Celestial Bodies (14 page)

Diana made a throaty sound of protest as Felix’s eyes held hers, and the tension in the room grew so sharp that it scraped along Nick’s nerves. His heart beat faster, and the breath in his lungs felt harsh, as if he were in danger.

For the first time since Nick had met the Stewarts, he saw Felix’s strength of will conquer Diana’s. She meekly backed away from the door and moved toward the far wall, as though she could still dissociate herself from the scene by maintaining physical distance. The shaky way she drew in little gasps of air made Nick wonder what ordeal Felix had planned for him.

With smoothly experienced motions, Felix shuffled the cards of his favorite, well-worn tarot deck. Then he spread the cards facedown across the table in a long, smooth line.

“Pick one,” he instructed Nick.

Nick stared at the spread of cards. A strange feeling of unease about this procedure swept through him. “Look, Felix, this isn’t the way—”

“This is the only way I can be sure,” Felix said. “Please pick one, Nick.”

Nick looked over his shoulder. “Diana, please. Let’s be rational about this. I can explain everything.”

He had never before seen her look so indecisive. She wrung her hands, shifted restlessly from one foot to the other, and looked back and forth between Nick and Felix. Her green eyes sparkled with the threat of tears.

Her gaze finally rested on Felix, supplicating and uncertain. “Maybe I should talk to him, Felix. He and I... um...” She stopped, seeming unable to continue, and lowered her eyes again.

Nick stared at her incredulously. All right, so he had kidded her about believing more than she would admit to, so he had recognized that she was more superstitious than she let on, but this was absurd. After last night, was she really going to let her father and his tarot deck deal with this, rather than sit down and talk things over?

Filled with a mixture of anger, hurt, disappointment, and disbelief, Nick turned back to Felix. “All right,” he muttered. “Let’s get this over with.”

Nick looked at the row of cards spread facedown before him. It was ridiculous to feel uneasy about this. He’d pick a card and Felix would mumble something cryptic, and then they could sort out this mess like normal people. After they’d waved some smelling salts under Diana’s nose. She was white as a sheet and looked as if she might faint in another minute.

Nick’s hand moved toward the cards. Just as he was about to select one at random, something came over him. For a moment he felt dizzy, or maybe just weak. The next thing he knew, he saw his hand pulling a card toward him—the card he had selected during that brief second of swimming blackness.

Before he turned over the card, he glanced sharply at Felix, wondering once more at the strange aura that always surrounded the astrologer. His heart thudding in his ears, Nick looked at the card.

“The Knight of Cups,” he said with an inexplicable feeling of relief, glad he had bothered to do a little reading on the subject. “Scorpio. That’s me, all right.” When there was no response, he added, “A sensualist.”

“Show it to me,” Felix said slowly.

Nick handed the card to Felix, who took it from him carefully. Diana clutched the heavy curtains at the window and stared fixedly at her father. Felix met her eyes and said, “It’s upside-down. Reversed.”

Diana gasped. In three quick strides, she crossed the room, fury blazing in her expressive eyes.

“You bastard!” She lifted her arm to slap Nick.

In one smooth movement Nick shot out of his chair, kicked it back, and grabbed her arm. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“You rotten, dirty, filthy, scheming—” She swung with her other arm. When he caught that one, too, she kicked his shins and stomped on his feet.

“Ow! Diana, cut that out! Ouch!” Trying to protect himself without hurting her, Nick deftly pinned her arms behind her and immobilized her in an uncomfortable position.

“Diana, please!” Felix cried. “No violence!”

“What’s the
matter
with you?” Nick snapped breathlessly, struggling to hold her still. Yoga had made her agile enough to wriggle out of his usual defense holds, and he had to keep shifting his weight and position to prevent her from getting free.

“The Knight of Cups!” she snarled.

“What?”

“In the reversed position—” Felix began, drawing Nick’s attention.

Then Diana bit his wrist. Nick swore vehemently while she pulled away from him and ran to the other side of the table.

“The Knight of Cups means Scorpio.
Reversed
it means fraud and deceit. And,” she added furiously, “seduction.”

“Oh.” Nick stared at them both. Then he glanced at Ishtar. The cat stood with her back arched and her fur standing on end. She hissed at him once, then scurried under the table.

“Oh?” Diana repeated. “
Oh?
Is that all you can say?”

“I’m prepared to say a lot more, if you’ll just calm down!”

“How can I be calm with a viper in my nest?” she shouted.

“Don’t you think you’re getting a little carried away?” he said. “It’s only a tarot card, for God’s sake!”

Diana looked as if he’d struck her. “How can you say such a thing?”

He didn’t know whether he was more upset by the fact that the tarot card had hit so close to home, or by the way Diana regarded it as valid proof of his culpability.

“
Diana
,” he pleaded, hoping to nudge her back to reality. Her expression, however, made it clear she wouldn’t see reason. Nick rubbed his forehead and started pacing back and forth. “I don’t believe this. I just don’t believe it.”

“I think the important thing,” Felix said, “is that we know you’ve misrepresented yourself to us, Nick. Why did you really come to the House of Ishtar?”

Nick sighed wearily. “I’m a private investigator.”

“
What?”
Diana exclaimed in horror.

“That explains it!” Felix declared brightly. “I knew the stars couldn’t be wrong!”

“What does a private investigator want with us?” Diana demanded.

“Deductive reasoning,” Felix muttered. “A bearer Of weapons. Of course!”

“Felix,
please,
” Diana said impatiently.

“My client hired me to discover whether or not your operation is reputable and honest,” Nick told them.

Diana looked sick with shock and despair. “You came here to find out if we were... frauds? Crooks?
Swindlers?”
She crossed her arms in a protective gesture. “That’s why you’ve been hanging around, gaining our trust, and making friends with us?”

“Look, I’ve delivered a full report verifying that you’re completely on the level.” He glanced uncomfortably at the tarot cards, then met her eyes again. “It’s my job, Diana. I didn’t know when I first came here that I’d... that we’d—”

“Don’t make excuses for yourself,” she interrupted tersely.

“Who hired you?” Felix asked.

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that, Felix. Client confidentiality.”

Diana gaped at him incredulously. “That’s just lovely,” she said with heavy sarcasm. “You lie to us, invade our privacy, betray our trust, check up on our past, inquire about our finances, then report it all to someone else. But God forbid you should violate
that
person’s faith in you by telling us who paid you to spy on us!”

“This is fascinating,” Felix mused, some of the old serenity already returning to his face. “This explains so much. No wonder I’ve been so confused!”

“Diana, I know you have reason to be angry, but I—”

“Will you please just go,” she interrupted. “You’ve got what you came for, so just leave.”

“And what about everything else?” he asked softly. “What about last night?”

“Oh, it was no trouble going to Jora’s,” Felix assured him. “I’ve been meaning to visit her, anyhow.”

Diana and Nick both turned to stare at him for a moment.

Then Diana said, “
Don’t
bring up last night, Nick.” She paused before asking icily, “Is Nick Tremain even your real name?”

“Yes,” he said. “Tremain and Lowery Investigations. But we’ll probably be out of business soon.” Suddenly he thought he had never been so tired in his whole life.

“You’ve got ten minutes to pack your things and get out of my house. After that,” Diana informed him coldly, “I’m calling the police.”

Nick was gone in half that time. He had kept very few personal belongings here. And Diana had just made it abundantly clear that there was nothing of value for him in the House of Ishtar.

Chapter Seven

THE FOOL: Trump 0

Major Arcana

Meaning:
A risk must be taken; an important choice is to be made.

Reversed:
The choice will be wrong.

Two weeks later, Diana climbed the steps of a restored building in Algiers with extreme reluctance. When she reached the stained glass door with
Tremain and Lowery Investigations
written on it, she clutched her hand-woven straw purse nervously and paused as indecision—or sheer cowardice?—assailed her.

She took a deep breath and felt the way her heart was pounding. Her stomach churned with all the mixed emotions of seeing Nick again after what he had done to her, after the way he had used, humiliated, and betrayed her.

There was still time to turn back. No one inside the office knew she was here. She could still dash down those stairs and retreat to safety.

The realization that there was no safety for her, and especially none for Felix, stilled her feet as they poised for flight. She and her father needed a protector. Something was happening in their lives that they were unequipped to handle. Presumably a private investigator would know what to do.

Anyhow, she thought with a wave of fury, why should
she
be uncomfortable about this meeting? Nick was the one who should be ashamed of himself. Diana was embarrassed that she had grown to like and trust a lying scoundrel like Nick Tremain, even to the point of going to bed with him; but at least
she
had acted openly and honestly.

Straightening her shoulders with pride and bravado, Diana pushed open the door of the detective agency and entered the reception room. A fair-haired attractive man of about Nick’s age and an elderly woman wearing sensible shoes were conferring over a number of file folders. They both looked up.

“Can I help you?” asked the woman.

“Yes,” Diana said crisply. “I’m here to see Nick Tremain. I don’t have an appointment.”
 

“No problem,” the man told her. “I’m Peter Lowery, Nick’s partner.”

He extended his hand in a friendly manner. Diana just stared at him, making no effort to be friendly to Nick’s partner. He had undoubtedly been party to Nick’s subterfuge, after all.

“I’m Diana Stewart,” she said coldly.

Peter’s hand dropped to his side and his jaw sagged. He and the woman exchanged a worried glance.

“I’ll tell him you’re here,” the woman said quickly.

“Thank you, Mrs. Milne,” said Peter Lowery.

Diana’s eyes widened.
Mrs. Milne?
The sweet old lady who had given Nick Tremain a glowing character reference over the telephone after he’d first come to the House of Ishtar? Diana scowled. These people were shocking and shameless, the scum of the earth.

Diana encompassed both Peter Lowery and Mrs. Milne with a look of withering contempt as the secretary picked up the telephone and notified Nick that he had a visitor. Diana guessed that he was astounded by her arrival, since the older woman had to repeat her name twice.

Before Mrs. Milne had put the receiver back into its cradle, a door at the end of the hallway flew open and Nick stood there, staring at Diana with a stunned expression.

“Diana?” he croaked.

“You haven’t forgotten. How touching.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

The look on his face changed to one of suspicion and wariness. “What are you doing here?”

“Can we talk in private?”

He studied her as if that were a trick question. Finally he shrugged and stepped back from the doorway, allowing her to enter his office.