Ravensong (35 page)

The officer behind him pushed him away
from the cells and to another hallway. He followed them to a white
room with another window in the door and walked inside. The only
furniture was a stainless steel table and two chairs. The taller of
the officers motioned toward one of the chairs and tossed the
backpack on the table.

“
Sit down, Ravensong,” he
ordered.

Joshua sank into the seat, clasping
his hands under the table.

The other officer moved behind him,
pulling up the chair and taking a seat right at Joshua’s back.
Joshua tried to keep him in his line of sight, but he was too
close. He could feel his breath on the back of his neck.

“
I’m Officer Baker and
that’s Officer Thompson.”

Joshua could only nod. He knew he
should probably take control of this situation somehow, but he was
too damn scared. What if they had him on tape? Should he ask for a
lawyer? Would that be an admission of guilt?

“
You want to tell us what’s
going on,” said Baker.

Joshua looked up at him, his mind
frantically trying to find the composure he needed to seem normal.
“What do you mean? I’m not sure why I’m here.”

Baker’s eyes shifted behind him to the
other officer.

“
You left the line rather
suddenly, didn’t you?” said Thompson in his ear.

Joshua hunched his shoulders. He
didn’t like having this guy at his back, but he knew they were
trying to intimidate him. And damn was it working. “I didn’t feel
well,” he said. “I must have eaten something bad.”

Baker scratched at his chin. “Really?”
He lowered his hand and curled it in the top of the backpack.
Without a word, he tipped it over and poured the contents onto the
table.

Joshua’s eyes fixed on it in alarm,
paralyzed by the fear of what might spill out.

“
Mind if we look in your
bag?” said Baker.

Joshua couldn’t respond. He watched
Baker push aside his t-shirt and jeans, then lift the notebook. He
turned a few pages, then dropped it on the clothes. He reached for
the backpack again and started opening the other zippered
compartments.

“
What about your pockets?
Anything in there?” said Thompson behind him.

Joshua shook his head, his eyes
riveted on Baker.

“
Roll up your sleeves for
us,” said Thompson.

Joshua tried to turn and see him, but
all he could see was Thompson’s chin. He was that close. He opened
his mouth to respond, but the door slammed open and Julian appeared
in the entry.

“
What the hell is going
on?” he demanded. “I have a band to put on a plane and you detain
my lead singer.”

Another officer moved into
the doorway behind Julian. “Sorry, Chuck,” he said to Baker. “Says
he’s the lawyer.”

Baker lifted a brow, then turned to
Joshua. “He your lawyer?”

Joshua nodded, even though
he wasn’t sure Julian had passed the bar. He knew he’d taken a
number of law classes, but he didn’t even know if he’d gotten a
degree or not. Baker shrugged at the officer in the door and the
officer left.

Julian advanced into the
room.

“
What happened to your
face?” purred Thompson behind him.

“
What’s he being held for?”
Julian demanded. “It had better be damn good or I swear I’ll
sue.”

“
We’re waiting for him to
tell us. He jumped out of line rather suspiciously and raced to the
bathroom…”

“
I told you I was sick,”
snapped Joshua. He really hated the feel of Thompson so close
behind him. The man now had one arm on the back of Joshua’s chair
and the other on the table beside him.

“
That seems a reasonable
explanation,” said Julian. His eyes lowered to the backpack. “Did
he give you permission to search that?”

Baker gave Joshua an amused look.
“Yeah, he did.”

“
No, I didn’t.”

Thompson plucked at the sleeve of
Joshua’s shirt. “But he gave us permission to search him, didn’t
you? Pull up your sleeve.”

“
No,” said Julian, rounding
on him. “Don’t give them permission to do anything.”

“
If he’s got nothing to
hide, he should be willing to show us,” said Thompson. He brushed
Joshua’s hair off his shoulder. Joshua tried to lean away from him.
“Right? If you’re innocent, you’ve got nothing to hide.”

“
Innocent?” said Julian,
reaching up and removing his glasses. “What are you accusing him of
doing?”

“
Nothing, right, Pat? We
just wondered what happened. That’s all,” said Baker.

Julian turned to Baker. “Then if you
have nothing on him, he’s free to go, isn’t he? We have a plane to
catch.”

Baker dropped the backpack on the
table. “Yeah, he can go.” He stepped away from the table as Julian
moved to shove Joshua’s things back in the bag, but Thompson didn’t
move.

Joshua tried to keep him in his line
of sight, every muscle tense.

“
What happened to your
face?” repeated Thompson, brushing Joshua’s hair again.

Joshua didn’t answer.

“
Let him go, Pat,” said
Baker in a bored voice, but still Thompson didn’t move.

“
Dealer pop you one?” he
said.

Julian’s head snapped up and he glared
at Thompson. “What?”

“
Let it go,
Pat.”

“
Just asking, that’s all.
Just doing my job.” He pushed himself to his feet and leaned over
Joshua. Joshua hunched his shoulders and tensed, but he didn’t
touch him, just loomed over him for a moment, then walked away. He
went straight to the door and out without a backward
glance.

Joshua closed his eyes.

“
Let’s go, Ravensong,” said
Julian across the table from him.

Joshua forced himself to stand,
although his knees felt weak, and he followed Julian toward the
door. The manager stopped by Baker and looked at him over the top
of his glasses.

“
Your supervisor will hear
from me.”

“
Be my guest,” said Baker.
His eyes slid beyond Julian to Joshua. “Bye, Ravensong.”

Joshua didn’t answer, just followed
Julian out of the room and into the hallway beyond. The people
behind the desks turned and watched them as they headed to the
corridor. Thompson was standing in the doorway of an office and he
winked at Joshua as they passed.

Once they made it into the white tiled
hall, they didn’t speak until they were almost to the door leading
to the terminal. Joshua hesitated as Julian put his hand on the
knob.

“
Julian?”

The manager paused, then turned slowly
on his heel. He had Joshua’s pack slung over his own
shoulder.

Joshua looked down, then up into
Julian’s eyes. “Thanks for that.”

Julian squared his jaw, then
nodded.

“
It took guts to go in
there.”

“
I’ve got a tour to run,
Ravensong. I don’t have time for weekend warriors to play cop on
me. We’ve got a flight to catch.”

Joshua shifted weight. “I just…I
didn’t…”

“
What? You thought I’d let
them keep you here?”

“
I didn’t expect you of all
people to come for me, no.”

Julian moved back until he
was standing right in front of Joshua. “
Avalanche
is important to me, Joshua.
Damn important. You only get a ride like this once in a lifetime.
Once!” he punctuated with a finger. “But I’m not stupid. I know
you’re the reason for it.”

Joshua narrowed his eyes. “You tried
to hire another singer just a week ago.”

“
Yeah, but not because I
don’t know what you bring to the band.” He shook his head. “You’re
like a falling star, Joshua. Blazingly brilliant, but short lived.
I wanted them to get another singer because I know…I know that
eventually you’ll burn out, you’ll walk away. You’ll have to. This
business is eating you alive. You think I don’t see that.” He
looked away. “But we’re playing sold out stadiums every night,
Ravensong, and I thought that if they were going to make a break,
it had to be now. If they could bring in another singer, at the top
of this ride, the public might not abandon them right away. They
might make it without you…at least until the next album is
out.”

Joshua sighed. It made sense, in fact,
it made good business sense. “Then maybe you should have left me in
there. You know what they were trying to find, I know you do. It
would have been easier to convince the band to get another singer
if they thought I was using again.”

Julian met his gaze. “But
you’re not. I know that too. You’re right, I’m not stupid, and I’m
also a realist. After trying out all of those singers and bringing
that poor sap Lucas in to sound check, I realized what Ralph had
told me all along. Whether I like it or not, Ravensong is
Avalanche
.” He held out
the backpack to Joshua. “Now, we’ve got a plane to
catch.”

* * *

Joshua knew he needed help. After
Julian had explained what happened to the band, he’d sat on the
plane beside Elena and stared around him at everyone. Someone was
setting him up. At first, he’d been sure it was Julian. Now he
wasn’t. Not after Julian had been the one to rescue him.

He knew Elena wanted more details from
him, but he couldn’t talk about it. He hadn’t felt so helpless in a
long time. The feeling was paralyzing, crippling. He wanted to curl
up, hide from the world, protect himself. He sat on the plane,
holding the backpack close, and trying to analyze who would want to
harm him. It was a paranoid venture and everyone seemed capable of
it now.

The ride to the hotel in the limo was
hell. He stared out of the window and tried to forget that everyone
was staring at him. Elena’s posture beside him was not welcoming.
Pressing his forehead to the glass, he exhaled. His jaw ached and
he was so damn tired. He needed to sleep, but he wasn’t about to
fall asleep until either he was alone or he knew who was behind the
last few pranks.

At the hotel, Julian checked them in
and handed everyone a key. They rode to their floor in silence,
then went their separate ways into their various rooms. Joshua had
a suite, since he and Elena shared a room. The suite was at the end
of a long, barren hall, and they walked to it without
speaking.

Once inside, Elena kicked off her
shoes and put down her bags.

Joshua moved toward the couch in the
sitting room and settled his pack on the table. He could feel
Elena’s eyes on him.

“
What really happened?” she
asked finally.

Joshua turned to face her. “I got
sick.” It came out without hesitation, and yet he felt guilty, but
he really couldn’t tell her the truth, not now, not when so many
strange things had been happening.

She didn’t answer, moving to the
bathroom. She returned with a washcloth and walked the bar, putting
ice cubes in the middle of the cloth, then she brought it to him.
“Here, you should try to reduce the swelling.”

He caught her hand as she started to
move away. “Elena, please understand. Some things I have to work
out on my own. This is one of them.”

She looked into his eyes. “I want to,
Josh. I really do, but this is starting to scare me. I don’t
understand what’s happening and I’m getting more and more afraid
for you.”

“
Trust me, Elena, please.
Believe me when I tell you things.”

“
I do,” she answered, “but
it’s getting harder.” She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I’m
gonna go call my family.”

She walked away to the bedroom door
and disappeared inside, shutting it behind her. Joshua wanted to go
after her, but he’d felt the distance in her kiss. She didn’t
believe him. She knew he was hiding something from her.

Sinking down on the couch, he placed
the washcloth on the table and reached for his cell phone. Snapping
it open, he stared at the display. Why was it so hard to admit he
was in over his head? Because he’d been here before and he’d lied
his way through it for a long time. No one trusted him. They
couldn’t. He’d lost all trust when he started using.

Closing his eyes, he pushed the speed
dial button and lifted the phone to his ear. It rang a few times
and then a feminine voice came on the line. “Hello?”

“
Hey, Margaret,” he said,
raking a hand through his hair.

“
Joshua? How are
you?”

Joshua hesitated. That was a loaded
question. “All right,” he said. “How’s the baby?”

“
She’s great. Sitting up on
her own. You’ve got to come see her as soon as the tour is
over.”

“
I will. How are
you?”

“
I’m good. Are you sure
you’re okay? You sound funny.”

Joshua drew a deep breath and opened
his eyes, staring at the backpack. “I need to talk to James, if
he’s there.”

“
Of course, let me get
him.”