Blood Moon: A Rowan Gant Investigation Read online

  Still, Ben had started out a skeptic the first time he’d enlisted my help, and he continued walking a jagged line between acceptance and doubt. At the moment, his path was obviously veering deeply into the belief side of the two, if for no other reason than to help him make sense out of tragedy. Of course, that was something we all had a tendency to do when faced with realities we weren’t sure we wanted to accept.

  “Did Carl even know about Constance?” I asked.

  “I dunno…” he shook his head. “Prob’ly not. I didn’t even know what was happenin’ with him until Mona called my cell, and he was already gone by then. But that’s not the point. What about some kinda divine intervention or somethin’?”

  “I know that’s how it might look on the surface,” I told him. “Believe me, I’m not denying that at all. But we all know that looks can be deceiving. Maybe I’m wrong in this case, but not everything that happens is being influenced by some ethereal cosmic force. Sometimes a coincidence is just that, Ben. A coincidence.”

  “You’re the last person on earth I’d expect ta’ say somethin’ like that, Row.”

  “Yeah, I know. It does sound kind of strange coming from me, doesn’t it?”

  “Uh-huh… Well, maybe you’re right, but that don’t make it any less weird-ass fucked up. Know what I mean?”

  I let out my own sigh then hung my head and contemplated the asphalt surface of the pathway. “I’ll give you that.”

  When I looked up again he was still frowning and massaging his neck. After a moment he let his hand drop then glanced at his watch again. Casting another gaze over his shoulder at the access road, he sighed, “Looks like it’s startin’ ta’ break up a bit. Should be in good shape in a minute or two.”

  “Yeah,” I replied with a nod.

  “Rowan, why don’t you go ahead and give me your keys then,” Felicity said, shivering as she spoke. “I think maybe I will go warm up in the truck. Besides, I’m sure I need to fix my makeup.”

  “You’re pretty enough just like you are,” I told her but still dug around in my pocket and extracted the keys then handed them to her.

  “Aye and you’re blind,” she returned. “I’d rather check for myself.”

  I could hear in her voice that the words had been delivered on automatic. They were her pat response to being told she looked just fine, and right now she was too emotionally preoccupied for anything more interactive. I envied her that, but not in a begrudging sense. I would have a chance to take my feelings off hold later. I hoped.

  In reality, her desire to wait in the truck was serendipitous. I still had a question for Ben, but it was something I didn’t want to ask with Felicity around. It had been starting to look as though it was going to have to wait, but now a fresh opportunity was emerging. Of course, given the nature of the question and the fact that I had just poked holes in the thin fabric of my friend’s already tenuous belief in the paranormal, I wasn’t sure he would take me seriously. At the very least, I knew I was once again going to be playing the hypocrite in his eyes.

  “You take care of yourself, Felicity,” Ben told her. “Do me a favor and tell Mona I’ll be by later, okay?”

  “I will,” she answered, detaching from me and stepping forward to give him a hug. “I’m sure she would appreciate that. You’ll give Constance our love, then?”

  “Yeah, will do.” He gave her a squeeze in return while saying. “You gonna be okay?”

  “Aye,” she said. “Eventually.”

  “Ya’know she was doin’ ‘er job, right? Constance doesn’t blame you for what happened.”

  “You can’t know that, Ben.”

  “Yeah, I can. Trust me, it’s a cop thing.”

  “Maybe so,” my wife replied as she pulled away, tears starting to well in her eyes again. “But that doesn’t…”

  “I’m tellin’ ya’ don’t go there…” he returned, cutting her off as he reached out and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “She may be a Feeb, but she’s still a badge. She was doin’ ‘er job. B’sides, she’s gonna be fine.” He let out a nervous chuckle that sounded as if he was trying to reassure himself as much as her, then added, “Ya’ don’t really think she’s gonna let me off the hook that easy, do ya’?”

  I caught a glimpse of a forced smile pulling at the corner of her mouth as she tried to respond to his attempt at cheering her up and then watched as her lips quickly turned back into a frown. She shot a glance toward me, and I could see in her expression that she was wrestling with a different guilt entirely. I had a feeling I knew the source of the anguish all too well because I was feeling it too. And I suspected the two of us weren’t the only ones fending off the pain it brought. Ben probably was as well but when it came right down to it, none of us wanted to be the first to confess the sin.

  She looked back at him and said, “Thank you,” before turning fully to face me and adding, “Don’t be long?”

  Her voice was soft, yet held the benign note of insistence that was so often exchanged between husbands and wives, telling me she wanted to be on the way soon. When I looked into her eyes, however, a “demand” wasn’t what I saw.

  If anything, she wore an expression that was no less than a pleading question mark.

  CHAPTER 3:

  Ben and I both watched after Felicity as she walked down the path and started along the edge of the access road rather than chance crossing the soft ground in heels. The hard sound of her shoe soles against the asphalt dulled with each step she took, but I continued to gaze in her direction until she disappeared behind the end of a small hedgerow.

  Certain she was out of earshot, my friend turned to me and asked, “Whaddaya think? She really gonna be okay?”

  “Yeah, she’ll be fine. Like she said, it’s just going to take some time,” I replied, nodding my head. “She hasn’t really had the opportunity to decompress yet, obviously. Neither of us has. There are just things we both still have to come to terms with.”

  I left it at that. I wasn’t about to get into a deep explanation. Not here, and not now. There was something sacrosanct about the moment and location that made me feel like doing so would be blasphemous, even in a secular sense. Besides, in my mind at least I had something more important that needed to be addressed. Unfortunately, right now my friend was intent on being just that, a friend, so he continued to probe out of concern.

  “So what about you, Row? You holdin’ on?”

  “I have to—for now anyway. We can’t have both of us turning into basket cases simultaneously.”

  “Why not? If ya ask me ya’ both deserve it after what you’ve been through.”

  “I won’t argue with you there.” I shrugged. “But, my time will come later. Right now she needs it more.”

  “Yeah, I know what ya’ mean… So have ya’ been talkin’ ta’ Helen at least?” he asked, referring to his sister, who was not only a friend but a therapist who had helped all of us cope with some of the horrors we had faced over the years.

  “Not yet, but we will.”

  “Good. Make it soon, ‘kay?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “Soon.”

  He huffed out a sigh and looked back toward the dispersing traffic once again. “So, listen, I hate ta’ run, but you need ta’ get back ta’ Firehair, and I really should go ahead and get movin’. I’ll catch up with you two and let ya’ know how Constance is doin’, okay?”

  He reached to shake hands, so I extended my own out of reflex. A moment later he was turning to leave, and I realized I was completely sidetracked. I had allowed his concern for Felicity and me to dominate the remainder of our conversation, and now my unexpected opportunity was about to escape.

  “Hey, Ben,” I blurted, just as he was about to take a step. “Before you go can I ask you something?”

  “Yeah, what’s up?” he said, stopping and turning back to face me.

  The question I had for him was one I wasn’t so sure he was going to want to answer—for several reasons, not the least of which could be wh
ere it might lead. I started to ask it anyway, but then hesitated as my mind flashed on the still fresh memories of the recent investigation—in particular, a victim Annalise Devereaux had literally trampled to death, using his prurient fetish as a vehicle for his demise and in the process, her own twisted gratification. My query was directly related to something she had done with that victim’s blood, and it was weighing on me heavily. In fact, it had been ever since I’d seen it.

  Obviously, my pause was longer than I imagined because Ben furrowed his brow and looked at me with worry in his eyes as he gave me a verbal nudge. “What’s wrong, Row?”

  “Sorry…” I told him, then let out a heavy sigh and asked, “Remember when we were at the scene of the Lewis homicide?”

  “Yeah, I may be on the downhill slide ta’ fifty but I ain’t senile yet. That was just a few days ago, white man.”

  “So then I’m sure you remember the piece of spellwork Annalise did in the kitchen with the blood and the cloves, right?”

  “Well yeah… It was the reason I took ya’ there ta’ begin with.”

  “Exactly. Do you know if anyone ever found the bottle or jar that she used?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Not that I’ve heard. But I’m on suspension, so I don’t exactly get daily reports. Why?”

  “Dammit,” I muttered. I had been afraid that was going to be the case, and I knew it meant I would have to ask a different question he wouldn’t be nearly as quick to answer. I sucked in a breath and blurted it out anyway. “Okay, then is there any chance you can tell me where Annalise is right now?”

  “Yeah, in an eight-by-twelve cussin’ the fact that bright orange ain’t ‘er color. Don’t worry, she’s not gettin’ out.”

  “I’m not worried. About that anyway. But I do need to know where she is specifically. Saint Louis? Somewhere else?”

  “Ain’t important, white man,” he returned with a hard, dismissive tone underscoring the words. Even with that, at least his overall reaction was calmer than I had expected it might be.

  “Do you even know where she’s being held, Ben?”

  “Yeah. She’s in an eight-by-twelve, just like I said.”

  “Dammit, you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, well actually I do know where she is. But I’m tellin’ ya’ to leave it alone, Row.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “No, seriously, Ben. I can’t.”

  “Okay, I’ll play. Ya’ wanna give me a good reason why?”

  “Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve got a bad feeling this isn’t over yet.”

  “What isn’t over?”

  “Miranda.”

  “What? How the hell can it not be over?” he almost barked the question. “The bitch is in custody. There’s enough hard evidence ta’ get ‘er the needle. It’s a slam-dunk. Once the Feebs are done with her, she’s gonna be puttin’ in her order for a last meal. It’s done. Finished.”

  “You’re talking about Annalise,” I told him, nodding my head in agreement. “But I’m talking about Miranda. The Lwa that was using her as a horse.”

  He shook his head. “Horse. Jeez, that gets me every time I hear it.”

  “It’s just Vodoun terminology for the body a spirit possesses, Ben.”

  “Yeah, I know, you told me. Still sounds weird though.” He threw up his hands and shook his head. “Either way, white man, it doesn’t matter. Like you said, Miranda’s a ghost.”

  “Actually she’s a Vodoun ancestral spirit.”

  “Say it however ya’ want. Horse, Spirit, Low-ahh, Miranda, I don’t care—you’re still talkin’ about a friggin’ ghost.”

  “If that’s what you insist on calling her, fine. But the fact remains, she’s still out there.”

  “Row, she ain’t real.”

  “Yes, she is. You’ve seen way too…”

  “Gimme a break, you know what I meant,” he interrupted. “How many times do I hafta tell you I can’t help ya’ there? I can’t arrest somethin’ I can’t even see.”

  “I’m not asking you to.”

  “Then would ya’ like to explain exactly what it is you’re wantin’?”

  “Access to Annalise.”

  He snorted out a sarcastic chuckle. “Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. Get real. Why don’t we go back ta’ me arrestin’ the ghost, it’d prob’ly be easier.”

  “It’s my only recourse at this point,” I replied.

  “What’s seein’ her got ta’ do with Miranda?”

  “Maybe everything.”

  “Well, ya’ might as well forget it. Even if I wasn’t suspended, there ain’t enough strings on the planet I could pull ta’ get you access ta’ her. Not that I would if I could.”

  “Well I need to find some way to make it happen, so if you won’t help me I’ll have to find someone who will.”

  “Yeah, well good luck. C’mon, Row. Seriously. Whaddaya need ta’ see ‘er for?”

  “To find out what she did with that spell.”

  “Okay, so we’re back around to the missin’ bottle-jar thing.”

  “It’s more than just a bottle, Ben,” I replied. “You know that.”

  “Uh-huh. All I know is what you said, and the way I remember it, you didn’t know exactly what it was yourself.”

  “At the time I didn’t, but now I’ve got a theory.”

  “Why am I not surprised?”

  “So are you suddenly doubting me?” I asked.

  “I didn’t say that…” He shook his head and huffed out a resigned breath. “Okay, fine, so you wanna share this theory or is it top secret?”

  “I think the spellwork she did might have something to do with bonding Felicity to the Lwa.”

  “So you think the jar thing is why Firehair flipped out again and went all psycho bitch even though you did a bunch of hocus-pocus to keep it from happenin’.”

  “That’s pretty much it.”

  “Why?”

  “I just do.”

  “Are ya’ sure?”

  “Like I said, it’s a theory.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t tell me… Ya’ got a feelin’…”

  “Yes.”

  “Friggin’ wunnerful,” he huffed. “So five minutes ago ya’ stood here and told me I was wrong about Deck and Constance, but now you got a feelin’, and I’m s’posed ta’ just accept it without question?”

  “Yeah, Ben, I know how that sounds… But, that’s usually how this works. You said it yourself. I’m the Witch, not you.”

  “Uh-huh, well you oughta be glad you don’t really ride a broom ‘cause I’d shove it up your ass right about now if ya’ did…” He paused, and looked at me for a moment then finally said, “Jeezus… Okay… So just how bad is this feelin’ anyway?”

  “Bad enough.”

  “Lovely,” he muttered. “Does Felicity know?”

  “I haven’t mentioned it just yet. I don’t really want to worry her with this right now.”

  “Crap, Row… Isn’t she the whole reason you’re…”

  I cut him off. “Don’t worry, I plan to tell her. I just didn’t want to drop it on her just yet. She’s still coming to terms with the fact that Miranda possessed her to begin with. Not to mention finding out that Annalise is actually her half sister. It’s like a damned soap opera, and she’s got a lot to digest. Not to mention that everything else that’s happened the past few days isn’t making it any easier.”

  “Yeah… I know… I’m just sayin’ don’t wait too long on that, or she’ll be the one gettin’ hold of ya’ with the broom when she finds out… Hell, I know how she is, and I ain’t even the one married to ‘er…”

  “I know, Ben. Believe me, I know. And I’ll tell her.”

  He fell silent for a moment then shook his head. “So… ‘Bad enough’. Just exactly how bad is that? And gimme somethin’ specific. Like, is Miranda gonna climb inside Firehair’s head again or what?”

  “Well, we know for a fact she’d like to. An
d if I’m right, that’s what the spell meant to facilitate. But I don’t plan on letting it happen.”

  “Seems ta’ me you weren’t too successful at stoppin’ it this last go ‘round.”

  “I know, but let’s just say this time I’m holding an ace,” I replied.

  “What kinda ace?”

  “A necklace.”

  “A necklace?”

  “Long story. Just trust me.”

  “Yeah. Trust you,” he harrumphed. “Famous last words. Okay, so if you got this necklace, then why do ya’ hafta find this bottle so bad?”

  “Because I don’t like loose ends. Especially this kind. Besides, if I’m right, the necklace and whatever is in that bottle are connected, so it’s really the key to ending all of this.”

  He stared at me for a second then looked at his watch. “Look, I really gotta get movin’. So is this just a Witch thing, or do I need to be worried at my end?”

  “It’s definitely a Witch thing,” I said. “Like I said, it’s not a good idea to leave magick like that to its own devices. It can have a tendency to take on a life of its own.”

  “Yeah, yeah, okay, but cut ta’ the chase. Are ya’ tellin’ me this is just you bein’ anal, and it ain’t an emergency, or is it somethin’ else?”

  “Could be all of the above or maybe none of the above. I don’t know for sure.”

  “Jeezus, Row. Do you ever give straight answers?” He huffed out the question in a disgusted tone and didn’t wait for my reply. “Just tell me straight—are there gonna be more bodies turnin’ up because of this?”

  “I’d like to say no, but I can’t for sure.”

  “Dammit, Row…”

  “Honestly, I don’t know, Ben,” I appealed. “I certainly hope not. But, we know Miranda wants to use Felicity as a horse just like she did with Annalise, and she’s proven she’ll do anything to get to her… If I don’t sever the connection and finish this for good… Well… It’s hard to know what she’ll do. I will say this though—it’s a good bet that if you do end up with more bodies, mine will probably be the first.”