Drowning in Amber (A Marie Jenner Mystery Book 2) (6 page)

“We have time before the meeting with Honoria,” he continued. “You could touch base now. If you want.”

The last thing I wanted to do was talk to my mother. She’d ask me hard questions—about my finances (nonexistent), my prospects for the future (equally nonexistent), and my love life (abysmal). And then she’d ask me if I’d met any good ghosts lately, and because James would be listening to everything I said, I’d have to lie. And she’d know I lied. That would probably lead to a fight, and I didn’t feel right about sparring with a woman who was fighting for her life.

“I’ll call her when I get to Jasmine’s,” I said, still staring for all I was worth out the window at nothing.

“Up to you,” he said, and I heard the rustle of pages as he reached for the book he’d been reading.

I felt the tightness in my chest ease. I was off the hook for the moment. Time to keep the searchlight away from me and my family stuff.

“Have you found out when you can move back into your apartment?” I asked, turning away from the window.

“It’s almost repaired,” he mumbled, without looking up from his book.

“Glad to hear that,” I said. His apartment had been damaged by the same freak who had burnt down
my
apartment building. That freak, unfortunately, was my ex-boyfriend Arnie—may he rot in jail for the rest of his unfortunate life—Stillwell.

I wandered back in James’s direction, running my fingers over the spines of the books that filled the bookcases covering nearly every bit of wall space in that office.

“When can you move back in?” I asked.

James closed his book, carefully keeping his finger between the pages to mark his spot. “In a couple of days,” he said. “Why? You tired of staying with Jasmine? Want to move back in with me for a while?”

I’d stayed at his apartment for a few days after my apartment had been torched.

I laughed halfheartedly. “Thanks for the offer, but no,” I said. “Staying with Jasmine’s not so bad. Most of the time.”

“She’s got a lot of kids, doesn’t she?”

“If three is a lot then, yeah.” I shrugged. “Most of the time it’s all right, but sometimes they’re so loud—”

“You could stay here,” he said. “If you want.”

“Maybe I should,” I said. “Just until I get my own place—”

My stupid throat tightened up, because there was no way in the world I was ever going to get my own place. Not until money started flowing in my direction.

“We have to take that job, James,” I said. “You might have enough money to ride out this—”

“Series of unfortunate events?” he said.

I shrugged.

“Close enough. I can’t, though. I need money coming in. Even if it is to build an alibi for Honoria.”

“I could lend you some,” he said.

“No.” I tried to keep my voice from quavering like a little kid’s. “Thanks, but no. Let’s just take the job. It could be profitable. For both of us.”

“Like I said, I want to think about it,” he said. He picked up his book. Conversation was nearly over. “I get this feeling she’s lying, and I don’t want to be used by a liar. You do understand, don’t you?”

“I understand,” I said. “But you have to understand that if we don’t take this job, I’ll have to find something that pays. I’m talking about another job, somewhere else.”

That got his attention. He put the book down with a thump, all thoughts of keeping his place marked obviously forgotten. “You’re not serious, are you?”

“I don’t have the luxury of time the way you do. I’m sorry.”

James stared at me for a long, measured moment. “I’d prefer that you worked here,” he finally said. “So, how about this? I’ll hire you officially, starting today. Pay you, no matter what work we do. It won’t be much, but it’ll be something.” He smiled, but it looked sad. “Even if I decide not to keep Uncle’s office open, I’ll still need help dismantling everything. Won’t I?”

Good grief. In my big rush to get us involved in another stupid case, I’d forgotten that James was trying to decide whether or not he even wanted to keep this business running. This was big, and I wasn’t giving him time to really think it through.

“Would that help your situation?” he asked.

“It wouldn’t hurt,” I said. And by that I meant it would help immensely.

“And if we take Honoria as a client, I’ll split whatever we make with you fifty-fifty, just like the first case we took.”

“You mean the one we didn’t get paid for?”

“That’s the one.”

I considered. His offer was a good one. At least I’d have something coming in. I might even be able to keep body and soul together, for a while.

“All right,” I said.

He stuck out his hand. I blinked and took it. Felt my cheeks heat as his hand enveloped mine. I shook his hand, once, and then pulled free.

“My hand’s sweating,” I said, and wiped my hand on my sweater. “Sorry.”

“Just as long as we have a deal.”

“We do,” I said. “We do indeed.”

I just hoped he didn’t do something stupid and wreck it for both of us. And I doubly hoped I didn’t do anything stupid and wreck it for myself.

I SAT BY
the tree for a while, watched the flies buzz around the blood, which was dark and starting to crack, and wondered why no one had washed it off yet. Ripped ends of the yellow police tape flapped in the breeze.

I was dead. The cops had said so, and much as I hated them, I believed them. Explained a lot, actually. Why I didn’t hurt much, even though I could now see that my hands and feet were ripped to shit. The only pain I felt was a gnawing in my gut. That old familiar pain. Jonesing for my own particular drug of choice. That was a bitch, because I had no idea how I was going to score, being dead and all.

I was really dead.

This sucked shit in a big way. And the only person who even acted like she could see me was that weird chick from Jimmy Lavall’s detective agency. Marie. Marie Jenner.

Even though I’d told her I thought my mother’s book club killed me—I didn’t know if I believed it. They were a nasty bunch, but they were also weak-assed women, no matter what they thought of me. It would have taken somebody strong to hang me in that tree. Hammer those nails through my hands and feet . . .

Thinking about it made me feel sick to my stomach. Jesus, that was a terrible way to die.

A cat slipped out from beneath a bush near the steps of the church, and snaked its way over to the tree. It looked like it was stalking something, but hard as I looked, I couldn’t see anything that looked like a mouse or whatever the hell else a cat would chase.

It walked up on delicate feet, ears twitching as though it was listening for danger. Closer and closer to the tree, stepping on the green, then dyed brown sticky grass. One more look around, and then that son of a bitch began to lick my blood off the bottom of the trunk of that tree.

I yelled at it, but its ears didn’t even flicker, so I knew it couldn’t hear me either, so I stopped that shit quick. No point. And hey, somebody had to clean up that tree. Why the hell not a cat?

As I turned away from the tree and back onto the street, one more time with feeling, the sun dipped behind the tall buildings, and the churchyard was covered in instant dusk.

The gnawing in my gut picked up so it was almost all I could think about, but I did my best to ignore it as I carefully walked in the direction of Jimmy Lavall’s Detective Agency, so I could talk to that Marie chick again. Even though it was only ten blocks away, I honestly didn’t know if I could make it or not, because it seemed the only places I’d managed to get to were that damned tree and my mother’s house.

So I wasn’t really that surprised when I turned a corner, and there was my old neighbourhood. Again. And my mom’s house. Again.

JAMES OFFERING TO
pay me made me feel better, and I was ready to settle in, maybe even have a nap or something, until our meeting with our potential client, Honoria Lowe, but James shook his head when I suggested it and grabbed his coat.

“We’re going to Needle Park,” he said.

I frowned. “Needle Park? Didn’t Honoria mention Needle Park?”

“Yeah,” he said. “She said it’s right by her place. It’s also where a lot of people go to make drug deals.”

He picked at the white bandages covering his head. “Help me get these off. I want to talk to the locals about Edward Hansen. And Honoria. Maybe someone saw them together. If they did, a big hole is blown in her story, and we can turn her down.”

Going to that park actually sounded like a pretty good idea. Not to try to blow a hole in Honoria’s story, but because there was a small chance that Eddie might be able to get there, too. For some reason he was bopping back and forth between his mother’s house and his place of death. I’d hoped that he would have seen the business card and tried to get to me, but he hadn’t shown up. However, maybe he’d tried to get to the park. If he managed it, we could still have a talk, living to dead.

But I couldn’t do that with James hanging around. I needed to go alone.

I watched him pick rather ineffectually at his bandaged head. “That’s a good idea,” I said. “But maybe I should go by myself.”

“What?” His hand stilled. “Why?”

“Because you look just terrible and should probably rest.”

“But—”

“But nothing.” I grinned, and hoped it looked convincing. “Does your head hurt?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “It really does.”

“So let me go. After all, it’s just a park, right? I’ll chat up whoever’s there and get back in time for us both to go to Honoria’s place. If I find out she’s been lying about knowing Eddie, we’ll dump her as a client, and then we can go out for a meal. A real meal, in a sit-down restaurant. What do you say?”

“I don’t think you should go there by yourself,” he said, but I noticed he’d stopped trying to remove the bandages. “It’s not safe—”

“I’ll be fine,” I said breezily, and walked to the door before he had a chance to say anything more. “You nap. I”ll be back before you know it.”

“I don’t need to nap,” James said. He sat on the edge of the cot, and then reclined until his head was on the old, flat pillow, and he sighed. “Other than the headache, I’m fine. Really.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” I said. “Now, tell me the address so I can go.”

Even as he told me the address, his eyes slid shut. “Want to use the car again?”

I said no, because I didn’t even have the money for parking.

“All right,” he whispered. “Be safe.”

“I will,” I said, and left.

I’d be fine. It’s just a park, after all. How bad could it be?

ONE OF THE
greatest things about living in Edmonton in the summer is that the sun doesn’t set until ten o’clock in the evening. Since it was not quite eight o’clock, the sun was still well above the horizon, bathing the city in pink and gold. When I got to Needle Park, I was really glad. There was no way in the world I would have walked into that place without the sun. No way at all.

The park wasn’t actually a park, just a bit of green space crammed up against a couple of old buildings in downtown Edmonton. Even in the soft pink glow of the slowly setting sun, it looked decidedly sinister to me.

I glanced across the street, at the building where Honoria probably lived. Low-rent businesses on the main floor, and what looked like apartments on the second and third. If she lived there, and if Eddie had frequented this park, there was a chance they’d seen each other. Maybe even knew each other.

James might be on to something. I hoped not. But I had to find out.

I turned back to the park, with its scruffy grass and dusty trees and sad-looking park benches that had been placed there, so hopefully, some years before. They were covered in graffiti and had been desecrated by so many knives over the years that I could barely believe they were still holding together.

Could this actually be the right place?

I glanced at the street signs, hoping against hope that I had it wrong. But I didn’t. Corner of 104
th
and Jasper. Just like James had told me.

Now I needed a plan.

I know, I’d walked ten blocks and should have had plenty of time to come up with something, but mostly I had avoided eye contact with anyone on the streets and not really thought about what I was going to do once I found the park.

I spied two men sitting on a park bench and decided I’d start with them. I’d ask them if they knew Eddie. And if they did, if they ever saw him hanging around with Honoria of the beautiful smile.

Easy peasy.

As I stepped onto the grass, I looked past the two men and was genuinely surprised to see more people in the park. I hadn’t seen them before. They’d blended with the background so that all I’d seen was the scruffy grass and the dusty trees. And those pathetic park benches.