5th Pentagram: The sequel to the #1 Hard Boiled Mystery, 9th Circle (Book 3 of the Darc Murders Trilogy) (Book 3 of the Darc Murder Series) (7 page)

“Darc, you look great,” she said.

There was a pause, during which Darc appeared to be assessing her. He cocked his head to the side.

“You do as well,” he replied. “I like your blouse. Its pattern is very… symmetrical and pleasing.”

Okay. A bit strange, but Mala was shocked that he’d even made the attempt. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that someone with Asperger’s wouldn’t have made any comment whatsoever.

“Are you ready to go?” Darc asked, once again after a brief moment. Mala couldn’t be sure, but it seemed that Darc was thinking through every single part of their social interaction. The fact that he would go to those lengths in order to take her out for a simple dinner was actually more than a little flattering to her.

“Yes, I’m ready,” she responded. “Where are you taking me?”

“Nishino,” he answered, his tone flat. A moment later, he smiled at her. It was a bit stiff, but again, she appreciated the effort. He added, “I hope you like Japanese.”

“Oh, I love sushi.”

Then without another word he turned around and began walking down the hallway. It took Mala a second to realize that he was leaving without her, so she waved to Pyper, who appeared to be doing what she could not to laugh.

That was a pretty appropriate response, Mala couldn’t help but think. She pulled the door shut behind her, checking to make sure she had locked it, then rushed after Darc’s retreating back. She was almost caught up when Darc stopped without warning. She had to windmill her arms a bit to keep her balance, but she managed to keep from running into him.

Darc turned around and seemed somehow both gratified and irritated to find her there. What an odd response. Not that Darc behaving oddly should be that big of a surprise. Honestly, the fact that he was showing any emotional response at all was a win in her book. Another pause and he spoke again.

“I apologize for not waiting. I thought you had said you were ready to leave.”

Mala nodded. “I can see where the confusion might have come in.”

They continued down the hall side by side, Darc staring straight ahead of him as they walked. And this was the very difficulty that Mala had anticipated. It was both better and worse than she thought that it would be. Better in the sense that he was clearly trying. Worse only because Mala was making the realization that Darc would
always
be trying.

The fact that he was working at it was endearing. Charming even, in a strange way. But it would be a continual struggle for him. How would that make her feel over the long haul? Could she handle being with someone that had to fight to show even the most basic of courtesies to her?

She wasn’t proud of the fact that she had no idea what the answer was.

One thing, however, seemed relatively certain. Tonight was going to be an interesting experience.

* * *

Fooling Mala hadn’t been that hard.

Janey had dressed in her pajamas and gone to bed when Mala told her to. Mala had read her a chapter out of
Anne of Green Gables
. It was written kind of funny… old fashioned with lots of big words… but she loved Anne, who had red hair and talked a lot. And having Mala read to her made Janey feel safe.

Then, after the chapter, Mala had told her the babysitter would be here soon and that Janey needed to go stay asleep in her bed. She’d snuggled down with Popeye… even though he kept complaining about her squeezing him too tight… and had pretended to go to sleep.

Then, when Mala was in the shower, she’d gotten dressed, grabbed her darkest blanket and her bear and gone out the front door of the apartment. There was a tree in a planter just down the hall in a little recess along the wall where she sat down and waited.

It wasn’t too long before the babysitter got there. When Janey saw her, she almost changed her mind. She was so pretty, with dark hair that was cut super short, almost like a boy’s. And she had a backpack that said
Girls Rule, Boys Drool
on it. She seemed like she would be a really fun sitter, better than the old lady that smelled like cats that Mommy and Daddy used to get to babysit her.

Then Popeye reminded her that they hadn’t seen Darc in forever and that this was their chance. He was right, which didn’t happen all that much. Popeye said that was
rude
and he wasn’t talking to her any more. Stink head.

Mala kept saying that they’d see him soon and that it hadn’t been
that
long. Only a few days, and that was only because they had lots of stuff they had to do. School clothes and supplies. Going to the school to talk to Janey’s teachers. Tons of things.

But none of it mattered to Janey. She wanted to be spending time helping Darc and Trey catch bad guys. She was good at it. She knew she was. And if she could help catch bad guys, then maybe other kids like her wouldn’t have to miss their mommies and daddies and cry into their pillows at night because it hurt so much.

Janey was happy with Mala. She really, really was. But sometimes she missed how her Daddy smelled after he shaved, or how his stubble would tickle her neck at the end of the day when he would tuck her in. She also missed how her Mommy could braid her hair in that special way that only mommies could. That was hard.

He never would have read her
Anne of Green Gables
, but he would read her Dr. Seuss, with different voices for all the people in them. Mala didn’t really do voices. Only a little bit of change for Anne and Marilla and Matthew.

When she saw Darc coming down the hall, she knew it was time. She had listened close to make sure that no one noticed that she was gone, but now she had to make it down to Darc’s car before they got there.

She grabbed Popeye by the ear, listening to him complain about how much it hurt and would she kindly
knock it off
. Then he seemed to remember that they weren’t talking and the complaining ended.

Moving around the corner, Janey got to the stairwell that led downstairs. She was pretty sure that Darc and Mala would take the elevator, so she should be able to get to the parking garage before them. Then she’d just have to hope that the door to Darc’s car wasn’t locked.

She rushed down the stairs, almost running into an old woman who lived down the hall from them. The woman grinned at her and waved and Janey waved back, putting her finger up to her lips to let her know it was a secret. The lady cackled the kind of laugh that was almost scary but not really.

When she got down to the garage, Janey was scared for a second that she wasn’t going to be able to find the car. But then she spotted it and ran over to the side opposite from the elevator door. She didn’t want to get caught at the last second while she was getting into the car. Then she reached out to grab at the door handle and found that it was locked.

This was not good.

Popeye started in right away, telling her that it was all her fault and he was going to get in trouble now and would probably end up going through the washer and the dryer as punishment. She tried to block him out while she thought of what to do.

How would Darc handle this? She saw the locked door and the pathway to the elevator door, and all of the sudden they lifted off the ground in a ribbon of light that turned itself around and about in Janey’s head.

And then the answer came to her. She saw the way that Darc and Mala would have to walk and where Janey needed to sit so they wouldn’t see her. She also saw where the big columns were in the garage, and the other cars too.

When Darc and Mala came out of the elevator, he did what the ribbons of light had told her he would do. He hit the button on his keychain that made the car doors unlock. They also made the horn beep a little, but the light had told her that would happen also, so she wasn’t scared.

She waited until the two walked behind one of the columns and opened up the back door to the car. Once she was inside, she pulled it shut as quietly as she could, then hunched down behind the front seat, pulling the blanket over her head. It was a little cramped and stuffy, but it wasn’t so bad.

There was a second, right as Darc and Mala got in the car, when Janey thought she was going to get caught for sure. But then Darc started the car and they were off.

She had done it. She was going out with Darc and Mala. Now the only ones missing were Trey and Maggie, but if they had been here, there wouldn’t have been anywhere for Janey to hide, so maybe it was better.

She hugged Popeye closer to her chest, even though he groaned.

This was going to be so much fun.

* * *

Trey tipped back his glass, draining the dark red fluid back into his throat. It was a cheap bottle of wine, probably one he had picked out. Maggie had much better taste than he did. The fact that she had grabbed this one was proof that she’d been pretty royally pissed off.

Not any longer. The wine was doing the trick.

They’d almost polished off the bottle, and Trey was contemplating going to grab another, when Darc started going off the reservation again. This whole talk-in-your-partner’s-ear thing was turning out to be so much more difficult that Trey had imagined. Mostly because of the crazy-ass stuff Darc was saying.

Darc’s voice rang out in the Maggie’s living room. Trey had put his cell on speaker, but the sound hadn’t been all that great. Maggie had fixed it by placing the phone in a bowl, which had created an amplification effect.

Trey was definitely dating
up
. Maggie was beautiful, yes, but she was also so much smarter than he was. And without the need to have to check to make sure her fly was up, for which fact Trey was grateful.

In the meantime, Darc was speaking to Mala. It wasn’t sounding pretty, and that had nothing to do with the crappy sound from Trey’s cell phone.

“The young woman you have watching Janey is a user of marijuana.”

Mala’s voice was distorted and faint, but still audible. “What?!”

Trey decided to step in. “Darc, dude, you gotta dial that one back. Unless you want to turn around right now. If she thinks her babysitter’s using drugs, she’ll be headed back to her apartment so fast you’ll get whiplash.”

Darc took the note. Sort of. “I may have misspoken. Her behavior and dress could be mistaken for someone—”

“Do you really think she uses drugs?” Mala asked, her pitch rising.

There was a pause before Darc answered. “No.”

Darc had just lied to Mala. To save someone’s feelings. Well, that, and to keep his date going. Trey was so proud he could barely stand it. He grinned at Maggie, who rolled her eyes at him. But he could tell she was impressed as much as he was. This was huge.

Mala, however, was not convinced yet. “Well then, why would you say that?”

Okay. Now they had a problem. Darc lying was one thing. Darc explaining why he would have lied was completely beyond him.

“Tell her you’re freaking out and you were trying to find something to talk about,” Trey urged. Maggie nodded her apparent approval at what she guessed was his quick thinking. To be honest, Trey was pretty impressed with himself too.

“I was uncomfortable and was searching for some topic that we could discuss,” Darc said. Wow. He managed to take in the meaning of what Trey was saying and then give it back in his own words. Impressive. This thing could actually work.

“I understand,” Mala said after a moment. “But are you certain--?”

“Yes,” Darc cut her off again.

“Okay, man,” Trey spoke into the mic. “That was a close one. Watch the cutting her off thing, but you’re doing great. Now ask her how her day went.”

Another pause where Darc seemed to be translating in his head. “Were your daytime activities satisfactory?”

Maggie looked at Trey and shrugged. Close enough.

Ish.

Trey couldn’t even imagine what Mala was thinking right now.
Were your daytime activities satisfactory
was not the most romantic thing in the world. But then again, she knew Darc, so she might be willing to give him points for saying something with more that one syllable.

“Actually,” Mala replied. “Today has been one of the most frustrating days of my life. I had to go in to the Department of Social and Health Services today.”

Maggie made a circular hand motion to Trey that indicated that Darc should draw her out more on that topic. Although it could also have meant that Darc should roll over on top of her instead. But Trey went with his first instinct.

“Keep her talking about that, buddy. I know it seems like a downer, but it’ll help her feel like you care about her life.”

Darc took the note. “What happened?”

“There’s a guy who’s been put in charge of Janey’s case who doesn’t like me. He’s trying to make it look like I’m a bad foster mother.”

“What does he list as evidence?” Darc asked.

“All right, Darc,” Trey inserted. “Try not to make it an interrogation. Just let her know you’re on her side.”

Mala cleared her throat before continuing. “That I’ve put Janey at physical risk by allowing her to be present at active crime scenes. That I’m irresponsible because she’s being psychologically re-traumatized.”

“Is this man a psychologist?” Darc pressed further. Wow. That was a good one, and Trey hadn’t even done any prompting.

“No, but it doesn’t really matter if he’s right or wrong. He has the power to take Janey away from me.”

Now Trey had a problem. He was there to try to help Darc out, but hearing the story, he was getting pissed off. What he wanted to do right now was head down to DSHS and punch whoever this was in the face.

“Tell her you’ll figure it out for her,” Trey said. “We’ll write letters and sign affidavits and whatever the hell else she needs us to do.”

Maggie was shaking her head no. Crap. He was apparently giving Darc bad info. And here Trey thought he was pretty good at this whole dating thing. Maggie was waving her hands in all kinds of complicated gestures, but Trey wasn’t picking up on any of it.

Finally, she gave up and just started speaking. “Darc, don’t do that. Tell her that you understand and that it must be tough for her.”

There was a longer pause this time, and Trey figured that Darc was processing the fact that his ex-wife was helping him figure out his date with a new girlfriend. Well, that’s what would have been going through Trey’s mind, at least.