Acheron Highway: A Jonathan Shade Novel (26 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Miranda leaped into my arms and planted a kiss on my lips, and her hands started pulling off my clothes.
 
Maybe this wasn’t quite the lion’s den.
 
Or maybe it was, but I’d be with Richard Pryor in that long line.
 
That didn’t sound bad, but I knew I had to resist.
 
Persephone would expect to get her way, of course.
 
Thousands of years of having followers is hard to hide.
 
Miranda would appreciate my being stalwart and true as I was there to protect her.

I grabbed her arms and held her away from me.
 
“I’m guessing there’s been no sign of Zach.”

“Nothing so far.”
 
Her breathing came hot and heavy, and she tried to push toward me again.

“Maybe I should check the perimeter.
 
Make sure everything’s cool.”

She stopped and looked disappointed but then nodded.
 
“That’s probably a good idea.
 
Are you hungry?”

“I ate on the way over.”

“I can fix you a drink.”

“It’s not even four o’clock.”

“And you want to be clear headed so you can protect me.”

“Rule number twelve in the private investigator’s handbook: stay sober during protection details.”

“OK.”

I went outside and took a quick walk around her house.
 
Most of the snow had melted on the south facing, though the grass crunched under my feet thanks to the cold.
 
The north side of the house had icy snow pack.
 
I didn’t see any footprints, so I decided not to make any.
 
Better to keep it pristine in case someone else came along.
 
I went back around the house and entered.

Miranda was nowhere in sight.

“Miranda?” I called.

“Up here,” she said.
 
Her voice came from the upstairs bedroom.
 
It sounded odd but since warning bells were already going off, I didn’t read much into it.

Either Miranda was sex starved or she was Persephone trying to use her feminine wiles to distract me.
 
I wasn’t sure how she thought sleeping with me would get me to bring Sharon to her, but logic doesn’t always apply when you’re dealing with women.
 
That’s often a good thing, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about it right then.

I took the steps two at a time and approached her bedroom.
 
I had this image of myself walking in to see her in a robe, which she’d casually let slip to the floor.

Instead, when I stepped into the bedroom, I saw her lying spread eagle on the bed.
 
She was fully clothed.
 
Four dead men held her, one on each arm and leg.
 
Zach Banner leaned against the windowsill.

“Fancy meeting you again, Mr. Shade.
 
I think I—”

He didn’t finish his sentence because as soon as I saw him, I raced forward and slammed into him like a safety blitzing the quarterback.
 
He crashed into the window.
 
The glass cracked, but the window had wood reinforcements holding the panes, and while they splintered, we didn’t go through.
 
I kept hold of him and spun him around to keep him between me and the dead guys, but the dead guys were still simply holding Miranda.

Zach looked dazed.
 
I used a chokehold, cutting off his carotid arteries, and in seconds, he passed out.
 
I lowered him to the floor, keeping my eyes on the dead guys.

With no one to command them, they simply dropped to the floor.
 
I guess Zach needed to be conscious to control them.
 
Interesting.

“You all right?” I asked.

“I think so.”
 
She climbed off the bed and stepped over the corpses to embrace me.

“How did they get inside?” I asked as I led her from the room.

“I have no idea.
 
I went into the kitchen when you went outside, and the dead men were waiting there for me.
 
They weren’t there when you first arrived, though.
 
I’d been in the kitchen just a few minutes before then.”

“Wait here,” I said.

She nodded and waited in the hall while I went back into the bedroom.

The dead men hadn’t moved, but Zach was stirring.
 
I pulled him to his feet and applied a painful wristlock and arm bar.
 
He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs.
 
That’s when I applied a bit of pressure and he winced.

“You and I are going to go downstairs,
m’man
.
 
If you try anything, I’ll break your arm, so the dead guys better stay put.
 
Clear?”

He nodded.

Good enough.
 
I walked him out of the bedroom.

“Miranda, go downstairs but go slowly.
 
If he has any more corpses here, let me know.
 
I won’t give him a chance to give them any commands.”
 
I leaned closer to Zach and whispered, “If I feel you pulling up any magic, you know what will happen.”

“You’ll break my arm.
 
I know.”

As we slowly descended the stairs, I kept my eyes on Miranda but also glanced behind me a few times to verify that the corpse quartet wasn’t following.
 
“How did you get here so fast?” I asked.

He didn’t answer at first, so I applied some pressure and he cried out in pain.
 
“Car!
 
I stole a car, OK?”

“The dead guys are pretty fresh, but they don’t seem as motivated as before.”

“Before what?” he asked.

We eased into the living room, and a quick scan told me the coast was clear.

“Should we leave?” Miranda asked.

“I think we’ll stay here for now.”
 
I guided Zach to the sofa, spun him around, and shoved him down.

He massaged his shoulder and elbow then rubbed his wrist.

“You came here to finish the job, right?”

“Wrong,” he said.
 
He looked over at Miranda, then at me and sighed.
 
“I finished the job the first time around.
 
I came here to verify that she was up and around, but I can’t understand why I can’t control her.”

“Her heart is beating,” I said.

“I crushed her heart in my fist before I left her,” Zach said.
 
“She was dead.”

“You couldn’t have her, so no one could?”

“I didn’t want her anymore, but she wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“Right.”

“Her heart was destroyed, Shade.”

“It was in your cabinet.”

“You used the heart from the cabinet?”
 
His eyes grew wide.

“It was the only one there.”

“That heart belonged to my wife, Gina.
 
She was dying and we couldn’t repair the heart even with the help of the best healers DGI had.
 
We could get it to beat for brief periods.
 
Then it stopped again.
 
She kept dying and I kept bringing her back.
 
She finally begged me not to revive her again, so I put her heart in a jar.”

I looked over at Miranda.
 
She rubbed her chest over her heart.
 
“I have someone else’s heart?”

Again, I thought about Esther saying Miranda’s heart had stopped.

“My wife’s heart,” Zach said.
 
“My dead wife.”

“Since you’re being so forthcoming, who did you bury in your backyard?”

He sighed.
 
“I don’t remember his name.
 
He was an engineer, and he saw me kill Miranda, so I killed him but animated him so he could walk out of the building with me.
 
I even had him dig the grave.”

“And you put your wallet in his pocket.”

He shrugged.
 
“If I missed any of the security cameras, I figured they’d check my place, and if they brought necromancers, they might find the body.
 
I messed up his face so they couldn’t ID me that way.”

“Your dental records wouldn’t match.”

“I doubt they’d go that far.
 
I wanted them to think I’d been murdered if they ever came looking for me.”

“Why did you come back?”

“Nobody called me, so I figured I got away with it.
 
Clearly I jumped the gun.”

“Miranda, go ahead and call the police.
 
And, Zach, you’ll need to confess about the attempted murder and about the actual murder.
 
They’ll ID the engineer soon enough.”

He stared at his knees and nodded.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

After the police arrested Zach, who didn’t deny the attempted murder charge and admitted he’d killed the engineer, they took him away.
 
I didn’t know any of the cops, but since Zach confessed, there were no issues.
 
They didn’t go up to the bedroom, so we’d have to deal with the corpses ourselves.
 
Sometimes I can barely stand the glamour.

Some time
later, after Miranda and I signed statements, the rest of the police left.
 
I sat down on the sofa with Miranda.

“How you holding up?” I asked.

She placed a hand on her heart.
 
“I have to keep checking to see if it’s still beating.
 
What he said about it stopping...Am I just going to die in a day or two?”

“I don’t know.”

She leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder.
 
“Thank you for being here.
 
And thank you for being honest and not trying to placate me.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything.
 
At this point, I wasn’t sure if Miranda was Miranda or Persephone.
 
I didn’t know what to expect when Sharon came back on Wednesday.
 
About all I could say for certain was that I was exhausted.

Miranda closed her eyes, and a few minutes later, I did the same.

#

When I next opened my eyes, the morning light shone through the window.
 
Miranda was already up, fixing breakfast.
 
The aroma of bacon filled the house.
 
She softly sang the chorus to Lacuna Coil’s “Spellbound” over and over while she cooked.
 
I pretended to be asleep in the hopes that she’d show her true self, but what was she going to do while she fried up some bacon and eggs?

Eventually the smell was too much for my stomach to ignore, so I got up.

“Grab a plate,” she said.
 
“Breakfast is ready.”

Throughout the meal, I kept an eye on Miranda, trying to determine whether or not it was really her.
 
I considered what Zach said.
 
He’d crushed her heart.
 
He’d lied enough that I couldn’t say for sure he was being honest about that, but he seemed genuine.

Miranda gave me a wink.
 
“After breakfast, let’s take a shower.
 
A long, hot shower.”

“You make getting clean sound so dirty,” I said.
 
“I like it.”

“You like it now, but you’ll love it later.”

“Oh, baby.”

I felt like I was betraying her by trying to figure her out.
 
I knew I needed to play along, but until I knew whether it was Miranda or Persephone doing the play-date, I wouldn’t really enjoy it.
 
If she was Persephone, why keep me around?
 
Wouldn’t it be cheating on Charon?
 
Or did humans count?

“So,” she said, “do you have plans for today and tomorrow?”

Here we go, I thought.
 
“A few.
 
Mostly for tomorrow, though.
 
I have today open.”

“Good.
 
I didn’t want to wait until Friday.
 
I hope I’m not going too fast for you again.”

“Fast can be fun sometimes,” I said.

“So what’s on the schedule for tomorrow?
 
Any time for me?”

“I have a meeting down south of the Springs tomorrow afternoon.”

“Your other case?”

“Yeah.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Probably.”

“What kind of meeting?”

 
“A reunion of sorts.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Well, it’s good for one party and not so good for the other, and I seem to be stuck in the middle.”

“Do you have to be there?”

“Not much choice.”

“Take Kelly with you.”

“And Brand.”

“That’s about as safe as you can get, then.”

“Hopefully it’s enough.”

She looked at me and seemed to be thinking about that.
 
Miranda would be worried about me, while Persephone would be wondering if I had a trick up my sleeve.
 
“I hope it’s enough too.”

That didn’t tell me anything.
 
I switched tactics.
 
“Let me ask you something.”

“Anything.”

“If you knew two people who had spent a long time in a relationship.
 
A dysfunctional relationship…”

“Is there any other kind?” she asked.

I laughed.
 
“Good point.
 
But if you knew these two people and one of them really wanted to get back with the other, but the one you considered to be a friend didn’t want to have anything to do with their ex, what would you do?”

“Was there violence involved?”

“No physical abuse.”

“Why are you involved in it?”

“The one I’ve just met is very powerful.
 
This person is insisting on the meeting or bad things will happen.”

“What kind of bad things?”

“Death to friends of mine.”

“Including the one you’re supposed to get to the meeting?”

“Unlikely.”

“Does your friend know the position he or she has put you into?”

“I think so.”

“Why would someone kill your friends?
 
That seems excessive.
 
What do your friends have to do with it?
 
Wait a minute.
 
Am I in danger from this?”

“I don’t think so.”

“But you’re not sure.
 
This person wants to kill your friends?”

“Let’s just say that’s a possible consequence if things don’t go well.
 
That’s why I set up the meeting.
 
To keep my friends safe.
 
That doesn’t mean the whole thing can’t go south.”

“You should have Kelly and Brand ready to kill this guy.”

“Guy?”

“Or girl.
 
Which is it?”

“A woman.”

“Who can and will kill people if she doesn’t get her way?
 
Is it her time of the month?”

“Always,” I said.

Miranda laughed.
 
“You don’t really mean ‘kill’ as in dead, do you?”

“You think I’d exaggerate?”

“You already know you’re going to get lucky, so I don’t think you’re angling for a great possibly last night on earth here.
 
Seriously, how dangerous is this woman?”

“She’s the one responsible for all the dead people being up and about.”

“So Zach really had nothing to do with that?”

“Not so much, no.”

“Is she the reason I’m alive?”

“Probably.”

Miranda considered that for a moment, then rose and took her empty plate to the sink.
 
She came back for mine, but I wasn’t finished yet.
 
She sat down and had another cup of coffee.

She shook her head.
 
“I don’t know what to say.
 
If this woman can raise the dead in massive quantities, that means she’s stronger than Von and her team.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Which means she’s stronger than Kelly and Brand.”

“Right again.”

“Which means she could kill you with ease.”

“Unlikely,” I said.

“Unlikely how?”

“She needs me in order to get back with her ex.”

“And who is he?”

“He might be a she.”

Miranda grinned.
 
“OK.
 
So the woman needs you to get back with her ex, but her ex isn’t interested.
 
Why doesn’t she just move on?
 
There have to be other suitors.”

“She likes to get her way.”

“Powerful people usually do.
 
Let me ask you something.”

“Fire away.”

“Again, do you have to go to this meeting?
 
Can’t you just tell your friend to meet the woman and be a stand-up guy?
 
That way you, Kelly, and Brand won’t be in danger.
 
You could stay here with me instead.”

“That sounds nice but it doesn’t work that way.”

“Can you kill her if she tries to hurt anyone?
 
Take out your gun and shoot her in the head?”

“I suspect she’s immortal.”

“Makes a lifetime commitment a bit more serious, doesn’t it?”

“And therein lies the rub.”

“Your friend is immortal too?”

“So far as I know.”

“Do you have any normal friends besides me?”

“You’re not so normal, Miranda.
 
You have a dead woman’s heart, and you were kept alive by magic.
 
But yes, I have normal friends too.
 
I don’t get to see them very often.”

“Why not?”

“Most of them are married with children.
 
Kinda
cuts down on the socializing.”

She nodded.
 
“I have friends like that too.
 
I never really wanted kids, though.
 
You?”

I shrugged.
 
“I like kids but they wouldn’t be safe.”

“You have lots of enemies who’d try to get at you through your kids?”

“If I had kids.”

“What about through your girlfriends?”

“That danger does tend to hover like the Sword of Damocles.”

“Are you trying to scare me off?”

“The hair of a horse’s tail isn’t very strong, so that sword could drop at any moment.”

“I spent a week as a dead person.
 
It wasn’t so bad.
 
I got to meet you.”

“Worth every moment of the lack of a heartbeat, right?”

“I could have done without the dead guys attacking.”

“If you hang with me, you’d better expect things like that.”