Sleight of Hand (41 page)

“It wasn’t like that—”

“It’s never like that for you,” she shouted. “There’s always a reason you know about and no one else does. The partners wanted to know all about you, why I never mentioned you. What could I say? I don’t know what my sister did for ten years!”

Tears were streaming down her face. I tried to hold her, but she struck out at me and moved away.

“It’s not as if I even know what you’re doing now,” she said. “You can barely make ends meet, but look at you. You have a new car,” she gestured angrily out the window. She grabbed Jen’s jacket off the hook where I’d left it, and shook it in my face. “You wear designer jackets costing five thousand dollars. You have custom-made boots. You show up at the most expensive ball of the year wearing a designer dress. Even your card looks more like a whore’s than a PI’s.”

“Kath, stop it! You’ve got it all wrong.”

“I’ve got it all wrong? Lie to me one more time, Amber. Tell me what you were doing when you left home.”

“You know that. I joined the army.”

“No, you didn’t,” she shouted. “You washed out of boot camp. And you just couldn’t come home, could you? Not after making your grand exit.”

“How could you say that? I was in the army until a couple of years ago.”

“Not according to Lieutenant Krantz. He came to see me yesterday and told me all about you.”

Krantz. If he had been in range at that instant, I would have killed him without a moment’s hesitation. But I needed to concentrate on this first, stop Kath in her tracks. It felt like trying to climb sand.

“Krantz is just full of shit, Kath. You can’t listen to him.”

“Why? He’s in the army. He should know if you were. He told me you would claim you were in the special forces. But they don’t take women.” She stabbed at me with her finger. “I know. I called and asked.”

I was crying by this time. I can take a lot, from a lot of places, but not from my little sister.

“Look at you,” she said. “It’s pathetic. You’re living here as Kingslund’s whore, aren’t you? Is that how you made the money you sent home? On your back?”

I tried to hold her again. She grabbed my arm and shock fought with anger on her face.

“Oh my God, look at your arm! I should have known. You’re on drugs. Look at it, it’s like a fucking pincushion.”

The fold of my elbow showed the number of times the test unit had found the vein there. I heal quickly, but there were marks from the last few days. It wasn’t a pincushion by any stretch.

She wrenched away from me and angrily flicked open the folder on the desk. Inside was a large check. “That’s for paying for my education,” she said. “We’re even now. For God’s sake, use the money to get yourself booked in a clinic.”

She swayed as she stood there glaring at me and panting, cheeks wet with tears. She turned one last time to the desk and pointed at the photos. “You know, that says it all. Nothing of me and Mom. Nothing but lies and people who are dead or were never alive.” She pointed at Tara’s plaque. “You love her more than you ever loved me.” She lashed out, sweeping them onto the floor. “I never want to see you again,” she said, and ran out to her car.

I picked my photos up and carefully set them back on the desk. Dad, Top and Tara. And me. And the tears streamed down my cheeks.

Chapter 50

I left the house about an hour later. I didn’t have anything planned; I just drove down to Wash Park and walked, zipping Jen’s loaned jacket all the way up and raising the collar against the cold wind. I had Tara’s plaque in the inner pocket.

How could I get the truth through to Kath? How much of it was my fault? I’d come back from the army and I’d tried to keep everyone at a distance. But the reason I had done that hadn’t gone away. In fact, the prion count was telling me I didn’t have much time left. Once I was Athanate, how much would I be able to be involved with my family?

In the middle of my circuit around the park, Jen called on my burn phone. She’d been warned by the guards that something had happened and she wouldn’t stop until I told her what had gone on with Kath, at least in general terms. I didn’t go into Kath calling me her whore.

Jen focused on what she could do. “Amber, put all that legal situation out of your head. I’ll get my lawyer onto it on Monday.” She cut across my protest. “I’m not discussing it. It’s just going to happen.”

I let that sink in. How could I accept this and at the same time argue against what Kath had implied? I couldn’t just take it, but I needed help, and I couldn’t deny it made me feel better. “Thanks Jen. I’ll pay you back.”

“De nada. We
do
need to talk.” She paused for a second, and as she continued, she faltered a bit. “It’s not one way, honey. Hell, there are some stupid things I’ve done, which I need to fix.”

“Okay,” I said. Possibly she was getting upset again about doing a search on me, or something similar. I shrugged it off. “I’ll be back later. I’ve had some other bad news as well. I just need some time now.”

We signed off and I did another circuit of the park, then sat on an empty bench. Jen’s call had jumbled everything up in my head.

I pulled out Tara’s plaque and ran my fingers over the glossy surface.

“Is it some Athanate thing, Tara?” I said. “Am I just looking for blood and sex?”

“Blame it on the prions, eh? Don’t think so, sis. Sounds like you’re looking for reasons not to go ahead, to stay safe.”

“It’s not my decision to go ahead anyway. If I tell her or Alex what they’re risking, they’ll run a mile.”

“You think?” said Tara. “What is it really? Not sure about the physical side of it with Jen?”

“No. Yes.”

Tara chuckled. “This is the girl who thought sex with boys would be icky too. Got over that, didn’t you?” Her voice went serious. “You got over much worse as well.”

I sighed and got up. I wasn’t going to go there. There was a coffee shop just a couple of minutes from the park and I walked to it.

Sitting with a latte in the warmth, I remembered the note from Diana with the details of the contact for the local Weres. I pulled it out of the pocket and found I’d mixed it up with Lisa’s note giving Alex’s information. I dived back into the pocket and my fingers froze on the second note. It wasn’t Lisa’s writing on the first note, it was Diana’s. I pulled the second note out—Lisa’s note—and put them side by side. The information was the same. Alex Deauville.

Well, well, well; the wolf was at the ball. I couldn’t remember that happening in any fairy tales. His address was a couple of blocks south of the coffee shop. If he was home, I could walk there. Maybe I could get the issue of Silver Hills settled. And whatever. Something to cheer me up today. If not, it was a only a block more down to David’s house; I could go check on him.

I called Alex on the burn phone. He was there, and five minutes later he opened the door for me. He looked a bit startled.

“I did say five minutes, didn’t I?”

“Oh, yes. No, it’s not that. Come on in.” He stood back and waved me into the living room. “Would you like some coffee?”

“Just had one, thanks.” I was disappointed and I wondered what had happened. The Alex at the ball would have used the opportunity to kiss me. At the very least on the cheek.

The house had a split level towards the front, with a kitchen and dining room above the entrance hall. The living room took the whole back of the house. We walked in and sat down.

“I—”

“Thanks—”

We both spoke and stopped at the same time. At least that got a laugh and the awkwardness seemed to lessen. Grinning, he ducked his head and held his hands up. “You first.”

I shifted in my seat. His smile had sent delicious little shivers up my spine. I forced that to the back of my mind. I had business first.

“I just wanted to start by thanking you for running interference at the ball,” I said. “And thanks to your friends as well.”

“My pleasure. It was the least I could do when I realized what was happening.”

I looked sharply at him. “Other than me saying something had come up, what made you realize what was happening?”

“It wasn’t what you said. It was the adrenaline charge you got when your security didn’t answer. And the conversation you had with Kingslund.”

“You could hear all that? You can tell when I’ve got adrenaline overload?” He nodded. I took a deep breath. “That’s a wolf thing, isn’t it?”

He smiled again, and I saw I’d gotten it right the first time I’d seen him; there was something untamed in his eyes.
Woof
. He didn’t seem at all concerned about my comment. “I brought a couple of the pack with me to make sure you got to a car. Then I saw the doorman and I realized what was going on.”

“Maybe I will have that coffee,” I said. “I think this might be a long conversation.”

We moved up to the kitchen and I sat on a stool at the central breakfast bar. I enjoyed the show, even moving his computer equipment out of the way to ensure my view was unobstructed.

“I called your dressmaker yesterday—”

“Sorry about giving you the wrong card,” I murmured.
My dressmaker!
He made it sound as if I would only wear clothes that had been handmade for me.

He waved it off. “I wanted to call you and…” He slowed up. I leaned on the breakfast bar, resting my chin on my hand and giving him my undivided attention. I wished I had put on a button-up shirt rather than the T I was wearing. Much better for leaning forward, even for me. “I wanted to call you
and
I wanted to talk about what happened,” he finished.

“Okay. Let’s get what happened out of the way first.”

He put the coffee in front of me and sat down on the other side of the bar. “My haulage company handles Tucker Beacon. He’s been my largest client, ever since he was my first client. He asked me for a favor, and I agreed to help him out against Kingslund a few weeks back,” he said.

“You’re talking about scaring off the construction crew at Silver Hills.”

Alex looked startled, then he nodded. “You obviously know about it. We didn’t want a resort there. Jack didn’t want the pressure on his resort. The pack went up to Bitter Hooks and we had a little fun. No one got hurt. The construction’s been delayed or canceled. I was fine with that.”

“But Jack’s still under pressure,” he went on, “and I think he’s got Matlal putting even more pressure on him. I know the fake doorman. He’s Tucker’s fixer for dirty problems, and when I saw him, I knew this went way beyond what I was willing to be involved in. Hearing that the cab blew up later just confirmed that.

“I’ve got nothing you could go to the police with, but I wanted to warn you and Kingslund and tell you that I’m out of it. What I did on Friday night was the least I could do to make up.”

I nodded. “Bitter Hooks?”

“Silver Hills is just a marketing name. It was called Bitter Hooks. That’s derived from the old Arapaho name—Spirit Wolf.” He smiled. “It’s a special place for us and we like that name.”

“So do I,” I said. “Well, anyway, thank you, on behalf of me and Jen.”

What had I said? Alex’s body language had suddenly gone cold again.

“You seem okay with me knowing you’re a werewolf,” I said.

He looked surprised. “I thought all you vamps were told about us. You act as if it was a secret.”

“Ahh. Okay. I’m Athanate, but I was solo. I only made a connection with House Altau in the last week or so.”

His eyes widened. “A solo vamp? Jesus! How does that happen?”

“It happens sometimes. It’s a long story. For a long fall evening in front of the fire maybe. With a bottle of wine.”

Alex rocked back on his stool.
Was that a bit forward of me? Bad girl.
But then he grinned again.

“What about you?” I said. “How did you become a Were?”

He ducked his head a little. I’m not subtle, but I’m not insensitive. He didn’t want to talk about it. “Oh, it involved researching the Arapaho wolf clan and not understanding the risks.” He refilled our cups. “Details will only be divulged if you hold my feet to the fire. Or hide the wine.”

“Deal. But we were interrupted at the ball. I’m even more interested now to hear why you gave up being a doctor. Was that a wolf thing too?”

He nodded. “I’m okay in everyday medical situations, but I was in emergency care. There’s two problems with that for a werewolf; the sheer amount of blood is unsettling, and obviously, I was concerned with the possibility of accidentally infecting someone.”

“So you became a werewolf and joined the local pack?”

He nodded again. “That’s about it. It’s not so well ordered as you vamps, but at least I knew what was happening. I was able to change successfully on my own and, like vamps, we can sense other Weres, so I found the pack.” He sipped his coffee. “I’m trying to find a way to help those who can’t change and make the process a little smoother.”

“Some werewolves can’t change?”

“Yes,” he said, and something passed behind his eyes. “And it’s eventually fatal, a bit like vamps not drinking blood.”

“You said there was a chance of infection if you worked as a doctor. So you can pass it on if you just nicked your finger and you were working on someone?”

He grimaced. “Yeah, it’s possible. It would be unlikely in any one case, or a hundred cases, but working in emergency care, it would happen sooner or later. The infection passes in blood, or any other fluids,” he said casually. Typical doctor, making it all sound icky. “Not that you should be concerned of course, as a vamp.”

He registered that my mouth was open.

“You didn’t know?” I just shook my head dumbly. Suddenly,
maybe,
I wasn’t playing just for a bit of a thrill. If he couldn’t infect me…

“Weres and vamps can’t infect each other,” he said. “Look, I’ve made some assumptions and maybe it would be better to go back to the beginning and start again.” He paused. “You’re a new Athanate and you’re part of Altau, but you haven’t gone through their Aspirant process?”

“Not so new,” I said. “The process has taken a long time with me, otherwise yes.”

“But at the ball, you knew about me?”