Shadows of Doubt (21 page)

Hunkered down in the darkness, positioned behind an old rusty oil drum, grease monkey number two stood silently with his gun aimed at the only way in to his location. He had worked it out in his mind that once he capped the chick-cop he would squeeze through the hole in what was left of the wall and haul ass for the car. He didn’t move as he let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He had seen the glow from a flashlight a few moments ago but now it was black again and all he could see was the narrow walkway that funneled towards him. As soon as he caught sight of her he would blow her away. He just needed to be still, silent and keep the gun steady and trained on that spot until she made her way towards him. He could hear his own heart pounding in his ears as he watched his hands tremble lightly with anticipation. Before his brain had even a second to acknowledge what was happening, a pair of hands came from behind him, wrapping around his own and the grip of the gun. He saw the gun tilting upward, towards him. Closer until he sensed the barrel pressing underneath his chin. So fast. Bang.

Niko carefully slipped back through the hole from whence he came and let the body of the would-be assassin slump into a heap. He swiped a gloved hand over his face in a futile attempt to remove the blood and brain matter that covered him. Without a sound, he hit full stride in less than a second and made his way through the brush, thicket, pitch black night. Back to the motorcycle that waited, hidden, off the side of the road. He had calculated carefully that he had parked far enough away that the sound of the motorcycle would be drowned out by approaching sirens and that he was off the main road enough that his exit would be undetected. He was really glad he had indulged his curiosity about this woman after learning of the Code Pink from Abby and Frank. She was lovely. Quick witted and shrewd from everything he had observed since he spotted her at the restaurant with her partner. Now, she was very much in danger and that simply would not do for the object of his Dominor’s affection. Niko needed to find out who these assholes that had targeted her were, and make sure they were shut down permanently. One down, one to go.

Lou had seen the muzzle flash before she heard the shot and had made a bee-line for the source. Her heart was in her throat but she knew better than to yell out for her partner and give away her position. When she felt close enough, she flipped on her flashlight and caught sight of grease monkey number two splayed out on the ground, gun still in his hand. The top half of his skull was blown clean off.

Clearly no longer a threat, Lou shouted out for her partner. “Vinny?!”

“I’m here! You okay?” Vinny climbed through a hole on the other side of the structure and trained his flashlight on the corpse. “Freakin’ cheeseball! Guess it was gonna be his third strike then, huh?”

Lou snickered and turned her head towards the sound of approaching sirens. “Crap, this is gonna suck. Caroline is off tonight so we’re gonna have a long clean-up on this one.”

“Yeah but we will be going home eventually. Unlike this guy.” Vinny blew out a breath and raked his fingers through his hair in normal Vinny fashion. “I better call Vera and tell her I’m gonna be late.”

“I’ll call it in while you do that.” Lou followed Vinny through his entry hole and they made their way to the car. The onslaught of black and whites began piling up with the red glow of flashing lights washing over everything within a half-mile. Lou had no idea who the assholes had been but she was certain they had picked the wrong people to piss off. Now she wanted to know why.

As Caroline walked
up the path to her parent’s bungalow she tried not to be so anxious. Instead, she replayed her day with Lou in her head and chuckled aloud at their shenanigans. They had a lovely breakfast then did a bit of shopping before they headed back to Lou’s place and watched some old movie that Caroline couldn’t remember the name of. It was a good day, until she had to leave. Stalling as long as she could, Caroline finally knocked on the bungalow door and waited. It was her mother that answered.

Katherine Devereux was a stunning woman with gilded hair that cascaded in waves around an angelic face of peaches and cream. Her lithe frame reminded Caroline that she was grateful for inheriting more than her mother’s eyes, after eating all those pancakes.

“Caroline!” Her mother squeaked as she wrapped her arms around her daughter. “Oh my, I am so glad to see you!

“It’s good to see you too, Momma.” Caroline hugged her mother back just as tight.

Katherine shoved her daughter back and gawked. “Heavens, you look absolutely fantastic! I don’t think I remember seeing you so lovely in all my life!” Her mother’s southern drawl was so thick that Caroline couldn’t help but giggle. “Come in darlin’! Come in!” She all but ripped Caroline’s arms off as she yanked her into the bungalow. “Charlie! Our little girl is here!”

The first thing that Caroline noticed when her father came into the room was the silver strewn through his blond hair. There hadn’t been so much of it when she had left home. His face still reminded her of Clark Gable even in his Georgia Tech sweatshirt and faded bluejeans. It suddenly occurred to her that both of her parents were unusually casual, something they never were. Her mother was wearing a high end cocoa colored jog-suit which was extremely odd since her mother thought it blasphemy for a proper southern lady to wear trousers. Her parents were different.

“Hi Daddy.” She beamed a smile at him. He never said a word, just walked straight up to her and hugged her tight. It took everything she had not to start blubbering.

“Oh, this is so wonderful!” Her mother did the blubbering for her.

The buzzer at the door startled them all, sending the three of them into a burst of giggles. Katherine wiped her eyes as she went for the door.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I just ordered room service. Real casual. I figured we could get cozy and munch a bunch while we caught up.” She opened the door and directed the young man to wheel the cart into the living area. It took several minutes, but after unloading of its goodies, Caroline’s father tipped the boy and showed him out.

“Well I just can’t wait to hear all about your life here in Los Angeles.” Her father spoke for the first time. “Your uncle will be over later, after we eat and have had time to catch up.”

“That will be nice, Daddy. I haven’t seen Uncle Richie in so long.” Caroline sat down on the couch and scanned the feast that had been delivered. The coffee table and serving cart had everything from buffalo wings to caviar and God help her, cream puffs.

“Go ahead and dig in, Sugar Pie!” Katherine urged her daughter. “I had the bartender at the main hotel make us a pitcher of sangria. That sound good to you?”

It shamed her but Caroline was wondering who the hell these people were. They were not her prim and proper parents. ‘That sounds real good Momma, thank you.”

Caroline’s father sat down next to her on the couch and shoved up his sleeves. “Well let’s dig in baby girl, and start fillin’ us in on California life.” He nudged her with his shoulder then grabbed a plate.

It seemed like they had been eating, talking and laughing for days but when Caroline looked at her watch, it had only been a couple hours. She got up and helped her parents clear the table of all the dishes. It was shocking to her that the three of them had polished off as much food as they had. Just as her father was returning from wheeling the serving cart full of dishes into the kitchen there was a knock at the door. Caroline knew it would be her uncle but when she noted the odd look her parents exchanged, she wondered. Her father smiled at her, then rushed to get the door. Her uncle Richie hadn’t changed one drop from the last time she saw him. His hair was the same silver blond mixture as her father and his jovial face made her smile instantly.

“Uncle Richie!” She leaped up and bounced into his arms. “It is so good to see you!”

Her uncle let out a booming laugh that reverberated through her. “It’s even better to see you, baby girl!” He stepped back and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Goodness you are all grown up now, aren’t you?” It was only then that Caroline noticed the man that came in after her uncle. He had a slight smile to his face and seemed very familiar to her. She backed away from her uncle and looked carefully at the stranger. “Oh! Francis, this is my niece, Caroline. Just think of him as extended family, sugar.”

Frank stayed back a bit and stood with his hands clasped behind him. He bowed his head to her in greeting. “It’s a pleasure, Miss Devereux.”

“Hello.” Caroline could not figure out why the man seemed so familiar.

“Come and sit, baby girl. As much as I would like to reminisce and all that, we have some important matters that cannot be delayed.” Her uncle sat down in one of the chairs by the coffee table and she noticed that both her parents faces were suddenly very somber.

“What the hell is going on?” She demanded.

“Now honey, don’t get all riled.” Her mother ushered her to the couch. “We have some family things that we need to talk about. Important things that we’ve put off for far too long. Just relax and drink your wine while we explain.” She handed her daughter a glass.

“All we ask is that you listen and keep an open mind, please.” her father added as he took her hand.

“Ah right, here it comes.” She rolled her eyes and took a big gulp of her wine before she set them straight. “I am telling you all right now, I am not moving back to Savannah! I have a life here!”

Katherine sighed and stroked her daughter’s arm. “No baby girl, we aren’t going to try to make you come home. We know you have a life here. That’s sort of why we need to do this now.”

“It’s all our fault ya see...” Her father interrupted. “... we should have done this years before you left. When you were eighteen. That’s the normal rule but we just kept putting it off.”

Caroline wanted to be angry, thinking that her family was going to try and abduct her or something but instead of feeling rage she was getting calmer and more relaxed.

“Alright you two, stop it. We need to get to it and stop going on and on about crap.” She always admired her uncle’s no-nonsense attitude. He never tiptoed around anything. He just came straight out and told it like it was. “Caroline, I need you to listen to me. I am going to tell you a story and you need to promise me you will sit and listen with an open mind, alright?”

At the moment Caroline felt oddly alright with just about anything. She was warm and fuzzy. Very comfortable, sagging into the couch. “Did y’all drug me?” She would have been furious if she could but she was too relaxed for the fuss.

Katherine patted her daughter’s hand “Just a little alprazolam, sugar. To keep you from freaking out, is all.”

“Oh, well that’s okay I guess.” She heard the familiar stranger snort at her words. “What’s so funny? And how do I know you?” Caroline noticed her accent had gotten thicker as the anti-anxiety drugs hit her system.

“Francis, it ain’t funny so hush.” Her uncle ordered halfheartedly. “Alright, so I guess I just need to get to it. You paying attention, Caroline?”

She sat up straight and leaned towards her uncle to listen. “Uh huh.”

“First of all, I should tell you that I am not your uncle, I am your grand-daddy.”

She cocked her head sideways at him. “That will make more sense to you after I’m done telling you the story. Now please, only interrupt me if you are completely confused, alright?”

Caroline was already confused but she focused on her uncle and nodded. “Alright, uncle Richie.”

Richlieu took a deep breath and looked carefully at Caroline as he began his story. “Thousands of years ago there was a small village, not far from the old city of Babylon. It’s still not clear what happened because there wasn’t technology like we have now, and everything since then is dust. Long gone for any kind of testing. Anyway, what we do know is that the first night of the lunar feast, what we now have come to believe was a meteor that crashed at the edge of the village. It caused a great big fire but they got it all under control before the feast, so everything was fine. Just a little scarey for a while there. Now ya gotta understand that our lunar festival starts on the night of the new moon. The first night you can’t see anything of the moon at all. There’s a big feast and prayers and all that stuff. So, on this particular night, things were strange because of the meteor and the fire but it’s a holy festival so things gotta go on. Everyone in the village, except some who took grain and whatnot to the city to sell, got together for the big feast. They sat and shared food, said their prayers and so on. Well the whole lot of em’ got real sick that night. For days and days people were sick. Some dying, some just sick as dogs. The ones that had gone to the city came back and thought it was a plague that hit the village and some of those people ran away but others stayed and tried to care for the sick. You following me, sugar?”

Caroline nodded to her uncle, absolutely engrossed with his story. “Go on!”

“Right, well, the sickness held on to people for what we call a ‘lunation’ which amounts to about twenty-nine days. All the way to the time the next lunar festival was supposed to be observed. Only about half of the village survived and even then they were real weak and were not recovering the way they should have been. Now I need you to listen to me here and listen carefully. Don’t go all wacky on me alright? Promise me now!”

“Alright, I promise.” Caroline was far too interested in the story to care about freaking out.

“It was a few days after the sickness seemed to subside but people were still not getting better. One of the villagers who stayed to care for the sick got cut. She was cutting a piece of fruit for her brother and sliced her finger wide open. Something clicked in her brother and he grabbed her finger and licked the blood clean off of her. He instantly perked right up so she was too happy about that to be freaked out about him licking her blood. Now she was a smart girl. She realized that it was her blood that made him feel better so she squeezed more out of her finger and let him drink it. It was miraculous how the color came to his cheeks and he felt so much better! So the girl ran to the others who were tending the sick and told them about what she discovered. Of course some of them thought it was flat weird, but they all tried it. Most cut their hands and fed their blood to the sick directly but a few cut deeper and tried to fill cups for the rest. They found that the more the sick drank, the faster they recovered. But there were only five of them so they had to wait, take turns because they themselves would get too weak from giving so much of their blood.