Keeley Thomson (Book 3): Mistress of Souls (4 page)

Darla sounded pleased enough about it all though.

"I'll be over in two hours then. I suggest you inform Charles that he has that much time to arrange a flight out of the country and to be on his way. I'm bringing lawyers with me, so be prepared for that." Then she hung up without saying more, which wasn't like her at all. Normally Darla had very good phone manners.

Her parents were still bickering, Sherry in tears and Charles seeming more and more vindicated as each one fell. Keeley waited for a brief lull in the noise to speak.

"Mrs. Gibson is coming over to deal with this. She said that if dad was gone before she and the lawyers got here, headed out of the country, she can buy him some time. No one will think he's running if we don't go with him. Not at first." She glared at her father, head shaking and a bit of anger creeping into her body language.

"I had to call in a favor for this and it will cost me for a long time, I can't even begin to explain how screwed up this is. I suggest you use the next two hours to get as far from here as possible and never look back. Just so you know... you have a mental problem. A real one that's hard for you to see. Women really don't go around sleeping with people like you think they do. Not all of them, not even most. If you ever find love again, keep that in mind or you'll end up losing her too." She waited as he just stood, his eyes baffled. It could have been about any part of the thing, but it was the last bit that did it, Keeley was certain. It was just too hard for people to see their own brand of crazy. Most didn't even try.

Sherry moved to sit by her on the sofa, still crying, hugging her tightly, which broadcasted the wave of emotions she was feeling directly into Keeley's head. The anger at being betrayed. The fear and uncertainty, since Sherry really didn't have any money of her own to support them with and her OCD made getting a real job more than a little frightening. Relief that this mess that her married life had become was nearly over.

Plus dread that Charles was going to get in trouble.

Just because she wanted him gone now, that didn't mean she had no feelings for him at all. She'd loved him once and still wanted to. She just couldn't anymore.

It was hard to tell if her dad believed her or not, but he didn't hesitate to grab a bag from the garage, one that had already been packed and hidden for a quick getaway and started to put it in the car without saying goodbye.

Keeley tilted her head at him and growled.

"No. You aren't taking the car. If you do that everyone will think you're running. Call a cab and pay in cash so there's no record of it. Travel by bus and alternative transportation when you can and don't use any more money than you have to. Draw what you can from the ATM here and then destroy the card before you leave town. They can track those things when you use them. Also, ditch your cell phone now. Those can be tracked too." It was like he hadn't even thought this part through. He also needed to buy a plane ticket, but it would be safer for him to charter a boat. People found planes easier to manage and faster, so they thought it was safer, but airports were easy to watch and control. Ports were larger in general and not used even a fraction as often to get out of the country, which meant they weren't looked at as closely in general. She wasn't telling him that though. After all, he wasn't really being followed.

He made the call to set things up, then stood for a long time, pacing, edgy and worried suddenly. Fearing prison no doubt. It would be good for him to do that. If Keeley hadn't been who she was and have her connections, it would be where he was really headed.

"I was going to take you with me. Send for you. Both of you..." It was a lie, a blatant one, but instead of calling him on it Keeley just agreed.

"I know. You wouldn't just abandon us. That would have been evil. Go now. I'll try to hold them off as long as possible. You can't contact us again, not until the statute of limitations runs out. Seven years I think, but make sure to check that out. A mistake now could be deadly."

He moved to hug Sherry, who let him, looking pained.

"I'm sorry... I guess I kind of messed up."

He didn't try to hug Keeley, which she was grateful for. After all, she didn't want to know how much he was lying. She didn't have any illusions there, but it was kind of too much at the moment. The cab came a few minutes later and he left into the dark of the night, Sherry standing next to Keeley in the front door of the house.

If he looked back she couldn't see him doing it.

After a minute they went back in, Sherry drying her eyes and looking around the rather nice house. The one that Coretechs had gotten them as a perk for Charles' job.

"Well. I... don't know what to do now. How will we survive?" The voice was little, lost sounding and sad.

Keeley shrugged.

"Don't worry about it. We can stay here as long as we need. Darla will make sure of that, don't worry. Even if we couldn't, she'd let us stay with her." Not that she had space for it at the moment, with all Keeley's people crashing at her house. Well, part of them.

Sherry didn't seem to think that was real and moved to start packing herself, which Keeley stopped rather firmly, taking the packing boxes from her hands and putting them back in the storage container.

"Mom... people are going to be here in a few minutes. We need to get ready for them. Perhaps some refreshments? I could use some food myself. I'm starving. I also need to make some more phone calls..."

"I... Keeley, what will we do?" She asked it again, sounding even more worried this time. It neared actual panic, meaning she was close to really losing it.

"Leave it to me. I have this one." She did, but it took a bit for her mom to go and finish seeing to the food. Her dad's favorite meal.

She called a few more people, her school's Principal, who was agreeable to the idea of dining with some notable people from the area, and the Mayor, who was surprised to be contacted at home by someone he didn't know, but wasn't against the idea of going out on a Tuesday either, especially if he didn't have to pay for it. Then she called Deborah Forbes.

"So seven tomorrow night. You and two dates are expected." She listed off who was coming and gave her what tidbits of information she had on each. On her side of things Deborah didn't ask how she knew to have two spots instead of one.

"The Mayor is a blank for me, but if you want to move up it can't hurt to have friends. I don't know, sleep with some of them or something. Walk their dogs or babysit the kids. It's generally better to do the raunchy stuff or break a minor law for someone though, since it will bind you to them faster." She wasn't really kidding, since it was a good way to get people to be friends, but it sounded so dull and lifeless that Deborah took a sudden breath.

"Keeley? Are you OK? Is something wrong, are you hurt or... The mugging..."

"Don't worry about it, nothing like that. I...had a fight with my dad, that's all. Anyway, Chez Andre at seven. The reservations are under Benson. Make sure to research everyone first." She hung up then, which was a little rude of her, but two cars had pulled up in front of the house.

The Coretechs people.

Sigh.

"Here we go mom. Get ready." For what, she didn't really know. As far as she could tell there was no need to have lawyers present. Maybe the FBI, or even the local police, but why would they need anyone else?

She didn't wait for the door to be knocked on, just standing with it open, waiting for everyone. It was only four people, two men and two women. Darla looked like herself, young and attractive and so did Dan Carmichael. The other two were new to her. Locking down her personal mental shield as hard as she could manage, she reached out to them, to see what they were thinking. It was mainly about contracts.

Odd.

"Come in everyone. Glad you could make it. We have some food coming. Can I get anyone something to drink? Coffee or tea?" Keeley wasn't going to offer them alcohol, since they seemed to be working and Demons only drank it to blend in anyway, unless they liked the taste. They couldn't get drunk.

Darla ran to her and gave her a quick but hard hug, then moved past her to do the same to Sherry.

"I'm so sorry about all this. We have it locked down so that nothing too bad will come of it. The Coretechs lawyers have some papers for you to sign. It just makes you and Keeley the beneficiary of Charles' pension funds, which aren't that much, and his stock options, which are more substantial. Once this is signed he won't be able to touch them again, which is what we want. He stole enough already. Damned if we're letting him have any more."

The lawyers both opened cases and started pointing at the places for Sherry to sign, going so quickly it was doubtful the stressed and out of it woman was really keeping up with the whole thing. After ten minutes of this they both stood and left without even saying goodbye. They nearly ran to the door.

Darla explained, waving at their backs as they escaped into the night.

"They'll have it all legal and binding before midnight. I for one am relieved to have that out of the way. Charles wasn't a bad employee, embezzlement aside, but he was making things a little hard on Keels here. You too Sherry. Not to be a bitch about it, but you could do better. Well, all's well that ends well. Is that steak I smell?" She stood as if invited to dinner.

Keeley sighed and stood herself.

"Yeah. Let's see if there's enough to go around? If not I can make some more. It isn't my food, but Sherry's." It was a real point for Demons. Offering care to someone was claiming ownership of them. It was fine to give guests food, if they were close enough to you, but you had to make a point of it not being from you directly. Even if it was a lie. The rules were convoluted and largely unneeded, but all societies had their traditions and this one was kind of important to Demons. If she broke it she might just have to fight them both for the insult.

Dan smiled and gave her a half bow.

"Wonderful. Shall we then?" He said this to Sherry, who nodded and led the way to the kitchen to get the food. Everyone followed, carrying a dish to the table on the far side, where the dining room was. It wasn't a huge space, but the table was nice and the whole thing was sparkling clean.

Keeley just loaded her plate, seeing that there was nearly enough food even with three Demons. Sherry had way over prepared for humans, but it would just about work out, if they could manage a good dessert or two as well. She served herself first, then made sure everyone else had enough before eating. No one talked for a long time. When the food was almost done Keeley's mom cleared her throat and looked at Dan nervously.

"Keeley?" She sounded scared and kept looking at Carmichael, who nodded back at her.

"I have something to tell you. Um..." She looked at Darla and blushed, but soldiered on, giving a speech she'd obviously rehearsed to herself more than once.

"Your father... he isn't your father." Then she stopped, getting Darla to raise her eyebrows and look at Dan.

"Seriously, you're making her break the news? I mean Keeley already knows, but it's a little cold forcing it off on Sherry like this. What if Keels had an issue with it?"

Dan snorted, "she
doesn't
know it all. I figured the whole story of her parentage should come from her mother, so that she'll believe it more easily."

Standing suddenly Keeley went to the kitchen, making sure she was totally locked down as far as telepathy went. Her mom looked worried and so, oddly enough did Dan, but she was just going to see if there was something to serve for dessert. They had a nice cherry pie on the counter, store bought, but it looked decent. She started making up plates of it, just cutting it into quarters and finding some cream in the refrigerator. She didn't know a lot about cooking, but she could manage whipping that into something edible she thought, having done it for every Thanksgiving since she'd been seven.

Everyone was quiet when she came back in juggling the plates carefully. It wouldn't do to drop them now.

"OK, so where were we? The part where Dan is actually the Greater Demon Finias, who is both my and Darla's father? Am I supposed to be shocked and surprised by that? Or is it the part where mom has known I'm a Demon for nearly two weeks? I have to tell you the only thing really catching me off guard was the embezzlement. I mean what the heck was that about? Did someone force him into it?"

Keeley stared at Dan first, since he had the most to gain by getting Charles out of the way, but made sure to include Darla too. She was fully capable of getting someone to do something like that, wasn't she? For that matter Keeley was pretty sure she could have pulled it off, now that she thought about it. It was also a good opening move if someone was trying to attack her personally.

Darla just made a face.

"It could be. This could be anything from someone trying to tear you down, test you or even trying to do you a favor. Probably not that last one but some of our kind can get weird in their old age. It wasn't me though. Rather a pain in the behind as far as I'm concerned. It really just seemed like theft though, but that could be faked."

Dan made a face too, an unbelieving one.

"You
are
too shocked by finding out I'm your father. I know for a fact that you didn't know it was me. I read your mind..."

Keeley didn't bother thinking much of anything for a while, it was peaceful.

"I knew. I just didn't let on. It's not like controlling my own thoughts is impossible or anything. Darla set me the task. I probably blew it by mentioning it now before you did, but oh well. Oops?"

That got Darla to laugh again, a happier sound this time.

"I'll let it pass this time. You still owe me that money though. I'm not going to forget that."

"Of course you wouldn't. I'll set that up, or, you know, you can just get it from my accounts. Only the eight hundred thousand we agreed on though."

She took a few big bites of pie, still starving, not having eaten enough for the day at all. It would probably be easier to do now though. Having to hide what you ate made it a lot harder.