Straight to Heaven (16 page)

Even though I didn’t mind him staying at my house, I gave Grace a ‘next time talk to me first’ warning look that she ignored. She left the kitchen and went to watch TV in the den.

“Living with your stepsister’s ex-boyfriend?” Casey’s smile was pure evil. “Well, Lilith Straight. I never figured you for such a bad girl.”

“He’s a friend, Casey. That’s all.”

“Well, he must be special if Grace is that attached to him,” Casey goaded. “I didn’t think there was anything she wanted more than to go to France.”

“Grace isn’t going to France,” I said flatly.

“Why not? It sounds educational. Besides, it isn’t like Ted is going to lose her or something.”

“That’s not the problem.”

“So what is?”

I started to answer, then realized I wasn’t quite sure what the problem was. Casey was right; Ted was responsible, and he also loved Grace very much. He wouldn’t lose her or leave her alone in the hotel room while he courted prostitutes at the Moulin Rouge. Still, I didn’t want him taking my baby away from me for four weeks. “She’s eight,” I said.

“She has to grow up sometime,” Casey replied. When I didn’t respond, she continued. “Look, we both know that Ted acted like a prick, but why should Grace suffer because of what her dad did?”

Something in the back of my mind clicked. I’d had this conversation before. “You’re here because of
him
, aren’t you? Ted asked you to talk to me.”

She shifted uncomfortably on her stool. “I was only helping out a friend.”

Casey was lucky that I didn’t go full demon on her right then. “A
friend
? Since when is Ted
your
friend?” Then I really understood. Casey was a predator and Ted – a good-looking, affluent man under fifty – was a prized trophy. “Get out. Right now!”

As if she was choosing to leave rather than being thrown out, Casey leisurely set down her coffee mug and got off the stool. “It’s not like you should care,” she said. “You divorced
him
, remember?”

Grace bounded back into the kitchen, holding my cell phone. “It’s some guy named J.T. He says he’s a friend of yours.”

Casey fixed me with a triumphant look before leaving the kitchen. As she passed me, she said, “It looks like you have plenty of
friends
yourself.”

It took me several seconds before I was calm enough to talk to J.T. Even then, my voice was pitched several octaves too high. “What’s up?”

“Are we still on for tonight?” he asked.

“Of course,” I said. I’d even lined up child care. Kate would pick up Grace from arts and crafts camp and keep her overnight. After agreeing to meet J.T. at the Dirty Duck at four, I hung up.

“Who’s that?” Grace asked.

“Just a friend,” I said. I was beginning to hate that inadequate word.

“Like Mr. Clerk?”

“No, not like him.”

“Oh, because he was here a minute ago. He said to give you this.”

Written on a piece of paper in Mr. Clerk’s perfect, block script was a curt message: Your assignment with Craig Fuller has been suspended. No further action is required.

I turned the paper over looking for more details, but there was nothing. Had I completed my assignment without realizing it? Or had Miss Spry gotten upset because I’d taken too long to tempt him? Panic fluttered in my stomach.

“Mom?” Grace tugged on my shirt. “The bus is here.”

Numbly, I looked at the clock on the stove and saw that, yes, it was nearly nine and time for arts and crafts camp. “Okay.” I kissed her cheek, and she was out the door in a flash, saying ‘goodbye’ over her shoulder. When had she gotten so independent, I wondered. Ever since becoming a succubus, I felt that life was moving on without me.

I re-read Mr. Clerk’s note. He’d delivered it, and this was his handwriting, but something about the message wasn’t right. I was determined to find out what it was.

I knocked on Mr. Clerk’s office door, and when no one answered, I went inside. His desk had been straightened, and everything put away. I glanced into the tiny alcove that served as his bedroom, but the only things in there were his neatly-made cot and ratty chest of drawers.

“Mr. Clerk?” I called, but got no reply.

Seeing that I was alone, I prowled the office, looking for clues. Several tightly-rolled charts leaned up against the wall, but none of them belonged to Craig. I tried the desk drawers, but they were all locked. As was the cabinet on the wall.

Irritated, I sat on the desk chair. I couldn’t go home without knowing why I’d been taken off the assignment. Then I realized that I didn’t have to give up. If my demon could sniff out anyone with whom I’d made a connection, then she should be able to find Mr. Clerk.

How about it? I asked her. Can you find him?

She happily agreed, tugging at my mind like a puppy on a leash. Within moments, I was back out in the hallway and striding towards one of the anonymous doors. I turned the handle to see an outdoor café that sat on a wooden pier overlooking the ocean. The place was crowded with tourists wearing straw hats and drinking mimosas. Waitresses in white polo shirts and black shorts shuttled back and forth from the tables to the restaurant which had a faux-thatched roof.

I wasn’t sure if this was the right place, but my demon urged me through the doorway.

The sun was far brighter than I’d realized, making me wish I’d brought my sunglasses. The brackish air was so humid it could have been sipped through a straw. Impatient seagulls cried overhead and perched on the pilings. A few of the bolder ones scuttled on the ground for scraps.

I weaved my way through the crowd of diners until I finally spotted Mr. Clerk sitting at a waterside table. Somehow, he’d found a white-on-white Hawaiian-print shirt that was just as ugly as the colorful variety. He wore a Panama hat and a pair of sunglasses. He smiled adoringly at the dark-haired man sitting across from him.

William.

I’d like to think that if Mr. Clerk had been out with someone else, I would have left him alone. After all, the guy deserved a little happiness. But brunch with William was hardly a date, and I
had
to find out why I was taken off my assignment.

I marched up to the table and slammed the note down on the table. “What is this all about?”

“Hello, Lilith,” William said blandly. “Having a rough day, are we?”

I ignored him. “What do you mean that my assignment is over?” I asked Mr. Clerk. “I thought that I was supposed to convince Craig that God had given him cancer.”

Mr. Clerk tugged at the collar of his shirt. “The note means exactly what it says. The job is done.”

“Well, did I successfully tempt Craig?”

He looked away. “No.” I glared at him until he added, “Helen decided to end the assignment. That’s all I know.”

I didn’t buy that for a minute. “You mean that Miss Spry decided to give up? Just like that?”

“I don’t pretend to understand the way her mind works,” he said defensively. “You know as well as I do that she has her own way of looking at things.”

That was true. At the same time, however, I’d never known her to give up on something. Especially not something that she’d been so eager to get in the first place.

“Stop badgering poor Patrick,” William said. He gave Mr. Clerk a fond smile. “You know that he has no control over Helen’s whims.”

The worshipful look Mr. Clerk gave William made me realize that this was no ordinary brunch. At least, Mr. Clerk didn’t think it was. “What’s going on between the two of you?” I asked suspiciously.

Mr. Clerk flushed. “Nothing.”

“I thought Patrick could use some time away from the office, that’s all,” William said.

Yeah, right. William was obviously looking to curry favor with Miss Spry’s assistant. Typical. I might not have minded so much, but watching Mr. Clerk look at William with such naked longing was too painful to bear. I needed to rescue him.

I didn’t want to hurt Mr. Clerk, but sometimes the cold, hard truth is the best way to go. “You once told me that you can never trust an incubus, remember? If William took you out, it’s only because he wants something from you.”

Mr. Clerk reddened.

William looked up at me, shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight. “That’s a cold accusation, Lil.”

“It’s true,” I argued. “You should see yourself! You’re full of so much glamour right now that you’re melting every heart within fifty miles.” I pointed to a nearby table of middle-aged women who were all staring at William from behind their menus. “See what I mean?” I glowered at him. “Turn that demon of yours down before you hurt someone.”

“I don’t mind it,” Mr. Clerk said, giving William an adoring smile.

“Can I speak to you a moment, William?” I said. “Alone?”

William sighed theatrically, took the napkin from his lap, and followed me over to the hostess’s stand. “What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded. “Playing with Mr. Clerk’s heart is cruel.”

“Lil, I’m a ladies’ man through and through. Patrick understands that.”

“Are you sure? After all, you took him out to a nice restaurant…”

“For brunch, Lilith. Not dinner.”

“…and you use your demon’s allure on him…”

“I use my allure on everyone,” he protested.

“…
and
you let him think that there’s hope for the two of you.”

William glanced at Mr. Clerk who was pretending not to watch us. “I only wanted to stay on Patrick’s good side,” he argued.

“You
are
trying to get something from him, though, aren’t you?”

“You always think the worst of me!” Now he was getting angry. “Why would you say such a thing?”

“The sweet talk…the flattery…William, it’s the same strategy you’ve been using to get me to sleep with you!”

He started to deny it, then stopped. Realization crept into his expression, and with it, shame. He hung his head. “You’re right. I’m a beast.”

I should have known. Disgusted, I walked away. William could go to hell for all I cared. And if Mr. Clerk was stupid enough to believe whatever lies William was feeding him, he deserved whatever he got.

Chapter Eleven

I wanted to visit Miss Spry and find out why my assignment with Craig had been canceled, but before I reached her door, a tremble of unease rumbled through my mind. Something was wrong.

The feeling was followed by a message that rang as shrilly as a klaxon onboard a sinking ship: HELP ME, AUNTIE LIL!!

Immediately, I wheeled around and ran down the hallway. “Find Ari!” I begged my demon. She did, and within seconds, I was standing on the threshold of Tanya’s apartment.

Ariel was in the kitchen, sprawled on the ground. She wasn’t moving, but she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Next to her was a toppled chair and a small plastic footstool. The cupboard door was open. She must have set the footstool on the chair in order to reach into the uppermost shelf of the cupboard, then lost her balance and tumbled to the ground.

I was about to walk into the kitchen, but my demon yanked hard on her reins, stopping me. She was right. Even though Ariel was hurt, I couldn’t appear out of thin air. I had to pretend to be a normal person.

The next closest passageway lay half a block away from the apartment. I went through it, ran to the building and up the stairs, and then banged on the door as hard as I could. “Ariel? Ari! Open up. It’s Aunt Lilith.” I wondered where the hell Tanya was. Or, for that matter, Ari’s guardian angel.

Thankfully, I heard the rasp of a lock being turned, and a moment later, I was looking at the tear-stained face of my niece.

“Honey, are you okay?” I knelt down by her.

She looked even paler than normal. “I fell and hurt my elbow.” She showed me a smear of blood on the backside of her arm.

I sighed, relieved. “Well, that’s not too bad.” I made her sit on the sagging couch while I went into the bathroom to find a bandage which, of course, I couldn’t. There was, however, an old tube of antibiotic ointment which I brought back to the living room.

I washed the scrape and dabbed on some ointment. “What on earth were you thinking when you tried to climb onto the footstool on top of the chair? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? You could have broken your neck!”

Now that she’d calmed down, Ariel was looking at me carefully from under the fall of her black bangs. “How did you know what I was doing?”

I’d been so happy that my niece was okay that I’d forgotten to pretend I was fully human. “I looked in the kitchen on my way to the bathroom,” I said.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “How did you know where I lived anyway?”

Damn, the girl was smart! “Your mom told me.” I tried to sound casual, but Ari wasn’t buying it. She had a state-of-the-art bullshit detector. In a moment, she would ask me what I was doing at the apartment in the first place.

Before she could question me further, I turned tables on her. “What did you want out of that cupboard,” I asked.

She looked away. “Nothing.”

“I can reach whatever it is that you want.”

“I said it was nothing!” She looked at her elbow. “I’m fine now, so you can go.”

I wasn’t about to leave until I knew for sure that she was okay. Without a word, I got up and went into the kitchen to wash my hands. While I was there, I peeked in a few cupboards. There was cereal, a couple of cans of soup, bread, and a jar of peanut butter. At least Ari was being fed. My niece watched me from the doorway. “Where’s your mom?” I asked.

“Out.”

“Out where?”

I tried to look in the fridge, but Ari stood in front of it, blocking me. “Just out. She’ll be back by four.”

Yeah, right. I believed that like I believed muumuus would ever make a comeback. “You know, you can come home with me if you want,” I said. “Grace and I miss you.”

“I don’t want to. I like it here.”

Why did Ariel always pick fights with me, but then turn around and stick up for her no-good mother? Although it was childish, I wanted to yell, “Don’t you understand that
I’m
the better adult?!”

But I didn’t.

“Okay. It’s up to you.” I walked back to the door.

To my surprise, Ari grabbed me from behind in a rough hug. “I’m glad you were here,” she said. She hung on tightly so that I couldn’t turn around and hug her back. “I want to come visit you, but my mom needs me right now. Okay?”