Palm of Destiny (3 page)

Chapter Four

Elijah Grey was panicking. He found no shame in it, only the intense desire to get the hell out of this city. If he could, he would get himself right off of Vancouver Island and maybe head east to the mainland. There were some pretty good metaphysical shops in Vancouver and the surrounding areas, but Alberta seemed like the better option. He had been born in Slave Lake, once upon a time, and it would be good to go back. Even though he had always hated the big cities, it was a lot better than being in the same vicinity as Rosalie Masters.

What he had seen hadn’t been in the lines of her palm. It had been in his
head
instead. What did that even mean? Was he going crazy? Was he so stressed that he was starting to break mentally? He had heard stories of people who saw visions, both of the past, the present, and even the future. Once in a while Morgan would toss him an interesting story or two; but he had never expected
he
would ever see them.

As he ran a hand back through his dark hair, he zipped up a large suitcase. He was in a hurry, so he wasn’t going to bother taking everything. It wasn’t like there was much to take anyway: a handful of clothes, some books, several tarot card decks, and a mixture of other ‘fortune’ telling items. Those were, of course, the first things he had packed away. Being a guide for lost souls was something that gave him meaning in life. Without it, he was just like all the other poor suckers who had nothing to live for.

Rosalie didn’t make any of that easier. Not even a little bit. The fact that she had
personally
come to his apartment to find him was more than a little disturbing. As he started tossing some clothing and toiletries into a smaller bag, his phone started ringing. He hesitated, then dared to look at the caller ID. Angelique. Of course. With a soft huff, Elijah ignored the ringing and continued throwing items into the bag.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?”

The female voice made him yelp and jump back from his bag. He ended up half crouched with his back to the wall. Wide blue eyes stared across at Rosalie as she stood leaning against the doorframe.

At first, all that came from him was sputtering. By the time he finally found his voice, she was stepping into the bedroom. “What are you doing? You can’t be in here!”

“I want to know why you left the store. Why are you packing, where are you going? What did you see that scared you so badly at the magic shop?”

Dumbfounded, he just stared at her. His expressions were mixed, but fear dominated above everything else. “It’s none of your business. I told you to leave me alone, that’s what you should have done!”

“Stop yelling at me.”

“You’re trespassing into my apartment, I have every right to yell at you!” His jaw slack, Elijah started packing again. He was muttering under his breath, in total disbelief that she would do this. “I thought you didn’t believe,” he mumbled a little louder, a snort making his nostrils flare.

“So I take it you aren’t going to tell me?”

He ignored her question, not even offering her a nod or a shake of his head. Once he had everything in the bag, he zipped it up. Grabbing them both—the large suitcase and the small backpack–like bag—he shouldered his way past Rosalie and headed out into the hall. The living room was just beyond, and he dropped both bags on the old black and gray couch that was sitting across from a small fireplace. When he turned around to go back to his room, a gasp parted his lips. She was
right
there. One of her fingers was pointing directly at his nose. Another millimeter and she would have been touching him. “Why did you run?” she asked, a bite to her tone.

“Because you obviously belong in an asylum. One of the ones with padded walls and people who feed and dress you.”

“
Why
?”

Elijah could feel the hairs along the back of his neck stirring in agitation. His teeth ground slowly together. It took a lot to make him angry, and even more to not bolt at the slightest hint of a confrontation. Rosalie was getting on his last nerve. First she had walked into his home without permission, and now she was making demands of him.

“I’m not obligated to tell you anything, now get out of my way and leave my apartment.”

“No.” She arched one of her eyebrows.

He stood very still for several seconds, his mind processing. Then he turned, pivoting on the ball of his right foot, and walked over to a phone that was attached to the living room wall. He pressed ‘1’ on the dial pad, then waited, glancing occasionally at Rosalie. Finally someone answered. “Hi,” Elijah said. “I have a trespasser in my apartment. I asked her to leave, but she’s not going. Could you send someone over here to get her?”

He glanced at her again, meeting her eyes even as he opened his mouth to give the police his address. Before he could, Rosalie was striding over to him and knocking the phone from his hands. With a startled cry, Elijah jumped back from the phone like she had just burned him.

“What is your
problem
, are you some sort of stalker?”

Rosalie pursed her lips, then quickly hung up the phone. With both hands on her hips, she started moving toward him. Elijah, in turn, started backing away. When he felt his back hit the living room wall, he scooted along it and then half scrambled into the kitchen. Once he was in the hall again, he made a mad dash for what he deemed the safest place: the bathroom. He locked the door before rubbing his hands over his thighs, backing away from the door. To him, Rosalie was like that giant spider in the bathtub when all you want is a shower…and he didn’t want a damn thing to do with her.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Rosalie whispered. She let out a low growl, then grabbed the cell phone from her purse and called Angelique. “Hey, Ang? Yeah, it’s me. You need to come to Elijah’s apartment, he locked himself in the bathroom when I asked him why he ran from Morgan’s store.”

“He what?” Angelique’s laughter was loud enough that Rosalie had to move the phone away from her ear. “What the hell did you do to him?”

She as she strode slowly back into the living room. “Just come, okay? Him freaking out has me all freaked out now, too. Besides, what sort of ‘man’ locks himself in a bathroom when a woman asks him a few simple questions?” Rosalie gave a small roll of her eyes, then forced herself to sit down on the edge of Elijah’s couch. “Just come, okay? Maybe… I don’t know, maybe you can talk some sense into him.”

“I think he’s beyond help, darling. Or you are, I can’t decide which of you the poorer soul is.” She laughed some more. “I’ll be right over, though.”

Shaking her head, Rosalie hung up and looked across at the locked bathroom door. She still couldn’t help but wonder if what Elijah had seen had something to do with her father’s death. The skeptic in her told her that such a thing was ridiculous. There was no such thing as magic or real fortune telling. Then again, she had never seen a grown man lock himself behind a door like a child about to be beaten, either.

* * * *

By the time Angelique got to Elijah’s apartment, she was flustered. Whatever Rosalie had done, it certainly wasn’t in anyone’s favor. The fact that Rosalie had scared Elijah badly enough to send him into hiding was such a shock that she had almost gotten a speeding ticket on her way there. Now that she
was
there, she didn’t quite know what to do.

Well
, she thought.
May as well just… go in.

Keys jingled along with the shiny blue and orange beads she had around her wrist. She and Rosalie had made the bracelets when they had been much younger, and they were one of Angelique’s most prized possessions. She would run into a burning building just for them.

Several minutes later had Angelique standing outside of Elijah’s door. After letting out a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside. Elijah was nowhere to be seen, and Rosalie was sitting on the arm of the couch. When she saw her friend, she stood and strode quickly to her, wrapping her into a tight hug.

“Finally! What took you so long, woman? And how did you get in here?”

Angelique gave Rosalie a withering look before folding her arms across her chest. “Elijah gave me a copy of his keys a while ago. We used to have a…thing.” She waved a hand. “Anyway, what the hell did you do to him??”

“I told you over the phone. But he freaked out even before that. He called the police on me! I mean, come
on
, who does that? He’s a big ‘man’ and all, you’d think he’d be able to handle a girl like me.” She paused, then blinked. “Wait… you and Elijah?”

“Rosalie, focus…the
police
?”

“But…best friends are supposed to—”

As those words left Rosalie’s lips, sirens sounded in the near distance. And they were coming closer. Without another word between them, the two women ran for the door.

Chapter Five

“You know I can’t just up and tell you something like that. And before you say anything, no… it’s not ‘company’ policy, but my own ethical one.” Morgan was standing there with his arms folded across his chest. His eyes were narrowed on Rosalie’s face, and the frown on his lips was like that of a disapproving school teacher. He looked even more like a teacher as he stood behind his desk in the magic shop.

“But he locked himself in his
bathroom
,” Rosalie said, spreading her hands. “What person does that unless they’re either scared to death or trying desperately to hide something?”

“He locked himself in the bathroom? You’re serious?”

“Yes.
Now
will you tell me what’s going on?”

Morgan let out a quiet sigh and rubbed gently at the gray and black stubble along his jaw. “All right. I’ll tell you, but you might want to sit down.”

She arched both of her eyebrows and shook her head. “I’m not a little weakling.”

“Never said you were.” Leaning his forearms over the desk, he locked his gaze with Rosalie’s. “Truth of the matter is, Elijah came to me just before he packed all his stuff up and left. That was…” He looked thoughtful. “I don’t know…two days ago now. He came over with this look in his eyes. You know the one…scared and confused and all that. Said that he was going to die soon and that he needed to get the hell out of town.”

“Die how? And why didn’t you just tell me this before?”

Morgan shrugged and ignored her last question. “He had a vision apparently when he went to read your palm. Something about death and blood. Lots of blood.”

Her jaw went slack. Death and blood. After her father had been murdered, she had heard things. ‘So much blood’, had been one of the most popular phrases that she had overheard. The more she was hearing, the more convinced she was that Elijah had seen her father’s murder; or at the very least, parts of it. Taking a small step away from the counter, Rosalie glanced down toward the floor. Then she looked up at Morgan, her jaw set. “Where did he say he was going?”

“Didn’t say. But I’ve already told you a lot more than I should have.”

Rosalie swore under her breath. After the disaster ‘breaking in’ to Elijah’s place yesterday, she could only assume that he had booked it soon after she and Angelique had been run out by the prospect of police action. She tapped her fingers against the wood of the desk that stood between her and Morgan. Suddenly, her eyes shone with the light of an idea.

“You knew my father was…he died. A few days ago.”

Morgan looked taken aback by the question. “Yeah…saw it on the news.”

“Then you know that he was murdered, and that the killer is still out there.” Rosalie chewed on her lower lip before continuing. “I think…” Gods this sounded so stupid! She didn’t believe in this stuff. She wished Angelique had
never
brought her here in the first place. “I think that Elijah saw my father in his last moments. I would be freaked out if I saw something like that, too. Maybe I would even lock myself in a bathroom.”

Stunned silence stretched between them. It seemed to extend even longer the more Morgan stared at Rosalie. Some of the color was seeping from his face, and his fingers were clenched into tight fists. “Slave Lake… said he was going to…to Slave Lake.”

“Thank you!” Rosalie let out a gasping breath as she pushed off from the desk and sprinted out the door. There were always multiple sailings from Nanaimo to Vancouver, but if luck was on her side, she might be able to find Elijah there. She figured he would go the cheapest route, and the ferry was it. It was insane, rushing off to a ferry terminal to try and find the one person who wanted
nothing
to do with her, but she didn’t have anything else.

All she had was her need to find out what had happened to her father…the one person in the world who had truly understood her.

* * * *

Elijah stepped out of the taxi at the ferry terminal. It was huge, with masses of people going in every imaginable direction. For someone like him, who only went out in public when it was absolutely necessary, this was his worst nightmare. Blue eyes searched for signage that would tell him where to go, but the people were far too distracting. His paranoia started to kick in as the taxi drove away, leaving him all but stranded. He had to find a better grip on his luggage bags because of palms that suddenly started to sweat. Trying to ignore the wave of nervous nausea, he made his way toward the automatic doors that stated ‘Entrance’.

“Elijah! Wait! God damnit, wait up!”

That voice. It was so familiar. Stopping just in front of the entrance doors, he turned his head back to see who was calling him. After several seconds of hard searching, he finally picked out a face. She was waving at him with both arms and practically shoving people out of her way as she came toward him. It was Rosalie.

Without a moment of thought, Elijah shot forward. A heavy man wearing an expensive looking suit barely got out of his way in time. A young woman with a roller bag wasn’t so lucky and ended up sprawled across the floor. As Elijah’s strides lengthened, he made a run for the nearest door.

“Hey, you need to buy a ticket first. Sir! You can’t go through there!”

Elijah ignored the woman at the ticket desk and bounded through the door that led down to the ferry. There was more yelling from behind him as Rosalie dashed after him. She was a hell of a lot quicker than she looked. The long hallway ended in a sharp turn, and Elijah just about smashed into the wall going around the corner. He had to do a few interesting hop steps to keep his footing. As he sprinted around another corner, he was halted by a wall of people.

There were food vendors, stalls with hats and scarves, and a myriad of other areas where people were selling things. He took a quick glance behind him and spotted Rosalie, huffing to keep up. His heart thudding against his chest, Elijah pushed through the dense throng of people. How was she already so close? He knew he wasn’t the world’s fastest runner, but he certainly wasn’t slow.

“Elijah! I just want to talk to you!” Rosalie’s voice was almost lost in the crowd, but he heard her as clearly as if she was right there beside him.

It didn’t take him long to get through the people. A few more running steps took him to the waiting area. If he got on the boat, there really wouldn’t be anywhere to run unless he jumped
off
the boat. That was certainly an option, but Rosalie seemed desperate enough that she might just jump off after him. After a small moment of hesitation, Elijah took off through the door just on his right. He was back outside now, and in the middle of the children’s play area.

Not even glancing at the startled kids and mothers, he made his way directly for the massive traffic holding area. Cars were starting to move, directed to certain areas of the ferry’s levels by trained professionals. Thankfully the vehicles were slow, and he was easily able to outmaneuver them. He jumped over the hoods of some and skirted around the bumpers of others. A quick glance behind told him that Rosalie was
still
chasing him.

That glance nearly cost him as he darted in front of a massive semi. The sound of its horn made his ears pop and stirred the hair on his arms, but he kept going.

On other side of the holding lot was a sheer wall of concrete. It went up a good twenty feet. Highway traffic blasted by above, and Elijah knew that even if he got up there, running through that wasn’t worth his life. And so, with a heavy swallow, he came to an unsteady halt, turned around with his back to that wall, and looked right at Rosalie. It was the first time—ever—that he had met her eyes.

“I already told you to leave me alone.” Elijah’s voice was breathless as she got closer. Waves of fatigue washed over him, and he let himself lean back against the solid wall behind him.

Rosalie held her hands open in front of her, her whole body shaking with exhaustion. Gulping air into her lungs, she leaned forward and placed her hands on her knees. Holding up a finger, she gave him the ‘hold on a second’ gesture as sweat dripped from her face onto the concrete.

“Listen.” After a few more gulps of air, she straightened and swept her hands back through her ebony waves of hair. “All I want to know is what you saw.” She swallowed hard, gazing into the depths of eyes that weren’t plain, but full of clarity…like still water.

“How did you know I would be here? Did Morgan sell me out?”

“Yes, he did. Elijah, what did you see? Did you see my father’s death? Did you see who killed him?” Placing a hand to her mouth, she shook her head as her brow wrinkled. “Did you?”

“Like I said…leave me alone.”

Lowering her head, Rosalie felt the strong, overbearing attitude she tried so desperately to hold onto since her father’s murder slipping farther and farther away. The longer she thought about it, the more she believed. No man would run like that if he
hadn’t
seen something. “Please, Elijah… and I don’t say ‘please’ to just anyone… tell me what you saw. That’s all I want to know.”