He was starting to get irritated. “You’ve really got a thing about the Guilds, don’t you?”
“Yes.” She unfolded her arms and gripped the edge of the stool seat on either side of her hips. “And there’s something else. I’m leaving town tomorrow for a couple of days. I told you, I have to be in my sister’s wedding. I’ll be taking Araminta with me, assuming she ever shows up again.”
“With any luck, she’ll bring that relic back by morning.”
“But what if she doesn’t? I can’t go to my sister’s wedding with a bodyguard. How will I explain that to my family? They’ll panic if they think my life is in danger.”
“Your bodyguard will be male.” Davis took out his personal phone. “You can tell everyone he’s your date for the wedding.”
“My date. Are you crazy?”
“If your family is anything like mine, they’ll be thrilled that you’re not alone.”
“You don’t understand.” She was getting desperate now. “My life back in Frequency got a little complicated before I left town. I can’t just arrive with a strange man in tow. There will be questions. Lots of them. Everyone will wonder why I haven’t mentioned him during the past four months.”
“New job here in Cadence. New boyfriend. No big deal.”
“It is a big deal,” she shot back. “At least it is for me.”
“There’s a good chance that you’re in real danger here, Celinda,” he said quietly. “Are you willing to risk your neck just to avoid a little social awkwardness at the wedding?”
She caught her lip between her teeth and then sighed. “Well, when you put it like that—”
“That’s exactly how I’m putting it. I’m also betting you’re too smart to argue about this any more tonight.”
She frowned. “Where does one get a bodyguard, anyway?”
“From a topflight investigative agency like Oakes Security.”
“Oh.” She thought about that. “Bodyguards are probably expensive.”
“They are if they come from Oakes. But don’t worry about the cost. The Guild will pick up the tab.”
“Damn. Just what I need, another Guild connection.”
He punched out a number on the phone. “You know, it’s a good thing I’m such an easygoing, open-minded kind of guy. Otherwise I might start to take offense at all these swipes at the Guild.”
“I thought you said you weren’t a Guild man?”
“I’m not. But I come from a fourth-generation Guild family. I’ve got my loyalties.” He broke off to speak into the phone. “Trig. Wake up. I need a babysitter to look after a friend tonight while I crash.”
There was a short pause.
“No.” He turned away to speak into the phone. “I didn’t burn a lot of silver, but it was a dopp ghost. I ended up melting a little amber. It’s just the usual postburn thing. I’ll tell you the whole story when you get here, assuming I can stay awake. If I’m out, the client will explain.”
There was another short pause. Davis looked back over his shoulder at Celinda with an unreadable expression. “Right. She’s a client now. But we’ll be billing the Guild for all expenses.”
He ended the call and dropped the phone into the pocket of his trousers.
“I assume this Trig person is going to be my bodyguard?” she asked warily.
“Just for tonight.” Davis yawned and rubbed the back of his neck. “Someone else will take over tomorrow and stay with you until the case is concluded.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
She was still dealing with that announcement when the doorbell rezzed a short time later. Davis answered it. When he opened the door she saw a short, stocky man with a shaved head. Elaborate tattoos decorated the thick arms exposed by a black T-shirt. He looked like he could juggle large vehicles without breaking a sweat.
“This is Trig McAndrews,” Davis said.
Trig nodded politely. “Miss Ingram.”
“Mr. McAndrews.”
He grinned. “Call me Trig.”
“All right.” She inclined her head. What did one say to a bodyguard? “Would you like some coffee?”
He gave her a smile that lit up the room. “That sounds like a truly splendid idea, ma’am.”
It also gave her something constructive to do. She slid off the stool and went around the counter into the small kitchen.
While she made the coffee, she listened to Davis give Trig a brief rundown on what had happened. The part that sent a little chill down her spine was the bit about how Davis had been forced to melt amber in order to deal with the twin ghosts. Everyone knew that amber didn’t actually melt when someone pushed too much para- resonating psi energy through it, but it did lose its delicate tuning if it was overused. The thing was, the vast majority of people couldn’t generate enough paranormal energy to melt amber. Only someone with a lot of power could do it.
Whatever else he was, Davis was a very strong psi talent. But, then, she already knew that, she reminded herself.
“Tomorrow I’m going to escort Miss Ingram to Frequency for a wedding,” Davis concluded. “While we’re gone, I want you to see what you can find out about a para-rez who can pull a dopp aboveground. Can’t be that many of them running around.”
“He shouldn’t be too hard to find,” Trig agreed. “Guy like that probably has some past connection to the Guild. Wyatt’s people will help. You know what they say: The Guild polices its own.”
“Hah.” Celinda did not look up from spooning coffee into a pot.
“Miss Ingram is not what you’d call pro-Guild,” Davis explained.
“Yeah, I got that impression.” Trig didn’t sound the least bit offended. “Not like she’s the only one who has a few doubts about the sterling qualities of the organizations.”
Celinda rezzed the coffeemaker and turned around. “But I’ll bet the Guilds make excellent clients, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” Trig said cheerfully. “They pay right on time, and their checks always clear. We at Oakes Security take that sort of thing real seriously.”
“I guess a client is a client,” she admitted. “I can’t say that I haven’t had a few in my time whose chief redeeming quality was the fact that their checks cleared.” She surveyed her tiny living room. “Where’s everyone going to sleep?”
“Don’t know about the rest of you,” Davis said, dropping heavily onto the edge of the sofa. “But I’m sleeping right here.” He reached down to take off his shoes.
He looked as if he was holding himself together through sheer willpower, Celinda thought. But, then, he had a lot of that. Maybe more than was good for him.
On impulse, she went around the counter and down the short hall to the linen closet. “I’ll get you a pillow and a blanket.”
When she returned to the living room, pillow and blanket in her arms, Davis seemed vaguely surprised but not ungrateful.
“Thanks.” His voice was low and drowsy with the rush of oncoming sleep.
He took the pillow from her, turned on his side, and closed his eyes.
Celinda waited a couple of seconds. When she realized that he was already sound asleep, she unfolded the blanket and covered him with it.
She turned to find Trig watching her with a carefully veiled expression. The room seemed suddenly very quiet.
“Does he do this a lot?” she asked, for want of anything else to say.
“Run up against a doppelganger ghost and melt amber? Nope, can’t say that’s a real common occurrence for the boss.” Trig hesitated. “But he’s had his share of unusual cases. Guess you could say that’s our specialty at Oakes Security.”
“Unusual cases?”
Trig nodded. “That’s why Mercer Wyatt called us in on this one. He thinks there’s something weird about that relic that went missing, and Oakes Security does weird.”
