Joyce & Jim Lavene - Taxi for the Dead 02 - Dead Girl Blues (7 page)

“You can’t encourage her to get morbid about her life,” I told him as we started toward Nashville. “She lives with a zombie, a sorcerer, and a ghost. Her life will never be normal. The least she can have is a happy childhood.”

“Even children can be unhappy,” he said. “And they frequently recognize trouble when we are too busy to notice. There is magic in her, as there is in you. I can sense it. Don’t ignore her prophecy, Skye. It may be important.”

Chapter Eight

Even though the showers that had been anticipated the day before had never materialized, thick gray clouds hung over Nashville, obscuring the skyline in many places. Traffic was just as heavy going into the city, and drivers were just as impatient.

I made an unscheduled stop at the mechanic’s shop where Abe usually had the van repaired. It was still out in the yard with no work done on it.

“I’ll get to it when I can,” Bernie promised from under a Honda. “I’ve got work piled up. I told Abe I was too busy to work on it right away. He should’ve sent it to one of his other mechanics.”

“Just give me some kind of estimate,” I coaxed. “Or maybe you have another car I can use. This thing is a piece of crap. I barely got here today.”

Bernie peeked out at the old Festiva. “I ain’t got nothing else, honey. You better talk to Abe. I’m sorry.”

“I could take a look at it,” Lucas offered. “Not the van, but the engine on the small car. I fully understand how they work.”

“Let’s get to the mortuary first. Maybe you can do something with it there.” I glared at Bernie who shrugged and went back under the Honda. “How am I supposed to pick up zombies if the car won’t get there?”

I got in the Festiva and gunned the engine. The car shuddered and coughed until it died out again. So much for anger helping the situation.

“This is as good a place as any.” Lucas had me open the hood.

“I guess it can’t hurt for you to look at it.” I got out and watched him. “How did you learn about cars?”

He started messing around with something in the engine. “I studied the engine in the old truck since we clearly needed another tool for going places when you weren’t home. It’s very simple, based on electrical principles. Magic is roughly based on the same ideas.”

“But you haven’t been able to purposely access your magic—have you?” I studied the side of his face as he keenly went through the wiring in the engine.

“Not purposely. If there are spells or incantations, I don’t recall them. But this I understand. Get back in and start it again.”

I felt like it was a waste of time, but I did as he asked. The little engine started right up and purred like a kitten. I put my foot on the gas, and it revved loud and steady. It didn’t even die out.

“You fixed it.” No one was as surprised as me. “You could open a mechanic shop and make a lot more money than you could on jam and apple butter.”

He closed the hood and got in the car. “That might be true. I hadn’t considered it.”

“Just kidding, Lucas. Why are you so worried about making money anyway?”

“Because there are certain needs that cannot be met by bartering in your society.” He glanced out the window as a man in a gray Jag stuck his finger up at me for pulling out too slow. “I hope to help you meet those needs. Perhaps that will lessen the work you need do for Abe.”

He smiled, and I glanced away, pretending to be intent on the road. He almost made my poor dead heart dance in my chest again. That bothered me. I didn’t want to have those softer feelings for him. We helped each other. That was enough.

“Do you ever wonder if you’ll remember who you are some day?” I asked.

“Are you concerned about it? If the spells and incantations return to me, I could become the man on the computer, the one everyone dreaded.”

“I’m not worried about it, Lucas,” I reassured him. “I only care about what you are now. Besides, half of that stuff from the past isn’t true anyway. And we’re only guessing that you’re the same person.”

“So you have no faith that I can spare you from the dark one’s subjugation.”

I knew he meant Abe. I also knew that I didn’t want to be spared unless my life was going to continue. “You know I signed up for this, right?”

“After he convinced you that it was necessary to keep Kate from being alone.” He stared at me when we’d stopped for a light. “He was lying.”

“He’s been doing this a long time.” I didn’t mention that Abe knew who he was and how to use his magic. That seemed rude. Lucas was doing the best he could. No point in rubbing it in.

“And we don’t know anything for sure about me or my magic.” He said what I was thinking. “You don’t trust me.”

“I trust you a lot more than any other man in my life right now. You live with us and interact with Kate. I wouldn’t let that happen if I didn’t trust you.”

“Perhaps I meant that you don’t trust my magic.”

“Maybe.” I smiled at him. “Maybe not so much.”

“Thank you for your honesty.”

I pulled the Festiva into the back parking lot at Simon’s Mortuary. It was a pathetic looking place that needed a paint job and a new roof. Abe didn’t seem to be big on home improvement either. There was a large, dirty window in the front of the mortuary where two older mannequins stood dressed in 1950s apparel with a casket between them.

Not that any normal humans used this facility. Only Abe’s LEPs were brought here. This was where he cut the silver cord that bound us to him—the official end of our twenty borrowed years.

Brandon, who’d worked for Abe at the mortuary for almost all of his extended life, said Abe took his magic energy back when he cut the silver cord. That was why Abe could only have so many zombies at one time. His magic only extended so far. Which was why he also needed a magic user of some type to protect him.

I didn’t know if Brandon had guessed that or if Abe had told him. But he was about to find out the truth since he’d been with Abe for nineteen years. I hoped he didn’t run. I didn’t want to be the one who had to bring him here at the end.

“Skye—” Lucas tried to continue the conversation about his magic.

I pushed open the car door, not wanting to discuss something so difficult. I’d only just begun to believe magic was possible. I couldn’t knowledgeably argue with him one way or another.

Brandon came out the back door, and I didn’t have to. He was a strange little man who’d been a friend to me since I’d woken up in the mortuary on a slab. He seemed to know so much more than he was sharing, claiming to be too frightened of Abe to say anything more.

“I was wondering when you were going to get here.” His pale blue eyes searched the interior of the car. “Where’s Debbie? And what’s
he
doing here?”

“Debbie’s home today, unless we have a pick up. I brought Lucas to take a look at the murder scene and the victim.”

“I thought Abe wanted her to be with you while you investigated,” he retorted. “I don’t think he’d be happy to see Lucas here.”

“Abe told me to do what was needed to figure out who killed Harold,” I reminded him. “That’s what I’m doing.”

Brandon smiled as Lucas got out of the car. “But doesn’t Abe think Lucas killed Harold?”

“If he does, he has only respect for him. I’m sure he won’t mind if I tap into his skill set.”

Lucas reached us and held out his hand to Brandon. “Good morning. Is there a problem?”

“No. Absolutely not.” The slight breeze blew the thin blond strands of Brandon’s longish hair. “Harold is right in here. See what you think.”

We went inside. I could see Lucas’s breath in the cold air. It didn’t feel cold to me, but nothing did. Brandon led us past several closed doors to the autopsy room. I wondered if Jane Darcy was in one of those rooms.

Brandon turned on the bright overhead light and swept the green sheet off Harold’s naked body. “I got the snakes out of him. Cause of death was pretty easy—the snake in his throat suffocated him. If that hadn’t happened, the rest of the snakes inside him would have killed him for sure. They were everywhere—”

“We get the picture.” I stopped his explanation.

Lucas glanced around the otherwise empty room. “Where are the snakes?”

“They were all dead by the time we got the body in here. I removed them and put them in separate containers just in case someone asked.” Brandon grinned at him. “Would you like to take a look at them?”

“Yes,” Lucas said. “Were they all living snakes, as far as you know?”

“You mean the kind you could look up and categorize?” Brandon asked as he led us into a smaller room and switched on another light. “Yes. I looked them up last night. They were from all over the world—like someone broke into a reptile house at the zoo and liberated a few. But they were real snakes.”

Lucas immediately started examining the snakes in each glass container. He took them out and held them in his hands as he closed his eyes to concentrate on them.

“So how’s Debbie’s husband doing?” Brandon asked as we watched Lucas.

“He’s getting crazier.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what she’s going to do with him.”

“Well, we know he can’t die yet. He’s one of Abe’s people, like us. Maybe Abe can do something for him.”

“I don’t see that happening since Abe wants Debbie, do you?”

“Not really. Do you think Debbie will want Abe if she can’t control Terry?”

“I don’t know. But you better quit drooling over her before Abe notices. He might decide to terminate your contract before it’s time.”

“That won’t happen.” Brandon chuckled. “Abe’s a stickler for his contracts. He never brings anyone in early.”

I smiled at him and the worried frown that had appeared between his brows. “I’m sure you’re right. Any plans for your last year of half-life?”

“I plan to drink, gamble, and have sex with as many people as possible. Are you busy tonight, Skye?”

He was joking—at least partially so. I had no doubt that if I’d agreed to have sex with him in one of his plush coffins, he wouldn’t turn me down. I was surprised to see Lucas break his concentration to glare at Brandon for a moment before he returned his focus to the dead cobra in his hands.

“Yeah.” Brandon cleared his throat. “Just razzing you, Lucas. Really. I think of Skye as a sister. A sexy sister, but you get the idea. No need to cut off my head.”

Lucas put the cobra back into its jar and went to the sink to wash his hands. “And where did the man die?”

“Don’t you want to examine Harold?” Brandon asked.

“It’s not necessary.” Lucas dried his hands. “I would like to see where he died.”

“I’ll take you,” I volunteered. “We can walk from here.”

Lucas turned to Brandon and shook his hand again. “I wouldn’t suggest you consider Skye as you do Debbie, my friend. It could be unhealthy for you, even in your current dead state.”

Chapter Nine

“What does that mean?” I asked as Lucas and I walked outside.

“I think Brandon and I are clear on my meaning.” His brilliant green eyes stared straight ahead as we walked toward the alley.

“But I don’t think I’m clear on the meaning. Maybe you could explain.” I put my hand on his arm to stop his forward motion. “What you and I have—”

“Isn’t to be shared with others. You have my mark of protection on you, Skye.”

“But that doesn’t mean I belong to you.”

“Yet you have adjusted to the idea that you belong to Abe.”

His gaze was riveted on mine. I had his full attention. “Not all right exactly, just necessary. But you and I don’t belong to each other. We’re convenient, right? We have a give and take that works for both of us. It’s not romantic, right?”

“Are we not?” His voice was intense, deep. “Do we not belong to one another?”

I didn’t know what to say. I’d assumed his feelings for me were the same as mine for him. He was taking our relationship more seriously than I was. Maybe that was because I still loved Jacob. If Lucas had someone in his past, he probably didn’t remember. That might make it easier for him to bond with me.

“Skye?”

“I’m sorry. It’s too soon for me to feel that way about anyone. I might never feel that way again.” I put my hand on his face, hoping not to see some terrible sadness in his eyes. I didn’t want to hurt him.

He kissed my hand and then took it in his to walk the rest of the way to the alley. “Perhaps someday.”

I was glad to see Abe and Morris behind the yellow crime scene tape in the dirty alley when we arrived. Brandon must have called him.

Work was what I needed to keep from being swallowed up by grief at that moment. I understood this. It was part of me.

“Lucas!” Abe called out to him as though they were old friends. He stuck out his huge black hand. “I’m very glad to see you.”

I was afraid for a moment that Lucas wouldn’t shake his hand. But after a brief hesitation, he took Abe’s hand for a moment. He didn’t smile the way Abe did, but he was pleasant.

“Abe. I understand you have a problem.”

“That’s right.” Abe moved closer to Lucas. “Do I have you to thank for an opening in my organization?”

“No. I haven’t changed my mind about working for you. But I am here to help Skye if I can. Where was your magic user killed?”

Morris was standing right where we’d found Harold’s body. He took a step back and grinned. “Right here. Cast your magic eyes this way, sorcerer.”

Lucas gave him all the regard one would give a fly at a picnic. “If you will all back away, please.”

Abe stood beside me with Morris on the other side of Lucas.

“And you said he can’t control his magic.” Abe made a humphing sound. “He looks and feels in control to me.”

“I can’t speak for him, but I’ve never seen him use magic around the house.”

“No?” Abe’s brows went up. “What about when he killed Jasper?”

“Like I said, that was different. He seems to be able to perform magic on combustion engines if you’d like to hire him as a mechanic. Maybe my van could get repaired faster in that case.”

“Yes. I’m sorry it’s taking so long. Does the car suffice?”

I took a page from Debbie’s book. “You could get me a new van.”