“He made it pretty obvious that he didn’t like any competition. Not that I do the sort of magic that GLANG dabbles in,” I added hastily. The last thing I wanted was for Calvin to think I’d been brewing eye of newt and toe of frog or something. “But he didn’t like that I was taking clients away from him. Or at least, he thought I was poaching clients. I really wasn’t, but Lucien was never the type of person to allow reality to interfere with his view of the universe.”
“And yet he came all the way here to ask you to come back.”
“Because he did the math in his head and decided it would be better for him — and GLANG — if I was working for them. Too bad I’ve never been much of a joiner.”
Calvin absorbed this bit of information in silence. I’d noticed that about him; he wasn’t afraid to be quiet and think something through before he commented on it. I had to say, it was a nice change of pace from a lot of the guys in L.A. I’d known, the ones who barely came up for air because they were so busy talking your head off about how wonderful they were.
Hefting the medallion in his palm, he asked, “Did everyone in GLANG have one of these?”
Good question. I racked my brain, trying to recall any of my interactions with the members of the guild. Lucien liked to wear bracelets and earrings and rings, but the only pendant I’d ever seen hanging from his neck had been a heavy silver version of the Scorpio symbol. He was so proud of being a double Scorpio.
And the couple of times I’d been to his house in Encino, I’d seen a few more of the GLANG-sters, as I sometimes thought of Lucien’s followers, but I couldn’t recall if any of them had been wearing a pendant similar to the one Calvin held now. They’d all had on black clothing, loose pants and band-collared shirts for the men, loose but low-cut tank-style dresses for the women. If they’d been wearing any kind of jewelry around their necks, you’d think I would have noticed.
Come to think of it….
“The only person I ever saw wearing one was Athene Kappas,” I said, and Calvin gave a nod. Not a satisfied one, exactly, but as if that piece of information corroborated what he’d already suspected. Silently, he took a small baggie out of his pants pocket — did he have an inexhaustible supply of them in there? — and then dropped the medallion inside. That task handled, he put the baggie with its piece of evidence in his pocket before removing the latex glove he wore.
“I’ll take this back to the station and check it for fingerprints. Probably a long shot because of it being in the water overnight, but you never know.”
“And then…?” I prompted.
Dark eyes met mine. “You know what I’ve told you about ongoing police investigations.”
Of course. Still, I wouldn’t be dissuaded that easily. “Okay, you don’t have to tell me outright. Just blink once if I’m right.”
“Selena, this isn’t junior high.”
I refused to be offended. “I know. But you wouldn’t have this piece of evidence at all if it weren’t for my help, so can’t you give me just a little bit?”
An unwilling chuckle escaped his lips. “You’re very persistent, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know about that,” I said. “It’s just…I want to know what happened. No, I need to know what happened, because otherwise, everyone’s going to keep on thinking that I had something to do with Lucien’s murder even if you don’t have enough evidence to charge me. And that’s no way to start a new life in a new town.”
“Well, that’s true.” Calvin’s expression was almost sympathetic. He hesitated a moment before saying, “After I check the medallion for fingerprints, I’m going to talk to Athene Kappas again. Whether or not she’ll give me any actionable information is, of course, up to her. Is that enough for you?”
I supposed it would have to be. As easygoing as Calvin was being right now, I doubted he’d let me do a ride-along on that particular interview. “It is for now,” I replied, and he chuckled again.
“All right, you do have a vested interest in all this. I get it.”
“And you don’t think I’m guilty?”
His gaze caught mine and held. A little shiver went through me, the kind of pleasant thrill I might get from touching a nicely charged crystal.
Actually, it was way more than that. I just didn’t know whether he felt any of the same things I did.
“No,” he said quietly. “I don’t think you are.”
It turned out that I really didn’t need Calvin to give me the skinny on what was going on, not when I had Josie Woodrow on my side.
She rang the buzzer for the back entrance off the shop, since it was Sunday and the store was closed. I hurried down the stairs, wondering who could be calling and inwardly hoping it was Calvin Standingbear.
No such luck…but a little gossip with Josie wasn’t a bad second place.
I asked her if she wanted some iced tea, and of course, she accepted. Glass in hand, she settled on my couch, eyes alight with anticipation.
“I talked to Betsy, my friend with the Airbnb,” she told me in confidential tones. “It seems the woman staying there left this morning.”
“‘Left’?” I repeated. “But I thought Calvin Standingbear told her she had to stay in town.”
Josie didn’t exactly say, “aha!”, but an air of triumph about her after hearing that news told me I’d just dropped a piece of important information. Damn it. One problem with being a Gemini — you tended to run at the mouth.
“Well, she’s gone,” Josie said. “Betsy said the place was a mess, too — towels on the floor in the bathroom, half the bedclothes on the floor as well, sink full of dishes. And she said it stank so much of incense, she wasn’t sure whether she was ever going to get the smell out of the upholstery.”
I hoped Betsy had gotten a hefty deposit from Lucien and Athene. Somehow, I guessed she probably wouldn’t have any other way of covering her cleaning costs. Which led me to wonder who — if anyone — he’d designated as the heir to his not-inconsiderable fortune. He didn’t have any children, but his parents were still alive. And I knew he had a younger brother named Eugene, who’d followed in their father’s footsteps and was a dentist of some sort, although I didn’t know much more than that. I’d gotten the impression he wasn’t much involved in Lucien’s life, which I supposed was understandable.
“Oh, that’s terrible,” I said. “I suppose if Athene left in a hurry, that would explain the mess, but still.”
Josie sipped some of her iced tea. “It may explain it, but it certainly doesn’t excuse it. Betsy has her cleaning gal over there now, so I hope she can get the place straightened up without too much trouble. But where do you think she could have gone?” she went on, barely stopping to take a breath before changing the subject.
I had to guess that the “she” in Josie’s question wasn’t a reference to Betsy’s cleaning lady. “I have no idea. I mean, she didn’t have access to Lucien’s car, but I suppose she could have called Travis Cox to give her a ride somewhere.”