Dead Ringers (33 page)

Nick came back into the kitchen and they all paused to look at him.

“Maddie?” Tess asked.

“Napping,” he said.

She smiled, but Nick had no smile for her in return. She could see in the set of his mouth and the stony glint of his eyes that he disagreed entirely with the way she had handled Danton.

“Now then,” the death face said, “tell me, how do you plan to destroy the ghost of the most powerful magician of the nineteenth century?”

Somewhere not far off, a dog began to bark. They heard the squeal of brakes from some kind of truck, perhaps the very thing that had set off the dog. The sun had nearly set and only the last glow of the autumn afternoon remained in the kitchen, but nobody moved to turn on a light.

Frank shifted in his seat, puzzled by her hesitation. Audrey, Lili, and Nick all began to stare at her and frown. Lili opened her mouth to ask the question they were all on the verge of asking, virtually the same question that the dead man had just asked.

“How do I plan to destroy Berrige?” Tess echoed, sliding her chair back half a foot or so, moving away from Danton. “Thing is, I don't. Berrige doesn't want us, unless your fucking cult can confuse him into thinking we're you people. As far as I'm concerned, Berrige is your problem.”

“You said—”

Tess sneered. “Your followers tried to take my place. Tried to take over my life and take my child from me. You really think I'm going to let you all just go about your business wearing our faces after that? You must have been dead a long time to have forgotten how mothers can get when you put their kids in danger.”

Audrey leaned back in her chair. “What are you planning, Tess?”

Tess glanced around at her friends, ending on Lili. “I vote we go back to the Nepenthe Hotel with some baseball bats and shatter every bit of mirror glass in the apparition box. Mr. Danton and his friends might get lucky and fade out forever before Berrige drags their black fucking souls back to the demon at the Harrison House.”

Frank slapped the table, a vicious smile on his face. “Seconded.”

Danton's human face had vanished almost completely, and now only the sneering corpse face gaped at her, sickly yellow light burning in the hollow pits where its eyes ought to have been. It slammed against the duct tape binding it, rocked the chair and nearly tipped over. It opened its mouth and roared so loud that the windows rattled in their frames.

The screaming was sure to wake Maddie, but that was all right.

They would all be leaving soon enough.

 

TEN

Kyrie sat on the sofa in the living room of Nick's apartment, trying to decide whether she ought to be worried or pissed off. Upon her arrival nearly half an hour ago, she'd clicked on the television but had barely been aware of the sounds and images coming from the screen. Now she forced herself to focus and realized it was the Food Network—some cooking competition. In the front of her mind, she allowed herself to become caught up in the challenge faced by the chefs. In the back of her mind, though, a little voice she thought of as the Logical One was asking what the hell she thought she was doing.

The Logical One had been mostly quiet for the past couple of months as she allowed herself the fantasy of having this handsome, intelligent, quirky guy fall so in love with her that he was willing to uproot his whole life and move across the Atlantic Ocean just so he wouldn't be parted from her. When she and Nick had first slept together and then begun a relationship, the little voice had been screaming loud and clear, telling her she was an idiot to get involved with an older man, a professor, and worse, a man who'd recently split from his wife. There had been so many red flags that Kyrie had managed to ignore, and in time she had become convinced that she'd made the right decision.

Now she sat on Nick's sofa and waited for him—and his ex-wife—to bring their adorable daughter over for her to babysit. Kyrie had been at her apartment in Allston, preparing dinner with her roommates, when Nick had called. He'd provided no details, only told her that it was urgent—that he needed her—and that he'd explain it all eventually.

Define eventually,
she should've said. But she hadn't thought of it then.

The skinny little Latino chef won ten thousand dollars because he hadn't screwed up the dessert course as badly as the woman he'd been up against. Kyrie clicked off the TV and got up from the sofa, glancing around the apartment. Sometimes Nick's OCD and the cocktail of other little spectrum issues he had could drive her crazy, but she appreciated the fact that they made him compulsively neat. She walked across the room and looked out the window at the parking lot, wondering how much longer they would be.

The building had once been a factory, but it had been converted to upscale apartments within the past six or seven years, all exposed brick and wooden beams and high windows. Nick lived on the fifth floor in a two bedroom with a gourmet kitchen he never used to its potential.
And now we'll be leaving,
she thought.

Down below, in the dim glow of the streetlights, she saw Nick's car pull into the lot followed by a red Toyota she didn't recognize. Nick drove up the front entrance of the building and parked at the curb, turning on his hazard lights. He popped open the driver's door and climbed out from behind the wheel, but by then Kyrie was barely looking at him. The passenger door had opened as well, and she held her breath as she watched Tess get out.

Tess
Devlin
.

Kyrie loved Nick, and she thought he loved her in return, but if Tess decided that she wanted her ex-husband back and was willing to fight for him, the outcome was far from certain. Tess had been with him so much longer, knew him so much better, had shared so much with him. Beautiful and intelligent … Kyrie flattered herself that she could compete in those arenas, but Tess had given birth to Nick's daughter. Unless and until Kyrie and Nick had a child of their own together, she couldn't compete with that.

Unless he really loves you,
the Logical One whispered in the back of her mind, for once saying something helpful instead of hurtful.

She watched Tess help Maddie out of the backseat, a happy flutter in her chest at the sight of the little girl. Maddie's imagination sparkled so brightly that she always made Kyrie smile.

In the light from the lampposts in front of the building, it was hard to make out how many people might be in the red Toyota, but a woman got out of the passenger's seat and joined Nick, Tess, and Maddie on the walk up to the lobby door. Kyrie glanced around the apartment for a second, then hurried to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of raspberry seltzer before returning to the living room sofa and clicking the TV back on. She wanted Tess to see her looking comfortable and at home here, not like she'd been anxiously awaiting their arrival.

When she heard the key in the door she nearly spilled her drink. She forced herself to wait until Nick had opened the door before she looked away from the TV. With a smile, she put her glass down on the coffee table, expecting some forced niceties with her boyfriend's ex-wife.

Instead, Tess made a beeline to her as soon as she came through the door. Worry etched on her badly bruised face, she swept across the room and pulled Kyrie into a hug.

“Thank you for doing this,” she said. “You have no idea what it means to me.”

Tess stepped back, still holding her by the arms. Kyrie tried to hide the awkwardness she felt behind a half smile. Nick had told her about the intruder who'd broken into Tess's place, but now that she saw the bruises and sensed the tremor of fear in the other woman, she realized she had badly underestimated how serious the attack had been.

“It's nothing,” Kyrie said, hoping her smile looked more genuine than it felt.

Maddie walked over wearing her favorite backpack and waved a shy greeting. “Hi, Kyrie.”

“That's all I get? Your mom gives me a hug but I just get a wave from you?” Kyrie said, dropping to her knees. Maddie smiled tiredly and walked over to embrace her. “I'm so glad to see you, munchkin. We're gonna have a fun night. Have you eaten, or do you want me to make some mac and cheese?”

That was the trigger she'd needed. Maddie smiled brilliantly and pumped her fist. “Mac. And. Cheese!”

They high-fived and Kyrie sent her over to the TV to pick a movie, then turned to face Tess again.

“I know you must have questions—” Tess began.

“About a thousand,” Kyrie replied, studying the pain and fear in the other woman's eyes. Nick had walked up behind Tess by then, and Kyrie turned her attention to him. “I don't need the answers right this second. Especially not with the munchkin around. But I
am
going to want them. I hope that doesn't come off as bitchy, but—”

Tess touched her arm. “No. You deserve the answers.”

She looked at Nick, and a little knife of jealousy thrust deep into Kyrie's heart. With all of the other things the two of them shared, it hurt her that now here was this new thing, this secret they were going to keep from her, at least for a little while.

For the first time, Kyrie glanced past them and smiled at the other person who had arrived with them. The woman stood just inside the door looking profoundly uncomfortable.

“Hi,” Kyrie said. “You okay? Want a drink or something?”

The woman sighed deeply. “I'd kill for a shot of tequila, but even if you had it, we don't have the time.”

Kyrie looked at Nick and Tess, hoping for some explanation, but she could see by their anxious expressions that she wasn't going to get even a hint of one. Troubled, she turned to the woman at the door.

“What's your name?”

“Audrey Pang,” she said, crossing to the same window from which Kyrie had watched them arrive. She looked down at the parking lot, practically vibrating with the same urgent energy that coursed through Nick and Tess.

“I'm Kyrie,” she said.

Audrey did not turn toward her. “Nice to meet you.”

A tight ball of fear formed in Kyrie's gut as she studied the tension visible in the woman's stance. She turned to Nick.

“I'm trying not to ask questions. I know you need to go. I can see you're ready to bolt out of here,” Kyrie said. “But the way you're all acting, and after what happened to Tess the other night…” She looked over her shoulder at Maddie, who had the remote control and was surfing through the on-demand offerings on the TV set. Kyrie turned back to look Nick in the eye. “Are you in danger? Are
we
in danger?”

Nick stepped up and kissed her as if his ex wasn't standing three feet away. Kyrie knew he was trying to alleviate her fear and hated that it was so easy for him to do. She kissed him back fiercely and then let him go.

“That's not an answer,” she said firmly, holding his hands so he could not avoid her question.

“It's the only one we have right now,” Nick said carefully. “Ask me again when I come home.”

His tone held something uncertain, but she refused to pursue it further. Was it that he could not be sure he
would
be coming home? It couldn't be. Something that serious … he'd tell her. He'd explain.

Wouldn't he?

“You've just got to trust me,” Nick said.

Kyrie studied his face, on the verge of changing her mind and demanding they explain what the hell had them so spooked. Then Maddie cried out in victory.

“Look! Kyrie, look!” the little girl said. “Daddy's got
Finding Dory
on demand! We can watch it, right?”

“Of course we can, honey,” Kyrie said. “Just give me a minute and I'll get things cooking for your mac and cheese, and then we can start the movie. Give your mom and dad some love before they go.”

Maddie dutifully raced over and hugged her parents in turn, then grabbed Kyrie's hand and tried to drag her to the sofa. Nick gave Kyrie another quick kiss and a look she could have interpreted as apologetic but chose to see as grateful. Then he called Audrey away from the window and they moved for the door.

Tess knelt by Maddie and took her hand so that she would let go of Kyrie.

“Settle down, punkin. Kyrie's going to make your dinner and then you can watch your movie. Go on and find something on Disney Channel till she's ready.”

Maddie smiled, but her gaze rested on her mother's bruised face and she gave Tess another hug before returning to the sofa.

“Thank you again,” Tess whispered to Kyrie. “Truly.”

“Of course,” Kyrie said.

Tess moved in closer to her, one hand on her arm, and whispered again, so quietly that nobody else could hear.

“I know this must be strange for you. I know it's hard,” Tess said. “But after tonight, you can have the future you're hoping for. I believe we all can.”

With a final, searching glance, Tess turned and strode out the door. Audrey was already gone. Nick smiled softly and pulled the door shut with a solid click that echoed in the apartment, even over the cheerful voices on the television.

Kyrie hurried to the door and locked it, the image of Tess's bruises still fresh in her mind. She ought to have felt safe, but she did not. Not at all.

She walked back to the window and waited until she saw Nick, Tess, and Audrey leave the building. Without Maddie there to connect them, Tess got into the passenger seat of the Toyota while Audrey climbed in to ride with Nick. The jealous part of her, perhaps the sister of the Logical One, felt better, but Kyrie found it cold comfort in light of the fear and anxiety stirred up by their visit.

As the cars left the parking lot, the Toyota in the lead, she began to turn from the window but paused when she saw the dark figure of a man step out from the shadows between two cars on the far side of the lot. He was little more than a black shape in the night, but she shuddered. Something about the way he stood and watched the two cars depart troubled her.