GODDESS OF THE MOON (A Diana Racine Psychic Suspense) (27 page)

“You said you went there in Ms. Compton’s car. How did you get away without a car?”

“Johnny went with her. I followed in his car. I don’t have one.” He stopped at Lucier’s expression. “I have a license, though, in case you’re thinking I don’t.”

“Driving without a license is the least of your problems,” Beecher said. “Keep going.”

“
I parked his car
a couple of street
s
over in the Quarter,” Tony said
,
“
then
got in hers.
We hid in the back seat, hidden by the dark windows.
”

“Okay,
guys,
sit tight,” Lucier said. “
S
omeone
will be
in
shortly
to take your statements.
T
ell him everything you told us, without the hysterics. What the people looked like, the music, everything. Understand? I’ll be back later.”

“You’re not
gonna
let us go, are you? We need protection.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You’re not going anywhere.”

They were still yammering when Lucier closed the door. He and Beecher stood at the glass and watched the two men. He flicked
on
the speaker and heard them
rant
about monsters and chanting and the double-crossing Maia. He shut it off.

“What do you think?” Beecher asked.

“
T
hey saw what they saw. They’re too scared and stupid to make that up.”

“
T
hey walked into a satanic meeting?”

“
S
ounds like
it
. Bottom line is that Silas Compton is free to have any kind of meeting he wants in his own house. That’s a right guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. We might not like what he practices, but he has every right to practice it.
”

“Yeah, I see what you mean.”

“I
have to
approach this
need careful
ly.
I don’t want the department slapped with a harassment suit.” Lucier shook his head in disgust. “Diana just about accused Compton of complicity in a satanic cult the other night, and that implicated him to the kidnappings. He wasn’t happy then; he’ll be pissed when this lands on his doorstep, especially with these two involving his daughter.

“What do I say to him? ‘Um, excuse me, Mr. Compton, but does your daughter hate you enough to
hire
two nitwits
to
steal your paintings?’ Can you imagine what
Compton’s lawyers
would do with those two? By the time they finished questioning them, they’d be ready for a padded room.” Lucier headed toward his office. “There’s only one way to clear this up.”

“What’s that, Ernie?”

“Maia Compton.”

The Age of Defiance

M
aia Compton stared straight ahead, avoiding the glaring eyes of her stepmother. She hated Selene even more than she feared her. She hated Selene’s parents, too, the king and queen of evil who spawned the princess witch. And she hated her father for being so weak. Hate worked both ways. Selene hated her.
The feelings
had been
mutual
from the beginning. Dione felt the same way, but she kept her loathing private, playing the role of obedient daughter.

Both had been indoctrinated into the “
culture
.” Maia conformed, contribut
ing
to the group’s master race
―
until
she found out about
the kidnappings. Now
h
er unforgivable acquiescence tore her apart. She
’d
rebelled by needling her father
about her brother,
a retarded child
who died in a tragic accident.
So much for the
Comptons
’ superior
bloodline.
The petty provocation left her
feeling
more guilty than victorious.

“What
the hell
were you thinking?” Selene said.

“No one was supposed to be home,” Maia replied.

“
T
hat makes it right? Bringing two outsiders into the house is against all the rules
, and for what?
T
o steal millions of dollars of your father’s art collection.
What happens if they go to the police and bring you into their story?”

Maia
kept silent
. Her father
’s fury showed
red
on his face
,
and
his jaw worked as he clenched his teeth
, but he spoke not a word
.
Selene
ran the
show
, as
always
, e
ven before the day her mother, in a desperate state of depression, threw herself out the window of a sixteen-story hotel. Silas
had never been discreet.
How much did
his
betrayal
contribute to her mother’s suicide?

A
s soon as Silas
’s
public grieving subsided
, his relationship with Selene
went from gossip to front-page news
i
n the society
section
.
Silas possessed
all the attributes
the Cranes
sought
, primarily a
brilliant opportunist who
’
d do anything to get what he wanted. They tempted him with more riches
than
their young, beautiful daughter. Silas didn’t stand a chance. What man would? Even Diana Racine’s cop
lover
fell under
Selene’s
spell. Five minutes alone with Lieutenant Lucier in the
bedroom,
and Selene would have him panting for more. The psychic saw it too.

Maia looked at her father and thrust out her chin in defiance. Silas Compton personified the iron man―the big Libertarian industrialist and philanthropist. If people only knew that Selene had his dick tied around her little finger and tugged him
along like
a lap dog
.
To
Silas
’s credit, if
she went too far, he stop
ped
her
, creating a
tug-of-war control
game
that
appealed to them both. Selene
used sex to get what she wanted, from whomever she wanted, whenever she wanted
, and Silas got his rocks off watching
.
F
rom the moment she became Mrs. Silas Compton, she taught Maia and Dione to do the same. Her own children
, secret to the world
except for
the group
,
didn’t stand a chance. Selene and her parents taught them from birth,
then
sent
them
off to the compound. But Selene couldn’t
get rid of
Silas’s young daughters as easily.
They were a known fact of life.

Maia closed her ears to
Selene
’s
verbal lashing
.
Silas
sat
tight-lipped. Maia braced herself for when he calmed enough
to speak.

Why didn’t she go to the police the moment she
learned
about the first kidnapping? Why enlist Johnny and his twitching friend to do something so stupid
?
E
ven now she couldn’t believe it
had
ever entered her mind
.

N
ow what? She’d certified her own exile. They would send her to the compound and put her through a series of indoctrination exercises.
Only
this time they’d keep her there, like Martin Easley’s son, Cal, and like Anat, the only one of Selene’s daughters with an independent streak. How Maia envied their courage and wished she were like them.
S
he’d have her chance
now,
because she’d be with them, ostracized from society.

Silas would explain her absence by saying she was troubleshooting his business problems. That’s what he did whenever Maia and Dione went to the compound. Why not?
W
ho would Silas send if not his own daughters? Both women were brilliant, knew the business inside out, and favored by the Middle Eastern men with whom Silas did business.

Maia tuned back in. Selene moved to Silas, ran her fingers through his thick
salt and pepper
hair, and whispered something in his ear. Then she spoke
loud enough for
Maia
to
hear. “
We must send her away
, Silas? After what she pulled
,
what’s to stop her from exposing us?”

“How could you, Maia?” Silas said, speaking for the first time. “You leave me no choice, especially now with the Racine woman and
her
police lieutenant in the picture.”

“Not to go over this again,
darling
,” Selene said, caressing his shoulders, “but you should have listened to me. Drugging Diana Racine before she got to the house was stupid. She’ll never come for another reading now. I told you to wait until―”

“Shut up, Selene. She’ll come. She’s too curious not to.”

Bristling
at Silas’s tone
,
Selene
quickly recaptured her composure.
“Yes, but not without the cop.
She―”

“I said, shut up.”

This time
Selene froze
,
cheeks flushed.
A
momentary wave of triumph
filled
Maia
when
her father showed some balls. It wouldn’t last. Not after
Selene
unzipped his pants.
H
er stepmother knew
what to do
. She eased her body into his, rubbing, undulating.

“She goaded us in front of my parents and everyone else. They didn’t like that.”

“Tell her, Maia,” Silas said. “Tell her you won’t say anything.”

“I won’t say anything.”

Selene
glared
at Maia but held her voice steady. “At least
speak
with some conviction,
dear
. W
hat will you say w
hen the cops come to the door
and
ask about the two men you invited to
our home
,
huh,
Maia?”

She should have said it with more assurance, but she couldn’t. The thought of begging to Selene made her stomach
turn over
. She’d rather be banished. “What men? It’s their word against mine, isn’t it? Who’
ll
believe two street bums over Silas Compton’s daughter?” She purposely didn’t say Silas and Selene Compton’s daughter. She wasn’t Selene’s daughter. Never was.

“
T
his is a question for the group,” Selene said. “She put us in jeopardy. We all should decide what to do.”

Selene nuzzled her face into the crook of Compton’s neck and ran her hand down his torso and over
his crotch
. She smiled smugly at Maia and left.

Silas, his face flushed, seemed flustered,
then
rallied his self
-
control. “Why, Maia? You have everything you could possibly want. Why endanger the group like that?”

“You really don’t know, do you? You’re so blinded by that woman you can’t see what you’ve done. What did Phillip Crane offer you all those years ago beside
s
his daughter,
F
ather? Was it money or sexual pleasure that made you drive my mother to suicide and sell your soul and the souls of your children? Tell me
,
because I
have to know
.”

The strike across her face came swiftly and forcefully, knocking Maia
into
the table and onto the floor. Her
stinging
cheek
brought
tears to her eyes.

“You will never speak to me like that again, do you understand?”

Compton approached her, offering his hand to help her up. She
shrugged him off
.