Talking Bones (Psychic Vision Book 21), page 27
“As far as I’m concerned, he found them, and he bought them.”
“Then why the hell would I have them?” she asked.
“They’re worth one-half-million dollars,” he stated, stepping forward and glaring at her.
She feigned shock, her jaw dropping. “Good God. Half a million dollars and you think I sold them to him?”
He took a step back and looked a little confused.
“If I had that kind of money,” she huffed, “do you think I’d still be here?”
He looked around the shop, as if to assess the sense of her words and then nodded slowly. “Then I need to know who has them.”
“I don’t know,” she cried out. “And if you’re the asshole who broke my window earlier, thanks a lot. It’ll cost me a pretty penny to get it fixed,” she muttered.
“Why? Don’t you even have insurance?” he sneered.
“Sure, and then I have to pay the deductible, and then they’ll raise my insurance premium for God-only-knows how long.”
He frowned at that, shrugged, and quipped, “Jeez, you’ll just have to sell a little more of this shit then, won’t you?”
“That would be nice if it wasn’t for people like you in here stopping me.”
“Look at the store.” He pointed the gun around behind her. “Nobody is in here.”
Well, that was mostly because she was putting up a blind, telling people to stay away, which she would find damn hard to clear after this, and that was just making her mad all over again.
Stefan spoke in her mind. I’m sending Thomas back to you, while I locate Gage. Then he disappeared from her mind.
“Just take off,” she snapped. “I don’t have a clue who or where or what has those stupid cards. I wish I did know, since I could sure use a half-million dollars myself.”
“Well, that’s too bad because they’re mine,” he snapped. “Look around town and find out who has them. Last I heard, the collector was coming in here to buy them.”
She stiffened again at the mention of Jonesy. “If you’re talking about that old guy who came in here, he’s dead,” she stated flatly. “As far as I know, somebody killed him in the graveyard for that deck.”
He sucked in his breath.
“What?” she shrugged. “Haven’t you heard the latest rumors?”
“No,” he said, frowning. “At least not that kind of rumor.”
“I don’t know if it’s real or not,” she added. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised though. This place is a mess.”
“What do you mean, this place is a mess?”
“New Orleans,” she said. “Everybody’s out to make a buck, so who the hell knows if anybody is telling the truth about that tarot deck?”
He waved the gun around, obviously agitated by her theory. “You have one day, and that’s it. One day to find out the truth and then I’ll be back, and you better have it.”
“And if I don’t?”
He gave her a smile, and it was not a smile she ever wanted to see again because it literally made her blood freeze.
“I’ll be back, so have them or else.” And, with that, he raced out, closing the door behind him.
She tried to open the door and fumbled with the lock, and, by the time she got it open and raced outside, he was gone. She stood here trembling for a long moment. “Thomas, can you go out and find him?”
“I’ve already looked,” he noted quietly from behind her. “I can’t go as far as he can.”
“No, of course not,” she agreed. She bowed her head for a long moment and then stepped back into the store. “Stefan, do you know how to protect my store?”
Is that what you want to protect? came his calm voice.
“This is the only livelihood I have,” she murmured. “It would be nice not to lose it.”
There was a moment of silence. We can put up an energy guard, if that would help. But you know he’ll find you somewhere else.
“You heard him?”
No, I only heard you processing his screaming in your mind, but I’m not sure. It seemed like that was mostly rage.
“Yes,” she said, with a broken laugh, “part of it definitely was rage.”
And why?
She shook her head. “You don’t have time to deal with people like me.”
I will always have time to deal with people like you, he stated in that same calm manner of his.
“Fine.” And she told him what had just happened.
Tarot cards worth a ton of money?
“Yes, do you know any collectors who would pay for them?”
Yes, I probably do, if only to get them taken off the streets.
“Do they really have that kind of energy?”
They do, at least I’ve heard rumors that they do.
She hesitated.
You have them, don’t you? he asked, with a note of amusement in his voice.
“Maybe, but I’m not sure whose they actually are.”
Did you find them in your store?
“Yes,” she admitted.
Then I would say they’re yours.
“But I think they belong to Gage’s family. And he knows about them.”
Well, you’ll have to figure that out later. In the meantime, you need to move them out of there.
“Yeah. Have you got somebody who can come and collect them?”
Do you want to donate them or do you want to sell them? he asked calmly.
“Again, they’re not mine, so it’s not my decision.”
He hesitated and then said, Well, Gage is on his way back to you, so explain it to him and then let me know. We do have a way to secure them.
With that, he disappeared from her mind. She turned to see Gage walk in with a tray of coffee and something that smelled absolutely delicious.
But, when he caught sight of her face, he frowned and asked, “What happened?”
“Yeah, I just had a visitor, probably the same guy who broke my window.” She explained what happened. “It’s all about those damn cards.”
“Get rid of them,” he muttered instantly.
“Well, I think that they probably belonged to your uncle,” she whispered.
“But you don’t know that,” he whispered back. “You don’t know anything about that. They were in your shop, so you keep them.” After thinking for a moment, he added, “It seems like we just need to get rid of them.” He frowned and looked around.
She stepped closer to Gage and kept her voice low. “I talked to Stefan, and he has a way of keeping them secure.”
“Are they dangerous?” he asked, looking at her.
She shrugged. “According to Stefan, they are.”
“Interesting,” he murmured. “Then take him up on the offer.”
She hesitated. “It’s because of you that I haven’t.”
“Why is that?” He stared at her, frowning.
“Because it doesn’t feel like they’re mine.”
He gave a wave of his hand. “Well, a lot of Jonesy’s inheritance is coming my way anyway,” he noted. “If nothing else, I’ll say I took those as my portion of it.” She hesitated still, but he shook his head. “Look. You need to get rid of those things, and, if you need permission from my family, that’s your permission.”
“But you only inherited half of Jonesy’s estate, right?”
“Yes, but there’s no proof they were my uncle’s either. I’m more than happy to make the tarot card set the half that I get.”
She frowned and then reluctantly picked up the phone and called Stefan. When he answered, she said, “Fine. Do you have a way to get them out of here now?”
He replied, “Yes, sit tight, and somebody will come and collect them.” And he hung up.
She turned to look at Gage. “Somebody is on the way to collect them.”
“Interesting. Did you ask him what he’ll do with them?”
She shook her head. “I did not.” She wasn’t sure if she should or not.
But Stefan answered in her mind. They’ll go into a museum for safekeeping, where we keep a variety of esoteric items that are dangerous.
She murmured to Gage, “Apparently he has some hand in protecting other dangerous items. A museum of some kind.”
“Now that would be one hell of a museum to see,” he murmured. “Do we get to see it at some point in time down the road?”
She nodded. “Stefan says yes.”
“Good. The sooner, the better.”
She nodded. “Except that this guy will still be back.”
“Which just means that I’m never leaving your side, until he does.”
She frowned. “He seemed to know an awful lot about Jonesy.”
“Well, I’m sure that, in his enthusiasm searching for the deck, Jonesy contacted an awful lot of people.”
She winced. “I’m afraid that could be true. The guy also said the cards were more of a means to an end.”
“And that could just be the fact that the rumor on the street is that they are worth a lot of money.”
“That actually makes sense. However, money in itself isn’t an answer.” She smiled, walked closer, and asked, “What did you pick up for food?”
“Anything and everything.” He laughed, and he handed over the tray with coffee and some breakfast sandwiches. She immediately dug in, filling her empty stomach like an open empty cabinet in front of her. By the time she was done, she had finished his too. She stopped and stared. “Oh my God.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll just go get more.” Then he stopped. “No, I’m not going anywhere, not until these things are collected.”
“And then what?” she asked, in a teasing voice. “You can’t be here all the time.”
He frowned, pulled out his phone, and stepped up to the front of the counter, where she couldn’t hear him quite so well. And, before she knew it, a delivery person came inside the store.
“Two breakfast sandwiches?”
“Two?” she asked, looking at the delivery guy.
He looked at the order and said, “Nope, sorry, four.”
And he handed it to her and took off.
Before she turned around, Gage took the bag from her.
“It’s called delivery, and we’ll be doing this for a while now.”
She frowned. “And you bought four for yourself?”
“No,” he corrected her. “I bought two more for you. Stop always being so hungry. Fill up for once, will you?”
She grinned, grabbed one more, and ate it. And that made three total. And three was enough. She handed the last one over to him, the one still in the box.
He smiled. “Oh, would you look at that? We’re finally getting you full.”
“Well, I wouldn’t count on it,” she admitted, with a smile, “but I am feeling better.”
“Good.”
Just then somebody else walked into the store.
She looked up, smiled, and then it fell away. Whoever the hell this tank of a man was, he radiated power and strength on another level altogether. “Hello,” she said, stepping forward, her energy guarded.
He looked at her and smiled. “Hi, Stefan sent me.”
She studied him a moment and then asked, “And how do I know that for sure?”
He gave her a quick scan and then stepped out of his body in front of her. We can talk this way, if you want.
Jesus, you can do that at will too? She stared at him, intrigued.
“I can,” he confirmed out loud, “but I understand you have some pretty fascinating skills yourself.”
She nodded. “I’m Skylar. What’s your name?”
“Hurricane is my nickname,” he offered calmly. “My real name is Kane.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think I want to know why.”
He gave her a flat smile. “No, you don’t.”
She asked, “You can whip up energy, can’t you?”
“Well, that’s one word for it,” he said, with a wide grin. He looked over at Gage and tilted his chin up in a silent greeting. “Now, Skylar, I believe you have something for me to pick up.”
She still hesitated, until Stefan spoke in her mind.
Did Hurricane arrive?
“Yeah. That’s a hell of a name.”
He laughed. And he has some crazy-ass skills to go with it, he added. So he’s the one you want. He’ll protect that set of cards and take them to the museum.
“He’s not taking them to you?”
No, stuff like that goes straight to lockup. It’ll be catalogued, identified, and studied to a certain extent, but never free to harm anybody again.
“Fine. I just thought they were tarot cards.”
And let’s hope that that’s all they are. Now, do you want to go get them for him?
She looked over at Gage and asked him, “Can you stay here?”
He nodded. “As long as you’re only going straight upstairs.”
She nodded. “I am.”
And, with Hurricane, she headed upstairs. She looked at him and quietly asked, “How long have you been close to Stefan?”
“Is anybody close to Stefan?” he asked.
“We’re all close in some way,” she noted, “just because of what and who we are.”
He laughed. “Isn’t that the truth.”
“Do you have something to put these in?” He nodded and pulled out a small steel box. She frowned. “You’re really serious about these being dangerous, aren’t you?”
“Well, let’s just say, I don’t want to take a chance.”
She nodded, let herself into her apartment, then opened the door wide enough for him to step in with her. She walked quickly to her bedroom, opened up the safe, and pulled out the cards. Just as he opened up the box and she dropped the deck inside, a man at the door spoke.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
And, sure enough, there was her gunman, with the same snub-nosed revolver.
Hurricane looked at him, with an expression of boredom. “And who are you?”
“The man who’ll take those cards off you.”
“Yeah, you and what army?” Kane asked.
The gunman turned to him. “What are you talking about? I’m the one here with the weapon.”
“Yeah? Well, I really don’t care to have guns pulled on me,” Hurricane told him. “And I really get pissed when people ruin my clothing with bullets.”
Skylar shot Kane a sideways glance and then noted Gage climbing the stairs. She just barely saw a slight indication of his presence. She wished he wouldn’t show up because that would just add to this craziness.
The gunman glared at Hurricane. “This is bullshit, you know that.”
“Sure it’s all bullshit, including these cards.”
“Then hand them over and be done with it.”
Hurricane shrugged, pulled out the cards from the box, and handed them over.
The gunman immediately pounced with glee. “Well, thank God for that.”
“But this was just the means to an end,” she reminded her gunman.
“Yeah, to keep somebody quiet and out of my life hopefully,” he muttered.
Gage stepped up behind the gunman and asked, “Yeah, and just who would that be, Terrence?”
The gunman froze. “Shit.” He turned toward Gage. “What the hell? You weren’t supposed to be here. You were downstairs and out of the way.”
“Did you really think attacking Skylar was something I would let go on right under my nose?”
“Why not?” He gave his brother a negligent shrug. “It’s been working so far.”
“Only because you had something in your mouth last time to disguise your voice. Just what the hell is this all about?” Gage asked, looking at the tarot cards in his brother’s hand.
Skylar stepped forward, but immediately the gun was turned in her direction.
“Stop. No more bravado.”
“I think you’ve got yourself in quite a pickle here, Terrence,” Hurricane noted.
Terrence glared at him. “Not really. All you guys have to do is stay quiet and calm, and this will all be over in no time.”
“Except for one thing,” Gage said. “I already know who you are and that you’re trying to hurt Skylar.”
“No, I’m not. I don’t give a shit about her. I just want these damn cards.”
“And why is that again? You’re willing to do armed robbery for cards? You’re about to get five million dollars from the company deal.”
“Sure, five million, but it could have been fifty if you hadn’t sold it,” he yelled, in outrage. “Besides, this isn’t for me.” And then he abruptly slammed his lips together, clearly wishing he hadn’t said that.
Gage stared at him in shock. “Good God. Are you doing all this for Mom?”
Terrence’s shoulders slumped ever-so-slightly, and then, as if realizing that he felt much more powerful with the gun in his hand, he stiffened and waved the gun around in Gage’s face. “Shut up. You know something? If you were to die right now,” he threatened, “I would inherit it all.”
“Except for one thing,” Gage said. “I already changed my will.”
His brother stared at him. “What do you mean, you changed your will?”
“Skylar here inherits everything.”
Terrence turned and stared at Skylar in shock, as she stared at Gage in horror.
“Why would you do that to me?” she cried out in dismay.
He looked at her, and he started to laugh. “I thought you’d be happy.”
“Hell no,” she replied. “I don’t want that kind of responsibility, that kind of ugliness. Look at it already, with your own damn brother. Look at what this kind of greed does.”
Gage nodded. “You’re right,” he said apologetically. “I just figured that maybe, in our new life, we wouldn’t have assholes like this to deal with.”
“What do you mean, new life?” Terrence squawked. “She’s nothing like the women you go out with. What the hell do you want with her?”
“You know something? You’re right about that,” Gage told Terrence. “She’s nothing like the women I used to go out with. Skylar’s a hell of a lot better. She’s real and strong and amazing.”
His brother snorted and rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
“I guess now you’ll pick up Mom, and I won’t have to worry about giving her any lump sum payout for an allowance then, will I?”
