Curse of the Egyptian Goddess (5 page)

“I was in Egypt.
Please
, answer it quickly.”

“I know you were in Egypt. I want to know where in Egypt.”

“Siwa.”

“What the hell is Siwa?”

“
My phone!
” I pleaded impatiently.

He sighed and scowled before he dug into my backpack. When he found my phone, he pulled it out, opened it, and held it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hi Miss Patrix, I’m sorry to call you on such short notice, but I’m leaving town for the day and the night shifter called in again.”

All hope I’d concocted about Calvin’s call disintegrated with my employee’s voice. “I thought we hired a fill-in for that,” I grumbled.

“Apparently she’s sick too.”

“It’s all right. No one wants to work on a holiday. I can cover it.” I took a deep breath before I glanced up at the detective. “Let me call my lawyer, take a nap, and I should be able to make it in time for the late shift.”

“Your lawyer?” she asked, her voice straining nervously.

“Long story. Thanks for calling.”

Cade leisurely replaced the phone in my bag before he opened the back door and gestured me inside.

I glanced inside the car and then gave him a sweet smile. “I’m sorry, but there’s been a change of plans. I have to work tonight, so if you’ll just take these off…” I half turned and nodded toward the cuffs.

****

Once at the police station, Mr. Cade put me in a small room with only a table and two chairs. He sat across from me and turned on a tape recorder, no doubt hoping for a confession.

“Please, state your name,” he said in a practiced, unfaltering tone.

“Emma Patrix.” I sat back in the metal folding chair and rubbed my wrists where the cuffs had been.

“I find it odd, Emma, that your entire family came to the same end as Mr. Landchester. The autopsy reports confirmed the same unexplained mark around each of your victim’s necks.”

“I want my lawyer present,” I said loudly into the machine.

He smirked. “You’ve agreed to cooperate fully during this interview, Miss Patrix.”

“You’ve agreed not to put words into my mouth,” I huffed.

“All right.” He stood to pace a small spot beside his chair. “Let me rephrase that question. Can you explain the deaths of every one of your family members?”

“No,” I said seriously.

He frowned and leaned across the table, placing his hands solidly in the middle. “Tell me what really happened. Did you run out of family members and decide to start on boyfriends?”

I rolled my eyes and glared back at him. “Chad was my first boyfriend. Why would I want to hurt him?”

“That’s what I’m here to find out, and you’re taking this damn casually for someone accused of murder. A man is dead!” he roared. “He was a decent guy, everyone says so. He didn’t have an enemy on the planet except for you!”

“He wasn’t an enemy and I didn’t kill him,” I insisted calmly.

Cade took a breath and began to pace again. “You’re not leaving here until I get something.”

“I liked Chad.”

“You liked him enough until he touched your precious necklace, then he had to die, is that it?”

“No!” I demanded, hating the way he twisted everything to make me sound guilty.

He glanced at me sideways before he sat down in his chair. The harsh lines smoothed out on his face until he appeared almost rational. “What were you doing in Siwa, Egypt?”

“I was looking for a friend.”

Cade raised his eyebrows. “Why? Is he or she next?”

After another hour of the ridiculous questions, Cade had to let me go, much to his dismay. “I’ll find the evidence,” he threatened as I grabbed my backpack and walked out.

****

Working at the convenience store I owned provided a welcome distraction. The continuous flow of evening customers kept my mind busy, and I was able to put the detective’s badgering out of my head.

At ten after ten the store turned deadly quiet so I bought five lottery scratch tickets to pass the time. I leaned over the counter and carefully rubbed off the hidden numbers with a penny. Looking down, my eyes misread the last lottery ticket. I thought I’d won a dollar, but that couldn’t be right. Did that mean the curse was receding? Wiping my eyes, I looked again and then anxiously held it up to the light.

In that second, an earsplitting noise shattered the silence, and I ducked to the floor instinctively. The lottery ticket had disappeared into thin air, and something hissed near the back of the store. Bewildered more than anything, I looked up to find a small hole the size of a bullet in the strong glass. Peeking out the window, I didn’t see anything but traffic.

What the hell?

My hands trembled as I grabbed the phone and dialed 911. I quickly told the operator what happened and then did as she instructed; I switched the store sign to
closed
and locked the doors before returning to my crouch. The loud click of the refrigeration system made me jump. I laughed nervously, but a real fear started to quake through me. My heart raced and my eyes felt like they were three times larger than my head.

When a squad car arrived, I unlocked the door and went to meet the first officer outside. The young kid, who looked fresh out of high school, walked right passed me to inspect the bullet hole in the window. His eyes were aglow. “That’s pretty cool. It didn’t even shatter.”

He turned to me with a more cop-like attitude when more squad cars pulled up. He drew a notebook and pen out of his front shirt pocket. “Are you all right, ma’am?”

“Yes. I’m fine,” I ridiculed. “Thank you for finally asking.”

My anxiety heightened and peaked when Detective Cade appeared and rushed toward a group of officers. After a short, heated conversation, he made a beeline straight for me. The dark look in his tired eyes made my heart jump into my throat.

“What happened?” he growled.

“There was a loud noise and then there was a hole in the window. That’s all I know.” I shook my head innocently and then stared at him. “Don’t you ever sleep?”

“Not when I’m on a case,” he grumbled.

“Hmm.” I nodded. “That explains a lot.”

He scanned the faces of his colleagues before he pulled me toward the side of the building. Once away from all the cops, his face relaxed. “Tell me the truth,” he said seriously. “Is someone stalking you? Is someone doing this to you and trying to frame you? I can’t help you unless I know what’s going on.”

I shot him a doubtful look. “You don’t want to help me. You want to lock me up and throw away the key.”

“I want to find out the truth. I want a murderer brought to justice.”

“I don’t know what happened tonight.”

“Is there someone who wants to hurt you?” A hint of kindness threaded his voice.

His concern startled me but I just shook my head.

With a deep breath, his compassion disintegrated and he took on an official sounding tone. “The crime scene unit found the bullet in a can of coke twelve feet in. It stopped in one of those warm twelve packs you have stacked up back there. Know anything about a lottery ticket?”

“Yeah, I’d just held it up to the light. It was a winner.”

“Not anymore. The bullet went straight through it.”

“Perfect,” I mumbled and then turned to watch the fireworks display. I sighed, wishing I had my own independence from the curse, but no winning lottery ticket was going to change my fate. My future held only stray bullets and dead friends.

“A police car will be driving by every hour for the next couple of nights but for now, they’re ruling this a stray bullet. And since you’re not talking, I’m going to assume you set this up yourself to throw me off your trail.”

I stared at him incredulously. “I had someone shoot at me?”

Not missing a beat, he pulled out his notepad. “Is that a statement, Miss Patrix?”

Hatred churned inside of me, making my blood boil, but I walked away, certain I could make the bar before closing time.

“And just remember, Miss Patrix. If you leave town again, I will arrest you. That’s a promise.”

Chapter 6

Empty shot glasses lined my lonely table by midnight. The cola I’d washed the alcohol down with no longer stung my throat. No feeling remained at all. I was numb, the way I preferred it.

The crowd in the small roughneck bar, carried on like they were having the time of their lives, but I ignored the noise. I distracted myself by watching a handsome pool player lean over the table. I imagined him leaning over me that way.

“Getting laid is out of the question for us, isn’t it?”
Calvin’s words played inside my mind and made me regret not sleeping with him. If he had offered instead of trying to force himself on me, I might have been more receptive. The lust in his eyes had excited me but frightened me at the same time. I really didn’t know what to expect from sex. I’d heard other girls say it was wonderful, but I’d spent my entire life pushing men away from me. It felt weird to be near Calvin again because I didn’t have to push him away, yet I did so instinctually. Now I would go to jail for life without ever experiencing sex. The thought affected me more than I could have imagined.

I sighed when the pool player grabbed his jean jacket and headed out the door. I raised my hand to my wonderful waitress, but she was already bringing me another.

“Hey, you’re that chick.” A handsome, young man with short blond hair slid into the chair across from me. His eyes were wide and glassy and his pale, boyish face smiled with recognition.  

“Excuse me?” I tipped the waitress when she brought me two more shots of whiskey.

“You’re that chick I saw get arrested at the airport today. What did you do?”

“Nothing,” I told the man. “I left the country when I wasn’t supposed to.”

“I get that a lot.” His understanding shrug made the Harley on his black T-shirt fold up and nearly disappear. “Anyway, I’m guessing you’re having a bad day, and I happen to know a lot about bad days. You interested in something to make it go away?”

“I got something,” I said, holding up my shot before I downed it and took a drink of pop. I smiled at the warming effects of the alcohol but immediately frowned, irritated, when he took my second shot and swallowed it. I held up my hand to order another. The waitress nodded.

He scoffed at the drink that didn’t even sour his face and then raised his eyebrows persuasively. “I got something better than that.”

“I don’t do drugs,” I said flatly.

He chuckled. “That guy said you didn’t know how to have a good time.”

I stared at him warily, but my heart started pounding. “What guy?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know, Calvin somebody. He bet me $100 that you wouldn’t take this,” he said, producing a little pink pill.

“I guess he’ll win then. Where is he?”

“Well that’s the thing there, little lady. I have information, but I’m gonna lose a hundred bucks here.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Let me go to the ATM, and I’ll give you two hundred to tell me.”

He shook his head. “It’s not about the money. See, I made a bet and I don’t like to lose.”

Covering my eyes with my hand, I half-laughed and half-cried into it. Desperate. Calvin knew I was desperate. “
How far will you go?”
Snatching the pill, I put it in my mouth and washed it down with the rest of my cola.

“There now,” the man said pleasantly. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

When I shook my head, he rose and started to walk away. “Wait! Where is he? You owe me some information!”

“Oh, yeah,” he said with another chuckle. “He said he’d find you.”

“Bastard,” I fumed under my breath.

I’d had enough of Calvin’s games. I tried to go to the bathroom to throw up the pill but the same man pulled me out onto the dance floor and literally kept me locked in his arms for an entire slow song. I didn’t want to cause a scene, but the constant struggle to keep him from touching my necklace wore me out. By the time I returned to my chair, I needed another drink which the waitress kindly provided.

As I emptied the shot glass, a brilliant wave ran through me, followed by a rush of radiance. Crystal clear music pillowed my head, and the dim neon lights focused in around me, producing a charming atmosphere. I smiled hopelessly, feeling happier than I ever remembered. Pleasure filled my senses and created a high so enjoyable that I changed my mind about my earlier disapproval of the pill. Without a thought, I stumbled out the door to look for Calvin. Something told me he wouldn’t be far.

A crisp Wisconsin breeze blew into to me when I stepped outside. The fresh air washed away the stagnant bar odors and revitalized me as I inhaled deeply. I scanned the dimly lit parking, seeing no one.

Suddenly someone grabbed me and swung me around the side of the bar, pushing me into the concrete wall so hard that my head hit against it with a thump. Head forgotten, bites on my neck made me come before I saw Calvin holding me in a tight grip.