it. So, it’s you, then. You and that police detective?”

My mouth was dry. I didn’t know how to respond to that. Here was Darla, acting completely casual about the entire thing, but I couldn’t trust that. I’d been so worried that she was going after me because of the blood blond, and now she was talking about the baby.

“Penny? You still there? Did I lose you?”

“I’m here,” I said in a hoarse voice.

“Oh, good,” she said. “Listen, I think the entire concept is intriguing. I’ve never heard of such a thing before, and I’ve heard of quite a lot.”

“I’m sure you have,” I said.

“Why don’t you come by the Order’s headquarters?”

“Come… come by?” Was she going to take me captive now?

“Sure,” she said. “What are you doing right now?”

“Right now?” I licked my lips. “Listen, I don’t know if it’s really a good time.”

“When would be a good time, then?”

“I…” My throat was constricting. “I’ll get back to you.” I hung up the phone. I could hardly breathe. I rolled the window down, gulping at the outside air. But it was hot and humid, and it only made it worse. I rolled the window back up.

“Penny?” said Lachlan. “What’s wrong?”

“We may have trouble,” I said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Oh, you’re here.” Darla clapped her hands together. She was standing in the foyer of the Order’s headquarters. “And you brought along your police detective.”

Lachlan had his hand on the small of my back. Ever since we’d gotten out of the car, he hadn’t stopped touching me. I might have found it annoying a few days ago, but now it was only comforting. The two of us together were strong, and touching each other gave us access to our power if we needed it.

I had explained the situation to him, told him that I thought I might have to go and talk to Darla, because there was a chance that all of this was benign, and if so, I didn’t want to make an enemy of her.

Given the possible danger, however, he hadn’t wanted me to come alone.

“This is Lachlan,” I said, plastering a smile on my face.

Lachlan offered her his hand.

Darla took it, shaking his hand vigorously. “My, my, isn’t Penny the lucky woman.”

“Thank you,” said Lachlan, raising his eyebrows and grinning mischievously at her. He had turned his charm on, way on. He seemed completely at ease.

I wished my own smile looked as genuine.

Darla let go of Lachlan and turned back to me. “And how are you really, Penny?”

“I’m really fine.”

“Are you sure, because pregnancy can be quite trying even under normal circumstances. I want you to know that whatever you might need, any time of the day or night, you can call me. My schedule’s rather flexible here, you see, and I can usually get away if necessary. And I do mean anything, even silly things like shopping for maternity clothes.” She grinned, rubbing her hands together. “I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch recently. I did mean it when I said I wanted to be friends.”

I could not figure this woman out. Was she on the up and up, or was this all an elaborate attempt to manipulate me? If she wanted to lock me up, why hadn’t she done it already?

“How nice of you,” said Lachlan. “We appreciate it, really.”

Darla turned on him, her eyes narrowing. “Not a problem at all.” There was a hint of something in her tone when she was talking to Lachlan… but maybe that was only because she really did have some kind of crush on me and saw him as competition or something. She went back to me. “What are you eating?”

“Why do you ask?” I said.

“It’s only that pregnant women should be very careful about what they eat. So many times, women think it’s an excuse to overeat, and nothing could be further from the truth.”

I arched an eyebrow. “I don’t overeat.” It reminded me of what Alastair used to say to me when I was pregnant. He was more concerned that I’d gain too much weight than he was about our babies. He would always control my diet, but when I was pregnant, it was even worse. He made sure that I ate healthy foods, full of nutrients, but he would limit my portion size and cut me off from carbohydrates.

“Oh, of course you don’t.” Darla cringed. “That came out wrong, it really did. You are a beautiful woman, Penny, and you are positively glowing, and—”

“Maybe she means the blood,” said Lachlan.

“Blood?” said Darla.

“I’ve been drinking blood,” I said. “Craving it. That’s what made us think the baby was possibly a vampire hybrid.”

“Oh?” said Darla. “Before, you thought something else?”

“Well, we wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that Lachlan was the father,” I said. “He’s a vampire, after all.”

“So, then what? You thought that it was immaculate conception?” said Darla.

I swallowed. “Of course not.”

Lachlan laughed in his charming, casual way. “You don’t want to hear all our dirty laundry, now do you, Darla? Let’s say that there was another contender and leave it at that? Penny and I are happy together now, and that’s all that matters.”

“Oh,” said Darla. “Well, that’s wonderful that you were exploring your options, Penny.”

I shot a glance at Lachlan, annoyed. I got that he was trying to spare me from having to discuss being assaulted, but he had just made me sound like a big ho.

He winced and then gave me an apologetic shrug.

Oh, well. What did I care about Darla anyway? She could think what she liked. She only seemed happy that I wasn’t as committed to Lachlan as she might have thought. Maybe she thought she’d still have a chance with me.

“So…” Darla tapped her chin. “Drinking blood. How peculiar.”

“This is quite a place you’ve got here,” said Lachlan, looking around the foyer, which was a large, open area with an enormous, intricate antique rug on the floor. The walls were decorated with large portraits of people in stiff suits and flowing dresses. The ceiling was arched and elaborate, and there was a gigantic, hanging chandelier overhead.