Dead and Disorderly (Behind the Blue Line Series Book 2) (23 page)

Though it was hard to leave Nico asleep in her bed, Nahia was at the store bright and early. It felt good to be getting back to normal, such as it was. As she went through her morning routine of showering and braiding her hair, she watched him slowly stake his claim on the rest of her bed. He looked so peaceful in his slumber, and he’d had a rough few days, so she wrote him a note and taped a surprise to her bedroom door before she left rather than waking him.

It seemed normal was changing in front of her, and she was actually okay with it. Nico was becoming a permanent fixture in her life, like breathing, and just as important. The smoothness of the transition from singleness to coupledom was the only thing that startled her, but then, nothing about them had been ordinary since their meeting.

It was rare lately that she’d gotten into the store extra early, at least since she’d met Nico, but she wanted to do something nice to thank her friend for taking care of the store in her absence. She had hot water on to make tea before Mags even arrived. Her friend eyed her warily as she came behind the counter, taking her time making her morning beverage, sniffing the box, the cup, the teapot, and her tea ball.

“What did you do?” she demanded as she stood in the back room dipping her tea ball to let it steep. Her hair was unusually spiky with white tips, and her attire was extra bohemian with a peasant blouse and belly dancer belt over a fuchsia broomstick skirt over a tinkly bell anklet and sandals.

“Why do I have to have done something?” Nahia paused as she thought about her phrasing and then shook it off. “Maybe I just wanted to do something nice for you. To thank you for looking after the place yesterday.” She sipped her coffee from a stainless steel mug she’d brought from home and smoothed a hand down the front of her plain black tank top.

The redhead nodded. “And the day before.”

“And the day before,” she agreed with a shrug, “but who’s counting?”

She saw her friend reach over and touch the teapot, her eyes narrowing. “Uh huh.”

“‘Uh huh’ what?” The scrutiny of a psychic was a dangerous, dangerous thing. Was it too late to get a lawyer? She should probably have rested on her right to remain silent, though in this case, that probably wouldn’t have done much.

Walking as deliberately as she could in her tiny jeweled flip flops, Mags sipped with one hand and held up the pointy finger of indictment with the other. “You cut me a break on the rent when I help out, you always have. So why don’t you tell me what’s really on your mind, because the teapot is throwing out some pretty strong accusations.”

Hell and damnation. She
knew
better than to touch Mags’s stuff for just this reason. “Well, first of all, you were right.” Before her friend could gloat, she countered her friend’s indictment with her own. “You
knew
I was going to start seeing ghosts, didn’t you? That the clairvoyant thing was going to kick in full force
right after the damn wake
, didn’t you?”

The tiny woman hopped up on the stool and crossed her legs primly like a lady having high tea, accompanied by delicately jingling music. “You wouldn’t have believed me if I told you, so I figured you’d be okay if you found out on your own.”

Nahia snorted and got up from her own stool to walk to the front of the store and open it for business. “I see. And you knew I’d meet his family, including some of the deceased ones?”

Mags nodded with a smirk, but didn’t speak.

“You didn’t think this was information I might have found
useful
?” She didn’t mean to raise her voice, but her experiences the past couple days had left her at a bit of a loss for controlling her emotions.

The redhead watched her for only a moment longer before bursting into a torrent of laughter. Completely tickled, unfettered laughter that only served to annoy Nahia further. Mags waved her over and took her hand when she had a seat.

It took a moment for her to speak around the giggle still leaking out every once in a while. “It’ll get better, you’ll get used to it.”

“Good God, I hope not. Is there a return line for a gift like this?” She didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, but talking to ghosts was really where she drew the line. It was one thing to try and take their picture; it was something else entirely when they were giving her to-do lists.

“’Fraid not, sweetie.” Mags sat back on her stool and sipped her tea with a speculative look in her eye. “I do, however, have useful information for you.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask.” She eschewed the stool for pacing, because the idea that this could possibly get worse loomed large in her mind depending on her friend’s otherworldly info.

“She’s dead, but then, you suspected as much.”

The deadpan delivery brought Nahia up short, and she snorted in amusement. Her friend was not known for her soft touch, despite the foofy clothing choices, and knowing Aurelio’s wife, Thea, was dead was one more piece of the puzzle solved. “Seemed reasonable, given Aurelio’s request.”

“And she never believed the accusations.”

There was that word again! “What accusations? I have half of a conversation between a woman tending to her dying mother and her husband who would be dead sooner rather than later. I never read or saw anything about accusations.”

Mags nodded encouragingly. “What’d the letters talk about?”

“Her mother, her life in England, the kids?” Each topic was posed as a question, since she could tell her friend was trying to lead her to a conclusion that she’d apparently overlooked.

“What about the kids?”

“Were they happy. Were they healthy. Was whatever was going on with their mother affecting them.” At the pixie’s hand gesture to continue, Nahia threw her hands up in frustration. “What? That’s it! What am I missing?”

Sighing in exasperation, her friend sipped her tea. “Whose kids are they?”

Nahia could feel her brows draw down in confusion. “I just said, Mrs. McManus and oh!”
Oh hell, it had been in front of her all along!
“And not Donnell.”

“There we go!” Mags nodded approvingly. “They weren’t Aurelio’s either, for the record.”

She shook her head. That much she knew. “Of course not. Still, that explains a great deal about the situation and their deaths.” She frowned as she looked over the big picture now that the gaping holes were filled in. “Why would McManus think they were, though?”

Her tiny shoulder lifted in a delicate shrug. “That much I wasn’t told. I can ask, if you want, but it’s pretty immaterial to the whole ‘killed for no damn reason’ situation, don’t you think?”

Her friend had a point. “True enough. It’s horrible, though, that Thea had to go through both the loss of her mother and her husband alone. I feel so bad for her.”

Mags set her cup down on the counter with a serious look on her face. “So long as he’s trapped here, she’s still alone.”

Damn, that hadn’t even occurred to her, which only made the situation that much sadder. She sank down onto the stool. “Which leads me to my next question: how in the actual hell do I set him free?”

The tiny woman snickered at her own private joke as she began to paw through her large satchel. “You remember the conversation we had about the renovations to the mansion?”

Nahia nodded, but wasn’t following. “Yeah? And you said I needed to fix that situation before it came to a head, right? Deal with him on my terms.”

“Precisely. We’re gonna do that.” Mags tapped on her touchscreen for a moment before holding the phone to her ear.

We?
What
we
? Her confusion must have shown on her face, because Mags held up a finger to forestall her questions.

She sounded cheerful and bright on the phone, like she was made of sunshine. Nahia was immediately concerned. “Hey, babygirl! Yeah, I know I promised we’d go out tonight, but I’ll make it up to you. I need a favor.” 

Nahia raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as her friend began to gather her purse and cup of tea. Not wanting to be intrusive, but needing to know, she mouthed, “Favor?”

Mags nodded and began to make her way into her upstairs domain. Right before she disappeared behind the curtain, she mouthed back, “I have a plan.”

And then she was gone. Solitude didn’t normally bother her, in the store especially. It was her home away from home. A place she’d nurtured from the ground up and was now reaping the reward, and yet, being alone right now made her feel…what? Anxious? Bemused? A little of both?

Against the backdrop of impending doom and unthinkable danger, her emotions were running free all over the place, and that wasn’t pleasant for her. Her normal sense of control, equilibrium, had been rocked with the new ability and the new reality of her life with Nico. Add to that his connection to the house and the spirits there, and she felt herself veering very close to basket case territory.

She sought out her cards from their spot on the shelf, turning to them as she often did in turmoil. They were like a trusted friend and just having them in her hands, shuffling them, made her feel more centered and at peace. Cutting the deck with one hand, a trick she was proud of given their awkward size and her smaller hands, she set the deck down and dealt out her customary three for her spread.

The seven of swords was the first card she saw, and feral smile crossed her lips unbidden. McManus had thought he was getting away with something by committing suicide. As if death could somehow put him beyond the reach of the universe’s karmic scales. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

The next card made her wince, as she could see now what Mags’ plan was, at least in part. The Magician was a card of power and skill, action and resourcefulness. In the back of her mind, she always knew someday she’d have to go toe to toe with McManus, if for no other reason than pride— no one threw furniture at her and got away with it— but she hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Or maybe she had, since she’d come directly to Mags after all the revelations of the past couple days. Something for her to ponder at length, for sure.

The last card, though, sent a feeling of relief through her, relief tinged with strength of purpose. Justice, for the victims, for Aurelio, for Thea, his wife. Nahia would see to it that their deaths were not in vain, and would not be unavenged. Her Flaming Sword of Righteousness would have to be put away, since the bell over the front door chimed, signaling a customer.

Nahia turned her attention fully on the customer who had a question about a particularly lovely and expensive altar set. It wasn’t a chore to smile. She’d been trying to sell it for ages, but all she could hear in her head was Nico’s grumbled comment last night. “Famous Last Words for $300? Hell, let’s just make it a true daily double.”

Nico’s day had been a revolving door of condolences and repeat offender runaways. It was frustrating, but he eased back into work with few problems. He’d fielded a few calls from his mother, wanting to do lunch before they left tomorrow (he’d gone and actually enjoyed it), and his Nonna, wanting her and Richard to get together with Nahia and him another time before they left the next day.

He’d laughed at her eagerness, happy to know his woman had an ally in her, the matriarch of his family. He also knew Nahia would be just as eager to hang out with his grandmother, so the love fest was mutual. Together, they were just too cute, and it made a solid counterpoint to his mother’s firm disapproval. He understood her reasoning even if he didn’t agree, and though it hadn’t been brought up today at lunch, it had definitely been the dark undercurrent at the table.