Dead and Disorderly (Behind the Blue Line Series Book 2) (4 page)

It was a long afternoon, filled with police and newspaper reports of lurid tales of murder, familial intrigue, and mayhem, and while he wasn’t entirely surprised given the house’s age and overall feel when he’d been there, he knew it would make Nahia happy. He was just grabbing his suit jacket to go when his phone went off, and the information he received had him cursing the gods. In addition to his spot in missing persons, he served another, equally important function within the police department: that of a negotiator.

Highly skilled due to his Master’s in Psychology, and specially trained, when subjects were barricaded inside their houses or hostages taken, and SWAT needed assistance securing a peaceful and bloodshed-free outcome to the situation, he was one of the people called to respond. Especially when he was the on-call for it.
Dammit
.

His regret was palpable, and the folder full of information would have to wait. Nico dialed Nahia’s number as he walked out to his car.

“Well hello, Detective.”

Her voice scrambled his brains. It was like shaking an Etch-A-Sketch and all cogent thought left his head when he heard it. She wasn’t trying to be sexy or purr seductively, of that he was damn near certain, but the effect was the same. “Um… Yeah, hi, Nahia. About tonight, I can’t make it.”

“Oh, okay then. Change your mind?” Her immediate acceptance of his bad news didn’t mask the disappointment in her voice.

He hit the siren as he pulled out of the lot, heading to his designated staging area for the SWAT callout. “Not at all.” His eyes fell briefly to the folder in the passenger seat of the Nissan. “Something came up.”

Her little giggle before she answered was just too cute. Nico frowned at himself in the rearview mirror; he was just this side of fawning. “From the siren in the background, I’d say so. Give me a call when you’re done. If I’m up, I’ll answer. Sound good?”

Nahia’s suggestion that he call her in the middle of the night with the possibility of her being in bed spun out an entire fantasy in his head in a matter of seconds. “Sounds perfect.”

When she hung up the phone, Nahia actively fought against the wave of disappointment. As much as she told herself it was because it was a delay in her research for the mansion, she knew it was really because she’d wanted to see Nico. She’d been thinking about him all day, much to her dismay and annoyance. Well, actually, much to her curiosity and mild arousal, but that was where the annoyance came in.

Why, oh why, did people who were in a relationship insist on thrusting all their single friends together? There was a happiness and peace that came from being alone, at least for her. She liked relying on herself and being the sole purveyor of her own happiness. Not that she was celibate, she just never saw the need to keep them around for very long. It worked out well for all involved.

Nahia sighed as she locked the front door and turned the sign to ‘Closed’. Nothing left for her to do but her weekend cleansing of the business. She wasn’t a practicing witch anymore. Hadn’t really been in several years. She kept the holy days, and some useful rituals for both personal and professional use, but for the most part, it was just part of the store she ran and the life she’d led.

In a cabinet under the register, she kept a box with sacred markings and seals, in which she kept her implements for keeping the store free from…well, everything. Ghost hunting came with risks, including the possibility of taking things back with her that she didn’t want or appreciate, and she had no way to tell what her customers were up to, so it was best to keep the protective gear on hand and to cleanse liberally, weekly.

She went to each window, anointing it with an oil blend she’d whipped up herself and checking the imperceptible seals she’d written on each sill, making sure they were visible and intact. Then she anointed the doorways and marked them as well, leaving the thresholds and kickplates for last. She had just returned to pick up her chalk when her cell phone rang in her pocket.

One look at the screen and she was confused. “I thought you had something to do.”

“They just disregarded me. How are you? Are you still at the store? How do you feel about pizza and beer?” She could hear the road flying past him as he drove, what sounded like a spirited discussion of the Yankees offense on the radio in the background.

“Um…yeah! I’m good. I’m still here.” The call and subsequent barrage of questions left her a bit stunned.

He chuckled softly and turned down the radio. “And the pizza?”

Nahia cringed at herself. She was acting like this was her first date. “Um, yeah. Sounds good.”
She couldn’t stop saying ‘um!’ What was
wrong
with her?

“Great. What do you want on your pizza?”

The first thing that came to her lips was ‘um’, but she fought it off valiantly. “Pepperoni’s fine.” It was difficult to screw up pepperoni pizza, not impossible, but the odds were long. Anything more complicated increased the risk, and most people from regular pizzerias had no idea what a heart of palm was, much less how to cook with it.

“Well, you’re easy!” he said on a laugh as the car engine died.

“And I think you don’t know me well enough to make such a sweeping generalization!” she responded immediately, sending them both into giggles. “Okay, well, when you’re done, come on by. I’ll be here. Park in back and I’ll let you in the door off the alley.”

“I’m refraining from making a comment about ‘back door action’.” She could tell he was still tickled and feeling as silly as she was.

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best. I don’t know you well enough for that yet, either.” When she looked down and found herself twirling the end of her braid between her fingers, she started. She was, apparently, in full-on sixteen-year-old-girl mode.

“I’ll take heart that you inserted ‘yet’ into that sentence and see you in a few.”

Nahia said her goodbyes and scrubbed a hand down her face as she dropped her head in shame. This was going to a long damn night.

Nico checked the numbers on the door before he kicked it instead of knocking. Her store was easy to find from the front, much more difficult when cruising up the alley. He had just juggled the folder with his findings, pizza, and six-pack of longnecks to one hand to knock properly when the door popped open.

In the back of his mind, Nico had somewhat convinced himself she was not that breathtaking, and his reaction to her was merely due to adrenaline and heightened circumstances. Seeing her now, though, proved that part of his brain was an idiot. Her hair was still braided, and even the streak of white chalk on her cheek couldn’t diminish the radiance of her smile and sparkling eyes.  Today she was in a close fitting Pink Floyd t-shirt from Dark Side of the Moon, and another pair of jeans that were old enough to work full-time. What was curious, though, were the bare feet with silver-painted toenails he saw peeking out from beneath their hem.

“Bare feet?” He couldn’t imagine working a full day without shoes, but then, it wasn’t his shop and they weren’t his rules.

She shrugged and let him pass into the back storage area. “You caught me finishing up for the day. Just little odds and ends.”

After she closed and locked the door behind him, he noticed the cavernous feel of the room, with a single fluorescent light overhead and boxes labeled and stacked high, making her nearness that much more evident. She smelled like heaven, a mix of oranges and maybe jasmine, and if his hands hadn’t been full, he would have validated his theory about the softness of her hair. He also saw the chalk on her face matched that on her palms, the floor just inside the threshold of the door, and a random palm print on the back of her thigh. “You got an ant problem or something?”

She tilted her head with her eyes narrowed until he looked at her hands and at the door, then she blinked and smiled nervously. “Oh, yeah, not so much. Chalk is good for keeping lots of things out besides ants.”

He looked at her in confusion, but she didn’t elaborate. He could see the lights on in the storefront, and the curiosity he’d squelched when she’d mentioned it the night before when they’d agreed to meet came roaring back in full force. “May I?”

Whatever thought she’d been lost in vanished and she snapped to. “Of course! This way.” She took the beer from him and stuck it in the fridge as they emerged behind the white marble countertop.

The store looked like he’d expected, part head shop, part wizard’s tower; all it was missing was the dramatic music. And while he expected the cheesy tinkly music on the speakers overhead, he was pleasantly surprised to hear the local classical station. “Could I get a tour?” he asked as he set the pizza and manila folder down on the marble. He also shrugged out of his suddenly over-warm suit jacket and hung it on a hook behind the counter.

“Of course!” she agreed immediately, linking her arm through his and taking him to the first glass cabinet.

Nico asked questions, a lot of questions, as they proceeded through the store, and for every answer Nahia gave him, he had three more. It was a habit that made him a thorough investigator, but he could see where it would get annoying quickly. “I’m sorry for the third degree.”

She shrugged and the smile never left her lips. “No worries. I’m going to assume a good Catholic boy like you probably has had very little in the way of pagan education.”

Wow, she’d pegged him but good. “You’d be right about that.”  When she turned to open another glass cabinet, the streak of chalk caught his attention again. “Hey.” She turned to face him with a raised eyebrow, and he took her chin in his hand. “Hold still.” With his thumb, he gently rubbed her cheek until the chalk disappeared. And he was paying absolutely no attention to how soft her skin was or the way her lips parted at his touch. None whatsoever.

Nahia stepped away when he finished, rubbing the back of her wrist against her cheek once more for good measure. She looked as affected by his nearness as he felt by hers. “Thanks. Sorry. It gets everywhere.”

“So if not ants, what’s it for?”

She leaned against the closed door of the cabinet and dug in her pocket, coming up with a small leather pouch with odd writing on it and chalk streaks. “It keeps the peace here. This and salt have a long history of magickal uses, including sealing an area from outside influences and attacks, as well as binding. I keep it handy due to the nature of the store and the customers. Not to mention the ghost hunts. It’s a lot easier to keep them out than to get them out, you know?”

“I’ll take your word for it.” He looked at a few more things, finding an odd beauty in the crystals, runes, and tarot cards. She kept the store immaculate and extremely organized, given its smaller size, and he could appreciate her attention to detail. They found their way back to the counter and she disappeared into the back of the store only long enough to come back with another wooden stool for him to sit on.

“It’d be a shame to let the pizza get cold,” she said with her ever-present grin. It seemed to him she was always happy and smiling, and he had to admit he found it kind of endearing.

While he dished up the plates, she got into the mini fridge for the beer. Looking at the top with a frown, she said, “You know, I could actually open these with my teeth, but I don’t want to upset you.”

He blinked at her, not sure what to do with that information, and more than a little concerned. “Thank you? I think? Regardless,” he dug out his keys and jingled them until he came up with what he was looking for, “I came prepared.”

“I do like a man who plans ahead.” She perched on the stool regally, posture perfectly straight and dignified as hell, even with her silver toes curled over the lower railing of the chair. The crazy thing was she looked like that was her natural pose.

“And I’m sure your dentist will be thankful as well.”

She winked in response and they both fell into their pizzas. He was actually quite pleased overall, since he was able to show off a bit by getting a gourmet pizza from a place up north that he loved, and she seemed to enjoy the food.

“So are you a witch?” he asked after wiping an errant spot of grease from the corner of his mouth with his thumb.

She blotted her mouth with a napkin he’d brought, though her full lips were still a bit shiny. “Not actively practicing. Kinda like a Christmas/Easter Catholic, you know? I hit the holy days, I keep track of the rituals and use a few of them,” she gestured with a piece of pizza toward the door and windows she’d worked on, “semi-frequently, but other than that, not so much. Does it bother you?”

“Not at all.” Nico could understand her position. With a schedule like his, that was pretty much all he had time for in terms of Mass, too. And her religious preference wasn’t unexpected, given how they met. “I guess you do a good business.” He looked around at the numerous locked glass cases and their high end contents.

Nahia nodded, and sipped her beer. “It’s not bad. I do special orders, too, for some customers, and I have an online presence. It keeps a roof over my head.”

He toasted her before draining his beer. Her modesty was refreshing, since his last few experiences with women outside of work had consisted of a great deal more about themselves than any other topic. Though, he had to admit, he could sit and listen to Nahia read a phone book and be content, but that was not something he intended to share.

When she saw his empty bottle, she took it from him and tossed it in the recycling bin on the floor behind her and knelt down to grab another from the fridge. “So, I didn’t find a whole lot today as far as the house goes.”