The Fire and the Veil (Veronica Barry Book 2) (27 page)

Melanie was whisking batter when Veronica woke up again, hours later. She hadn’t even noticed that she fell back asleep, and she was grateful. With all the craziness lately she wasn’t feeling very well-rested, so she valued a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

She went into the kitchen and said good morning, giving Melanie a one-armed hug so as not to disrupt her cooking. Veronica’s cell went off. It was Daniel.

“Hey,” Veronica said, walking out of the kitchen into the living room.

“Are we still on for tonight?” he asked.

Veronica stared at the wall. “Tonight?”

“Dinner at Samchon Jung-Hwa’s?”

Veronica slapped a hand over her mouth.

“You forgot.”

“Uh… okay. Yeah. It’s been busy this last week, you know. Tracking down a woman who didn’t actually get abducted. My student’s house burning down and the ghosts of her parents haunting me…”

“How’s that going, by the way? Any more visions?”

“Uh, yeah. But I think they’re backing off now,” Veronica said. “Have you gotten anywhere with the investigation?”

“I talked to Jerry again yesterday. I told him I think he’s right about it all. He’s working on an analysis in the lab. He thinks he may be able to prove that the arsonist used a starter, and if he can prove it’s sophisticated enough, it may make Lola look like less of an attractive suspect.”

“Any chance you can get her out of the hall?”

Daniel sighed. “Not this weekend, anyway. I’ll see on Monday. I can talk to the judge assigned to her case then.”

Veronica chewed on her lip. She didn’t want Lola to spend another night in jail. She hadn’t had any visions since the one the night before last. What if things were getting worse?

“I’m working on locating Paul,” Daniel added. “I want to know exactly where he is when we get a warrant for his arrest.”

“I think he has Lola’s little sister with him, Daniel. He’s dangerous. We have to get her away from him.”

“We will.”

Veronica held the phone with one hand and wrapped her other arm around herself. “She’s been with him for days. What if he’s hurting her like he hurt Lola?”

“You don’t know that he hurt Lola,” Daniel said. “You never saw what he did, right?”

“No but I had another vision of her. She’s so afraid of him. She’s so upset that he has her sister.”

“I’ll find him, Ronnie.”

“Yeah,” she said.

“Okay, so what about tonight? Do you want me to cancel?”

Veronica chewed on her lip again. If she said she still wanted to go, she’d meet his family, and she wasn’t sure she was going to even keep seeing him. But if she told him to cancel, he’d figure out she was thinking about breaking up, wouldn’t he? And she wanted to give him another chance. She wanted him to help her free Lola and find Leinani. Maybe if they did that, together, they would get past these roadblocks.

“Um, you haven’t said anything,” Daniel said. “I take it your silence is agreement?”

“No,” Veronica said. “I’m sorry. I just have a hundred things running through my head right now. But I’d like to meet your family. I’m a little nervous, though.”

Daniel chuckled. “You can face the ghosts of murder victims but you’re afraid of my family?”

“The ghosts scare me too.”

“You’ll be fine, Ronnie. I’ll be at your place around five, okay? Samchon Jung-Hwa and Sukmo Eun Hee like to eat by six.”

“Alright, see you then.”

~~~

Veronica picked at her pancakes until Melanie abruptly put down her fork.

“What’s going on?” Melanie demanded.

Angie blinked and looked at her mother, then realized that the outburst wasn’t directed at her, and looked at Veronica.

“I’m just worried about Lola’s sister,” Veronica said. “I think she’s in danger.”

“Lola Hekili?” Angie said.

“Yeah,” Veronica said.

“I heard she’s in juvie,” Angie said.

Veronica nodded. “She’s in a lot of trouble.”

Angie frowned. “Her sister’s name is Lei, right? I think she was over at Alicia Hall’s a couple of days ago.”

“What makes you say that?” Melanie asked.

“Alicia was at the party,” Angie said. “I guess Alicia’s little sister Dory is friends with Lei. Alicia kept talking about what a mess Lei and Dory made in the kitchen and how she had to clean it up.” Angie paused to eat a bit of pancake. Veronica stared at her, not wanting to say anything, afraid that if she did, Angie would clam up. “She was upset, too,” Angie continued after a moment, “because she said nobody came to pick Lei up. They just didn’t come.”

“They didn’t come?” Melanie said.

“Yeah. She said Lei spent the night and went to school with Dory the next day, but it didn’t sound like that was planned at all.”

“Did her parents try to call Lei’s parents?” Melanie asked.

Angie shrugged.

Veronica put a hand on her mouth and tried to think. Lei did not seem to be in the house when she saw Paul arguing with his father or setting the fire. It could very well be that she was at her friend’s house when it happened. But thinking back, Veronica thought she remembered Owen Carver saying something about picking Lei up. In the next vision she’d had, he and Terri were in bed. Why hadn’t they gone to get Lei? Something else must have happened between the two visions. Why hadn’t she seen it? The last thing she could remember about the first vision she’d had in the ruins of the house was Terri—herself in the vision—walking down the hall towards Paul, on her way, presumably, to pick up Lei. Then the vision ended. What happened?

Maybe Paul hit her. Maybe he knocked her out. Maybe he knocked both Terri and Owen out. Could he have dragged them into their bedroom? It had seemed odd, she thought now, that they would both just go to sleep when Paul was so obviously furious. It seemed like they might have woken up, hearing him moving around out in the hall. Maybe they didn’t because he’d already hurt them.

If Paul had hurt them, would that be something that a medical examiner would figure out? Or were their bodies too badly damaged in the fire?

Veronica tapped a finger on the end of the table, obvious to her cooling pancakes. Melanie’s hand slapped down on the finger.

“V.”

Veronica forced her eyes to focus on her friend’s face.

“What is going through your head?” Melanie asked.

“I think I need to talk to Daniel,” Veronica said. “And then I think I need to find Leinani Hekili.”

“How?” Angie asked.

As Veronica’s eyes caught sight of Carrotonio lying on his side on the kitchen counter, she felt a rush of energy and resolve. “The same way I found you.”

Chapter 16

Maybe it was because she phrased it that way, but after she made the statement, Angie insisted on coming along. And where Angie went, Mel would follow. So they all piled into Melanie’s car, with Melanie driving, as Veronica dialed Daniel.

“Hey,” he answered.

“Do you know the ME well enough to ask him some questions?” Veronica asked.

Daniel paused. “Uh… that depends. I have to be careful. You don’t want a defense attorney saying the detectives on a case skewed the report.”

Veronica inhaled deeply and told herself to be patient. “Okay. But you’re not the detective on the Carver case, right? It’s not even through Sac PD.”

“True.”

“So could you maybe have an informal conversation with the ME?”

“Possibly.”

Melanie glanced over at Veronica as she steered the car towards the Carver’s neighborhood.

“Okay,” Veronica said to Daniel. “So ask him if there’s any sign that Terri got knocked out—well, both of them. I think maybe Paul hurt them before he burned the house.”

“You think he knocked them out?”

“It fits with a few other puzzle pieces.”

Daniel said nothing.

“I mean, I don’t expect you to convince the ME to lie about it or something. Just ask if he saw anything like that when he did the autopsies.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Daniel said.

“Today?”

“I’ll go over there now.”

“Thanks.”

“See you later.”

Veronica put the phone in the front pocket of her jeans. As they approached the scene of the arson, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and goose bumps spread over her arms.
This is the only way
, she reasoned.
I have to find Leinani.

Melanie pulled up to the curb in front of the house still marked off in yellow tape. No one worked the scene now, though. Veronica exited the car and Angie and Melanie followed her. Veronica strode over to the piles of toys on the lawn. She squatted by the stuffed animals and after a moment’s consideration, she reached out and touched the blue dog.

~~~

Lei clutching the blue dog, hiding between her bed and the wall, people shouting outside the door.

~~~

Lei’s arms around the blue dog, curled on her side on the couch, watching TV as Lola danced in a frenzy around the room, angrily singing off key.

~~~

The blue dog hanging from one of Lei’s hands as she froze in a doorway, watching Owen Carver slap her mother.

~~~

Veronica pulled her hand away.

“Come on,” she whispered. “Show me where Lei is
now.
”

She wrapped her fingers around the dog’s paw again.

~~~

Red plastic jungle gym with yellow ladder visible through a window across from her. The table hit her at about chest level. A small half-eaten burger rested on a wrapper. Across the table, a large hand pulled French fries from a red carton. Yes, this must be Lei’s view.

The wrapper and carton had the trademark yellow “M.”

Come on
, Veronica thought.
Which McDonald’s?

“Finish that,” Paul said, stuffing a fry in his mouth.

Small hands took up the burger and brought it to her mouth. It tasted like congealed grease.

She chewed the bite and looked at the jungle gym through the window again. “I want to go climb,” she said.

“Forget it. Eat that,” Paul said. “I got business in a half hour across town.”

Leinani turned away from him, her gaze veering out of the window on the wall to her right. Veronica spotted a USBank.

~~~

She released the stuffed dog and stood up. “Melanie,” she said. “Where is there a McDonald’s across from a USBank?”

“It’s on Hurley and Howe,” Angie said. Melanie turned and raised her eyebrows at her. “I went there a few days ago after school with the club. It’s near the mall.” Melanie kept eyeing her. “I got money out at the USBank so I could buy a Happy Meal.”

“Okay,” Veronica said and produced her phone, hitting send to call back Daniel.

“Hey,” he answered. “I talked to Doc Ortiz, he was getting to the autopsies tomorrow but he’s going to go in today instead. He said he’ll check especially for any blunt trauma.”

“Good. Thank you, Daniel. Look, I know where Paul is, but he’s not going to be there much longer.”

“Paul Carver? Where?”

“McDonald’s on Howe and—” she looked at Angie.

“Hurley.”

“Hurley,” Veronica echoed.

“Okay, I’ll tell dispatch to send anyone they’ve got nearby,” Daniel said.

“Daniel, I don’t want Lei to just disappear into the system,” Veronica said.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said.

Veronica closed her eyes and breathed in, the smell of burned things tainting the air. “Thanks,” she murmured, and hung up.

When she opened her eyes, Melanie and Angie stood looking at her.

“He’s going to tell dispatch to send whoever they’ve got,” Veronica told them.

“This is off the hook,” Angie said.

Melanie glanced at her, then turned back to Veronica. “Okay. Well, we’ve done what we can, right? Or do you want to drive over there?”

Veronica considered this. “I doubt we’d make it in time—the cops will get there before us and take Paul in, or he’ll leave before they get there—either way, we’ll arrive long after it’s over.”

Melanie nodded. Angie frowned.

“I think maybe it’s just time for me to go home now,” Veronica said.

“Aw,” Angie said.

Melanie smiled. “You’re going to meet Daniel’s parents tonight, huh?”

Veronica smiled back. “I guess so.”

“You sure you don’t want to go shopping for something to wear? Weren’t we going to do some retail therapy?”

Veronica’s eyebrows drew together. “You know, I do remember something about that.” What else could she do? If anything could be done for Lola, she’d do it, but finding Lei had been the only goal she had, and now the cops had to play their part. “It might be nice to have something new to wear tonight.”

“Shopping?” Angie said, brightening. “Yes!”

~~~

Which meant going to the mall, Veronica realized. No one suggested that they take Howe, but Melanie did. As they approached the big M, everyone’s attention focused out of the car windows. Within a block they could see the flashing lights of two patrol cars.

“Yes!” Angie exclaimed.

Melanie slowed down as they approached, and Veronica spotted a figure in the back seat of one car. “I think they got him!” she exclaimed.

“Look, that’s Lei!” Angie said, pointing to the other car.

Sure enough, a small silhouette could be seen in the back seat sitting beside a uniformed officer.

Veronica’s heart pounded. She didn’t know whether she was more relieved that they’d arrested Paul or worried about what would happen to Leinani. She turned to keep looking as Melanie drove past the McDonald’s.

“Do you want me to stop?” Melanie asked.

Veronica hesitated. “No. Those cops don’t know me. They’ll just think we’re looky-loos.”

“Okay,” Melanie said, and picked up speed.

As they wandered through the mall, Veronica found it hard to concentrate on the task of finding something to wear to Daniel’s family dinner. Angie kept up a stream of excited chatter that didn’t help either.

“I’m going to tell Shona and the others it happened at that same McDonald’s,” she said. “I can’t believe we got somebody arrested.”

“Hey, Ange, don’t tell them about… what I can do, okay?”

Ange paused and peered at Veronica. “Sure. Okay. I’ll say we were going to the bank and we spotted them in the McDonald’s, and that you’re dating a detective…”