Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [112]
Frank frowned. “I thought your lawyer took care of him?”
“So did I.”
Dunaway didn’t want to wait, apparently. From our brief meeting, I wasn’t too surprised by that. Had he been following me or just scoping out the cemetery? In a classic Frank move, I watched as he tried to hide Brooke behind his back. Yeah, because that didn’t look suspicious.
“You okay, Sam?” Dunaway’s concern sounded genuine. “You look terrible.”
“I feel terrible, Detective.” I looked up at him, trying to keep my face open and honest looking. It’s harder than it sounds. “I thought we were meeting tomorrow?”
“We are.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Public place,” he said. “Why are you here?”
I nodded toward the flowers. “Paying my respects.”
He scratched his chin, examining Frank, then me, then Frank. “Every time I think I get a handle on this case, it changes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Dunaway leaned down and wiped some dirt off of Brooke’s temporary marker. “And the things I’ve seen. The security tapes. The car. The fight.” He straightened her marker, even though it didn’t look crooked. “Her death.” He stood back up. “Anyone feel like telling me what is going on around here?”
I looked at Dunaway, really looked. And I felt bad for him. He was a good, solid man stuck in a crap situation. And he wasn’t going to give up anytime soon.
“Frank,” I said, “would you show the nice detective the bag, please?”
“You sure?”
I nodded, never taking my eyes off Dunaway. I could tell the precise moment when he saw Brooke. All the blood left his face and his hands twitched down by his sides. The silence dragged on, and then the blood rushed back into his face.
“What kind of shit—”
“I can explain everything,” Brooke said.
He stepped back. The violent eruption of red in his face went back to white. I think if he weren’t so well trained, he would have done more. Instead he just stood there. Finally, he whispered, “Did she…?”
“I sure did,” Brooke said, “and I wish, just once, someone would have a better reaction to me. A ‘good to see you, Brooke’ would do nicely.”
“Good to see you, Brooke,” Frank replied immediately. I guess Ramon and I weren’t the only ones who’d been training Frank.
I pushed up the sleeves of my jacket. I’d had Ashley talk me through the ceremony earlier. I just hoped I got it right. At least I didn’t have to worry about running out of power now.
“This wasn’t the way I planned it, but I can tell you’re not going to give up. And frankly, we could use some help, ah, smoothing some of this over.”
Dunaway looked sharply at me. “I’m not letting anyone get away with murder.”
“I don’t expect you to. But,” I said, waving at Brooke, “this is an odd situation. I’m not asking you to go against your morals, just listen to her. After that, we’ll see.” I pulled out a container of salt and started to draw a big circle around the grave. The groundskeeper was going to be pissed. “I’d like to take care of this soon, so you better get crackin’.”
I ignored Dunaway and set up the spell. I waited in the grass while he questioned Brooke. It felt good to sit here. I felt welcome, like all the dead around me recognized me as an old friend. It should have felt creepy, but it didn’t. I didn’t want to analyze it. There had been so much bad lately, it was nice to take some good at face value.
Once Brooke had answered everything to the best of her ability, I invoked the circle. I didn’t even have to try. The circle bloomed to life, solid electric blue. Dunaway and Frank stood back from the grave, watching me as I worked. I had Brooke’s head inside the circle. I’d set up the barrier to keep everything contained. I wasn’t afraid of Brooke.
“You ready?” I asked.
“I really am, Sam.” Her answer was gentle. “Are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do your best, I guess. That’s all anyone can ask.” Her eyes welled up around the corners. “Now get off your candy ass, LaCroix, and do your job.”
Ashley had told me that every necromancer does things a little differently. It has something to do with the way we think, how we envision things in our mind. I didn’t want to just throw Brooke