Secrets - [Guardian Trilogy 01] (30 page)

“No, not at all. But two suicides so close to one another, both by people who wouldn't have done it. It seems like too big of a coincidence to me. I think it's a pattern.”

Damn, she was too astute. I knew for a fact these two events weren’t connected, but the last thing I wanted her to do was start poking around Christopher’s death.

“It’s not a pattern, Olivia. First, both suicides were completely different. Had it been the same person, there would have been a signature. Second, you can’t honestly say you know for a fact Christopher wouldn’t have killed himself—you hadn’t spoken with him in a year. And we know he was involved with some very bad people, whereas Juliet was not. If we take that path, we’ll be chasing our tails.”

She nodded slowly. “What about the reporter? The new guy in her life—should we check him out?”

I was out of other options for misdirecting. If she didn’t want to look at Joe, it came down to Christopher or the new guy. I knew where Christopher led and that was the last place I wanted her. ”Yeah, probably.” I hoped I was wrong about what this was. But the evil I felt in the theater and that lingered in her apartment pointed to one thing—demon. Demons never came above ground, why would they be here now? “What do you know about him?”

“Not much. Just that his name’s Mark, and he works for
The Journal
”

“Mark’s a pretty common name.”

“Well, he was at my art show so I assume he's an arts or entertainment reporter.”

“Logical assumption.”

We spent the morning scouring
The Journal’s
website for any sign of his name or an article by him. There was nothing in the Life and Style section or the Entertainment section. There was no way to look up the reporters on the site. Finally, Olivia called the news clerk. She asked to speak with Mark in the Life and Style section.

“No one named Mark in Life and Style? … Hmmm, well he didn’t say he reported for that section of the paper, he just said he worked for the Journal … What does he look like? ... Yeah, that sounds like him. Is he in? ... Great can you transfer me? ... Fantastic, thanks.” She waited an extra moment then hung up.

“Apparently, he's a sports reporter.”

“Sports, interesting.” The pieces were falling together even though I didn’t like the picture they were showing. It was too much to hope this sports reporter was an art enthusiast who chose to miss the Cardinals game.

“What would a sports reporter be doing at an art show? He’s at the office. I think we should go talk to him.”

Now that was a piece that didn’t make sense. A demon wouldn’t go to work, especially not during the day. However, I still didn’t want her to talk to him. He was our best lead so he was connected to this in some way and until I knew how, Olivia was staying far away. “Absolutely not.”

“What? Why?”

“Olivia, it isn’t investigating to run to our first suspect and show him all of our cards. We need to watch him, follow him. See what he's hiding.”

“So what's the plan?”

“We'll go over and wait for him to leave. You can recognize him, yes?”

“I think so.”

“Great, you point him out when you see him, and we'll start collecting information on him. Information is power. The more you know—that your opponent doesn’t know you know— the more formidable you’ll be.”

“You talk like this is a game.”

“Make no mistake, it is.”

“It is
not
. These are real people with real lives. You can’t take back the things you do or the ways you hurt people. Life may be a lot of things, but a game isn’t one of them.”

I knew she was thinking about Christopher and Juliet when she spoke, but I felt like she was talking directly to me. I thought of the things I’d done just since she’d been staying with me. If she knew any of it, that would be it. Olivia couldn’t live with me knowing what I was. Not really. The words might not scare her away, but the actions would repulse her. And would I stop if she asked me to? I was shocked that my brain even formulated the question.

”Shall we go?”

We spent most of the afternoon in Olivia’s car, watching the exits, waiting for our target. It was tedious work, but I didn’t mind. I’d never been on a stake out with anyone before. It was a new experience. Had it been anyone but her, I'm sure I wouldn’t have been quite so open to it. But spending hours, even mostly silent ones, with her was worth the cost. I was beginning to nod off and the sun was beginning to set when Olivia hit me.

“That’s him,” she said, leaning towards the window, squinting. “It's definitely him.”

I started the car, but didn’t pull out of my spot. We watched him walk to the parking lot and get into his car.

“Quick, we're going to lose him,” she urged.

“No, we need to see where he's going. Flipping a u-turn in the middle of the street is an excellent way to draw attention to ourselves. Patience, we need patience.”

His car pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards us. I got a clear look at the guy. Human, definitely human. We followed him back to his house. He went inside and we resumed our stake out. A couple hours later he came back out wearing different clothes, a slightly straighter, yet stiffer, posture, and a more confident walk. He backed out of the driveway entirely too fast and took off with a squeal of tires. I caught a glimpse of him as he drove past. I waited until he was over a block away to pull back onto the street. This was bad, really bad. I was right, there no doubt now, demon. How had I missed seeing him at the opening? This must have been what Ingrid was talking about. What on earth had Olivia gotten herself involved in?

“Are you okay?” Her voice broke through the cold fear that was enveloping me.

“What?”

“You look pale.”

“I’m fine.”

I made sure we lost the car we were following. There was no way I was taking Olivia any closer to that monster. I started trying to think of a better strategy for hiding her. We were both in way over our heads.

Twenty One

Our first day of investigation went okay. We had a lead, even if we lost him. Holden got his license plate number, and we planned to do some research on him before trying to find him again. Mark was definitely suspicious. Something about him spooked Holden, but he wouldn’t talk about it. He didn’t even come to bed; he stayed up all night searching the Internet. I appreciated so much how Holden was throwing himself into the investigation.

“I think I need to run by my apartment today,” I told Holden nonchalantly over breakfast.

“Okay, we’ll stop by on our way out. We need to make sure he's in the office before we leave.”

I nodded, a knot forming in my stomach. A strange look flickered over Holden's face when the butterflies fluttered in my stomach. He couldn't have sensed my anxiety, could he? The togetherness seemed to be forging deeper bonds without the dream outlet. I could read his expressions more easily every day. Sometimes it was almost like I was reading his mind. He seemed to sense things about me as well. I wasn't sure how it worked for him since we never discussed it, but there were indications that he experienced something similar. Whatever it was neither of us seemed overly concerned with defining it.

When I pulled into my parking space, a sigh slipped through my lips.
Be strong Liv. Be strong for Juliet.

“I can go in for you,” he said gently.

“I need to do this.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, but I'm determined. It's something I have to do. If I can follow around a random guy that may be her killer, then I can go into my apartment. It's the one place we're most likely to find the very best clues.”

We rode the elevator up to the ninth floor and stepped off. Everything looked as it always did, which seemed wrong. My mind insisted it should look different. It had no right to look the same after something so awful had happened here. My eyes focused on Juliet's door all the way down the hallway. My fingers hesitated over the handle of my door as I flashed back to the last time I opened it.

Holden placed a reassuring hand on my back and nodded encouragingly.

“I guess it’s now or never.” I swung open the door, and Holden and I walked through. It was eerie being back. It didn't feel like home anymore. No feelings of comfort or love were in this apartment. It was cold and sterile. It felt dead. I walked towards my answering machine, a blinking reminder that I had a career I was abandoning. About half way there, Quintus walked out of my bedroom.

I stopped dead, trapped by conflicting thoughts. Quintus stood in the hallway, a large smile growing across his face; Holden was behind me, standing in front of my door, frowning with concern. There was no preventing them from meeting. Panic seized me for a moment. I turned to look at Holden, because I knew he’d feel my unease. He’d taken a couple steps towards me, but stopped when I shook my head. I turned back around and saw that now Quintus had started towards me. I had to say something before they saw each other.

“Hi,” I said a little too loudly, feeling my cheeks turning red. Quintus came into full view just as Holden stepped beside me and placed a hand on my elbow, as if preparing to pull me out of the way. “Holden, this is Quintus. Quintus, Holden.”

They stared at each other. No one said anything, but the air in the room filled with electricity at an alarming pace. I watched Holden. His face went from protective, to shock, to understanding, to stone in just a few moments. If his multitude of reactions weren’t confusing enough, Quintus then said, “Olivia, step away from him.”

I didn't step away. I looked back and forth between the two of them, completely dumbfounded by both of their reactions. I expected jealousy, posturing, and basically a pissing contest; not this. Quintus started to reach for me, but I moved closer to Holden.

Holden stood motionless and quiet, which scared me more than anything else. I couldn't tell what he was thinking about for even a moment. All the openness disappeared. I had a gut feeling, though, that Quintus needed to keep his hands to himself or Holden could snap. Holden was like a bomb. I didn’t know when he was going to go off, but I was certain it was going to happen.

“Well this is awkward,” I said finally. “Why don't we all have a seat?” No one made any effort to move at all. I started towards the couch, but they continued their standoff. I reached back, grabbed Holden's hand and tugged on it. He stopped staring at Quintus finally and turned his head to me.

“Come sit down. Please.”

I thought I saw panic flash in his eyes, but before I could be sure, the look was gone. His face was stone once more. He did, however, follow me. I craned my head around again.

“Come on, Quinn, let's sit down.”
It's less aggressive.