I’d have been just as happy to hit the road after dessert, but Claudia ordered coffee, so I followed suit. And that was when she broached the real reason why she’d asked me to dinner.
I could tell it was coming from the way her fingers tightened on her coffee cup. I’d known from the moment I’d laid eyes on her that there was something bothering her, and now I was going to find out what.
“My husband and I are very thankful for everything you’ve done for us,” she said, not looking me in the eye.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out I was about to be fired—though since I technically wasn’t working for her, it wasn’t really possible for her to fire me.
“But you’ve decided you don’t need my services anymore,” I finished for her. I’d have been pissed as hell if I thought she was dropping me of her own free will. But there was no way the desperate woman who had first shown up at my office would give up on her son, unless she was under duress somehow.
Strain showed in the stiffness of her posture and the tightness of her lips. She raised her chin and met my gaze. “I know it’s pointless,” she said, but there was no conviction in her words.
We stared at each other a long while. Usually, I’d have bet on myself in any staring contest, but there was so much pain and unhappiness in her expression that I was the one who looked away first.
“Who threatened you?” I asked, though I supposed it had to be Tommy and/or his cronies.
“No one threatened me,” she said, but I didn’t believe her for a moment. “My husband and I have decided it’s time we accept reality and move on with our lives. We have to care for the children we still have.”
Claudia didn’t strike me as the type who’d give in easily to threats. Either her husband was a wuss and convinced her to be a wuss with him, or the bad guys had come up with one hell of a scary threat. What would be enough to convince a mother to stop fighting for the life of her son? I remembered the picture of those two smiling little girls and figured I had my answer right there.
Now, a wise person might have taken this as some kind of cue from the universe that it was time to back off of Tommy Brewster. I wasn’t exactly making a whole lot of progress, and I didn’t suppose my chances of finding an excuse to exorcize him were too good. If the bad guys were threatening the little girls, then any efforts I made could endanger innocent lives. Not to mention that as the demon king’s host, I had enough problems on my own without letting myself get obsessed with others’.
But no one has ever accused me of being wise, and there was no way I was letting the demons get away with this.
“You can accept whatever reality you want,” I said, “but I believe you’re right and that Tommy’s been possessed against his will. As an exorcist, I can’t just let that go.”
Claudia stared into the depths of her empty coffee cup. “Did you know that that exorcist, Sammy Cho, committed suicide?”
My heart made a very unpleasant thud in my chest, and I shook my head in disbelief. Adam had said Sammy was on vacation. I guess it turned out to be a permanent one.
“I hadn’t heard,” I said, feeling a wave of sadness even though I hadn’t liked Sammy.
“Maybe he felt guilty over what he did to Tommy.”
It wasn’t hard to follow her train of thought. “Or maybe someone wanted to make sure he wouldn’t blab.”
I hadn’t mentioned to Claudia the possibility that Sammy had been possessed, and I saw no reason to bring it up now, even though his “suicide” practically confirmed it. Whatever demon had taken him wanted to make absolutely sure no one could get proof that Sammy had lied, and it was no skin off the demon’s metaphorical teeth to have his host commit suicide. I could also see why Sammy’s death had left Claudia shaken.
“If you or your family are being threatened, we have grounds to bring in the police.”
“We’re not being threatened,” she reiterated, though I still didn’t believe her. “Your heart is in the right place. I really meant it when I said I appreciated all you’ve done. But it’s time for you to step aside.”
I knew there had to be a good reason she was being like this. I knew she hadn’t just capriciously changed her mind, just like I knew her suddenly cool tone wasn’t personal. That didn’t stop my blood pressure from soaring.
I pushed back my chair, threw my napkin on the table, and stood up. “Thanks for the lovely dinner.”
I started to walk past her toward the door, but she caught hold of my arm and looked up at me beseechingly. “Please, Ms. Kingsley. Leave it alone.” Her eyes pleaded with me, and I felt almost like she was trying to convey some kind of secret message.
Whatever the message was, I wasn’t getting it. I dropped my voice so it could barely be heard in the noisy restaurant. “Tell me who threatened you, and tell me what bad thing will happen if I keep investigating, and I’ll consider your request.”
Her hand squeezed painfully tight on my arm, and her eyes flashed with mingled anger and alarm. “I can’t do that,” she answered just as quietly.
“Fine.” I jerked my arm out of her grip, and this time when I headed for the door, she let me go.
CHAPTER 15
Because the LOLs had held me up so much this afternoon, I still had one load of laundry to get done when I got home from my wonderful dinner. Not feeling in the mood to do anything else, I schlepped my load down to the laundry room.
I was in luck. All the machines were empty. I shoved my clothes into the washer and dug out some quarters. The small, claustrophobic room echoed with the sound of the water gushing in, covering the sound of footsteps so that I never heard anyone approach. When I picked up my laundry basket and stood, there were suddenly two super-sized men standing in the laundry room doorway.
I live in a big building, so it’s not as if I would know all the tenants by sight, but these guys would have set my mental alarms ringing even if they hadn’t been wearing dark, wraparound sunglasses in a basement. Goon #1 smiled at me in sadistic anticipation, while Goon #2 made a meaty fist and held it up for display.
They were too squat and ugly to be hosting demons—legal ones, at least—but they probably didn’t need supernatural strength to make my life miserable. I’m a pretty good fighter—when you’re family’s Spirit Society, you learn to stick up for yourself at an early age, unless you enjoy getting beaten to a pulp on a regular basis—but I didn’t like my chances against two men who had the look of professionals.
In tandem, they advanced on me. My Taser was in my purse. I was paranoid enough to carry it around with me at all times, but now that I actually needed it I realized I wasn’t paranoid enough. I had to have it out and armed already, not tucked neatly in my purse.
I didn’t have any brilliant ideas, but one thing I knew for sure was the laundry basket wouldn’t help my defense much. I screamed as loud as I could, the sound echoing nicely through the unfortunately deserted basement, and threw the laundry basket at my would-be assailants.
As I’d hoped, they were momentarily startled, which gave me time to put the folding table between me and them while I shoved my hand in my purse. Very much contrary to my hopes, they recovered before I could even find the Taser, much less draw it.
Goon #1 wasn’t about to let a little thing like a folding table get between him and his quarry. He leapt over it, coming straight at me while his partner continued to block the doorway. I didn’t have time to get my hand out of my purse before he was on me, but I managed an off-balance kick that hurt him just enough to annoy him. He charged me again, and I jabbed at his eyes with my fingers while I tried for his groin with my knee. He ducked out of the way of my jab, and turned his hips to take my knee on his thigh. Damn. Apparently he wasn’t expecting me to fight like a girl, and myself-defense moves weren’t surprising him.