Vieux Carré Voodoo (27 page)

It was locked.

In the distance, I could hear the wail of police sirens.

THE WORLD, REVERSED

Success yet to be won

“I have to give you two credit,” Venus said with a shrug as
she shut the door of her SUV. She handed Frank and me each a cup of coffee from
the shop across the street from where she’d parked. “Whenever you come around,
there’s always an impressive body count.”

I opened my mouth to deny it, but thought better of it and
said nothing. I couldn’t argue the point with her. She was right. The bodies in
the cemetery were the third and fourth corpses I’d been around in a little less
than twenty-four hours. I doubted anyone else in New Orleans could say that. “I
can’t take credit for Doc,” I said after taking a sip from the steaming coffee.
“You were already there.”

We were sitting in the backseat of her black SUV, wrapped in
NOPD blankets. She had the heater on full blast, and I was finally starting to
feel warm again—though I couldn’t wait to get home and get out of these wet
clothes. But at least my hands weren’t shaking as I took another big drink of
the steaming coffee. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the seat.
It’s
all over,
I thought with relief. The storm had passed, but the sky was
still covered by dark clouds. We’d already being grilled about what happened
inside the walls of the cemetery.

Venus hadn’t been happy to find out some of the things Colin
had kept from her—but without him to direct the interrogation, I’d seen no
reason to keep anything back from her.

I couldn’t wait to get home and take a hot shower.

The front passenger door opened and Blaine Tujague climbed
in. Venus handed him some coffee. “Thanks, Venus.” He took a drink and turned
back to us. “They had their passports on them.” He shook his head. “Pleshiwarian
nationals; apparently they entered the country through Houston. They came in
with two others—I’ve put out an APB on them.” He sighed. “I wonder how long
before the Feds take this over?” He glanced at Venus and added angrily, “We
might as well not even bother to start an investigation. I’m surprised Homeland
Security hasn’t already arrived here with an army of Feds.”

She shrugged resignedly. “We do our jobs until told
otherwise.” She gave me a faint smile. “And you have no idea where Abram Golden
is?”

I shook my head. “No. Like I said, I took a nap. When I woke
up, he was gone—and I haven’t heard from him since.”
And trust me, I have a
lot of questions for him myself.
“I’ve tried his cell a couple of times,
but he isn’t answering.”
No surprise there, either.
I didn’t want to
think he’d sent the assassins after Frank and me, but it was a possibility.

The one thing I couldn’t understand was why the first two
had shot at us—the other two could have easily have shot us rather than locking
us in the James mausoleum. But they hadn’t.

I guess we’d find out when they were caught.

I looked out the window just as the Crime Lab techs were
carrying a body out on a stretcher. I winced and looked away.

No matter how many times I see death, I never get used to
it.

“You two are free to go for now,” Venus said. “We’ll get
your statements typed up, and just come by the station house to sign them later
tonight or in the morning. And try to stay out of trouble?”

“All I want to do,” I said wearily as I opened the back
door, “is take a hot shower and go to bed for a week.”

We got out of the SUV and walked over to where Frank’s MG
was parked. The coffee was definitely helping. I’d begun to think I’d never feel
warm again. We got into the MG and headed back home.

Frank was silent until we got to the light at Camp and
Canal. “I have a confession of my own to make,” he said slowly. “Don’t be mad at
me.”

“I’m too tired to get mad,” I replied, finishing the last of
the coffee. It was true. I felt drained, both physically and emotionally. It was
all over. The Eye was in the hands of the Pleshiwarians, Colin was gone again,
and as far as I was concerned, the police or the Feds or whoever the hell wanted
to could handle the whole mess from now on.

“I knew what Blackledge really was, and I didn’t tell you,”
he said as he turned right onto Canal. There wasn’t much traffic, and he whipped
the car into the U-turn lane just past Decatur. “When Colin said Blackledge
wanted to open a branch office in New Orleans and hire us…well, I’d heard of
Blackledge. Not much, but what I’d heard wasn’t good. Sure, I went to their Web
site—you saw it—but I…” His voice trailed off as he turned onto Decatur in the
direction of home. “Their Web site was just innocuous, like you saw. An
international investigation company, but I knew it was probably just a cover. So
I checked with some of my buddies at the FBI.”

“And what did you find?” I closed my eyes and leaned my head
against the car window. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hear any more of this.

“I found out what Blackledge was.” He gripped the steering
wheel so tight his knuckles turned white. “Oh, there was nothing
concrete—they’re much too good for that, of course. They’ve been operating
worldwide since the end of the Second World War, doing dirty jobs governments
want done but don’t want tied to them, you know? It was all mostly rumor and
conjecture.” He sighed. “So I confronted Colin about it.”

“And you didn’t tell me any of this?” I closed my eyes. I
was too tired to be angry or outraged. All I felt was disappointment.

“Colin—” He hesitated. “Colin told me that it was true, that
there was a branch of the company that did that kind of work, but he assured me
that we would never get involved in that, we’d be working for the investigation
side.” He shook his head. “I believed him because I wanted to believe him.”

“And you didn’t tell me.”

“Colin thought it was better that way, and I agreed with
him.” We stopped at the light in front of Café du Monde. The gilded statue of
Joan of Arc was directly in front of us. I looked away, out the window at the
empty tables and chairs under the green and white awning. “It was a mistake—I
realized that once…” He swallowed. “Once we knew Colin had killed your uncles.
But then, I was…I didn’t know what to do, Scotty.”

“You figured it was just easier not to tell me then.” I felt
empty inside.

“I mean, by then we all knew what he was.” He stole a glance
at me, but turned his head back to the road. The light turned green and the MG
jumped forward. “I didn’t think—well, I didn’t think it much mattered at that
point whether I…”

“Stop beating yourself up,” I said, sharper than I’d
intended. “Right now, I am so tired and drained I can’t be mad. I don’t have the
energy for it.”

“I just don’t want you to hate me.”

“I could never hate you.” I closed my eyes and put my head
against the window. It was true. “I’m disappointed you didn’t tell me. I’m
disappointed that you actually thought it was better to keep it from me than
tell me the truth. I don’t know what that says about what you think about me,
but right now I am too tired to get into it, okay?”

We drove the rest of the way to the parking lot in silence.
I felt betrayed, but couldn’t summon up any emotion. We got out the car and
walked back to the apartment. I unlocked the gate. Now that the storm had
passed, the temperature was starting to go back up. We stripped out of our wet
clothes on the second-floor landing and tossed them in the dryer and went on up
to our apartment. I didn’t say anything as I walked into the bathroom and turned
on the shower. As the steam from the hot water started filling up the room, I
walked back into the bedroom. Frank had put on a robe and was sitting on the
bed.

“Can I join you?” he asked.

“You go first,” I said, and walked out of the bedroom. I
went into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. As I watched the coffee brew,
I tried to remember the last time I felt so tired, so drained, so
defeated.

You didn’t fail, Scotty. The whole point was for the Eye
to be returned to Pleshiwar. They have it, it’s probably on its way back to the
temple right now, so Kali has been appeased. She won’t destroy the world now
that Her Eye is being returned to Her. Colin is probably on a plane out of the
country even now. And does it really matter if Frank knew what Blackledge was
all along and didn’t tell you? He was just sparing your feelings.

It didn’t make me feel any better, though.

I filled a mug with coffee and walked into the living room.
I sat down on the couch.

I looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. It was shortly
after five. Just twenty-four hours ago, Levi was sitting in here telling me his
tale of woe. It was all lies, of course, and now he was dead.

Everyone lied to me.

Doc’s entire life had been a lie. He wasn’t Dr. Benjamin
Garrett from Biloxi, he’d just been Larry Moon—he and his buddies had been hired
by Blackledge to steal the Eye in the first place, for some reason known only to
whoever had hired Blackledge.

And now they were all dead, and the mess they’d started all
those years ago was finally over. The Eye was on its way back to Pleshiwar,
where it belonged. Maybe it was in the right hands, maybe it wasn’t. It wasn’t
my problem anymore.

I closed my eyes and leaned back.

I heard the shower turn off.

“Scotty?” Frank said. I didn’t open my eyes, and felt him
sit down on the couch next to me. “Are you mad?”

“I’m not mad, I’m just tired,” I replied. I leaned against
him, and he put his arm around my shoulders. “I know you think you were just
trying to protect me—although I can’t imagine why.”

“You were so hurt,” he whispered. He put his head down
against mine. “We both were—the whole family. Everyone was so hurt by what he’d
done. I just didn’t see any reason to make things worse. I was wrong, I know
that—I’ve regretted it ever since. I should have told you from the start…but—”
He paused for a moment. “When I found out, it didn’t seem to matter. I know I
shouldn’t have believed him—especially given what happened later—but we were all
so happy…I’ve never really been happy before.”

“I know, Frank.”

“And I didn’t want to mess that up. I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I stood up. “I’m going to go get in the
shower.” I leaned down and kissed him. “I love you, Frank. That’s not ever going
to change, okay?”

He nodded.

I walked back into the bathroom and turned the shower back
on. I climbed in and let the hot spray flow over my body. The hot water felt
incredible. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the side of the shower.
I mechanically went through the motions of soaping my body and washing my hair.
It felt good, rejuvenating me. My mind was waking up, and all the tiredness was
draining out of me. I turned off the water and grabbed my towel.

Poor Frank,
I thought,
it must have been rough
keeping that from me all these years, feeling guilty.

There was a loud crash from the living room, and a howl of
pain.

What the hell?

There was another crash, and a loud thump. I wrapped the
towel around my waist and, still dripping, ran out into the hallway. What I saw
in the living room stopped me dead in my tracks.

Frank and Colin were rolling around on the floor.

“Stop that!”
I screamed at the top of my lungs.

They both looked at me. Frank was on top of Colin, his right
fist cocked in the air. Colin’s hands were on Frank’s throat. His lip was
swelling, and a trickle of blood was running out of the left side of his mouth.
“Get off of him, Frank,” I demanded, my teeth clenched.

Frank punched him again, but Colin moved his head and the
blow glanced off his cheek. Frank got up, and Colin got to his hands and knees,
shaking his head from side to side. “Hell of a way to say hello, Agent,” he
said, rubbing his jaw.

“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you,” Frank replied, crossing
his arms angrily.

“There’s been enough killing,” I replied. “Colin, what the
hell are you doing here?”

Colin got to his feet. A bruise from Frank’s last punch was
forming on his right cheek. “I thought we could plan our next move.” He looked
at Frank. “I wasn’t expecting to see Frank.”

“Our next move?” I shook my head. “There is no next move,
Colin.” I plopped down on the couch. “It’s all over.”

“What are you talking about?” He looked at Frank, then back
at me. “We need to solve the riddle and find the Eye.”

I couldn’t help it. I started laughing. “You’re a little
behind, Colin. We’ve already found it, no thanks to you.”

Colin’s face was a study in shock.
Damn, he’s a good
actor,
I thought to myself. He said, “What are you talking about?”

“Like I said, you’re behind the times,” I replied wearily.
“I woke up from my nap, and you were gone. Frank came home unexpectedly, and we
solved the riddle. We went out and found the damned Eye.”

“You found it? But that’s great.” He looked from me to Frank
and back again. “I had a lead on the Pleshiwarians I wanted to follow up—a dead
end, I might add—you were sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to wake you up…where
is the Eye?”

“We don’t have it anymore. It was taken from us.” I waved my
hand. “But we solved the riddle, and we did find it.” I rapidly went through the
whole thing. “So, they have the Eye. It’s over.”

“Damn it!”
he roared, slamming his fist into his
leg. “It’s
not
over, Scotty—we’ve got to find them and get the Eye
back.”

“Are you insane?”

“Scotty, the
wrong
Pleshiwarians have the Eye.” He
started pacing. “Okay, listen to me. I didn’t tell you any of this because I
thought—”

“I couldn’t handle it?” I glared at him, then looked at
Frank, who wouldn’t meet my eyes.