“But you still wanted the money.”
Violet’s expression turned condescending. “Well, duh. Except the problem was that Lucien had made Athene his heir, and Eugene would only inherit his money if she was dead, too. So we had to take care of that problem as well. Luckily, the both of them being here in Globe and away from all the protection spells they’d cast on their homes back in L.A. was all the opening we needed.”
While that revelation made some sense, I couldn’t ignore one inconsistency in the narrative. “But you helped him cast a protection spell on Friday night,” I pointed out. “Athene told me about it.”
“Using sex magic,” Violet replied before adding with a smirk, “I faked it.”
Ah. Well, if she’d pretended to have an orgasm, then the spell wouldn’t have been solid…and it would have left both Lucien and Athene open to magical attack.
“And where do I come in?” I asked, doing my best to sound calm. I had to guess they didn’t mind telling me the truth because they planned to get rid of my troublesome self as soon as I’d done whatever it was that they needed from me.
The couple exchanged a glance. Looking at them, I had to wonder how they’d managed to conceal their relationship from Lucien. The man had his faults, but no one could have accused him of being imperceptive.
On the other hand, he also had an ego the size of the Titanic. Most likely, he hadn’t seen the signs because he couldn’t allow himself to believe that anyone would prefer his far less talented and charismatic brother over himself.
Except Eugene had turned out to be just as powerful after all.
He frowned. His eyebrows were as sparse as his brother’s, an odd contrast to his thick hair. Maybe he’d had a little help in that department, either via some kind of enchantment…or a lifetime membership in Hair Club for Men.
“Lucien hid his will,” he said. “I’ve looked everywhere, and I can’t find it. He must have put some kind of concealment spell on it.”
“What makes you think I would know where it is?” I asked. “Lucien never mentioned a will to me.”
“Maybe not, but you can talk to him, right?”
I stared at Eugene in consternation. How could he know that?
Looking smug, he went on, “Yes, I was down by the river when you had your little tête-à-tête with my dearly departed brother. Poor guy was having a hard time getting the words out, wasn’t he? But you still could hear him.”
Too bad I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me until it was too late, I thought. If I’d only put the pieces together even ten minutes earlier….
But that couldn’t be helped now. I had to pretend to go along with their wishes until I could come up with a way to extricate myself from the stickiest situation I’d ever found myself in.
“So…you want me to talk to Lucien so he’ll reveal the location of his will?” I asked.
“Exactly. Then we’ll go back to Los Angeles, and you can go on with…well, whatever it is you’re doing in this useless little town.”
I bristled with indignation on Globe’s behalf, although I knew I had far bigger things to worry about than Eugene Dershowitz impugning my adopted hometown’s reputation. Maybe I wasn’t exactly familiar with how cold-blooded killers operated, but every instinct was telling me that he was lying, and that he and Violet had absolutely no intention of allowing me to keep breathing after I’d given them what they wanted.
And actually, I didn’t need instincts, not when I could see the flicker of murderous blood-red points all through Eugene’s murky aura. Violet’s wasn’t much better, although the odd little yellow and orange surges through her aura seemed to indicate more amusement at watching me squirm than simple bloodlust. Nice of that particular gift to make an appearance now, although it would have been a lot more helpful when Violet first appeared at my apartment.
“So, we’re going back down to the river?” I asked. That notion didn’t sit very well with me, mostly because Eugene had already proved that he thought it was a great place for a quiet little murder.
“No,” he replied, and relief flooded through me. “I don’t want to give anyone a chance to interfere. You’ve got a crystal ball, right?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll use that to contact him. Go get it.”
I wanted to tell him he couldn’t order me around like one of his brother’s GLANG lackeys, but I realized I didn’t have much say in the matter, thanks to my current situation. Without replying, I got up from the easy chair and headed into the office. Eugene followed, probably to make sure I wouldn’t try to call for help.
The image of my phone lying on the table next to my bed passed through my mind, but I knew there was no way I could slip into the bedroom to grab it, not with Eugene like an evil shadow on my trail. I turned on the light in the office, murmuring a silent apology to Archie for barging in like this, although I didn’t see him in his bed. Well, he also liked to curl up on the rug in front of the stacking washer/dryer in the laundry room, so maybe that was where he’d headed.
I hoped so. This night might be my last on earth, but I didn’t want poor Archie sucked into the whole sorry mess. He already had enough to worry about.
Silently, I went over to the altar and lifted the crystal ball and its stand from the table. I hated letting Eugene see that sacred space — altars tended to be private, although I hadn’t had a problem with Calvin getting a look — but I doubted he would have heeded any requests to stay in the hallway.
“Back to the living room,” Eugene commanded, and I stalked past him, head held high. Maybe he planned to kill me in some gruesome magical way after I’d given him what he wanted — ritual sacrifice or something — but I wasn’t about to let him see how shaken I was.
When we got back, I noticed that Violet had changed out of the oversized T-shirt I’d lent her and back into the black dress she’d been wearing when she first turned up on my doorstep. If only the universe had sent me a sign that she was up to no good — a tingle down my back, or even something as simple as the call dropping so she couldn’t ask to come over.
Not that she would have given up so easily.
I set the crystal ball down on the coffee table. Eugene didn’t sit, but remained hovering near my elbow. I was just about to tell him to back off, that I couldn’t focus with someone so obviously invading my space, but then a flicker of an idea passed through my mind.
No way of knowing whether it would work, but I had to try.
I closed my eyes and placed my hands on the crystal ball, doing my best to put on a good show. Actually, the last thing I wanted to do was contact Lucien’s ghost. My crystal ball had now resonated with my Grandma Ellen’s spirit for so many years, I honestly didn’t even know whether it would allow me to communicate with anyone else. Even if it did, though, I didn’t want Lucien’s presence entering it, fouling it. My cleansing rituals were usually very effective, but I somehow doubted they were up to the task of scrubbing Lucien Dumond out of the crystal’s intricate lattices.
And you know, that crystal ball had been very expensive. I really didn’t want to be forced into buying a new one.