Demon's Revenge (High Demon Series #5) (11 page)

"He looks like a nerd," Ry nodded. "Not that stranger things haven't happened," he was still working on the comp-vid, I think, trying to shove parts back together. Finally, he gave up and used his extensive warlock gift. The thing floated in midair and went right back together, as it should be. "There," Ry grinned and floated it to me.

"Why didn't you do that to begin with?" I wrinkled my nose at him.

"You know, we men have to try brawn first."

"Uh-huh." I turned back to Sedra's image. "You know, since Maris saw Faldin at Slik Faldintarshine with someone else, and Jaske's girlfriend works there, I think we should go out tonight," I turned to look at Ry.

"Sure. Do you have a hip outfit and dancing shoes?"

"Hip?" I was completely lost at his jargon.

"You know, sliding."

"The term that means trendy and appealing to those younger than twenty-five?"

"Yes. Sliding. Do you have a sliding outfit?"

"Sure. As soon as I go out and buy it," I grumped.

"I'll come. It has to meet with my approval."

"You're the fashion constabulary, are you?"

"You got it." Ry's grin would have stopped many a female heart. I just grinned back at him.

I lifted the comp-vid he'd reassembled with power and synced it with the comp, pulling up any records that might be on it. Bel had used this one; I could see that right away. Several appointments were listed, showing the dates he'd interviewed the workers at Maris' legal firm, and then when he'd gone to question those at Pripps Electronics. I pulled up all his interviews, the ones we'd seen already, anyway, through copies provided by both businesses. Bel hadn't used this one long, as it turns out.

"Is there any saving of the others?" I asked, turning to Ry again.

"Parts are missing," he said, tossing the last comp-vid into the box. "Mostly the chips. Can't pull anything up if you don't have those."

"Did he remove them, or did someone else?" I asked.

"I already did a scry. Bel did it. On all five of the others. The one you have is the only one that had all the parts there."

"What was he thinking?" I muttered, mostly to myself.

"What were Maris and Jaske thinking?" Ry's dark eyes met mine.

"I don't know." I shook my head.

* * *

"Reah, that one is incredible." Ry walked around me as I stared in the mirror at the short, tight-fitting black dress I wore. I'd have been happier if it didn't glitter with thousands of tiny, jet-black beads. The shoes were almost as bad, with heels twice as high as I felt comfortable wearing. Tiny, gold straps hooked around my ankles, and gold beading glistened around the edges of the soles. The rest was black, to match my dress.

"And see, since you've had those babies, this is filled out perfectly." He stood behind me and cupped both breasts in his hands.

"Rylend Morphis, you lech," I turned and smacked his hands lightly. He laughed.

"This jewelry will go well with this," the female clerk was back, offering a long, beaded necklace in black and gold, with matching earrings.

"Pack it all up, we'll take it," Ry said, without waiting for me to say anything. He'd bought a shirt, but already had pants and boots to wear. That's how we found ourselves walking up to the line waiting outside Starshine later. Someone was going down the line, picking out the prettiest people to let in first. Starshine's guests were always forced to stand in a very long line to get in, unless they were wealthy or well known or both. Those visitors were escorted in without standinge.&out sta in any line. Ry smiled down at me.

Remember, we're together, so act like you like me, all right?
he sent.

Who's acting? I love you, you pompous, handsome ass
, I returned.

Just remember, you said it first
, he informed me silently. I did love him. Had always. He was like a brother. The one I grumbled to about Teeg or Tory or any other number of people or things. Whenever Teeg had a function, Ry was my escort for at least part of the evening. He always asked about the girls. They adored their uncle Ry. He bought them gifts, even when I said no, sometimes. We ended up never arguing about it.

"What do we have here?" The Starshine employee, wearing a shirt that proclaimed him
Gate Keeper
and backed up by two rather large security guards, was standing in front of Ry and me. "These two are in," he jerked his head at one of the guards, who escorted us right to the front and even opened the door for us. Yes, Ry's face opened a lot of doors.

What does Sedra do here?
The music was so loud Ry was back to mindspeech.

Bartender
, I told him. Ry tucked my hand in the crook of his arm and led me through the crowd toward the bar. Sedra, in her sliding outfit, was pouring a line of shots for an appreciative male crowd. Her top revealed most of her breasts and hugged her like a second skin. Hair tips were dyed purple, to match the Starshine top worn over very short, black shorts.

What do you want, pretty girl?
Ry asked.

What are you having?

Yadeli
, he replied. Yadeli was a particularly fine bourbon. Not the most expensive, but better than that, in my estimation
.

I'll take a cloudy sunset, then
, I returned. A cloudy sunset had bourbon and two other types of mixers in it, the layers making it look like gold and purple clouds. It was good, too. I made them now and then, for the supervisors on my work crews. Well, Garde's work crews, now.

Ry stepped up to the bar and had Sedra's attention right away. He ordered and then laid a casual arm around my shoulders when Sedra attempted to get friendly while she made our drinks. Sedra didn't give up, though, chattering away with Ry, even though it was difficult to hear inside the massive bar. Ry grabbed our drinks and walked away, leaving Sedra talking to empty space.

"Hello," another Starshine employee appeared at our table the moment we sat down. "We're offering discounts to Stellar Winds to some of our best customers," the young man said, handing me a recycled plastic brochure. Paper wasn't used much in the Alliance any longer. "Just enter the code number here," he pointed to a number listed at the bottom of the ad, "when you make your reservations. This is good for half off your trip." I blinked up at him—he was nice-looking, no question about that, with black hair, cut in the latest style and vibrant blue tips spiking up here and there. He wore lenses in his eyes, making them a striking yellow. Going for a feral look, no doubt.

Ry thanked him while I stuffed the brochure into my small handbag. I watched the young man walk away, noticing that he wasn't giving brochures out to everyone. I sat up straighter and paid attention, watching while he handed out another one to a handsome couple seated at a table six away from ours. He'd ignored the average-looking customers in between.

Ry, what are they doing?
I asked mentally. He'd seen what I'd seen, his eyes following the young man as he made hiayes he mas way through the bar. Just as the pretty couples were allowed inside the bar first, now they were offered half-price trips to Stellar Winds. There was a connection between the two, and I wondered what it was.

"Reah," Ry jerked his head to the side. He'd seen them first. I followed his gaze, drawing in a breath. Faldin Bierla was there, escorting a date. I recognized her, all right. Darletta Schuul was with Faldin, dressed in something that I couldn't have afforded with five years' pay in the gishi fruit groves.

Now I knew where Maris had seen Faldin with "her." Faldin was listed in our files as a low-level supervisor for Schuul Enterprises. Somehow, he'd managed to snare the biggest fish in Surnath's pond.
He must have other talents
, I thought to myself. Tory was so much nicer to look at. It made me wonder if Tory and Darletta had come here while they were still together. The thought made me shudder.

Reah, hold it together, sweetheart
, Ry's voice was gentle in my mind. I doubted that Darletta would recognize Ry or me—she'd only seen us once before and that was nearly twenty-six years earlier. Faldin and Darletta were too old to be in this crowd, too—I saw the young ones all around them staring.

Darletta was nearing fifty and Faldin was in his sixties. In their prime but still too old for here. Ry and I would always appear to be in our twenties. That's what immortality did for our kind. Someone else came to speak with Faldin, someone else who was also older in appearance. He wore a badge indicating that he was a Starshine employee. Likely the manager, I thought, as I watched Faldin lean down to say something to Darletta. She went to sit at the bar while Faldin followed the employee. Ry, watching just as I was, patted my hand and rose to see where they went.

They just walked into an employee entrance
, Ry sent, sitting down again.

We need to find out who owns this place
, I replied.

Yeah. I think we do
, Ry agreed, emptying his drink in one swallow.
Let's go
.

* * *

We'd barely gotten out of the place before receiving mindspeech from Lendill. The local ASD office had been broken into and ransacked. Lendill and Norian were already there; both could fold, so it wasn't surprising.

Ry folded us to the location, where two overly-zealous ASD agents thought to keep us from going inside. When Ry and I hauled out our IDs, we were allowed through. Lendill met us in the lobby.

"It's difficult to pinpoint ASD offices," Lendill rubbed the back of his neck as we surveyed the wreckage inside the building. The lobby had been destroyed by an explosion—that's how the perpetrators had gotten in. Then, they'd methodically tossed several cubicles, including the one Ry and I had been inside earlier. Ry and I blinked at one another as we stopped outside the entrance. The locked, metal door had been blasted off its hinges and everything inside was broken and scattered.

"Lendill, this is the room that held all the evidence from the shootings we're investigating," I said.

"Was anything taken?" Lendill crunched across bits of debris to poke his head inside the door.

"We'd have to get in there to see," I sighed. The place was wrecked and the desk comp had been shattered and tossed in a corner.

"The box of junk is gone," Ry said. I stared up at him; his eyes were unfocused, indicating that he was scrying the area. I eacehe areanvied his talent, at times. It would have taken time for me to go through everything in the room to determine that.

"What was in it?" Lendill waited until Ry was back with us.

"Comp-vids that Bel destroyed for some reason," Ry answered. "He'd torn chips out of several. I had to use power to put one back together that looked as if it had been stomped on."

"If he wanted to destroy it, why didn't he use power?" Lendill asked.

"No idea. I wondered the same thing," Ry shrugged.

"Reah, you look incredible," Lendill sighed softly at my side. I'd forgotten how I was dressed.

"We took a little investigative trip to Starshine, and found Maris Krastel's lover boy, Faldin Bierla, there with Darletta Schuul," Ry gave Lendill a look. I figured Ry was also sending private mindspeech. That was all right with me; the less I heard about Darletta, the better.

"A bit old for that place, don't you think?" Lendill said aloud.

"We'll research all of it," Ry said. "Do you need our help here with this?"

"Not since I know what's missing, now," Lendill shook his head. "Write a report and get it to me by the end of the night."

"We will." Ry steered me away from the wreckage.

* * *

"Here, it lists the ownership of Starshine," Ry handed his comp-vid to me when I walked out of the bathroom dressed in pajamas. I took it and scrolled through the names. Six investors were listed, and Darletta Schuul's name was one of them.

"Big surprise, but why was it Faldin and not Darletta who was asked into the back?" I said, handing Ry's comp-vid back.

"Maybe they had a technical problem and needed his assistance."

"He does work for the alarm side of their business, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. He does." Ry didn't sound convinced to me. I wasn't convinced, either. The employee hadn't spoken to Darletta at all. He'd gone straight to Faldin, and if Darletta was an owner, he should have bowed and scraped to her, first.

"Ry," I said, grabbing the purse I'd used earlier and pulling the brochure for Stellar Winds out of it, "why is Starshine promoting Stellar Winds? Does Darletta have a piece of it as well?"

"Good question," Ry said, tapping on his comp-vid. Obviously he had clearance codes, just as I did. "Here." He offered the comp-vid to me a second time. Seven names were listed, and right in the middle was Darletta Schuul's.

"So, Daddy makes comp-vid chips and Darletta does sex and sin," I grumbled.   

"Both lucrative," Ry said.

"No doubt about it," I agreed. "Did Lendill have new ideas on any of this?" I asked. "When you had your long mindspeech conversation?"

"I think Lendill wants to see you in that dress again," Ry said as I pulled the covers back on my bed. The dress was currently hanging in our small, hotel room closet and Ry was steering me away from his mental contact with Lendill. It figured that they'd been discussing Darletta and Tory.