Patient Darkness: Brooding City Series Book 2 (17 page)

“That was…effective,” Brennan said.

“What can I say? You just need to know how to speak their language.”

“Speaking of which, were you able to get a real name for our ‘Johnny Appleseed’?”

“Mmm, that’s a good lager,” Sam said after taking a foamy sip. His proud grin returned. “Not only did I get his name, I got
several
names and numbers last night.”

“You got his number?”

“Female numbers, Brennan. From women?”

Brennan sucked in his cheeks and took a long pull of his beer. “How are things with Bishop?” he asked tersely.

Sam sighed. “There’s no harm done in looking around and having a little fun,” he said, though he kept his eyes from meeting Brennan’s.

“This is exactly the sort of thing that got you into trouble with her the first time around!”

“Reconciling with Bishop isn’t progressing as quickly as I may have led you to believe.”

“No kidding,” Brennan scoffed.

Color rose in the base of Sam’s neck. “What am I supposed to do when she shuts down like this? Live my life as a monk?”

His phone buzzed in his pocket, but Brennan ignored it. “You try
harder
. You’re the one who messed up in the first place, so you shouldn’t be surprised when she doesn’t accept you immediately with open arms.”

“Acceptance is exactly what she needs to learn, though. She has to accept that my past deeds are in the past, and I’ll be one hundred percent ready to commit once she comes around.”

Brennan shook his head. “I think you have it in the wrong order. Show her you’re worth accepting, rather than waiting for her to ‘come around.’” He let his friend stew on those thoughts for a minute before changing the subject. “So, what is Appleseed’s real name?”

Sam seemed to recognize the reprieve and grasped at it. “Levi Kellogg.”

“You’re serious?”

“I swear to God! This guy’s name might have walked out of two back-to-back commercials, but it is what it is. I think he joined the military just to escape the ridicule, though I can’t imagine it was any better there.” He snickered quietly. “Private Kellogg.”

“If my parents named me after some pants and cereal, I’d probably want to go shoot a few people, too,” Brennan said dryly. “How do you know he served?”

Sam nodded vaguely to the rest of the bar. “Buy a few rounds and these guys will spill their guts faster than a disgraced samurai committing seppuku.”

“Iz ‘at the numbers game?” asked the long-haired man suddenly. Brennan shook his head, and the drunkard turned away again to eavesdrop in solitude.

“Thanks for that mental image, by the way. What else did you learn about him?”

Sam drummed the base of his glass. “Kellogg was at the university the night Kelsi Woodill was murdered.”

“How do you know? What was he doing there?”

“These guys confirmed it. They told me Kellogg doesn’t have a steady job, so he takes work where he can find it. I’m assuming there was a manual labor gig that he found out about online.” Sam shrugged. “He must have seen Kelsi on her way back from the party and made his move. She was a complete victim of circumstance.”

Brennan frowned and said nothing. His discovery of Kelsi might have been by chance, but Kellogg had killed her for a very specific reason. Her ability—whatever it had been—was what ultimately cost Kelsi her life. The only questions that remained were
why
he was on this vendetta and
how
in the world he could spot those like Brennan among the ordinary citizens.

He pulled out his phone and checked the missed call; it was a familiar number. “I appreciate it, Sam,” he said, rising from his seat.

“Leaving so soon? You haven’t even finished your beer.”

“There’s a serial killer on the loose, and somebody else is going to die if I don’t do something about it. Kind of have bigger issues to deal with, you know?” His nephew’s habit of ending sentences with that question was rubbing off on Brennan.

Sam tipped back his glass and swallowed the remainder of his drink. “Way to make a guy feel guilty,” he said. He slid off his stool and slapped a bill on the counter. “All right, let’s go.”

“I can’t afford to pay you for another two days.”

“Brennan, please, you’re my friend. I’ll waive my continuance fee for this one time,” Sam said with a wink.

“Is there a discount for the standard rate as well? Seeing as how we’re such great friends, I mean.”

“I still have to maintain my income.”

“By siphoning off of mine?”

Sam grinned. “Now you’re starting to understand this whole ‘friendship’ thing. So where are we going?”

“First stop? The morgue.”

Alex stared at
the ceiling of her apartment and willed the room to stop spinning.

A morning of meditation, rest, and wine had culminated in her regaining control of her power once more, if for a brief period. She’d used that small bit of energy to send her message to Brennan, and the effort had left her completely drained. Benjamin told her that her ability was like a muscle, and it would strengthen with time and exercise. In the meantime, her body was telling her that the smart course of action was to lie on the couch and watch the overhead lights perform their impersonation of stars rotating in the heavens.

She knew that her idle recovery time was limited, though. Heinrich would be expecting the second half of his payment this afternoon—a time of day which had already arrived, according to the kitchen clock. Alex groaned as she flipped over and grabbed the burner cell from the glass coffee table. It was a simple piece of plastic and circuitry, and the list of contacts was empty.

Alex trudged over to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face to shock her system into cooperating. She gasped sharply and felt her eyes widen in response, and her mind erupted with rapid-fire thoughts, returning to her usual state.

She dialed Heinrich’s number from memory and waited until he answered. The shallow sound of breathing on the other end was the only indication that he had picked up, and his silence indicated clearly that she was meant to speak first. “Heinrich?” she asked. She cringed at how small her voice sounded, and she added more force to her words. “I have your money ready. When do you want to meet?”

“We will meet at the same spot in half an hour.”

Alex looked down at her half-dressed self. “One hour, and I will text you with the address.”

“You are proving to be a very trying client, Ms. Brüding.”

“In this business, you can hardly fault me for being less than wholeheartedly trusting of you and your associates,” she countered.

A pause. “This is true,” Heinrich responded. “One hour.”

Alex stayed on the phone for a moment longer before realizing he had hung up. The man had professional courtesy, but his
common
courtesy left something to be desired.

She quickly disrobed and changed into a set of more suitable clothes. From under the bed she retrieved a second briefcase, identical to the one from yesterday, with a comparable amount of money stored inside. After a brief glimpse in the mirror, Alex slipped on a pair of low-heeled dress shoes and proceeded out the door of her apartment toward the elevator.

Upon reaching the ground floor, she realized again how naked she felt without passively absorbing the sensory inputs of those around her. Alex asked the doorman to hail a taxi for her and returned her focus to the other people in the lobby. She could only guess at what lay behind each set of eyes, and she looked around the room with a sensation verging on paranoia. For so long, she had been accustomed to naturally seeing what others saw, hearing what they heard, and all the while being privy to their most intimate thoughts. This fresh loss of power was disturbing.

Oh yeah,
she thought.
I’m exercising the
hell
out of my power when this is all over.

Her taxi arrived, and Alex sent a text to Heinrich even as she told the driver to head to the Museum of Natural Sciences. She hoped a public setting would make Heinrich less likely to bring his goons, though she was certain a few were bound to be scattered in among the crowd. Still, she would take any precautions she could to mitigate the disadvantages of her weakened state.

Alex opened the briefcase and tucked the burner cell into a recessed groove in the interior lining. A cavity had been hollowed out, and it looked like a smooth layer of velvet to the casual observer. She closed the case again before the driver could see what was inside.

Time passed slowly, and Alex drummed lightly with her fingertips as she watched traffic roll by with all the speed of refrigerated syrup. She tried to keep her mind occupied on other things, and it worked to a degree. Still, she found herself attempting to reach out with her probe, yet even the pitiable distance between her and the driver might as well have been an unfathomable chasm for all the power she could muster. Her rest was insufficient, and she was going into a meeting with a contractual killer without any of her ability.

She knew Heinrich and his men were aware of her power to some extent, even if they had been stone-faced during their first meeting. Her probe hadn’t been able to glean any information from them, and if she followed the logical connections, then it was almost certain that her father was responsible for training them to resist her. Somehow, in secret, he had managed not only to condition himself to mask his thoughts from her probe, but he had also passed on the technique to his favorite hired guns. She would have to talk with him about that particular issue, once she recovered.

That conversation was fraught with treacherous waters, though, and her smooth sailing through life might well founder if she confronted him about his secrets. The apartment, her expensive lifestyle, the fact that she never needed to work—all of these factors were conditional on her father believing she was an obedient daughter who was ignorant to the truth.

“Miss?” the taxi driver prompted. “We’re here.”

No,
Alex concluded, still thinking of her father.
We won’t be having that discussion just yet.

She paid the driver and stepped out onto the curb. The sun was bright, and the air was warm with its light. A steady stream of tourists entered and exited through the revolving doors of the Museum of Natural Sciences, some of them stopping to take pictures next to the larger-than-life statues erected in the outer courtyard. Cameras and smartphones took hundreds of pictures per minute, another factor that Alex had considered when picking the location. Heinrich was unlikely to bring many men to such a public venue, where their faces might be captured and immortalized in online albums forever.

Alex turned around and looked across the street at her true destination: the Jardin des Anges.

The Jardin des Anges was an enormous botanical garden that covered a full city block with its soaring trees, peaceful streams, and carefully planned pathways that wound in fluid loops and curls around the aromatic flowers. It was a favorite destination for couples and tourists, though the latter group’s numbers lagged as the seasons shifted. The summer rush had passed, and there would not be another boom until the dead of winter.

Alex, with her briefcase in hand, crossed the street and walked into the Jardin, grabbing a thin informational pamphlet as she entered. She was several minutes early for their meeting, which gave her just enough time to navigate through the Jardin to one of the only stone structures standing amidst all of the greenery.

It was a tall, rounded tower with windows looking out from the second story. Once upon a time, the only way to reach the upper floor was to climb a vertical ladder, though that proved to be unsafe with children, especially in winter. The city council had a curved staircase installed, and the safety concerns were eliminated. Alex ascended slowly and stopped at the top of the steps. For some reason, large slices of the floor were made of thick, foggy glass, giving certain sections an ethereal feel to them. She took a hesitant step and found the glass to be just as secure as the stone.

Each of the five windows bore a unique sigil of stained glass, an image of nature plucked seemingly at random. A snowflake, a flower, a peach, a lake, and an open field. Curiously, the window depicting the field was opaque in the area surrounding its image, whereas every other portrait of glass was clear.

Alex shrugged and pushed open the cherry window, providing a direct line of sight with the Museum of Natural Sciences. She reached into her purse and retrieved a small makeup mirror, flipping it open and thanking her stars that the weather was clear today. She cupped the mirror delicately from behind and angled it to catch the sun as it beat down from above. Hundreds of yards away and across the street, a small but clearly visible circle of light swayed erratically across the courtyard. It caught a few tourists in the eye and probably caused a bit of lens flare for others, but Alex quickly gained proficiency in its control. She snapped the mirror shut and commenced waiting.

Below, she could hear sightseers making noises of fascination at the assortment of plants collected in the Jardin. She rested comfortably in the wide windowsill, her eyes scanning the street for black SUVs or Heinrich’s distinctive shiny, bald head. She was once again reminded of how much easier this would be with her power; she would have simply co-opted the sight of several commoners and carried out her surveillance that way. For the time being, she would have to make do with being like everyone else.

Her idle vigil didn’t last long. At exactly one thirty, a black sedan pulled up in front of the museum. A thick-necked guard stepped out and quickly scanned the surrounding area before opening one of the rear doors. Heinrich’s bald head emerged, his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark lenses as the sun followed its course through the sky. Several more men clad in dark clothes spread out to cover the other entry points, awaiting her arrival.

Alex flipped open the pocket mirror and quickly found a good angle with the light. A corresponding circle appeared in the far courtyard, and she waved it around in front of the suited men to get their attention. The man closest to the vehicles pointed, and Heinrich visibly frowned at the light on the ground before his eyes snapped up toward her position. It was unlikely that he could see her directly, but her mirror would shine distinctly for anyone with a clear view. She traced a short trail with the reflected light, drawing it toward the entrance to the Jardin before jumping back to where Heinrich stood and repeating the cycle. His men began to retract, drawing toward the cars, but he waved them off with an arrogant flick of the hand. A second car arrived behind the first.

More men?
Alex wondered.

A tall man emerged from the newcomer sedan, and Alex was shocked to recognize her father. She wished she could reach out and discover what the hell he was thinking, but that would be impossible while her power recovered. She could only watch from the tower as he reached out and shook Heinrich’s hand. The bald man gestured, and they both started walking toward the entrance of the Jardin. Alex noted with satisfaction that only one of Heinrich’s men followed beyond the leafy gate.

The odds were as good as they could be, and though her father’s appearance was a wrench in her otherwise flawless plan, Alex had time to compose herself before they arrived. When his head appeared as he ascended the stairs, she met his disapproving gaze with a solemn look of her own. Heinrich smirked as he watched closely for his gambit to pay off.

“What do you think you’re doing?” her father asked. His voice was colored with anger, but he kept the emotion from playing out on his face.

“Expanding the family business, it seems,” Alex said mildly. She tried to sound nonchalant, and it worked in drawing her father’s ire even more.

“I don’t have time for this. You have no right using my money to hire
my
men.”

“We are nobody’s men,” Heinrich put in, his voice quiet but firm.

“You were paid to keep our dealings a secret,” Alex said, not quite glaring at him.

“He pays me more to tell him secrets.” Heinrich crossed the room and sat next to her, uncomfortably close, letting one hand rest casually on the briefcase. “Our bargain is fulfilled. You will pay me, and I will leave you two to sort this out.”

“Your orders were to scare Brennan but leave him
unharmed
.”

Heinrich shrugged lazily. “In the heat of battle, anything can happen.”

“Your obligation is fulfilled, Heinrich. You can go,” James said to him. He continued staring at Alex, as if daring her to object.

She worried at how rapidly she had lost control of the situation, and she decided to go out with her head held high. “I won’t forget this,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Heinrich. “A good deal broken by bad faith cannot be mended by another built upon poor foundation.”

He smirked again and rose with the briefcase in hand. “Words and noise,” he said dismissively. “When you are worthy of my respect, you will have it.” With that, he left, sparing a parting nod with James before he left.

Alex frowned at her father as he approached her. How could he let Heinrich walk all over her? She deserved to be treated better than that, yet he hadn’t said a word as the mercenary took her money and waltzed right out.

“What is wrong with you?” James asked, peering at her intently.

She folded her arms across her chest. “I was only using the same men you’ve been hiring for years.”

“Not about that, I don’t care about Heinrich and his men. Money is just pieces of paper.”

“A lot of pieces of paper,” she pointed out.

“Regardless, we have more. I could ask you
why
you hired him, but I suspect I don’t want to hear the answer. But what is wrong with
you
? I have been thinking aloud to you for several minutes and you haven’t
heard
a single word I’ve said.”