Tax Assassin (14 page)

Thinking she had asked a rhetorical question
Seth didn’t respond.

“
Would I know?” she asked
again.

“
Would you know if I was
running a chain of prostitution houses?” Seth asked. “Would you
know if I was manipulating everything so I could steal another
man’s wife and keep her as my sex slave? Or . . .”

“
Would I know if you were
trading away my whole life to . . . I don’t know,
the Chinese Music Mafia?”

“
The Chinese Music
Mafia?”

“
You know what I mean,” Ava
said.

“
I understand what you mean
on so many levels,” Seth said.

“
And?”

“
When you enter a
relationship, any relationship, even this relationship, you have to
trust yourself first, and then trust the other person about some
things,” Seth said. “Where do they go when they leave the house?
Who are they with? What are they doing?”

“
I wouldn’t know,” Ava
said.

“
You wouldn’t know,” Seth
said.

Ava nodded. His honesty seemed to ground and
reassure her.

“
What do I do?” she
whispered. “How do I live when I know . . . when I
know . . . at any moment . . . this .
. .?”

He rolled onto his side to look at her.

“
You can look at someone’s
history,” Seth said. “Have they done this type of thing in the
past?”

“
I don’t always know
someone’s history,” Ava said. “I only know what they
say.”

“
Did your father ever hide
his ‘win-at-any-cost’ nature?” Seth asked.

“
No,” Ava shook her head.
“He always had a story of this small person he crushed or that
stupid person he tricked or . . . Life was a game
which he won by destroying other people.”

“
There you go,” Seth said.
“People who value winning at any cost will eventually sell out
everyone who loves them in order to come out on top.”

“
And Bella?” Ava’s lip
quivered. Knowing what was coming next, he waited to respond. “And
Beth?”

At the mention of her murdered best friend,
Ava broke down again. Seth pulled her onto his shoulder. They lay
together while she cried and the early morning turned into day.
They lay together until, without saying another word, Ava got up
and went into the bathroom.

“
Call Delphie,” she said
before she closed the bathroom door.

Sitting up, he leaned his elbows on his
knees and tried to clear his head. He placed a quick call to
McGinty to update him on what had happened so far. He’d just hung
up when he heard Ava turn on the water for the shower. He waited a
few minutes to be sure she was under the stream of water and called
the only true psychic he’d ever met.

Just a couple years younger than Seth,
Delphie was a middle-aged flower child who never quite understood
how the world worked. She kept bees, wore gauzy floral dresses, and
spent most of her summers in her large vegetable garden. For all
her weirdness, she was well loved and cared for by her large family
and her friends, including Maresol. She’d told him once that he had
been her brother in a multitude of past lives. He smiled at the
thought.

When the line began to ring, he held the
phone away from his ear.

“
Seth!” Delphie
yelled.

“
I can hear,” Seth
said.

“
Oh sorry,” Delphie’s voice
lowered. “I don’t know what it is about these things. They seem
like they need a good shout.”

“
Yes,” Seth
said.

“
We’ve been crazy with
worry,” Delphie said. “How is Ava?”

“
Sad,” Seth
said.

“
I bet,” Delphie said. “Do
you need some help with the case?”

“
I do,” Seth
said.

“
Great!” Delphie yelled.
“Oh sorry. I’m happy I finally get to help. You know I try not to
interfere and . . .”

“
It’s all right,” Seth
said.

“
Good,” Delphie said. “What
do you need?”

“
What can you tell me?”
Seth asked.

“
First, you’re on the right
track,” Delphie said. “I don’t know why, but I keep seeing
flowers.”

“
Bloom?”

“
Yep, that’s it,” Delphie
said.

“
Have you seen a U.S.
marshal around?” Seth asked.

“
I don’t know any U.S.
marshals,” Delphie said.

“
Ghosts.”

“
Oh,” Delphie said. “No,
what’s his name?”

“
Jasper,” Seth
said.

“
Full name,
Seth.”

“
Uh,” Seth searched the
recesses of his mind. “No idea. He was just killed. Is his murder
in the paper?”

“
Let me look,” Delphie
said. He heard the door to her apartment open, and the soft thump
of her bare feet as she walked down the hallway. Delphie lived in a
private apartment with most of her extended family in an enormous
old home in Uptown Denver that they called the Castle. He heard her
flip through the Denver Post. “Here it is. Reginald Jasper, U.S.
Marshal. Oh hello. He’s quite handsome.”

He waited while Delphie chatted with the
spirit.

“
What would you like to
know?” Delphie asked.

“
I think he left me a
message,” Seth said. “It was garbled.”

“
I don’t know, Seth,”
Delphie whispered. “When people first die, they rarely
remember . . . Oh yeah? Okay, I’ll tell
him.”

“
What did he
say?”

“
He said father; son;
daughter,” Delphie said. “Does that mean anything to
you?”

Seth reviewed the recording in his mind. He
could see how “f-s-t” could easily be “f-s-d” or father, son,
daughter. He nodded and then realized that she couldn’t see
him.

“
Yes,” Seth
said.

“
He’s getting quite
agitated,” Delphie said. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell him. Yes, you can
go.”

“
What was that?”

“
He says the police think
he killed his partner, and that they killed their witness,” Delphie
said. “Was that Ava’s father?”

“
Yes.”

“
Oh,” Delphie said. “I’m
right in the middle of everything.”

“
Yes.”

“
Okay,” Delphie said.
“That’s okay. I can help. I like to help. That’s really
good.”

“
Did he kill his
partner?”

“
Oh right,” Delphie
chuckled. “No, he didn’t, and they weren’t involved in killing
Ava’s father or her sister. You can’t talk to her sister, because
she’s moved on.”

“
That seems fast,” Seth
said.

“
She had a little help,”
Delphie’s voice pinched.

“
You sent her
on?”

“
I felt bad for her,
and . . . well . . . she is Ava’s
sister. I’d do it for you.”

“
And her
father?”

“
I’ve never wanted anything
to do with that man,” Delphie’s voice was hard. Delphie and Maresol
were good friends with Yvonne Smith, the woman Aaron Alvin had held
as a sex slave. “But Ava is lovely. Everyone’s been asking about
her. She’s well loved. How is she doing?”

“
She’s . . .”

“
Seth!” Delphie squeaked.
“Ava’s mother. Her mother and sister. Older sister. Seth! They are
not safe!”

“
I thought so,” Seth
said.

“
But . . .
now . . .” Delphie stopped talking. Used to her fits and starts,
Seth waited for her to circle back to him. “It’s a good thing you
gave Vivian that gun.”

“
And Éowyn?”

“
She’ll meet her one and
only love today,” Delphie said with certainty. “The next few hours
are very dangerous for them, but there’s a good chance that they’ll
be fine. You should call your criminal defense lawyer. They
might
need her.
But . . . maybe not.”

“
I will,” Seth said. “And
the killers?”

“
You’ll find them exactly
where you expect to,” Delphie said. “But watch out, Seth. Ava is in
real danger.”

“
Why?”

“
Because he’ll sneak up on
you when you least expect it,” Delphie said. “Four times two.
That’s the agreement. He’ll honor that agreement.”

“
What?” Seth raised his
voice in frustration.

“
I don’t know what it
means,” Delphie’s voice was defensive. “This is your life, Seth
O’Malley. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then maybe you
should do something about your life.”

SIXTEEN

Seth took a deep breath to calm his
frustration. He and Delphie always got to this place. Maresol told
him once that Delphie only spoke what was told to her; she never
interpreted what was said. She thought that people who interpreted
interfered with forces beyond their control and manipulated the
truth. He just wished she would tell him what everything meant. But
Delphie never told him. He heard Delphie laugh at him.

“
I know, I know,” he
said.

“
Just tell me,” Delphie
mimicked his voice. He laughed.

“
Anything else?” he
asked.

“
Not that I can think of,”
Delphie said. “Take care of yourself, Seth. This is a big, big
mess. Bigger than you or me. A big mess. You’re cleaning up a lot
of karma. And when it’s over, a lot of good people can finally
rest.”

“
Okay, thanks,” Seth said.
He was about to hang up when he heard her voice.

“
And Seth?”

“
Yes?”

“
Chamber a round,” Delphie
said. “Do you know what that means? Because it doesn’t mean
anything to me.”

“
Yes,” Seth took the
handgun from his jacket pocket.

“
Good,” Delphie said.
“Blessings.”

She hung up.

Seth took the handgun out of his jacket
pocket and snapped a bullet into the chamber. Clara looked up at
him.

“
Just a precaution,” he
said to the dog.

He was about to tuck the weapon into the
back band of his jeans when he heard his army captain’s voice ring
in his head repeating what he’d always said, “Wanna shoot yourself
in the ass, O’Malley?”

“
No, I don’t,” Seth said
out loud. He’d have to wait to get his holster from the
car.

“
Talking to yourself,” Ava
said when she came out of the bathroom. Her flawless nakedness held
his full attention. “What did Delphie say?”

“
We should get breakfast
downtown and go hunt us a killer,” Seth said.

“
That’s oddly clear for
Delphie,” Ava smirked.

“
Want to start over?” he
asked.

“
I do . . .
I . . . I just can’t,” Ava said. “Is that
okay?”

“
That’s okay,” Seth smiled
to assure her. “Do you think your lab buddies will be
awake?”

“
Leslie and Fran?” Ava
asked. “They have kids to take care of.”

“
Hmm,” Seth said. His eyes
followed her movements. She leaned over to take a pair of clean
underwear from her purse and slipped them on.

“
Why?” Ava asked while she
pulled on her jeans.

“
I wondered if I could look
at the security tape from the hotel,” Seth said.

“
Huh,” Ava said. “They
didn’t mention a security video. I bet they’ve looked at it though.
Every big hotel has cameras in the corridors.”

Seth nodded.

“
You could call Ferg,” Ava
said. With her bra around her waist, she walked into the bathroom.
“He’s usually on until at least eight.”

Seth called his old friend Captain Ferguson
of the Denver Police. He, Mitch, and Ferg had come through the
ranks around the same time. Captain Ferguson was the best crime
scene investigator Seth had ever worked with. Ferg had the ability
to see things almost no one else could, and he was able to
interpret what they meant. He was also a good, loyal friend.

“
Ferg?” Seth
asked.

“
Hey,” Captain Ferguson
said. “Yeah, I’m going to be late again. You know things are pretty
hot here.”

Seth listened while Ferg walked somewhere
private.

“
Go,” Ferg said.

“
I’d like to see the
security tape from the hotel,” Seth said.

“
There’s a real shit storm
here. Alvin’s dead. Marshals are dead. We’re clueless,” Ferg said.
“And some dick named O’Malley has gone missing. They’re looking all
over for him. His housekeeper suddenly doesn’t speak English, and
that kid who lives with him is stupider than usual. But what I want
to know is . . .”

Seth heard what sounded like a closet door
close.

“
Where is my Ava?” Ferg
whispered.

“
Safe,” Seth said. “For
now.”

He listened while Captain Ferguson caught
his breath. Ferg had been one of Ava’s supervisors. He loved her
like a daughter. When Seth and Ava had started dating, Ferg had
cornered Seth to make sure his intentions were good. Seth heard
Ferg walking with the phone again.

“
Well, you don’t have to be
a bitch,” Ferg said, and the line went dead.