Angel Condemned (17 page)

She blinked. The light of the angels’ spirits dazzled her, and she waited until her eyes adjusted to their shapes. “We need to find out. Don’t you all think so? So I’ll take Schofield Martin on as a client. And we’ll take it from there.”

A crystalline light rose slowly in the corners of the room, spreading like a great, soundless rush of sparkling water. It spread across the walls, the books, the bodies of those in the chairs around the table. It spilled upward, bathing them in a serene and joyous peace. Bree’s bone-deep weariness faded. The ache in her chest ebbed. She breathed in the scent of sun and meadows starred with flowers.

“
Hola!
” Archie screeched. “One for all!”

“And all for one,” Lavinia said softly. “To the Company.”

Bree swept her gaze around the table and nodded her agreement. “The Company.”

“You’re not very late, dear.” Francesca was curled into the rocking chair by the fireplace, a book open on her lap. “Did you accomplish what you set out to do?” She looked at Bree over her reading glasses. “You must have. You look rested, thank God, and not so . . . exhausted. Almost back to normal. What happened?”

“I think I got a handle on the case.”

“Your father frets until he sees the way, too. Well, I’m glad you’re feeling on top of things, honey. We were all a little worried about you.” She stroked Sasha, who had padded over to greet her. “Although I always feel that Sasha will look out for you. Even if he’s only a dog.”

Bree glanced at the clock on the living room wall. Less than an hour had passed since her trip out to Melrose. Lavinia’s voice echoed in her mind: What is time to an angel?

“Were you dozing?” Bree gave her a hug.

“I must have been.”

“You didn’t stay for Antonia’s play?”

“No. No. Shaw is such a talky playwright. But it’s an excellent production. And the technical staging is superb. Antonia’s very good at her job.” She rubbed her forehead. “If I could just feel a little settled about Cissy . . .”

“Any word?”

“Your father called. McCallen rustled up a judge. She’ll be released in a bit.”

Bree raised her eyebrows. “So soon? I’m truly glad of that. But it’s going to raise a ruckus.”

“Preferential treatment for the wealthy? You’re right. And what kind of good liberal am I, that I don’t give a damn? Not when it’s my own sister.”

Bree moved restlessly around the room. She felt keenly alive. She was ready to take on the world, and if the world wasn’t ready, she’d settle for the Chatham County judicial system. “I feel the same way, Mamma. It’d be different if she’d had a hand in all this, but she didn’t.”

“I was just waiting to hear that she’s on her way home.” She patted her cell phone, which sat on the end table. “Soon as your father calls, I’m going to head on over there. I’m glad you got back before I had to go.”

“Would you like me to drive you over? You can pick up your car tomorrow.”

“No, no, thank you, darlin’. God knows what we’ll all be doing tomorrow. Although you and your father ought to get together at some point. Why don’t we plan on breakfast at Cissy’s about eight?” The gentle tones of her cell phone ring sounded. “And there he is.” She picked it up.

Bree stared at the mirror over the mantel, thinking of the horned thing. Was there a way to summon it up? Could she confront it, send one of the Third Sphere demons back to Hell, and leave her home a refuge, the way it used to be?

Sasha barked. She brought her attention back to her mother.

“I’m on my way.” Francesca had her lambs’ wool coat over one arm and her umbrella in the other. “Daddy says he’d like us all to meet at Cissy’s house, eight o’clock tomorrow, if that suits you. She’s got one of those ankle bracelets, poor thing. So distressing. We’ll have breakfast ready. Bring Antonia if you can. She can distract Cissy while you and the other lawyers talk.”

“I’ll ask EB to come, too. It’d be good to have someone to take notes.”

“Now I do like that secretary of yours. How is she getting along with that GED?”

Bree realized that her whole family—her whole temporal family—had accepted EB’s presence without one question about Ron and the Angelus Street office. “She’s doing really well. As soon as she gets that diploma, she’s going to start at one of the community colleges. She’s bound and determined to become a paralegal.”

“Isn’t that a wonderful thing.”

“Yes.” Bree eyed Francesca a little mischievously. “You’re not going to ask about Petru? Do you think I should ask him to give EB pointers?”

“Who, dear?”

“Petru. Petru Lechta. You met him at the party you gave me at 700 Forsythe three months ago. He didn’t stay very long. He fades early at cocktail parties.”

“Who would that be? One of your older lawyer friends here? Is he married?”

“He has a sister. Rose.”

“A single gentleman, then.” Francesca slung her handbag over her shoulder with an absentminded air. “EB’s a widow, isn’t she? I hope he’s nice and older than fifty. Walk me out to the car, dear.”

Bree walked her mother out to her car. It was turning colder. Rain clouds hung heavy and swollen over the river. But it felt safe—unlike the threat of the night before. She looked for the flash of silver that meant Gabriel was nearby but didn’t see it. The Cross was gone—and the lack of it cheered her up enormously.

Francesca belted herself in and held her cheek up for a kiss. “Sleep well. See you in the morning. Now look at that. Who’s coming to visit at this time of night?”

Bree recognized the Crown Victoria. Suddenly, it was a little harder to breathe. “It’s Lieutenant Hunter. You drive on, Mamma. I’ll talk to him.”

“Sam Hunter, huh? Well. Tell him I say hey-howdy.” Francesca looked up at her mischievously. “You get to bed early, now. Nothing like a good night to make you feel terrific in the morning.”

“Mamma!”

“Bree!” she mimicked. She pulled the driver’s door closed and drove off into the humid night.

Bree waited for Hunter by the front door. He had only a sport coat on to protect himself against the cool air. “Come on in where it’s warm.” She held her hand out and tucked it under his arm and drew him into the front hall. “Thank you for coming by. You’ve heard that Cissy’s been released on house arrest.”

“I heard.”

Bree shut the front door and went ahead of him into the house. He didn’t follow. She turned to him. “Sam? Are you coming in? I can open a bottle of wine, and we can maybe send out for something to eat. Mamma made me an omelet, but I’m starving.”

“I can’t stay.”

“You can’t . . . Oh.” She examined his face. She should have known immediately why he had come. She walked slowly back to him where he stood by the door. “Oh,
damn
.”

“The case against your aunt is a good one.”

“So there’s no fraternizing with the suspect’s family?” She leaned against the wall, her arms folded under her breasts. “She didn’t do it, Sam.”

“I don’t think she did.”

“But there’s a ton of media attention.”

“Yeah.” His face was a little stern. “It might have been better if your father’s high-powered attorney hadn’t pulled as many strings as he did to get her out so quickly. But there you are. I suppose if it were my mother’s sister, I’d try the same thing. You don’t make a big deal of it, Bree, so I forget how influential your family is.”

“I don’t make a big deal of it because it doesn’t matter, day to day.”

“Except under exceptional circumstances. Like your aunt being arrested for murder.”

“You aren’t going to go all . . .” She waved her hands in the air. “I don’t know. Huffy on me? I can’t help who I’m related to.”

“There’s not a good feeling in the department about this.”

“I don’t expect there would be. This is just a temporary thing, right? This not seeing each other? Especially,” she added, feeling rather pitiful, “since we just
started
seeing each other.”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t have to tell you how long things like this can drag on. You’re a witness. I’m the arresting officer . . .”

“Stop.”

“Okay.”

They stared at each other.

“We’re going to handle this just fine,” he said.

Bree said suddenly, “What this is, is a big-time motive to find out who really killed Prosper White.”

“For me, it certainly is. And before you challenge me to a race to see who can find the real murderer first, I have to remind you that you’re an officer of the court and not a member of the Chatham County Police Department.”

“I know that.”

“So you’ll keep your head down and let the department do its job.”

“I hear you loud and clear.”

“Which is
not
, as I hear it, a promise to leave it alone.”

“No,” Bree admitted, “it isn’t.” She slid her arms around him, underneath his sports coat. “Maybe I can divert your attention?”

“Maybe not. That sounds like a key in the front door.”

Bree grabbed his wrist and looked at his watch. “Damn. It’s too early for Antonia.” She scowled as her sister let herself in. “But it’s Antonia, after all. What are you doing back from the theater so early? It’s not even ten thirty.”

“Exigent circumstances, my director said. I had to Google ‘exigent’ on my Blackberry. It means extreme or perilous.” Antonia began to divest herself of her hoodie, her scarf, her boots, and her various parcels, which she left in a heap by the front door. “I think he doesn’t like all the attention coming my way because of Cissy. I don’t like it myself.”

“Don’t leave all that stuff there. Somebody will fall over it. And I know what ‘exigent’ means.”

“Then you’ll know that Tony’s right. It’s better that I’m home during a perilous emergency. How’s our aunt? And you . . .” She directed a glare at Hunter. “You’re the jerk who arrested her. What are you doing here?”

“I was just leaving.”

“Good!”

“Not good,” Bree said. “Leave us alone for a minute, Antonia.”

“If I don’t, will he arrest me, too?” Antonia tossed her head and sidled by them both. Bree waited until she heard her sister clattering in the kitchen.

“So, Hunter.” She slid her arms around him once more and kissed him. It was a long kiss but not long enough. She buried her face in his shoulder. He smelled like cold air and damp wool. “You won’t forgot me, Hunter, while all this is going on?”

“I can’t forget you. Sometimes I wish I could.”

Antonia was at the kitchen table with Bree’s morning yogurt in front of her when Bree came in some minutes later. “Fraternizing with the enemy.”

“Don’t joke about it, okay?”

Antonia darted a shrewd glance at her. “You look awful.” She made a face and said, apologetically, “Couldn’t help but overhear. But things are like, temporarily off?”

“That’s right.”

“That sucks, Bree.”

“It sure does.”

“Sorry. It’s a mess, isn’t it?”

“Couldn’t be messier.”

“You and Daddy going to fix this?”

“We’re going to try.”

“Can’t ask for better than that.” Antonia yawned, suddenly. “Gosh. I’m pooped. What’s on for tomorrow?”

“Breakfast at Aunt’s. Mamma’s in charge. Lewis McCallen will be there.”

“He’s the lawyer who got Cissy out of jail tonight?”

“Yes. He’s going to give Daddy and me some direction on what we can do to help from here.”

“The media’s all over this one, Bree. Have you seen any of the broadcasts?”

“No. But I’m not surprised. That anchor—Fairfax, I think her name is—was right there when it happened, with the cameras rolling. As long as she keeps to a strict account of what she saw, and doesn’t speculate, Cissy should be okay.”

“Good luck with that,” Antonia grumbled. “Every talk show in Georgia’s going to be after her. Talk about a career booster. The murder occurred right on camera, even though you couldn’t exactly see what happened. What a scoop.”

There was a small television tucked under the cupboard over above the long counter. Bree debated whether to turn it on. It wasn’t worth it. It was late. She was tired. She had a tense day coming up tomorrow.

And she was going to try something she wished she had tried months ago, when she had first learned that Leah was her birth mother. She wanted Antonia to go to bed. She had to be alone.

“I’ll take a look at the TV in the morning. Unless you want to. You could tape anything you thought was out of line. If there is anything, we might be able to get an injunction to keep her from trying this case in the news.”

Antonia brightened. Bree realized, with a pang of conscience, that her sister was dying for a way to contribute to the case. “I can do that. Which do you think would be better? Computer or the TV?”

“Computer, without question. You can do it in your room. With the door closed, so you aren’t distracted. It’s an important job. You might even want to use your headphones.”

“So I can focus. I’ll do that. I’ll stream the news videos and bookmark them.”

“Make a DVD and turn it over to McCallen, in the morning,” Bree agreed.

“I’ll get started right now. You want to come and help?”

“I want to go to bed,” Bree said with an air of frankness. “I’m beat. And you’re better at the networking stuff than I am.”

She waited until Antonia shut the door on her room and then placed her hand over the talisman at the base of her throat. Her clients came to her through relics and objects present when they died. Leah had been wearing this when she had passed on to whatever kind of heaven waited for her. Why hadn’t she tried this before now?

At her feet, Sasha whined and thrust his cold nose into her hand.

“Why not, Sasha?”

The dog looked up at her, his eyes a deep golden brown.