The Way Home (9 page)

“I thought I'd go in first. She doesn't know me. She might think that she can work me if I'm kind to her. Plus, I've been told I'm handsome, though I doubt you'd be surprised at how many times it's worked in my favor. We should stop for water and a snack, really get her guard down.”

Houdini realized that Shepard was excited, or excited as he'd ever seen him, and it made sense. Things like this were likely a regular part of his job. He'd been surprised by all that Shepard had said earlier, though, about relationships, because he was usually very stoic.

Deacon was waiting for them on the back porch with Mike and Lane on either side of him. Nate and Eddie were likely at Rose's house, keeping an eye on Vera and everyone else. Houdini approached, all business and ready to get at Rita.

Deacon blocked him before he could go into the house. “Eddie found RI Ltd. They have a physical address in Maryville. I've got Nate riding up there to do some recon. He'll get in touch as soon as he can.” He glanced over to Shepard. “I had Mike and Lane move them, they're in the living room.”

“Shepard goes in first,” Houdini sat down. “Who's got a cigarette?”

“I do,” Adelaide came out of the shadows next to the house. She came and sat next to him, leaned her head on his shoulder. “I saw something today. I'm not sure what it was, but Susan was there and she was alive.”

Adelaide's visions had disappeared when Josiah had died; it was common knowledge. “You don't have to say that to make me feel better.”

“I'm not,” she protested. “I just know and need you to know. I know how you must be feeling, not knowing where she is.”

Houdini felt a little awkward with Adelaide now practically sitting on his lap, but she'd also been the sort who needed affection. He never minded giving it to her, but that was before Susan. Adelaide let out a laugh. “Don't worry, I'm not seducing you Houdini. I've got a secret. I want you to know before it's public knowledge. I'm pregnant.”

“What?” Houdini turned to look at her. “Are you crazy? Staying Leader while pregnant is tantamount to suicide. People are going to see you as weak and come after you.”

“The Center City pack is strong, assisted by the Strays, I am quite confident I can remain alive until after I give birth. It'd be really great if we could all make it that long. I need you and Deke to be there as father figures, since Josiah will never get to meet our boy.” She smiled, sadly. “And I wouldn't bullshit you about Susan. I know about Willow.”

“Deke told you?” Houdini was going to punch his friend in the face the next second that they had alone. He could never truly trust Deacon again if he'd told the one thing he swore he wouldn't tell.

“Calm down,” Adelaide put her hand on his arm. “I knew about Willow because of what I know, Houdini. I can't explain it, really. I just saw it one day. Figured you'd let me know if you ever wanted to share.”

“I don't talk about her.”

“I know that,” again her smile was sad. “But we're here, I'm here if you ever need to.”

“I talk to Susan about her and about our son.”

“Son?” Adelaide went pale, her eyes wide. Obviously whatever she'd seen had only been about Willow. He was strangely glad for that, the image of a dead child wasn't meant for someone as sensitive as Adelaide. On that subject, the role of Leader wasn't suited for someone as sensitive as she was.

It seemed like all around him there were little bombs waiting to go off at the slightest thing. It was almost too much for him to take. No matter what distraction was thrown at him, his mind soon returned to the fact that he didn't know where the fuck Susan was.

“Leave it, Adelaide.” Houdini rose to his feet. “Think he's had enough time?” He was suddenly eager to get inside and get his hands around Rita Clark's throat.

“It's been five minutes,” Deacon pointed out. “Let's give them ten. Call Eddie, he's waiting to brief you on what he's found so far. Just keep breathing, Brother. It's all we can do.”

Houdini walked away without another word, brought his phone to his ear and called Eddie. As far as he could tell, Eddie was an alright guy, if a little slow on the uptake, which might have had a relation to the amount of time that he spent high. “What do you have?”

“The physical address is probably nothing, I looked the address up online. It's residential and according to the cable company, the account is registered to Edgar and June Redmond. They're old, really old. It might be that someone is using it as a dead drop. Nate should be there any minute. So, I searched Redmond and RI Ltd but there was no connection which makes no sense. I'm looking as deep as I can, but I'm almost over my head, Houdini. I don't know how much more I can get.”

“Look for RI Ltd in the cable company databases, lots of companies use cable internet. And find out all you can about Edgar and June.” Houdini needed to get back to the warehouse and get on it himself but not as much as he needed to get in that house. “I'll be there as soon as I can.”

After he hung the phone up, he stood there a moment and stared out at the dark woods. There were members of the pack out there now, searching for any trace of Susan or her bear. He'd felt a moment of jealousy when he realized they could find her better than he could. With his average senses he'd barely stand a chance of actually smelling her. It was hard to stand around, doing nothing when she was somewhere. Determined to go inside, he returned to the porch, to find only Adelaide sitting there.

“Wait, Houdini. Stay out here with me.” She popped up to her feet, blocked his path. Her expression was one he couldn't read, but it made his gut tighten sickly.

“What the fuck is going on?” Houdini demanded.

“She's talking,” she informed him. “But she won't do it if you're in there. She doesn't think you'll like what she has to say.”

“What is she saying?” He closed the distance between them, grabbed Adelaide hard by the arms. “What the fuck is she saying?”

“She told Shepard that Susan is the informant.”

“That's bullshit.”

“We know that,” she winced a little. “Could you maybe ease up a little, please? We know that she's not the leak but we need to figure out who is. It has to be someone else, someone close. I know that you want to storm in there and tear her apart, but you can't. You've got to stay cool, for now, please.”

“She is not a fucking rat. I won't let anyone say anything against her. She's mine! She's my mate. She's my....” Houdini couldn't say another word because his voice cracked. Suddenly his legs were too heavy to stand, so he moved to the porch, sat. He rested his head in his hands, felt Adelaide sit down next to him.

He didn't want her comfort, but he couldn't send her away. She ran her hand slowly up and down his back in a motion that reminded him of his mother. For some reason it was the thought of the woman who'd loved and raised him that broke past the rage and blood lust, broke through to the pain.

At first Houdini didn't understand why his eyes were burning but then the tears began to fall. He was horrified and relieved at the same time. Before Adelaide could notice he got back to his feet, wiped his eyes. “Alright, tell me what we're going to do.”

“I'm not quite sure,” she admitted. “But I am sure that Deke and Shepard will have come up with something. Maybe you should just head back to the warehouse. I know that you're dying to get online and see what you can come up with.”

“You wouldn't lie to me, Adelaide? Tell me that no one believes Rita when they do? Because if that's the case, you need to just come clean now. Susan is not informing anyone on anything, anyone who says otherwise is going to have to deal with me.”

“I wouldn't lie to you, Houdini. We all know Susan. We all love her.” Adelaide reached up and cupped his face. “Look at me.”

Houdini brought his eyes to hers. “I can't let that bitch sit in there and spread rumors when she's missing. She's missing, Adelaide, she's somewhere alone and probably scared and there's nothing that I can do about it.”

“Except that there is, you need to go and make your magic. You've got a strong gift with a computer, Houdini. Use it now.”

Houdini wasn't stupid. He knew that Adelaide was trying to get him to leave without facing Rita Clark, and maybe she was right, maybe he should simply walk away and let her think she had them fooled, but he couldn't do that. Not with Susan missing. Not when whatever lies Rita was spewing might plant a seed of doubt in someone's mind as to who she was.

“Houdini, NO!”

Houdini ignored her and started towards the house. He flung the front door open, saw that while Rita was still bound at the wrists she was no longer confined to the chair but sitting on the couch holding a cup of something. At the sight of him, the entire room reacted. Deacon moved forward. “Calm down, Houdini.”

“I'd say that's not likely,” Shepard said dryly.

“You're letting her accuse someone who isn't here to defend herself?” Houdini looked between the two men with disgust. Even if there was some vital piece of information that Rita had, there were other ways to get it without besmirching Susan's reputation.

“Why do you think she's not here? She knew that the jig was up, so to speak.” Rita had a self-satisfied smirk on her face. Houdini took a breath, tried to ignore the way that his fingers were clenched into fists. He wanted to smash her smirking, lying face into bloody pieces. Shepard seemed to realize what his intention was because he stepped up next to Deacon.

If they thought that they would be able to stop him, they were wrong. The only reason that Houdini didn't rip them both to pieces right there was because he considered them friends, but that was only going to get them so much leeway. In that moment, he realized that there was nothing, not the Strays or The Vikings, that meant more to him than Susan did.

“No one is taking her word as gospel,” Shepard reached out and put a hand on Houdini's shoulder. “We are simply trying to ascertain exactly what is going on and who the informant within our ranks is.”

“If such an informant exists,” Houdini pointed out. “She's most likely talking out of her ass, saying anything that she can to save her own skin.” He moved past the two men, over to where Rita sat, and loomed over her. He was glad when she swallowed hard, her eyes moving nervously around the room. “You say you're telling me the truth. Give us proof. Cold hard proof.”

“Like you're going to trust anything I give you.”

“Proof or your life, those are your options.” Houdini had already thought it out and he didn't care who backed his play. This was happening on his terms.

“I second that,” Deacon spoke as he came to stand next to Houdini. “If Susan is the informant, give us proof.”

Ethan Clark shouted something from behind his gag, moved as much as he could considering his position and the damage done to him earlier to draw attention to himself. Houdini looked over at him; there was a light in his eyes. Rita Clark flinched when Houdini moved but he only turned his back to her. He walked to her husband, took out the gag. “You got something to say, Ethan? It better be good.”

“It's not Susan,” he gasped the words, wheezing heavily. “It's someone from town, one of the pack. I don't know who, would say if I did.”

“How do you know that they're from town, Ethan?” Houdini questioned. He looked over at Rita, saw that she was keeping her expression as blank as possible.

“We did more than transport for RI Ltd...”

“You shut your mouth, Ethan. For once in your life, be a man.”

“Fuck you, Rita. Christ, I've wanted to say that for years. Fuck you. The informant would tell Rita what they knew, they always met at Lillian's Locks. People would talk about anyone from out of town being there.” Ethan's speech seemed to suck the energy out of him; he must have been running on pure adrenaline.

Everyone from Center City knew that was true. There were three main places to gossip at in town; The Bar, Rose's and Lillian's Locks. An outsider would draw attention and set tongues wagging, but knowing where the meetings went down didn't bring them any closer to finding out who the informant was. Just about every female who got her hair done in Center City went to Lillian's, and those who didn't made sure to give her a wide berth if they passed her on the street.

Houdini looked over at Deacon. His gut told him that Ethan was telling the truth, especially with the way Rita Clark had gone pale underneath her sprayed-on tan. Why women thought that orange skin was alluring was beyond him.

“Get him out of here,” Deacon looked over to Mike. “Wouldn't want him to have to watch his wife die.”

“I wouldn't mind.” Ethan spoke up.

Shepard laughed, much to everyone's surprise; he wasn't much on laughter. “I say let him stay. Let him live for what he gave us, even if it wasn't much. If it turns out to be false information, we can kill him later.”

“That's a good point. Fine by me.” Deacon looked over at Houdini. “He lives. She dies. Does that work for you?”

“Yeah, it works for me.” Houdini replied, and he didn't just say that because of Susan. He said it because of what Rita Clark had done, she'd worked with The Hunters, sent countless souls to their death. It needed to be answered for. Ethan Clark needed to answer for it, too, but for now Houdini could agree on leaving him breathing, for now.

There seemed to be no question of who would end Rita Clark; all eyes turned to him, including hers. He could see the faint glint of tears in her eyes, but he was beyond the point of being moved by them. “Proof or your life,” he drew his gun from his holster and fired. The bullet went through Rita's forehead, the force propelled her backwards, and they were going to have to burn the fucking couch. It had been ugly anyway.