Medusa's Dagger: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Aya Harris Collection Book 1) (7 page)

I pushed his hands away. “No, just a sprain. But it stings.”

He squeezed on the leather and I hissed in pain for effect.

“You’d better ice this tonight,” he said, looking up at me with sad eyes. “I guess that means we’ll have to watch Bond another night.”

“Yeah, another night.”

Faking an injury was the only way I could think of that wouldn’t tear poor Eddie’s heart into shreds. Sarah had obviously done enough of that.

“I’ll take you home.”

He stood up and offered his hand to me, but I waved it away.

“No, you live on the opposite side of town. I’ll just take a taxi.”

“Are you sure?” He looked around suspiciously, as if thugs waited in the shadows to attack me. “Let me take you.”

“No, I insist.”

If Eddie took me home, he might think he had a chance of getting an invite into my place. Better to cut it off here, nice and clean.

“I saw some taxis down at the corner. I’ll just flag one down.”

He helped me to my feet and watched me gingerly test my ankle, stepping forward a few paces.

“I just need to walk it out,” I told him. “But, thank you for the meal. It was nice meeting you.”

Eddie gave me a hug that was a little too tight and went in for the kiss. I turned my head just in time, his dry lips landing on my cheek. Poor guy needed some Chap Stick. He pulled away, laughing nervously, and then waved before he walked around his car and got in. I waited until he drove away before taking off in a brisk pace toward the stoplight on the corner.

Tomorrow, I was going to tell Angel to quit it with the blind dates. My love life might be pathetic, but it was going nowhere fast with her castoffs. I could find ways to humiliate myself, thank you very much.

I was almost to the light when the same black sedan that drove by minutes earlier came sliding into the parking space next to me. Speeding up my pace, I tried to pass it, but it kept pace with me. It wasn’t the first time I’d dealt with creepers in this city.

Six months ago, two kids had tried to harass me during my evening stroll around the block. They each got two nasty talon cuts across their backsides when they tried to touch me. Lesson learned.

I was about to turn and give the driver a piece of my mind when the window rolled down. Sitting inside and grinning like a fool was Gideon. He stopped the car, waving for me to come near.

“Was that sorry sap your date?” Gideon’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “Hot date you had there.”

“He wasn’t bad and you know it.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

Gideon could barge into my life and accuse me of crimes, but he didn’t have the right to judge my dates.

“In fact, he was quite handsome,” I said with a nod.

He laughed and put the car in park. “Maybe for a rooster hybrid.”

Inwardly, I cringed. He’d spotted Eddie’s true nature, too.

“Let me guess, you used the old I-sprained-my-ankle get out of jail card,” he added. “Nice move.”

“Oh, you recognized that one? Too many girls use it on you?”

I smiled sweetly at him through the open window as he chuckled.

“But seriously, what are you doing here?” I looked around at the mostly empty street. “Are you stalking me now?”

“No, I was just driving by. I’m staying at the Grandview Hotel on the corner.”

Gideon sounded entirely too defensive. I’d only been kidding him.

“I was just heading back to the original crime scene,” he continued. “We need more photos of the victims and I remembered there was a family picture on their wall.”

“Great, you can give me a ride.” I hopped in before Gideon could object, making myself at home in the pristine car. Might as well save a taxi fare. “Nice ride. Is this a rental?”

“Yeah, I’m based in Texas. We flew in yesterday.” He put the car into drive and pulled into traffic.

For a Texas boy, he didn’t have much of a southern drawl. Probably grew up somewhere else.

“This was the car I got stuck with,” he said with a frown.

“It’s not bad.” I ran my hand over the black dashboard. Not a speck of dust on it. “Could do worse.”

“I was hoping for something a little less gangster and a little more James Dean.” He pulled a pair of aviators out of the cup holder between us and slid them on his face, winking at me before they covered his eyes.

A thrill went through my body, but I played it cool. “I could definitely see you in a Porsche. Maybe something candy apple red with white leather. Black trim.”

He tore off the sunglasses. “Now you’re talking. And don’t forget the fur dice.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Something about his carefree ways told me Gideon grew up in a wholesome family home. The kind that always ate supper together, and had board game nights every Friday. Against my better judgement, I decided to do my own investigating.

“Tell me about your childhood. Something interesting.”

Gideon gave me a curious smile. “Why?”

“I don’t know, I guess if you’re going to be following me around, we might as well get to know each other.” I settled down into the seat and crossed my legs. “Besides, I studied anthropology in college and I’m curious about you. You make an interesting specimen.”

He smirked, but played along anyway. “I have two sisters, one brother. They’re all married. Two of them have kids.”

“No, that’s not the kind of story I want.” I folded my hands on my lap, thinking of an example. “Tell me about a time when you were little that you got in trouble.”

“What are you, a reporter?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, I’m just trying to give you an example.”

“Fine.” With one hand on the wheel, he rubbed the back of his head.

It hadn’t taken me long to recognize that was his habit when thinking hard. I tended to chew on my nails when I got lost in thought.

“I got one.” He adjusted the rearview mirror, then shot me a smile. “This one’s good. There was this one time when I was ten, me and some buddies wanted to get enough money to buy this new Batman figurine that’d just come out. It was so cool. It had a tool belt that you could take off and switch out for different weapons. There were ninja stars and little grappling hooks, and even a gun that shot little plastic darts. It came with a giant bat mobile that fired…”

I cleared my throat. Someone was getting off track.

“Oh… sorry. Got a little too excited.” He pulled to a stop at a red light and put the car in park. “Anyway, we wanted to earn enough money to buy this thing. We’d been mowing lawns and doing chores all summer long for change. But for some reason – I blame the twenty-five cent candy cigarettes at the local Casey’s – we just never had enough. That’s when I got the brilliant idea to raid my dad’s sock drawer for his emergency cash.”

“Uh, oh.” My own dad didn’t have a drawer full of emergency cash. Any spare dollar he had usually went toward his Saturday night booze runs.

“Uh, oh was right. Three of my buddies and I snuck in there one day while he and my mom were at work. We dug through his whitey tighties and tube socks, clear to the bottom of the drawer. Unfortunately, my dad had recently moved his cash stash to his nightstand, and had forgotten to tell his son. What we did find, though, was even better.”

I closed my eyes and winced. There were only so many things I could imagine finding in my parents’ sock drawers.

“There was a huge opened box of Trojan condoms, just lying there. The little foil wrappers were spilling out onto the bottom of the drawer, just begging to be opened. So, we snatched them and ran out of the house before my sisters or brother could catch us.”

“So, your dad got mad at you for stealing his birth control?”

“Oh no, that’s not the end of the story.” Gideon chuckled, lost in memory. “No, we decided to sell those little gold wrapped condoms one at a time to the neighborhood boys and girls for fifty cents apiece. By the time we were done, we had more than enough cash to buy our batman limited edition action figure.”

I liked the way Gideon’s eyes lit up when he told a story from his past. It made me want to think of some of my own childhood stories, long buried in the recesses of my mind.

“I have the feeling this story doesn’t end so well,” I said.

“No, it doesn’t.” The light turned green, and Gideon put the sedan back into drive and pulled onto Garret Street. “That night, parents began calling my home in droves. They’d found the condoms we sold to their children and were demanding an explanation. I can still remember the way my dad’s ears turned bright red when he answered the phone. I thought steam was going to start blowing out of his ears.”

It was endearing to think of a little Gideon trying to explain to his folks what happened. I was having a hard time not bursting out in laughter.

Gideon puffed out his cheeks, letting the air out slowly. “The next day, my friends and I were marched to Ridley’s Drugstore where we had to use the money we’d earned to buy a new box of 40 count variety Trojan condoms for my folks. Then, my mom walked us through a very long, and very detailed, birds and the bees lecture. I thought I was going to die a very early death that day.”

I had to laugh thinking about a little Gideon selling condoms on the street. It was too ridiculous. “I guess you went into the wrong business,” I told him.

“Yeah, should’ve been a salesman. I sure know how to get people to buy anything.” We paused at a stop sign and he smiled at me, laughter twinkling in his eyes.

A nervous hot energy began to build deep within my stomach. It was the same feeling I got whenever I felt attracted to a man. It usually began with stuttering, word vomit, and foolish thoughts said aloud. But too often, it ended in me putting myself too far out there and getting hurt by Mr. Wrong. I needed to rein it back in.

“Did you learn anything new about the Yonas family? Did my vision help at all?”

The mood in the car turned chilly in an instant. I breathed out in relief.

“Not sure yet. Between your snake vision and the raven feather we found at the scene, nothing makes sense.”

Alarms began blaring in my head. The air around me lost all oxygen and I struggled to get a breath. The raven feather had been a part of my vision, but I thought it was just a coincidence. If Gideon found a raven’s feather at the crime scene, that meant he was back. And that he was responsible for Mr. Yonas’ murder. Suddenly, I felt faint.

“Are you okay?” Gideon glanced over at me, concern etched on his face.

I forced the air in and out of my lungs in an effort to speak. “Yeah, just fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” The investigator in him was back. Gideon’s face hardened into a serious expression that dissolved the laughter in his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing. I’m just worried about them. Time’s running out.”

He nodded and returned his focus back to the road. We drove the rest of the way in cold silence, but I hardly noticed. The only thought in my head was a name, playing on repeat: Nicky. It’d been years since I’d felt the flash of terror that my brother’s name instilled in the very depths of my soul, but there it was, hitting me again and again like lightning bolts sent from above. He’d found me.

Chapter Six

The next evening, Johnny tossed his cheap briefcase on the museum counter, sighing with dramatic flair.

“All I’m saying is, if you’re going to rob a bank, at least have the decency to do it sober.”

Angel looked up from the register she was counting. It was closing time and it hadn’t been a busy day, so there wasn’t much to count. “He was drunk?”

“Like a skunk.” Johnny flung himself into a stool.

He’d just gotten off work at the courthouse and decided to drop by before heading over to Steven’s apartment. We loved to hear him tell stories about his clients.

“He’d just broken up with his girlfriend,” Johnny continued. “They’d had dinner at Spezia, taken a carriage ride through Hudson Park, and then rowed out onto the lake in a little boat. That’s where he got down on one knee to propose. And that’s where she turned him down flat.”

I groaned. This was playing out like a bad Jane Austen movie remake. “Let me guess. She told him he wasn’t rich enough.”

Johnny pointed a finger at me and flashed a cheesy brilliant white smile. “Ding, ding, ding – winner. My client was so blindsided, he decided to bail from the rowboat right in the middle of Hudson Lake. He left his girlfriend stranded without the oars, but remembered to take the full bottle of champagne with him.”

Angel and I both grimaced at the same time. Poor guy didn’t stand a chance.

“So, he downed the bottle of
Moet & Chandon
while he trudged along the street, drenched and feeling sorry for himself. And that’s when he got the bloody brilliant idea to rob a bank. Then, he’d be rich enough for his girlfriend.”

“Will the judge give him a little credit for having a broken heart??” I asked.

If I were a judge, I’d let him off easy. The man was in the middle of a life crisis. Anyone could see that.

Johnny closed his eyes and massaged his temples. “Probably not. I’ve got Judge Ira on this case and he’s a real bully.”

“Poor guy,” Angel said with a pout, closing the register drawer. “What’s his name?”

“Oh, no, you don’t.” I threw the rag I was using to dust at her. “Don’t tell her. She just wants to look him up. Pretty soon, she’ll be dating all your clients.”

Angel threw the rag back while Johnny laughed. She stuck her middle finger out at me and grinned. It didn’t matter if I foiled her plans, Angel was stubborn enough to dig up that client’s name herself. She had almost magical powers of persuasion, especially on men.

“Nah, I’m already violating attorney-client privilege telling you guys that much.” Johnny stretched his arms high above his head and then hopped off the stool. “I don’t want to be debarred just so Angel can get laid.”

This time, it was Johnny’s turn to get flipped off.

He chuckled and grabbed his briefcase from the counter. “See you guys around. I’ve got to get going. We’re making steamed salmon with a side of glore grata for supper. It’s a new recipe.”

“Sounds exotic,” Angel said. “Have fun.”