Framed (22 page)

“Jer,” he growled as though his name was a dirty word, “was an extremely resourceful soldier, but I'm not entirely convinced that he could have managed this alone either. I don't want to think that there are other traitors among us, but I can't make myself blind to the possibility.”

“Is Jay okay?” I asked softly, remembering the state he was in when I left.

“He's fine, Ruby. We got him to Peyta last night. He was out cold by the time we got there, and she did her thing. She's really quite remarkable. I've never seen anything like it.”

I smiled with pride. Our little Peyta saved the day.

“I'm glad he's going to be all right,” I said, before I was slapped with a frightening reality. “Oh my God! Ronnie wasn't home, was she?”

“Relax, Ruby,” he sighed. “Peyta was alone. We texted her ahead of time, and she got rid of her mother for an hour or two. We were long gone by the time she returned.”

“Thank God,” I gasped, trying to get my breathing back to normal. I nearly had an aneurysm.

“Before he passed out, he told me more of what happened—what Scarlet did. She saved his life,” he said soberly. “I won't forget that. Neither will Jay.”

“Too bad we can't say the same for the Elders,” I whispered, thinking that my brownie points were still likely to go unnoticed. “I'm just glad everything turned out okay and that we figured out who was responsible for the murders.”

Cooper looked down at me, inquiring with his eyes as to who exactly that murderer was. I covered the mouthpiece of the phone and whispered, “Jer.” I couldn't recall if Cooper ever had the pleasure of really meeting him or not.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cooper shouted as Sean was just about to sign off of the call. “They were killing their own and framing you for it? What
assholes
.”

“Ah, I see you haven't filled Cooper in yet,” Sean scoffed. “I'm surprised he let you in the house without an interrogation, given how you looked.”

I started sweating immediately.

“He, uh, he wasn't home when I got back. We were just getting into that conversation when you called.”

“I was home last night! You should have told me after we—”

“There wasn't time,” I growled at Cooper, elbowing him in his side to shut him up. “I'm telling you
now
. Jer killed the brothers to set me up. He failed. End of story.”

“You should have told him after you what?” Sean asked, his voice getting increasingly serious. I knew his eyes were darkening with every passing moment that I said nothing in response.

“Cleaned up my wounds,” I blurted out. “Yeah...he helped me clean off my neck and put some bandaging on it.”

Cooper mouthed a “what?” at me and I kicked him in response, accompanied by flashing him my best you'd-better-play-along-and-not-screw-this-up look.

“Ruby?” Sean said, drawing my name out slowly.

“Sean, I have to go now. I have to buy a new cell phone since mine was in my 'totaled' car. I'llcallyoulaterbye,” I rambled as quickly as possible, before slamming the phone down.

I looked up to see an extremely perturbed Cooper staring back at me.

“You're not going to tell him, are you?”

“Tell him what, Cooper? What we did last night?" I asked disbelievingly. "It's none of his business.”

He shook his head slowly before making a snorting sound and walking away to his room. He slammed the door behind him for emphasis.

“You are acting like such a chick right now!” I called down the corridor after him. “I have bigger things to deal with right now than your and Sean's feelings.”

I grabbed my purse from the console table by the door and the extra set of house keys before I stomped out of the apartment. I was grateful for having forgotten my handbag the night before when I tore out of the house late for dance; maybe the universe did occasionally have my back.

I walked through town making my way to Radioshack. Replacing my phone was a top priority. As I passed between buildings and alleyways, I tried to figure out how I was going to deal with the brewing situation I had with Cooper and Sean. I needed Cooper to just be Cooper—Captain Role With The Punches, Mister Nothing Is Too Serious To Get Past. I was worried that man was gone.

On the other hand, I needed Sean to remember his deal with the devil and stick to it. He would have had no right to be mad at me about who I did or didn't sleep with; it wasn't exactly something I'd done by choice anyway, though I doubted he would see it that way or care. It was apparent that there would be no way to play both sides of the fence anymore without recourse; the game had clearly changed.

I audibly sighed as I pushed open the door and made my way over to the cellphone display.

“Can I help you with something?” asked the twenty-something year old behind the counter.

I laughed a little too hard at the double entendre and timeliness of his question.

“Yeah, I need to replace my phone,” I replied, managing to leave out a slew of inappropriate but applicable comments. I smiled at my amazing restraint.

“Sure, I can help you with that. What kind of capabilities do you need?”

“I'm just going to get the same thing I had before,” I told him, pointing at the Blackberry on the far side of the case.

“Great,” he said as he reached into the case for it. “They have a newer model out now. Would you be interested in an upgrade?”

“That depends,” I said, suddenly sounding more hopeful. “Would I have to get a new phone number? That would make life so much better.”

“Oh, no, of course not. We'll just link it to your current account.”

“Oh,” I sighed, feeling shot down. “Then I'll just get the one I already had.”

He looked at me, puzzled momentarily, then shrugged and handed me the box containing my phone. His confusion by my response clearly indicated that he had no idea what my life was like. A new number would have given me escape from Sean, Cooper, and anyone else who was making things more complicated for me. Unfortunately, there was one person I was unable to escape no matter what I did. He had a mental hardline linked directly to my brain and an affinity for using it.

“Here you go, Miss,” he said after ringing up my purchase. “Was there anything else I could help you with today?”

“Nope, I don't think so, Todd,” I replied, looking at his name tag. “Not unless you're a private investigator/therapist, who specializes in animal behaviors is his spare time.”

His bewildered look made me chuckle as I turned to exit the store.

“I'll take that as a no then?” he asked, politely. I looked back over my shoulder as I pushed open the door to leave.

“To say the least, Todd. To say the very least.”

21

Todd had told me that I would be able to access my voicemail as soon as I could plug it in, so I hauled ass back to the store and went through the back door. I wasn't in the mood for an interrogation of the Peyta sort. All I wanted to do was temporarily avoid Cooper and see if I had any pertinent and pressing drama awaiting me in my messages.

Once the screen lights flashed, doing that annoying dance they always did to make a huge production of turning on, I clicked on my mailbox icon. An automated voice informed me that I had only one message—it was Ronnie.

“Ruby. I need to talk to you right away. It's about the murders. Call me.”

I hung up and tried to figure out how to call her back, but my contacts list was empty, and I was too flustered to remember how to return the call through voicemail, so I bolted out the door and down the alley, headed towards Ronnie's store. It would have taken me the same amount of time to figure out the technology in my hand as it would to run there.

Slowing as I approached the store so as not to startle any patrons in the direct vicinity, I smoothed my clothing and fluffed my hair up to look more presentable. Crazy people were bad for any business.

There were people shopping when I entered. Ronnie was helping them with some shoes, so I tried my best to remain calm and finger through a rack of shirts, wondering if maybe a vintage concert tee would help smooth things over with Cooper. She rung up the sales for the other shoppers and followed them to the door, being ever so cordial as she ushered them out. When the door closed, she immediately flipped the sign to “Closed” and hauled me by my elbow to the stock room in back.

“You said you've 'seen him' before. How?” Ronnie asked, cutting right to the chase as usual. “If it's who I think it is and he'd seen you, he'd have killed you. I don't even think Scarlet would have had time to save your ass. You have
no
idea who you're fucking with, Ruby. You keep shit like this up and you'll be dead for sure.”

“Calm down, Ronnie!” I said, trying to get my wits about me. “And you can let go of my arm now.” She released me abruptly and muttered an apology so unintelligible that I barely made it out. Ronnie wasn't great with sorries either. “Where is this coming from anyway? You said you didn't know anything about him.”

“No. I said I hadn't heard anything from the Underground about him. Not the same thing,” she argued condescendingly. “I made some calls after you left. They've been looking into it ever since. Given what you said you saw, the reports on the news, and a few sightings through the Midwest before he showed up on the coast, we've put it together. It's not good, Ruby.”

“When is it ever?” I asked, sighing loudly. “So what's the story?”

“Nuh-uh. You first,” she said, folding her arms over her chest. “I want to know how you saw him. I want to know
everything
.”

“Ronnie, you wouldn't believe it if I told you, and if you did I'm afraid it'll only make things worse between us. Can I skip the 'why' and just get to the 'what'?”

“Fine,” she said, eying me closely, “you can explain the rest once we figure out what to do about him. So what do you know?”

“He wants two things: Scarlet and revenge, though I'm not sure in that order.” She went pale, her expression draining from her face along with her color.

“How do you know that?” she asked, her voice breathy and monotone.

“He told me.”

“I don't understand,” she said, shaking her head. “How did you escape him?”

“I didn't have to. He's not trying to kill
me
, Ronnie. He's after someone, but I have no idea who. He's tormenting me with the murders of these women, like he's trying to tell me something, give me a clue, but I'm not getting it.”

“What does he want with Scarlet?”

“I'm not sure. He wants her to pick a side, but once again I'm not entirely sure what he means. The crazy ones can never seem to just come out and say what they want.”

“That would be
bad,
” she said quietly, “Scarlet picking his side, that is. He's a rogue, and he's been impossible to catch or kill for a long time. If he had Scarlet on his side...”

“I know, I know. I figured that out. I feel like I've already had this conversation recently. I'll tell you the same thing: it's not going to happen, Ronnie. She wants to tear him apart as badly as I do, maybe more. She will
never
pick his side.”

“Good.”

“What about the revenge part? Do you know what that's about?” I asked, hoping that maybe the Underground could fill in some blanks that the PC couldn't.

“Yes,” she said simply, “But it doesn't matter. He won't be getting it. Not now, not ever. He's been gaining power for too long. He has to be stopped.”

“I'm trying to help, Ronnie, but I'm flying blind here. I can't track him. I'm always a step behind.”

“He's highly skilled in evasion, disguise, and tracking. He's trained to blend in. You can't find him unless he wants you to,” she said soberly. “And you don't want that.”

“You forgot master of mind control,” I added. “That's how I know what he's doing. He’s somehow hacking into my mind. I see him doing what he's doing, but it's an out of body experience. I'm like a tagalong. I can't do anything to stop him, even if I try. It's wicked creepy, and I can't escape it either. He releases me when he's satisfied that I've seen what he wants me to.”

“Oh, fuck,” Ronnie clamored.

“Yep.”

“So you'll see his next attack?” she asked, looking at me curiously.

“If he wants me to,” I replied with a shrug. “But I'd put money on him wanting me to, if I were you. It's the one thing he seems consistent about.”

“Maybe it won't be as bad as the others,” she said, looking mournful.

“Maybe I'll be dead before I have the pleasure.”

“I hope not, Ruby,” she said, looking serious. “I really hope not.”

“So what's the plan? Is the Underground coming?” I asked, secretly hoping they weren't. The last thing we needed was more cannon fodder. “The Rev isn't going to go down without a fight.”

“No, not exactly. We're still working on it, but I have some ideas,” she informed me, her poker face in full force. “What did you call him?”

“Oh, sorry. It's what—” I stammered, cutting myself off before divulging my source. “It's short for the Revenant. It means ghost.”

“Well that's a new one for him,” she scoffed. “I've called him a lot of things over the years, but that certainly isn't one of them.”