Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5) (9 page)

"I know that, mother. Miss Farris is a much better person that I ever was. Which is why you're all going to help me. Do it, or I'll kill us both. Gwen
and
I."

Chapter four

"Gwen and
me
." The correction was a petty one and she wasn't totally certain that it was correct for the Western Kingdom. Not that she cared.

Smiling Gwen felt her mouth twist hard, into a look that was, she didn't doubt, fierce and pretty much angry. Those were things she was really good at.

"No problem though. Heather, kill me." There was no doubt that the woman
would
. She might not even be able to help herself. The Westmorelands all had different training throughout their lives, but this one was a fighter,
not
a Detective or Healer.

It showed, in that Heather Westmorland suddenly pointed a silver piece of metal directly at Gwen's face. Well, to be fair it was probably directed at Katherine at the moment, but the effect would be about the same. They were about to die. She was scared, and could feel the terror coming off of the other girl at the same time, but she wasn't going to let that little bitch have control of their life. It just was not going to happen. Even if it was the right thing to do, Gwen wasn't going to let someone terrorize her friends into giving over.

"Wait!" The panicked word came out before they were dead, and for some reason the wave of death that should have been there just didn't happen.

That left them both standing there, facing each other, light eye locked with brown. Gwen waved their left hand, in control of the body again.

"Yep. Just like that Kate.
Just
like that. If you try to take over, other people can, and will fix this for me. If not Heather, then one of the others. Pete maybe." It sounded like a joke, but Katherine had to know that she wasn't going to be the kid's equal in a fight. For that matter,
Gwen
wasn't, and she'd taught him. The kid had been conditioned to win in any kind of unarmed battle, and Kate was kind of a wimp.

That one didn't even become a point of discussion.

"It isn't fair! I should have a life too. This is worse than prison. Worse than death. I'm stuck, just watching this... Person, ruin my life. At every turn she does the wrong thing. Always! It just isn't right." There was a huff then. It was a kind of thing that Gwen had never even seen outside of television. An actual high pitched grunt like thing, with a blowing out of air.

No one else seemed to be all that enthused about it, or swayed. Ethyl even waved her hands, clearly frustrated.

"Has it ever occurred to you, Dear, that you might have a better case if you showed some kind of improvement in your thinking?"

Beth nodded, "indeed. I'm not certain even that would be enough to gain sole use of your body, not after what you've done, but if you want to be allowed anything, being a better person could be of use. Coasting on the good will that Gwen has earned will only save you to a certain extent. You have well and truly pushed that boundary with your last mistake."

Katherine rolled their eyes again, which was disorienting, since Gwen hadn't been ready for it. It was like watching a movie from inside someone else's head. The room was shaking and disorienting, because she wasn't the one making things move. It made a difference as to how things appeared.

"What do you mean? I'm
nice
. The very measure of sweetness herself. I understand that
you
may not see it, being only a Westmorland, but just because you aren't as good as me, that doesn't mean I'm not kind to
worthy
people, does it?"

Gwen grabbed for control, before anyone could slap the girl, but no one moved. They really should have. If she'd been in Beth's place there would have been a beating going on at the moment.

She spoke then, trying not to sound like she was the bitch in the situation. They already had one, and didn't need a second portion that day.

"No one is beneath you, Katherine. No one in this whole world. I
don't
mean that as a joke, or a small thing either. Everyone is better than you are. As good, at least. They always were. The poorest person in the world was always worth as much as you. The dumbest one has a purpose, and the weakest..." It wasn't going to be enough.

The problem was that the girl wasn't going to be able to hear her words as being a philosophical argument. She sounded pissed off, and angry. That turned it into name calling, instead of the high brow lecture Gwen was going for. That being the case, there was no way that someone as stupid and ignorant as Kate Vernor was going to suddenly grow enough to get the point.

Gwen winced, realizing what she'd just been thinking. You couldn't change the mind of a person you thought of that way. It just wouldn't work.

"Let me start again. Can you
act
like people matter, even if you can't see it all the time? If you can't do that, you can't be allowed to do anything. If you can... Maybe we could work out a schedule? You'd still have to clear what you were doing with me, and you couldn't go around having sex or doing drugs or anything moronic like that, but... There have to be loads of other stupid things you'd like to do." She didn't know if it was a good idea, but Gwen was still surprised by the reaction of everyone else.

They didn't seem at all pleased by the idea. In fact, they all looked upset on a level that didn't seem normal for any of them. Why that was, she couldn't make out, really.

Bethany, who was normally a fairly sweet woman, glowered at her.

"No. I don't think so, Gwen. Katherine Vernor is a murderer... And a body thief. She can't be allowed to have anything good.
Ever
. Not even for a single moment. Besides, what if she uses her new freedom to do even more harm?"

Both the other women nodded, including her own mother. That probably wasn't a great sign, since Ethyl wasn't exactly a horrible person. It would mean most people there would see it the same way.

Gwen shrugged.

"Really? Out of the whole room the only person willing to give her a break at all is the person she murdered? Ouch." She waited for Kate to interject something. A defense, or perhaps some name calling, since she'd no doubt be pissed at them for not going along with her.

Instead she sighed, then took over again.

"I know, Miss Farris. You truly
are
a better person than I am. I know that. These others are correct, of course. I shouldn't be allowed to be in control. I was wrong, threatening your life like I did just now. I'm desperate, is all. I can't..." She sighed, and shook her head sadly.

Moving back to her finely carved wooden chair, Heather sank down gracefully, and slipped the silver bit of metal into a front pocket. It left a lump that was about the size of a pack of playing cards.

For a moment she didn't say anything, but finally she tapped the lace covered table top.

"Can you follow Gwen's rules, if she lets you have any freedom? It might be too much to ask for you to be a good person, but can you pretend to be one? You did a nice enough job right there. Can you keep it up? It isn't enough, but short of locking you both away, I don't see what else we can do."

The chuckle that came from her own lips was polite, and even friendly sounding.

"I can do that. I was
trained
to move in high social circles. I'll even apologize to you, and Bethany. I was being a bit improper there, saying that you were less than I was. Clearly that isn't the truth. I know the kind of torture you both have been put to, in the name of protecting people like me. Being moody isn't a good excuse for rudeness on that level. I'm sorry for what I said." It even sounded real. Like she meant it.

Gwen whistled softly, impressed that she'd gotten it right. After a fashion. It was a wet sound still, and too soft, but carried the idea well enough.

"You really
are
a good liar, aren't you? That was...
Good
. Better than I would have been able to do. So, can you keep it up? Otherwise-" There was nothing left, than to die. Really, if it wasn't for the fact that Beth had cleared the socialite, proving that she couldn't rift, even thinking about living would have been a poor plan.

As it was, she didn't doubt that she was going to end up regretting not doing it right now anyway. The truth was that she didn't really want to die. She'd do it, but that was different than feeling suicidal. Gwen had been there before, and could tell the difference now.

"All right. How about this... You can have seven hours a week. You'll have to clear what you want to do with Ethyl each day, or Bethany, and only get an hour at a time. If you try to take more, or do something bad or wrong, then the deal is off, and Heather will make sure of that. If that works, and you can keep acting like a real person, we
might
work out something more equitable later. For the time being, if I were you, I'd spend at least a few of those hours trying to help other people. I don't know how, but you have some people to impress here, Kate. Go forth and win them over."

Her own hands clapped a bit.

"Wonderful. Thank you, Gwen. I know that I don't deserve anything from
you
. I'll be good. I swear it. I have reason enough to be, don't I?"

She nodded then, totally back in control suddenly.

"Yeah. A death sentence hanging over your head if you don't is pretty good incentive. Now... I
had
been planning to rest for a few days, but suddenly feel fine. Tired and sore, but I can sit and talk. What's the topic right now? Finding assassins?" It would have been for her, but Ethyl shook her head.

"No, Dear. That's being looked into in two lands, by their highest leaders, and best operatives. Ferdinand set Consev on it here, and I've been assured that Europa is having their people look into it as well. No, I'm planning a party. It's the summer season, and the last one went over rather better than expected."

That was just the truth. The king had come, and so had the Marduk. That had meant that the Vernors, who were kind of social pariahs, because their daughter was a murdering bitch that stole Gwen from a different world, had a certain amount of cachet at the moment. Capitalizing on it before the high society people could forget about how great they all were was a good plan.

After a second, Gwen snorted, a full feeling practically hitting her on the right side of her head.

"Holy
fudge
. One of those society bitches tried to have you
killed
!" She slapped her own head, which only Beth understood, her eyes going wide.

"Oh, my. That's rather different than what I was thinking. Our entire investigation has been focused in other directions. Someone trying to push Vernor Industries out of business, by threatening Robert's family. An economic, rather than social line leading to the actual events of last week. How certain of this are you, Gwen?"

Slapping her head again, she smiled, and then shook her head.

"Pretty darned. This is one of
them
. The social crowd. They set it up, anyway. Someone local, too. Not from Europa or the Chinoise. No, this is a Western Kingdom thing. From here. Close by, I can feel that one. Really close to home here. Other than that..." She stopped, closed her eyes and focused for a long time. The feeling was really empty though.

That was one of the big issues with her kind of precog. She was geared toward fighting and battle so much that she really only got threats, day to day. She couldn't tell if the toast was going to burn, or what horse would win the race, even if it was only a few minutes in the future. She
could
understand where the danger was though.

This just wasn't that big of a threat to her, however. To Ethyl, perhaps, and that was clearly important to her subconscious mind now, as illustrated by what she'd gotten on the topic already. Pushing for more wouldn't help though. Doing that would just prompt her to make things up, even if she didn't mean to. It was enough to go on anyway.

For one thing, all they had to do now was find someone jealous enough, or so silly, that they thought killing a woman over having recovered from a social beating was a good idea. There had to be less than a handful of people that would fit that bill. There was a vast difference between someone willing to gossip a bit, or tear others down, and hiring hit men to actually kill a rival.

The older woman, who was, Gwen thought again, not old at all, being only in her mid-forties, looked worried. Even more so, which was different than what should have happened.

"That's
not
allowed! There are rules to such things. Who would do that kind of thing? Sabotage of another's social place is... Well, low and not exactly proper, but it
happens
. Even saying some unkind things, or starting rumors,
might
be allowed, if one were clever enough not to be caught doing it, but to have a fellow killed? That's insane."

Bethany grimaced, then stood up.

"It may well be. Simply having the funds and power to do a thing doesn't ensure that an individual will make the right choices, at all times, or be mentally stable. I need to pass this information on to the others. I believe Kirk has this case." She stopped at the door, to look at Gwen in particular before going on. They locked eyes, as she answered a question that hadn't even been dreamed up yet. "Adam felt that I might take this one a bit too personally. He left Heather and Peter here as guards however, until you're back up to speed. I don't want you to think that he isn't taking this seriously. He truly is."

"Ah. That makes sense. I should be good in a day or two. Not that having you all around isn't a good thing. Right now, we need to work out this party. Think of some ideas for it, for when you get back? Tell everyone I said hello, too."

It was probably just that everyone there knew her, Gwen decided, but no one suggested that they cancel the party based on this news. She had her own reasons, which ill thought out or not, were kind of important to her.