Juniper Wiles, page 18
“So what do we do now?” Gabi asks.
“Damned if I know. Go back to Bramleyhaugh, I guess, and regroup. Try to come up with some ideas.”
“But if Nora’s in there…”
“We’ll be no help to her if we get killed or taken ourselves. We need a plan.”
“What about tracking down Carmen?” I say.
Gabi pulls a face but she nods in agreement.
“And again, do what? If we come back, we should be geared up—body armour, some serious firepower. I wouldn’t mind a few more hands on deck, and I’m not talking about Jilly and her gang, bless their hearts. We need people who can and are willing to pull a trigger, because the rescue mission isn’t to find and help Nora, it’s to help all those people trapped in this nightmare.”
“That makes sense,” I say.
Gabi glances at me, then looks back at Joe and says, “I agree, but I hope we get Nora out too.”
“Of course,” Joe says. “I’m not trying to take over here, but we need to play to our strengths. You know the lay of the land and you’re good with computers. Juniper does her investigative legwork and talks to ghosts. Me, I’m the muscle here, the guy in the field who can put whatever plan we come up with into action.”
“Sounds good,” Gabi says.
“But I’ve got a question,” I say.
Joe’s gaze settles on me. “Shoot.”
“The bloods aren’t around during the day. Why don’t the survivors just get the hell out of town? Why are they sticking around, hiding in their houses?”
“Maybe they don’t have a choice,” Gabi says.
Joe nods. “This is a pocket world. Head out of town in any direction and you’ll find yourself right back here again. If we don’t make something happen, everybody here is going to die.”
I remember what the cranky old man told us at the pier.
“That’s what the old guy told us,” I say. “The one that was so pissed at you coming close to him.”
Joe flashes us a grin. “I get that a lot, especially from cranky old farts.” He winks at Gabi. “Thanks for having my back, kid.”
Gabi just looks at him. “Right, like you needed me. I just didn’t like his pissy attitude.”
“That makes three of us,” I say.
“Let’s see what the others have come up with while we were gone,” Joe says.
He steps us away, but instead of crossing back over to Jilly’s house, we arrive in a small meadow surrounded by a pine and birch wood. After SoCal, the air feels almost moist. The salty tang is replaced with a deep earthy scent of leaves and what I can only call green—that smell you can only get in a summer field. The drone of insects, silenced for a moment by our appearance, starts up again.
“Where is this?” I ask.
“We’re just on the other side of Jilly’s backyard,” Joe says. “I wanted to check a couple of things with you if we’re really going to take a run at Charlie Midnight and his crew. Do either of you have weapons experience?”
“I do,” I say. “I did a bunch of training for a movie where I played an assassin. The movie sucked, but our props guy was super competent and made sure everybody knew how to handle themselves. We spent a whole week taking apart guns and putting them back together, then practicing at a shooting range. I’ve kept up my chops.”
“That’s good. What about hand-to-hand?”
“We can handle ourselves,” Gabi says.
I nod in agreement. “I’ve done a lot of action films and can’t seem to stop the training when they’re over.”
Joe eyes us for a moment. “Okay. Come at me and don’t hold back.”
“What?”
Instead of answering, Joe takes a shot at me. I don’t even think, I just react. I move my head and his fist goes by my ear. He catches my hand as I go for a body punch and it’s like it’s stuck in a vice until he lets me go.
“Good,” he says. “Your reflexes are—”
He doesn’t get to finish. Gabi swings her leg and sweeps his feet from under him. She drops, the point of her elbow coming down on his throat, but he rolls out of the way faster than should be possible and she hits the ground. She’s on her feet immediately, ready to go at him again. But Joe’s recovery is quicker. He stands a few feet back from us, the flats of his hands held out in front of him.
“Easy,” he says.
“The fuck’s the matter with you?” Gabi snarls at him.
I lay a hand on her arm. “He was just testing us.”
“I’ll test him.”
I don’t blame her for being pissed off. I’m a little pissed off myself. But I get what he was doing.
“Was that really necessary?” I ask.
He shrugs. “If I’m going into combat with somebody, I want to know that they can hold their own.”
Gabi’s calming down. “Combat?” she says.
“When we go back,” Joe tells her, “it won’t be to have afternoon tea with Charlie Midnight. We’re going to war and they’re fast. They’re strong.”
I think of Joe’s speed and strength.
“Like you,” I say.
He nods. “I was holding back just now, but they won’t be, and by all accounts, they’re better. I wanted to get a feel for what you can do because you can’t always rely on a weapon when you’re in the middle of a firefight.”
“So you think we’re going to be a liability,” Gabi says.
“No. For humans, you did good. But when we go after the bloods, hit them from a distance. Body shots slow anything down and the torso makes for an easy target, but as soon as you get a chance, take the head shot.”
I think of the weapons training I got for that crappy thriller and don’t know that it’ll be enough. For one thing, I’ve never fired a weapon at a real person and hoped I never would.
Joe gives us a feral grin, turning the full force of it on Gabi.
“So we’re okay?” he asks, waving two fingers at both of us and himself.
“You’re an asshole,” she says, “but yeah.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
He slowly offers us each a hand—careful not to make any sudden moves around us after his little test—and crosses us over to the backyard of the Stanton Street house.
“I’m going to round up a few things,” he says, “but I’ll be back soon.”
Then he’s gone and it’s just the two of us standing here. I look at the windows of the greenhouse. That was once a normal place where I’d hang with Jilly and the others. We’d paint, we’d gossip. We had fun. Now it feels like it’s turned into command central.
“I’m not a hundred percent sure I can do this,” I say without looking at Gabi.
“Nobody says you have to. I’m the one with the connection to Nora, not you. I have to do whatever I can because I know she’d do the same for me.”
“I’ve never killed anybody before. I’ve never even hurt anybody. It’s all been just playacting for film and TV.”
“They’re not people,” she says. “They’re monsters. I once saw a gang of them tear this guy apart like they were shredding a pillow. It’s what made me follow Ethan over here. I told myself I was looking for Nora, but really, I just needed to get away. I was so scared.”
“I get the being scared.”
“Except now I believe Nora’s still over there. It makes sense because I sure haven’t been able to find her here. God knows what they’ve done to her, how they’re treating her. I just can’t leave her there without trying to do something.”
“But we won’t be going over to negotiate or sneak her out. You heard Joe. He was talking about body armour and guns. That means it’s going to be a full-on assault.”
Gabi touches my shoulder. “Really, I understand.”
I finally look away from the greenhouse. “Just because I’m scared,” I tell her, “doesn’t mean I’m going to let you do this on your own. Besides, I played Nora for so long, she’s kind of like a piece of myself.”
“Juniper,” she starts, but I grab her arm and pull her toward the side door of the greenhouse.
“Let’s see what they’ve figured out while we wait for Joe to come back,” I say.
Gabi lets me pull her along but she’s shaking her head and smiling.
“Sometimes you are so Nora. She never backs off from anything either.”
“Nora’s got you,” I say, “and you’ve got me. End of story.”
Wendy and Saskia are sitting together on the sofa when we open the side door of the greenhouse and step inside. The two of them look up from the pad of paper that Wendy has on her lap and smile at us.
Once we’ve established that Jilly’s off walking the dogs and Joe will be back in a while, Gabi drops into an empty chair. I sit on the edge of the coffee table and ask if they’ve had any luck.
“Saskia ID’d the guy who sold Ethan the book,” she says. She looks down at the pad. “His name’s Thomas Scott and he lives in Phoenix.”
“He must be the guy who broke into Emma’s place,” I say.
“Or made it look like someone broke in,” Wendy says. “Thomas Scott is Emma’s son-in-law.”
I look away. “Crap.”
Wendy nods.
“Does he work in a hospital?” Gabi asks.
“No. Plus Saskia accessed a bunch of security cameras around the time that Ethan was killed. Thomas never left Phoenix.”
“We still need to tell the police about the possibility of that drug,” I say. I look at Wendy. “What did you call it?”
“SUX,” she says. “Succinylcholine.”
“Right, that. They need to look for a puncture mark—someplace that’s not obvious.”
“Like above the hairline,” Wendy says. “Inside the nose, an ear, his mouth.” She pulls a face. “Inside his anus. I’ll get Christy to tell them since he’s got the inside line through the Spook Squad.”
I nod. But I’m still thinking of the implications. “To get that close to him,” I say, “it had to have been somebody he knew and trusted.”
“I love all you guys,” Wendy says, “but I still wouldn’t let any of you stick a needle into me in any of those places.”
I turn to Saskia. “Can you get security footage of the park the night Ethan died?”
She shakes her head. “They don’t have cameras there. I also checked any photos or videos that might have been uploaded in the same time frame, but there’s nothing—or at least nothing that we can use.”
Gabi is staring at Saskia. “Impressive! How long did that take you?”
“A few minutes.”
“Say what? You have to tell me what kind of programs you’re running.”
“It’s all in her head,” I say, looking over at Saskia. “Isn’t that right?”
Saskia smiles. “Not entirely. I only access the web. I don’t actually hold it in my mind.”
“You’re the interface?” Gabi asks. “You’re not using a computer of any kind?”
“None at all.”
“Sweet. I’d love to learn how to do that.”
Saskia shakes her head. “It’s not something that…” Her voice trails off and she studies Gabi as though she’s only just really seeing her.
“You know what?” she says. “It might be something that you can learn, considering your origins.”
“My origins? What do you know about my origins?”
Saskia smiles. “I’m familiar with the collision of intent and binary coding that can create something tangible and new.”
Gabi’s still looking confused, but I understand what Saskia means.
“She’s like you,” I tell Gabi.
“Really?”
Saskia nods. “After a fashion.”
“You have to wonder,” Wendy says, bringing us back to the task at hand. “Why would Thomas steal that manuscript from his mother-in-law and then turn around and sell it?”
“It could be to pay off gambling debts,” Saskia says. “He plays a lot of poker online and is constantly checking sports stats. I’m guessing that he’s also been losing money offline to some bookie.”
“Or he doesn’t like Emma,” I say, “and this is a way to hurt her.”
“If that’s the case,” Gabi says, “I don’t blame him. I don’t much like the woman either.”
Our last encounter with Emma Rohlin left me disappointed and conflicted, but I don’t want to get into that right now.
“Whatever his reason for taking the manuscript,” I say, “we still can’t say for certain that he killed Ethan.”
Wendy nods. “You should go talk to his ghost again.”
“That would be a good idea, except I don’t have the first clue how to find him.”
“How did you find him before?” Saskia asks.
“I’ve only talked to him twice and both times I just kind of stumbled upon him. He doesn’t seem at all like a ghost either, except the second time, when I poked him in the shoulder, my finger went right into him and he just sort of dissolved away.”
“You probably have to be alone for him to come to you,” Wendy says.
“I guess I’ll try later.”
We all look up at the sound of a small commotion erupting in the kitchen, then the dogs tear into the greenhouse, skidding on the floor. Sonora pretty much launches herself at me while Bobo races in mad circles from one end of the room to the other. I kneel on the floor so that I can hold Sonora. She wriggles as though she’s trying to get right inside my shirt and pushes her muzzle into my neck.
“I missed you too,” I tell her.
“We’re ba-ack,” Jilly sings, coming into the room.
Saskia laughs. “Really? We never would have known.”
Jilly laughs and plunks down in a chair beside Gabi. “What have I missed?”
I get up from the floor to sit beside Saskia, Sonora lolling on her back with her head on my lap so that I can rub her belly. We all take turns telling Jilly what we know. She looks from me to Gabi when we’re done, worry creasing her brow.
“You’re not seriously going back, are you?” she says.
“We have to,” Gabi tells her. “Or at least I do. If there’s a chance that Charlie Midnight has Nora, how can I not?”
I shoot her a frown. “I? Are you forgetting me?”
“We have to go,” she corrects herself. “But we’re not stupid. We’ll be careful. And Joe’s coming.”
“Where is Joe?” Jilly asks.
“He’s gone to round up some help,” I say.
Jilly shakes her head. “This has gotten way out of hand.”
“It’s really awful over there,” I tell her. “And the same thing could happen here if Charlie Midnight comes looking for us.”
“Why would he come looking for you?”
“I don’t know. Ethan seemed to think there was a danger.”
“You have to talk to him again,” Wendy says.
“I’ll try. But please don’t hold your breath.”
After a while, we start repeating ourselves. Wendy goes off to talk to Christy about contacting the police again. Sophie wanders in with a bemused expression and a mug of tea. She gives us all a wave, but it’s easy to tell her mind’s a million miles away as she goes to her easel where she picks up a piece of charcoal and starts sketching on her canvas. Saskia and Gabi get into a discussion about accessing the internet without using any mechanical means. When they take a breath, they look at Jilly and me. Seeing the incomprehension on our faces, they take their conversation upstairs to Saskia’s room. Gabi’s so caught up that she actually leaves her backpack behind. I haven’t seen her without it since we met at O’Shaunessy’s.
“You know, I’m really sorry about all of this,” Jilly says when they leave.
I give her a puzzled look. “What do you have to be sorry about?”
“The way I pushed you to embrace this whole you can investigate as easily as Nora Constantine business. I didn’t really think it through.”
“Honestly, I think I needed a push of some kind. Sometimes you don’t know you’re treading water until it gets pointed out.”
“But it’s so dangerous.”
“Crossing the street can be dangerous and at least this means something. If we pull this off, we’re helping a lot of people.”
“I suppose.”
“Actually,” I say, “if anybody should be apologizing, it’s me to you.”
Jilly blinks in surprise. “Whatever for?”
“You know I love you. You’re like the sister I never had. You’re good-natured and kind and silly and—I once thought—halfway mad. The way you’re always going on about faeries and magic and people that can turn into animals was endearing, and it would make me smile, but sometimes it made me wonder. But I never said anything because I figured everybody else was just humouring you, and who was I to dump on the parade with a bucket of reality? I just went with the flow.”
“That’s a lot of water analogies,” Jilly says with a wink.
I laugh. “Shut up. I’m trying to tell you that I’m sorry I didn’t have enough faith in you.”
“But nobody has to apologize for that,” she says. “Magic has always had an elusive quality. It slips out of mind and memory like quicksilver. You have to make a bit of an effort to hold on to magical experiences and encounters.”
“Nobody’s going to forget crossing over into another world.”
She smiles. “You’d be surprised what people can forget. They can utterly forget horrible things that happen to them and they can do the same for the most astonishing magical experiences. Our brains are—I was going to say ‘wired,’ but that’s not right. Our brains are programmed to accept the”—she makes air quotes—“‘World As It Is.’ That’s what the Professor always called it. So anything that deviates gets explained away. Faeries and monsters, ghosts and alien invaders—interacting with anything like that, most people’s brains are programmed to find a rational explanation rather than face the truth. Facing the truth puts everything in question and that makes a lot of people very uncomfortable.”
