Acheron Highway: A Jonathan Shade Novel (18 page)

“Jonathan?” Kelly called down the stairs.
 
“You’ll want to come check this out.”

I turned to Miranda.
 
“Are you ready to go back upstairs?”

She nodded.

I helped her up.

We returned to the backyard.
 
It was still dark outside.
 
Brand stood by the hole he’d dug and shined a flashlight down into it.
 
I approached the hole and looked.

Brand had uncovered part of a skull.
 
Beneath the dirt, I could see a business suit.
 
There was an indentation on the chest.
 
Brand saw where I was looking and moved the light to that spot.

“Shovel went right through the right side of the chest when I found him.
 
I was careful after that.”

“Did you check for an ID?” I asked.

“I haven’t dug him out that far.
 
Give me a minute.”

He handed me the flashlight, jumped into the hole, and started digging around the waist and hip region.

Since it was a skeleton, it meant either it had been here for a while, though the suit didn’t look old, just dirty, or it meant Zach was dead yesterday when Von and the team at DGI cast their spell.
 
I suspected the back of the suit would be wet and nasty with liquefied remains.

Brand stood up, holding a leather wallet.
 
He opened it and pulled out some cash, which he kept, then handed the wallet to me.
 
I pulled the sleeve of my coat down over my fingers so I could hold the wallet without getting prints on it.
 
It’s not that easy to leave fingerprints in the dry climate of Colorado compared to say, Kentucky, but I wasn’t going to take any chances.
 
Brand wouldn’t be in the system but I would.

“Stealing from the dead?” I asked.
 
“Not cool.”

“Like I give a shit if you think I’m cool.
 
This guy’s not going to spend it.
 
Call it my fee for digging him up.”

I flipped the wallet open.
 
The driver’s license was in the first plastic picture sleeve.
 
I shined the flashlight on it.

“Zachary Edward Banner.”

Brand counted the bills.
 
“Eighty-four dollars.
 
Thanks, Zach.”

I tossed the wallet back to Brand.
 
“Put this back, you thief.”

Brand pocketed his cash and shoved the wallet back into Zach’s pocket.

“Search him to see if he has anything else.”

“Good idea,” Brand said.
 
“He might have a money clip in his pocket too.”

Brand patted him down and dug in the pockets.

“Fifty-one cents is mine,” he said.
 
“He has some keys, a cell phone, and a tin of
Altoids
.
 
You want those?”

I ignored his joke and wondered if we should take the keys but couldn’t think what he might have locked up anywhere.
 
He hadn’t locked the cabinet with the bodies, so it seemed pointless.
 
“Give me the phone.
 
Put the rest back.”

“I’m keeping the change,” Brand said.

“Whatever.”

“Money found is better than money earned,” he said.

“Other than where you broke the bones with the shovel, is there anything else to indicate how he might have died?”

“Do I look like Temperance Brennan to you?”

“You read Kathy
Reichs
?” I asked, impressed.

“Who?”

“The author of the Temperance Brennan novels.”

“Dude, I’m talking about a TV show and you want to bring up books?
 
What’s wrong with you?”

Where I said I was impressed?
 
Cancel that.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Kelly, Brand, Miranda, and I entered the DGI building a little after 8:00.

Phil broke out in a sweat when he saw Kelly, but he knew we were coming since I’d called ahead to line up an appointment.

“Go on up,” Phil said.
 
He remained behind his station.
 
When Kelly gave him a friendly smile and wave, his face turned green and he cringed.
 
He tried to cover it up by hiding behind a Steam Room Spa brochure that promised
No Pain, Still Gain.
 
Right.

“Thanks,” I said.
 
We hopped on the elevator, and when the doors opened on the thirteenth floor, Mike Ender stood waiting for us.

“Mr. Shade,” he said, nodding to me then to each of us.
 
“Ms. Hammond.
 
Ms. Chan.”
 
He stopped when he saw Brand.
 
“Mr. Easton, I didn’t realize you were still alive.”

Until that moment, I hadn’t realized Brand even had a last name.

“Von will be ready for you in a few,” Mike said.
 
“She’s not particularly pleased with you at the moment, Mr. Shade.”

“She’ll get over it.
 
Or not.”

We started down the hall, but Mike blocked the path.

“Please wait here.”
 
He glanced at the bandage on my throat.
 
“What happened to your neck?”

“Hot date.”

He raised an eyebrow then turned.
 
“Here she comes.”

“My date?”

“I certainly hope not,” Mike said and headed back toward his office.

Von passed Mike as she came down the hall.
 
I was glad magic doesn’t work on me because the daggers she kept firing out of her eyes would have been pretty painful.

“I didn’t realize this was going to be a convention,” she said.

I gestured to Kelly and Brand.
 
“They’re here to make sure you don’t try to recruit us into Amway.”

“On the phone, you said this meeting was for Miranda.”

“It is.”

“Then I’d appreciate it if you’d shut up and let her speak.”

I mimed using a key to lock my mouth then tossed the imaginary key behind me.

Miranda stepped forward, holding the jar that contained her heart.
 
“Please tell me you can help me.”

“Is that your heart?”

Miranda nodded.
 
“It’s not beating.
 
Am I dead?”

“You said Zach took your heart.
 
Where is he?”

“Feeding the worms,” I said.

“You just couldn’t keep your mouth closed, could you?”

“I like to hear myself talk.”

“I’ve noticed.
 
Are you sure it’s Zach?”

“Pretty sure.
 
The wallet had his ID.
 
We haven’t checked his dental records or anything if that’s what you mean, but I think it’s pretty safe to assume it’s him.”

Von sighed and looked at Miranda and at the still heart in the jar of formaldehyde.
 
“If Zach took your heart and kept it beating, which still seems like a stretch to me, and he’s now dead, then you, my dear, are also dead.”

“But I’m still me.
 
The other dead people seemed to be something else.”

“I don’t have an explanation for you on that except that perhaps because you were already mobile and present, no spirits could take you over.”

Miranda shook her head.
 
“I’m sorry but I’m an accountant in the payroll department for DGI Engineering.
 
I didn’t even know about you magical people.
 
I mean, I knew a few of you, but I had no clue what you do.
 
How does this even work?”

Von hesitated.
 
“I’m not sure I should say anything about that.”

Miranda turned to me.
 
“Can you tell me anything?”

“About magic?
 
Sure.
 
It’s mostly genetic, but there’s an energy component too.
 
Think of it like the Law of Attraction.
 
Are you familiar with that?”

“Like
The Secret
?”

“Something like that,” I said, drawing a glare from Von, “but when a wizard pulls energy, they’re genetically wired to use that energy in various ways.
 
There’s more to it, of course, but that’s a simple explanation.
 
What Von is saying is that the energy Zach used to keep your heart beating is gone and without the magic to keep it beating, the heart stopped and you died.
 
This happened as soon as he was murdered.”

“He was murdered?” Von asked.
 
“How can you be sure?”

“His body was buried in his backyard.
 
If he’d died of natural causes, he wouldn’t have been hidden.”

“What about Gina?”

“According to my sources, Gina has been dead for a while.
 
I believe her skeleton is in Zach’s basement.
 
There are a couple more skeletons down there too.”

“His parents,” Von said.
 
“I knew they were dead.
 
I saw Gina at a party last summer.
 
I should have been able to tell she was dead.
 
Perhaps Zach was better than I thought.”

“Someone still killed him.”

“Any idea how?”

“No clue.
 
Didn’t see any signs of blunt force trauma on the skull, and aside from the damage done by a shovel digging him up, I didn’t see anything else to suggest anything.
 
That said, we didn’t look too close either.
 
The skeleton is still there.”

“Are we going to just stand here in the hall?” Brand asked.
 
“I’d at least like something to drink.”

“You don’t need anything to drink,” Von said.
 
“You’re a Sekutar.”

“We still eat and drink and fuck, and some of us even sing karaoke.”

“Not here, I hope.”

“I either want refreshments or I’m going across the street to Starbucks.”

Von rolled her eyes.
 
“So go to Starbucks.
 
I don’t want any of you to be here anyway.
 
You were not invited.”

“We don’t need invitations,” Brand said.

“Actually, you do.”

Kelly stepped between Brand and Von.
 
She met Von’s gaze.
 
“I think we should take this to one of the meeting rooms down the hall.
 
I also think it’s time for you to take a polite pill.”

“Or?”

“Or I’ll tear off your head and let Brand play basketball with it.”
 
Kelly spoke with such a matter-of-fact tone that even I got a chill.

Von blinked and her face reddened as her eyes flared with anger.

I knew she was about to summon up some magic and that if she did, Kelly would make good on her promise.
 
One thing Kelly can simply not abide is someone who thinks she’s above anyone else.

I knew I’d best intervene or there would be bloodshed.
 
I broke into my best Stephen Lynch and sang, “Damn that’s an ugly baby!”

Von looked at me as if I’d belched, “How about a look at them
titties
?” to a nun in church.

Kelly shook her head and laughed.

“That was absurd,” Von said.

“Saved your ass, though.”

To her credit, Von didn’t object, and I suspect that on reflection, she knew I was right.

“The meeting room is down here.
 
Let’s get some water, sit down, and talk this out.”

She led us to a large room.
 
A huge meeting table occupied the center, and leather chairs circled it.
 
A Deep Rock water cooler stood in one corner.
 
Brand headed right for it as if he thought it were a mirage in Death Valley.
 
While he poured himself a paper cup of water, the rest of us sat at the table.

Once everyone was seated, Von placed her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers.
 
“What do you want me to do for Miranda, Mr. Shade?”

“Can you put her heart back?”

“It’s not beating.
 
What do we do once it’s back in her chest?”

“I suppose I could hook up my iPod and crank out Motley
Crue’s
‘
Kickstart
My Heart,’ but I was hoping you could work a bit of magic and get it going that way.”

“One problem,” Von said.

“What’s that?”

“If I can get her heart working and give her back her life, she can’t live with the wounds regardless.”

“Don’t you have a healer on staff here?”

“One who could handle something on this scale?
 
Mr. Shade, in order to pull this off, we’d need a top-notch healer.
 
I could keep Miranda’s body working for a short time, get the blood flowing through her veins again, but we’d still need a spark of life to get her heart working properly.”

The mention of blood flow triggered something in my brain.
 
I looked at Miranda, and she looked exactly as she had when she first came to my apartment a few days ago.
 
I wondered why she didn’t look pale.
 
I didn’t know when Zach had shuffled off his mortal coil, but as soon as he had, her blood should have settled.

“Is something wrong, Jonathan?” Kelly asked.

I tried to remember if the corpse O’Malley had called me in on had looked pale.
 
If so, it didn’t register.
 
Maybe when Persephone had sent the spirits to the dead folks, she kept the bodies looking more normal through magic.
 
It was possible.
 
But Miranda wasn’t sharing her body with another spirit.
 
Then again, perhaps because her spirit was still in her body magically, that prevented another spirit from stepping in.

“Jonathan?”

“Sorry?” I said, snapping back to the moment.

“Spark of life?” Kelly said.

“Does that mean someone or something has to die in order to bring Miranda back to life?”

“That would be a transference of energy,” Von said, “the life force of one to another.”

“Human?” I asked.

Von nodded.
 
“If she’d only been dead a short while, electricity would be sufficient and we could simply restart her heart.
 
My concern right now is that a shock of that sort would sever her spirit from her body, and while I could keep the body alive, I don’t know of a way to reattach her mind and spirit after this long.”

“But I’m OK right now,” she said.
 
“Aside from the heart, I mean.”