Straight to Heaven (13 page)

My beautiful, silk top had wrinkled and was stained dark under the armpits. The skirt was streaked with what looked to be pine sap. Even though I’d only worn my sandals a short time, the straps had bit into my ankles, drawing blood. I couldn’t bear to think about the condition of my hair and makeup. “I admit it wasn’t the best choice,” I said, “but it was effective. Or nearly so. In the end, I couldn’t quite tempt him.”

“Tempt who?”

“Leo.” When he rubbed his chin and frowned, I added, “You know. Dark tan. Silver hair?”

Mr. Clerk blinked uncertainly. “Oh, yes. Of course.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “It’s been a very long day.”

“Will Miss Spry be upset about it? I mean, that’s three fails in three days.”

He nervously shifted a few things on his desk. “No, I’m sure she won’t. Don’t worry.”

Something about his behavior put me on alert. I didn’t like how he refused to meet my eyes. Before I could question him, however, William burst into the room. His cheeks were slightly sunburned, as if he’d spent most of the day outside, and he smelled of wood smoke. “Patrick, it didn’t work. The minute I got close to my client, I was interrupted…” When William saw me, he stopped speaking. His eyes widened. “Dear hell, you look terrible.” He glanced at my feet. “I thought I told you to wear
comfortable
shoes.”

“I remember,” I said dryly.

“Then why did you wear those? Here, sit down. Patrick, give Lil your seat. She looks ready to fall over.”

Mr. Clerk groused, but offered up his chair and then, at William’s urging, fetched me a cold bottle of water. “You have him well trained,” I said. I gratefully accepted the water and drank some of it.

“Patrick knows how to keep me happy,” William said. Mr. Clerk flushed and smiled. So much for his claim that he was no longer in love.

“Now, about that appointment I had today,” William continued. “I need more information about my target. Anything at all.”

“Take a number, William,” I said. “I was here first.” I glared at Mr. Clerk. “First off, I want to know why things got so weird today. My client nearly split my skull with a golf club.”

Mr. Clerk paled. “Oh, dear!”

William’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you all right?! Did he hurt you?”

“No, he didn’t hurt me, but he came unhinged. The more I tried to use my succubus on him, the more upset he got.”

Mr. Clerk frowned. “Some humans react badly to our demons. William has had lovers pull guns on him before.”

“And once a knife,” William added.

Mr. Clerk nodded. “Then there was the woman who tried to run you down in her car.”

With growing horror, I looked from William to Mr. Clerk and back again. “Are you
kidding
me?”

“Human nature is unpredictable,” Mr. Clerk said. “Sometimes, things get ugly no matter how much I plan ahead.”

“I know you do your best,” William admitted, “but for Lilith’s sake, please be more careful next time.” He put his hand on my shoulder.

So he
did
worry about me! “Thank you, William.” I squeezed his hand gratefully. “And Mr. Clerk, I
must
have another appointment with Craig as soon as possible!”

William and Mr. Clerk exchanged a look. “I’m sure Patrick is working as hard as he can,” William said.

“I could work even harder if the two of you left me alone,” Mr. Clerk said.

William and I grudgingly returned to the hallway, and Mr. Clerk slammed the door behind us. “I get the feeling he doesn’t want to be bothered,” I said.

“And after everything I’ve done for him,” William said.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“It obviously doesn’t matter now,” he said. “When Patrick is under pressure, his halo gets a bit tarnished.”

That phrase triggered a memory from the bowling alley. “Did you know that Mr. Clerk used to hang out with the angels?”

William laughed. “Really?”

“Yes. I saw a guardian angel yesterday, and she said that he left Heaven to get the designer clothes in Hell. Why would she say that?”

“I have no idea.” William put his arm around my waist and guided me away from Mr. Clerk’s door. “When you’ve been around as long as Patrick, you’re bound to have some interesting history.”

“What about you?” I asked. “Any interesting history?”

“Some things are better left unsaid.”

My cell buzzed again, and I was pretty sure it was Ari. All day, she’d been texting me updates about her stomach distress –
I’m hungry. Is it okay 2 eat now? The cold pizza made me not feel good. Do u think I can drink Coke?
Right now, her message said:
My head hurts.
I wondered where the hell Tanya was. If ever there was a time to play Mommy Dearest, it was now.

“Is everything all right?” William asked. “You look worried.”

“It’s my niece, Ariel.”

He frowned. “Is she the fat one or the one who looks like a little serial killer?”

I bristled at the way he described the girls, but said, “Little serial killer.”

“Let me guess. She’s been arrested for armed robbery?”

“Not funny, William.” I leaned against the wall and rubbed my temples. After the eighteen holes of golf, the failed assignment, and the scare with Leo, I was drained. “Ari’s living with her mom, now, but she keeps texting me that she isn’t feeling well. If I knew where she lived, I’d slip in and make sure she’s all right.”

“I would have thought you’d be happy to get rid of her,” William said.

“No, I’m very attached,” I said, purposely avoiding the L-word.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His eyes were distant. “Children are like that. They can worm their way into your heart more quickly than you would ever think possible.”

Hearing this shocked me. Not for a moment had I thought of William as a man who liked kids. Seeing my surprise, he laughed bitterly. “Yes, I’m speaking from experience. It’s a part of my interesting history.”

“You had children?”

“A son. He lived only a few hours. I never even had a chance to hold him.” He looked at his hands. “And when he died, he took his mother with him.”

William with a wife and baby? It was hard to believe. Although William knew almost everything about my life story, he was reluctant to talk about his own. I’d thought that maybe his agreement with the Devil had been born of spite, but seeing his grief-stricken expression, I wondered if something else was in play.

“Can you ever get them back?” I asked. “Or visit them?” We demons had limited access to the otherworld, and it was possible to glimpse our loved ones from time to time.

His expression clouded even more. “As much as I want to, I can’t.”

“You miss her.”

“It’s more than that. I…” He ran his fingers through his hair.

I touched his arm. “Tell me.”

He sighed miserably. “I hurt her. Very badly. And I never got the chance to tell her how sorry I was. She was a sweet-tempered, naive young woman who deserved far better than me. I know she’s in Heaven – there’s no other place she could be – and I know she’s probably forgiven me, but I long to hear her say it. To hold my son and tell my wife I loved her – I’d give anything to make that happen.”

My heart clenched. I couldn’t imagine living a hundred years with such a deep regret. I tried to take him in my arms and comfort him, but he wouldn’t let me. Instead, he covered up his sorrow by firing up the high-gloss luster of his incubus. “How about if I help you find your little serial killer?” he asked.

“Really?”

“Absolutely.” He took my hand and led me further down the hall. “Every time your demon connects with someone, that person leaves an impression on it.”

“When you say ‘connect’ you mean…”

“Form a relationship with,” he said. “No matter how brief. Every victim you tempt, every person you have emotional ties with, all of them leave a mark on the demon. Any time you want to find one of those people, you only need to ask her.”

“So she’s like a hunting dog?”

He laughed. “More like a hunting bitch. Now this is what you need to do…”

Feeling silly, I followed his directions. I closed my eyes and pictured Ariel in as much detail as I could. Then I ordered my succubus to find her. In less than a minute, I knew right where my niece was. I hurried down the hallway, made a turn, and continued on until I had the right door.

I opened it and looked through. Ari was sitting on a sagging couch while MTV played on a tiny television. Surrounding her were nearly a dozen open bags of potato chips, cheese puffs, M&Ms, and other assorted snacks. That explained the stomachache. She held Tommy’s spacer between her thumb and forefinger and squinted through it with one eye.

“Thank you William,” I said. “You have no idea how much better I feel now.”

“And you have no idea how much better
I
feel at seeing you happy.” He moved closer and touched my cheek, giving me another whiff of wood smoke. “I’m sorry about what happened to you on the golf course.”

“It’s been a rough day,” I agreed, “but knowing that Ari is okay makes it much better.” I smiled as she slipped the spacer on each one of her fingers. She missed Tommy as much as I did.

William watched me carefully. “That expression on your face when you look at your niece. That’s love. You have no idea how lucky you are to have that.”

The haunted look in his eyes bespoke worlds of regret. I reached for his hand, but he moved away. “I’m sorry about your family,” I said.

He set his jaw. “Don’t be.”

My aching legs told me it was time to leave, but I stayed a moment longer. In a way, it pained me to see that my niece was getting along so well. I’d almost hoped to find a reason to bring her back home with me. “I miss you Ari,” I said.

To my amazement, Ari looked straight at me, her eyes wide.

“Did she hear me?” I said, stunned.

He looked interested, but not overly surprised. “Some humans have a sensitivity to the otherworld.”

Ari stared in our direction a moment longer, then stretched back on the couch and aimlessly flipped through the channels on the TV.

“Bye, Ariel,” I whispered. I missed her, but at least she was happy.

Chapter Nine

I’d just stepped out of the shower when Grace came home from her weekend at Ted’s. She bounced into the kitchen with puppyish energy and squeezed me tightly while chatting on and on about the trip to France. “We’re going to visit the Eiffel Tower and see the Motor Game.”

“Notre Dame,” I corrected her.

“There’s art museums, and we’ll eat real baguettes, not the crappy things they have here. And – ”

I held up my hand like a traffic cop. “The trip isn’t set in stone yet, Grace.”

She cocked her head. “Yes, it is. Dad bought the tickets, and I’m getting a passport. All we need to do is get your signature on it, and he says I’m good to go.” She beamed up at me.

I hated to disappoint her, but Ted had no right to ignore our custody agreement. I pushed Grace’s hair out of her eyes. “I’m sorry, honey, but I can’t let you go. Not for that long.”

She pulled away and glared at me. “Well,
Dad
says I can go. You’re not the
only
boss of me, you know.”

Since when had my kid gotten so belligerent? Looking into her determined face, I realized that she was growing up. She’d gotten taller over the summer, and thinner too. Her face had lost its babyish roundness.

I wanted to hug her again, but she ran up to her room. A moment later, she came back downstairs. “Where’s Ariel?”

Okay, this was going to be hard. “Ari decided to move back in with her mom.”

I tried to act like this was the best possible news, but Grace fell apart all over again. “Why did you let her go?” she cried. “You know Aunt Tanya’s no good!”

I had kept the nastier details of Ari’s life to myself, but my niece must have told Grace a few stories because my daughter knew things that even
I
didn’t. “One time, Aunt Tanya left Ariel alone at some stranger’s house for two days! No one was there, and Ari didn’t have anything to eat but ketchup. So she tried to make tomato soup from the ketchup and some water, but she burned herself on the stove because there wasn’t any microwave.” Grace’s eyes were glazed with tears, but she didn’t cry. “She ended up eating some old dog food she found in the basement.”

I tried to put my arms around my daughter, but she wouldn’t let me. “I hated to do it, too, Grace,” I said, “but you have to believe me. Ari really wants to be with her mom, and I can’t hold her hostage. If I try, she’ll run away.”

Grace glowered at the floor. Tears ran down her cheeks.

“It sucks, I know,” I said, “but Aunt Tanya really did look good. And, I’ve been calling and texting Ari about twenty times a day.” Not to mention using the otherworld passages to check on her.

“I don’t care,” Grace said. “You shouldn’t have let her go.” She wiped her nose on her T-shirt.

“If Ariel calls me and asks to come back, I’ll pick her up right away,” I promised. “She always has a home here. If for one second, I think she’s in trouble, I’ll go get her whether she wants to come or not.”

Grace calmed a little, but then she tossed me a grenade. “That’s three people you’ve chased out of the house,” she said. “Four, if you count Dad.”

I gasped, her words a slap across my face. Then I got angry. “Keep talking like that, and I’ll make it five!” Grace’s eyes widened as if I’d slapped her back, and then she ran upstairs to her room, slamming the door behind her.

I slid to the floor and buried my face in my arms. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “God, Grace, I am so sorry.”

But like so many things in life, once you uncork that kind of poison, you can never put it back into the bottle. No matter how much you wish you could.

An hour later, the phone rang. It was J.T. Although I was feeling less than seductive, I answered. “I wish you could have come to the barbeque,” he told me.

I sat on one of the bar stools by the counter. “How did it go?”

“I met this amazing guy named Sam Butcher. You know what it’s like when you meet someone who thinks the same way you do? He said things that I’ve been thinking all along but couldn’t put into words. We talked for hours.”