Keeley Thomson (Book 4): Demon Trap (17 page)

"As do I, Mistress of Souls. I shall see to this. The time schedule is the same?"

"Yes. Set the fire so that the smoke will be seen as we leave at one-fifteen. Make certain that Hally is safe and unseen. If you can't do it that way, get her home first and see to the plan yourself." Not that it wouldn't be safe, since the place they were taking down was practically abandoned. Not even homeless people stayed there. It was pretty much an eyesore. The places next to it, which were the real targets, were in use, but things would move slowly enough that everyone would be alright.

It
also
belonged to City Council member Myer Schmidt. One of the people she was taking to lunch. They'd met, casually, when Keeley was collecting information about all the people on the council for her plan. The man was a typical politician, lining his own pockets and those of his cronies, while doing as little for the city as possible. He also cheated on his wife of twenty-six years regularly, and was planning to make a pass at Keeley, if they were ever alone. How he thought that would work out for him... Well, she knew, of course. About eighty percent of the time if a person in power was persistent in their demands for sex, young women caved, and just did it. They lied about it later, or felt bad about it, but most didn't realize that they'd been
forced
into anything, since it was just a person
telling
them what to do. The psychological pressure was just so high that they didn't really have a choice in the matter, but people weren't able to understand things on that level.

So even if Myer was a chubby man with alcoholic tendencies, that kind of thing normally worked for him. That meant, once he'd learned the trick, that he
did
it. He wasn't bright enough to see that his wife should be more important than casual pleasure. It would all fall in on him one day though. About the time that he got in Keeley's way, no doubt. Today though wasn't really about him. The building was just in nearly the right place to make things work out for her.

They all met at Fritters, which was a hole in the wall establishment that she was almost certain actually belonged to Darla. At least in a territorial fashion. She was a little too close to the staff there, which meant something. The adults were all late, but none of them were too far off really, so after she got a seat, the familiar older woman, who was in her fifties and wore a very traditional mustard colored waitress outfit with sensible shoes, passed her a menu.

"I'm waiting for some people. I think we'll need five more?" The booth was the big one in the back, so that would work well enough.

True, not all of the people would come. Myer would, and the Mayor, since they were practically buddies of hers now, knowing people in common. Those people were Roy and Deborah, both of whom had mentioned her to the men and recommended they use her for a free meal. To her surprise though, the others all came too. The two women on the council came to protect
her
from the letches, and the other man honestly had nothing better to do that day, his wife having passed some time ago, and his kids living in another state. He was old. Not just older, in his fifties or sixties, but was rather pushing into his eighties. He kept winning reelection based on the fact that he did a decent job and no one wanted to run against him. It was also clear that he thought the only reason they were there was free food though.

It was a quaint thought for a politician.

"Hello, are you Miss Thomson?" The weathered hand that came out was smooth and warm, but dry. His life flashed into her being instantly on contact. The surprise there was that he, when you got right down to it, was just a man.

Not an evil one, or a psychopath, just a person that had marked his time on the planet and was generally decent to people, over all. He wasn't free of greed or anything, but in the main he tried to do what was best for others. He was also dying.

That was from cancer. He had about a year left. It was, he felt, about time.

"Call me Keeley, please. Here, let's all get a seat, thanks for coming." She stood and helped the elder into place, waiting and making certain he was next to her, so he wouldn't have to try scooting awkwardly like the others were doing. After she sat, taking the very outside position on her side, she smiled at the assembled people. "You probably all wonder why I asked you here today. The truth is... I'm just networking. I have no particular plans or goals, but I figure that in six months when I need help on a school project or something, you'll be good people to know." It was very nearly honest, which meant, of course, that no one at the table believed her at all.

Not even when she didn't ask them for anything. The food at the place was good, much higher quality than the price would have suggested, and the lunch menu was decently varied for a place like this. It was small, with seating for about thirty, if they didn't mind being close to one another, and decently busy, since the average price per meal was about six dollars. That meant, when the bill came, even after Myer, and the heavier of the councilwomen had dessert, it was still under forty, all told. She used her card and gave the server, Meridith, a fifty dollar tip. The woman didn't ask if she were certain about it or anything, since it was what Keeley, and Darla, always gave her. She made a point of going in at least once a week, so the lady recognized her by name.

"Thanks Keeley. I'll have this settled in a jiff." The card came back to be signed less than three minutes later, and the others all got to their feet slowly, as if waiting for her to spring something on them.

She did, but only in that she passed out business cards to them all. She got four in return even. The Mayor didn't bother, because he knew for a fact that she could call him up at home. Honestly she could do that with any of them now, having collected all their information, but it was a nice social gesture, given that half of them didn't understand why they were there at all really.

Saying her goodbyes she lingered a bit, letting the rest of them leave first, but only by a few steps. They all stopped of course, and pointed at the smoke coming from over the building.

Looking around, Keeley saw Deborah across the street with the news van, the camera was pointed at the smoke already, but the woman looked at them, clearly straining to listen.

"Crap! That's my warehouse! I have merchandise in there." Myer tried to sound worried.

He didn't really, since what he really had in that particular location was a nice load of fake insurance for goods that didn't exist. "I need to go..." He hurried off, but Keeley followed him, even though the others didn't, not at first. They all looked worried though and the news van was loaded quickly enough.

The problem with the situation, well,
Myer's
problem, was that he actually had three warehouses on the edge of town. The one with the fake goods was fine if he had to lose it, but the one next to it, that had been considerably nicer, was also on fire. It was burning pretty well to. The first building had been the one that Hally, or at least one of her friends, had lit up, but the flames spread, even without accelerant, since the prevailing winds were blowing in just the right direction.

That had been planned for, but thanks to the Weather Channel it was a simple enough thing to do. Anyone could have set it up, if they were willing to pay attention. That and wanted the things to burn.

The second problem was the third building, which was actually a good property, that held real machinery, stuff for making glass storm windows. Myer was planning to set up a new business, or had been.

The fire department was already coming, by the sirens, but when they pulled up and started to hook up to the fire hydrant, the yellow and brown clad men and women couldn't do it. The water just sprayed all over the place. There was no way for the hose to stay attached since the thing was so old and worn, dinged and battered, that a good seal couldn't be formed at all. Deborah looked shocked, off in the distance, as she spoke into the camera, having gotten there about the same time as the fire fighters did.

"We're going to lose it! Pull back to the next street and build a break line!" The call came from Smart, one of Keeley's friends from the local department. She was a Lieutenant. The Captain seconded her idea though, even as Myer screamed at them to save his investment.

"I don't think they can, Mr. Schmidt. That fire hydrant is too old. They have to try and save the town. We could lose everything." Keeley made her voice seem scared, which worked, since the rest of the City Council had just pulled up, having followed, if not as quickly as the news van had. "Are there people in there?"

The first building, the one set on fire, was old and kept empty. The others were too, and she'd made certain of that. There was a security company, but they only came around once per hour and wouldn't be back for nearly fifteen minutes still.

"No, I don't think so... This is horrible. I own these buildings. Of all the incompetent... The Fire Chief will lose his job over this!" He railed for a while and threatened all the firefighters that were there, if from a distance, but Keeley finally shook her head.

"You can't fight fire without water. Not here. We need to do something about this. What if they'd been even five minutes late? I can't... My house is only half a mile from here." Using just a bit of magic, she held the sense of all the blood rushing from her face and went pale, then she started shaking a bit. She had to remember what it was like to feel very cold to get that to happen, but she pulled the memory easily enough. Hugging her arms to her chest she looked at the others around her, all of them looking either scared or annoyed and then swallowed hard, not speaking.

The smoke shifted then, blowing toward them, making the whole world smell of burning petrol products. It was a greasy black color, and stank, since there had been things inside that weren't meant to be burnt really. Old tires and such.

She didn't suggest too much more, since the point was made without her. They needed new fire hydrants. By making the situation personal for the Council's most outspoken loudmouth, the rest knowing him personally, there was a better than even chance that they'd get to work on the project finally. The Fire Department had been begging them to for years after all. The rest of them standing there knew it too. There was a feeling of guilt over it all, knowing that one of their own had lost a lot that day, thanks to their own desire to see to fewer potholes and reelection.

"I... Should go. There's nothing I can do here." Muttering the words made her sound young and a little like it was something personal for her, the fire being that scary. No one tried to stop her though, so she was headed home by three, her job done.

Sherry was loading up Bertha, with Eve and Hally helping when she got there, Keeley's face held expressionless.

Hally seemed worried though, and looked at the others like she was guilty of something. Touching her hand showed that she'd done her part at least, pointing the foot long copper rod with its special power pack at the wall, like Bal had shown her.

The device was one that Darla had made, but rented to her for the project. It was already back in her sister's secret vault, no doubt. Using that meant no one could trace the fire to anything except normal causes. There was no gasoline or anything like that to find traces of, at least.
She
could have figured it out, but the Arson Inspector didn't know that using magic was an option, so she didn't think he'd work it out.

She looked at the others and let her eyes go wide.

"There's a fire. It's a couple of buildings, look, you can see the smoke. I was at lunch with the man that owns them. The fire hydrants can't be used there, so it looks like he's going to lose them all. It's
horrible
." She sounded sincere, but Hally looked down and seemed slightly miserable.

She didn't say anything about it though, since it was a major crime, burning hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property like that.

Even if it had been for a good cause.

Chapter nine

The redhead held things together though, feeling bad about her new life of crime or not. Of course, as planned, the only person that she could talk to about it was Keeley, who, as soon as Eve and her mother left, explained the whole thing to her carefully.

"So, the guy isn't just a bit of a creep, he's been a big part of endangering the whole town. Not that I want you to feel great about setting things on fire, but this one had to be done. Plus, this way you don't have to pay me back for that money. Win-win." She tried to sound bland about it, but a small bit of happiness poked through anyway. Hally was just fun to be around. So
cute
in how she worried about things.

"Oh? OK, I guess. I feel a little bad, but as long as no one was hurt. I won't go to prison for it, will I? I didn't tell my parents. I know you said... Should I now?"

Keeley shook her head. It wouldn't matter to them. Even if Keels hadn't been there to tell them not to be concerned, they wouldn't have been. Arson, as long as no one was harmed, was just another way to make money, as far as they were concerned. On a deep level at least. Insurance fraud was just another con after all. Really, that's what Keeley had done. Not gotten money for the buildings, but conned the City Council into doing what was right.

That a Demon had to help them do it was probably something they wouldn't want to know, but it worked for her.

"Here, let me get you home. I have some work to do tonight, so I won't be much fun-" Unexpectedly a kiss came.

It was warm and soft, the lips tickling her own, leaving them tingling when the other girl backed up, looking scared.

"Sorry. I... Keeley... I think I love you. That's weird, right? I have a boyfriend. I shouldn't have done that. Sorry." After a few seconds she mumbled it again, under her breath.

It was a point and Keeley had a plan for that.

"Right, a boyfriend that you're going to keep. For now. A friendly peck won't stop that. Besides, he'd just think it was hot if he saw it." It was probably true, even if Gavin wasn't a complete pervert or anything. Really, he was a nice guy, considering that he was on the football team. Big though. A lot of it was muscle, but he was plush enough that he looked a bit chubby.