Blood and Fire

Page 20

“Maybe they were simply looking for something in a hurry. An ingredient for a spell or a potion.”
“I have nothing rare. Claris has all of this stuff in her greenhouse. Any greenhouse in town carries the same. No, I think this was deliberate. They’re sending me a message.” She grabbed her broom and a roll of paper towels. With Lilith and Russell helping, it didn’t take long to tidy up. As Ari picked up the last pieces of broke glass, she cut her finger and mumbled something about burning witches at the stake.
“Now I know where the expression of the pot calling the kettle black came from. Had to be a witch fight,” Russell said. Ari gave him a pointed look, but his chuckle broke the tension. She shook off the biggest chunk of her anger when she discovered the contents of her trunk hadn’t been disturbed.
“But they’ve only made me more determined to find them.” She pulled out her scrying bowl, candles, and crystals, piled them in an empty box and stood. “And when I do, we’re going to have a little chat about this intrusion.” She looked at her friends with a pugnacious set to her chin. “I don’t like strangers touching my stuff.”
Before they left her apartment, she warded the windows and doors. It wouldn’t keep the coven from paying another visit, but if they did, the screech alarm she’d included would bring the police. It would serve them right.
Upon arrival at Andreas’s home, she repeated the warding spells and the screech alarms. He had installed the latest electronic gadgets, but most of them wouldn’t pick up witches who could move around by teleportation. Ari said good night to the lions, alerted the weretiger security team of her concerns, and dropped into bed. Bella snuggled beside her, and Ari slept soundly until Andreas woke her when it was nearly dawn.
As soon as she realized who it was, she took her hand off the derringer under her pillow.
He sat down next to her. “I am pleased to find you safely in bed. Russell told me about your apartment. The witches are growing brazen.”
“Your vampire guards?” she asked, sitting up.
His face clouded. “Nothing. I cannot feel their life force, nor can their nest leader. And yet, I do not feel their loss.”
Understanding, Ari lifted a hand to touch his cheek. “Then there is hope.”
Whenever someone died, a tiny hole was created in the universe. Sensitives, including most Otherworlders, noticed those pinpricks. Especially if the deceased was close, by friendship or proximity. It was a good thing that Andreas and their nest leader couldn’t sense their deaths. Probably. But something unexplained had happened, and Ari knew who to ask. All she had to do was find the coven. Her best chance would be tomorrow night, under the light of the moon.
Chapter Ten
Ari woke on Monday morning thinking about another aspect of the case. She’d seen Dyani’s face in her dreams last night, and that usually meant something. She would need to talk with the Indian woman one more time before the crew left town.
The agreement Ryan had made with the film crew’s attorneys expired today, and the crew would be free to fly to the next filming site or wherever else they wanted to go. Before that happened, Ari hoped they could convince Dyani to reveal what she knew about the bloodstone. The more Ari thought about the likelihood of a brand-new Indian consultant on the crew not knowing of Barron’s intentions, the more skeptical she became.
Ari discussed it with Ryan, and he immediately called the River Vista Inn. The crew was still in residence, as the flight taking them to New York for Jase Barron’s funeral wouldn’t leave until afternoon. Ryan agreed to meet Ari in the hotel lobby.
It didn’t take long to find Dyani and three other members of the crew at the hotel pool. Rico and Tom were swimming laps; Sara and Dyani relaxed in the loungers. Ryan asked Dyani to join them at a poolside table away from the others.
Noticeably reluctant, she stood and followed them. She sat stiffly in the chair, her face wary, with tiny puckers marring her forehead. “I’ve told you everything I know.”
“Then you shouldn’t have a problem with repeating it again.” Ryan gave her his stern cop face. “Before we start, I want to caution you it is a serious offense to interfere with a police investigation by withholding information.”
The young woman sighed. “Didn’t we go through all that before?”
Ari sat back and watched Dyani while Ryan detailed the penalties, making them sound much worse than they were. By the time he finished, Dyani had lost her composure and her nut-brown complexion was pale.
Ari had her first questions ready. “What’s the name of your tribe?”
“What? Uh, my ancestors were Sac.”
“Where were you born and raised?”
Dyani frowned, obviously confused by the direction the questions had taken. “Oklahoma.”
“On the reservation?” Dyani nodded, and Ari smiled. Interesting. The origin of the recently found letter. “Nice country.” Before Dyani could comment, Ari fired off what she really wanted to know. “Tell me what you know about Blackhawk’s bloodstone.”
The Indian woman blinked, emotions chasing across her face. After a moment she blanked her expression. “It’s nothing but a story told by the old ones.”
“It’s a whole lot more than that. In fact, it’s the reason you’re on this expedition. Let’s stop playing games.”
Dyani pursed her lips in denial, but her gaze slid to follow the swimmers in the pool.
“We know you’re hiding something,” Ryan said. “We just don’t know if you’re responsible for Barron’s death.”
“Oh, no, you’re not going to pin that on me.” Dyani’s mouth formed an Oh in sudden alarm. “OK, I guess you know I passed on some old legend, but nothing’s illegal about that. Lost artifacts can be claimed by anyone. When I called Barron’s office to offer the information, Jase himself called me back. He was willing to agree to anything I wanted. Any amount of money.” Her apprehension turned to anger as she shifted her attention to Ari. “So sue me.”
Ari met her gaze, disregarding the defiant tone. The woman was feeling guilty, but about what? “What did you tell him? And when?”
“Don’t you know? Isn’t that what this is about? I gave him a copy of some stupid letter, the one with Blackhawk’s last words about the location of the bloodstone. Jase took it from there.”
“Where is this letter now?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen it since I turned it over to Jase.”
“And the original?”
“I assume it’s still in Oklahoma with the family. Who wants an old letter? I got the information I needed.”
“You said Jase took over. What did you mean?”
Dyani shrugged. “He figured out where the stone was hidden, plotted the ley lines to the caverns, and set up the expedition. He had the exact latitude and longitude coordinates, but we didn’t find the bloodstone. When we got near the spot, the cave passage was blocked by a chindi, and I got the hell out of there. I refused to go back, but Jase said he’d have it removed.”
Ryan leaned forward. “You were actually inside the caverns?”
“Yeah.” She frowned at him. “I thought you guys knew that.”
“Just you and Barron? When were you there?” Ari locked her gaze on the woman. “Tell us everything that happened.”
When Dyani looked as though she might refuse to answer, Ryan took his handcuffs off his belt and laid them on the table with a clang. She stretched her neck as if it suddenly felt tight. “Right after we docked on Tuesday. Jase told the others he was going to talk with local authorities, and I pretended to have a headache. Said I needed a nap. We went to the cliffs and spent most of the afternoon searching for an entrance. When we finally found this crawl space that got us inside, Jase’s compass calculations led us to this huge, incredible cavern.” Her face brightened for an instant. “It really was spectacular. But then Jase started into this tunnel and we saw…I don’t know what it was. Some ghostly thing. Jase got all excited, figured we were close to the bloodstone.” Dyani’s eyes grew big. “I just wanted to get away.”
“And did you?”
“Yeah. We both left.” She hesitated. “I guess Jase must have gone back after dinner.”
“He didn’t tell you?” When she shook her head, Ryan fired off another question. “Why would he go alone?”
“I don’t know. Honestly. Maybe it was because I was so freaked by that thing. He shouldn’t have gone into the caves by himself. Even I know that. I can’t imagine why he took such a chance.”
Ryan frowned, looking doubtful. “Seems pretty odd since you two found the cave together.”
Dyani shrugged.
Ari stirred but didn’t say anything. It was obvious to her that Jase had gotten all he wanted from his Indian guide and was cutting her out. It might have been a good reason to kill him.
“Anything else you haven’t you told us?” Ryan was winding up.
Dyani looked at her hands, locked together in her lap. “Only that Jase wasn’t scared of the ghost. I couldn’t figure out why he kept telling me not to worry. He said he’d made arrangements for that sort of thing, and on our way to the boat, he tried to call someone. Maybe he returned to the caves with them.” She wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “Am I in trouble?”
Ari stifled a snort. A little late to be worrying about that. The Indian woman probably hadn’t broken any laws, but Ari was betting her tribe would have something harsh to say. She’d tried to sell a part of their heritage.
“We’ll sort out the legalities later.” Ryan’s answer was cryptic. “I’ll let you know.”
Ari watched the young woman return to her companions. Dyani was laughing again before Ryan and Ari left the pool area.
Once they exited the hotel’s swinging doors, Ryan gave Ari a ride to the club in his cruiser.