Damn Him to Hell

blow-dried my thick new hair. I hated mirrors, but I forced myself to glare into the steamy bathroom one to apply a bit of color. My mother couldn’t afford braces when I was a kid, so I’d learned to live with my imperfect teeth. Men were more into breasts and ass, and I had enough of those to get by.

I could have sworn the mirror wavered strangely, and I stepped back, recalling the days Max had flickered in there. I really didn’t want to see Dane or Gloria over my sink. Grimacing, I faced my ridiculous fears, applied lipstick and mascara, and made it to my closet without breaking glass. If I meant to arrive without resembling a two-bit messenger, I’d have to take my car and not the bike. So I didn’t have to wear leather.

I wiggled into black spandex capris that showed off my nifty new leg. If I was going to hell for accepting gifts from the devil, then I’d get the most out of them here on earth. I completed the outfit with a matching microfiber tank top that painted itself to my curves. I topped it all off with a peekaboo tiger-striped gauze tunic that said, Look, but don’t touch.

“Want to visit Max?” I asked Milo when I was done. He’d been watching the process from his post by the sliding doors to my deck. He kneaded his bed of dirty laundry on the floor, curled up, and closed his eyes. I took that as a good sign that he didn’t think I needed his protection. He’d had a long day and deserved a kitty nap.

Apparently there was no rest for daughters of Saturn.

I stopped by the bar and picked up Andre’s checkbook before hitting the freeway. Bill’s bar was a sad place without Bill’s big bulk behind the counter. I left more determined than ever to right what Acme had done wrong.

I preferred the solid Harley to my plastic Miata, but I had to admit, sporty red convertibles had more panache for driving up to million-dollar condos. Jaw set, I flashed my license, and the guard at the gate let me through. Max was thoughtful that way. Of course, he’d probably have my name stricken from the register after tonight.

He hadn’t returned my earlier call, so he didn’t deserve a warning of my arrival. I had a hunch he wasn’t studying up on the latest congressional bill for screwing the taxpayers. The devil in me wanted to see what Max the Senator did on Sunday nights.

So I was playing girlfriend games. It happens.

I took a real live working elevator up to the top floor—marvelous how technology actually worked outside the Zone. My phone rang as I pushed the doorbell.

I checked caller ID. Not Max. I answered anyway.

“They’ve arrested Andre,” Julius said wearily. “Charged him with first-degree murder. The press is crawling all over the Zone.”

I had promised to curb the swearing, but a few epithets crossed my glossy lips. I’d hoped they wouldn’t charge him so quickly, but Vanderventers owned this part of town.

Julius knew all that. It was the media in the Zone that he worried about. I took a deep breath and tried to sound sane. “Are they in your face yet?”

“At the door. I’m not answering. Schwartz is outside patrolling, keeping them to public places. They can’t find anyone to talk to on a Sunday night. I just wanted to warn you.”

“I must have escaped before they got the word. I’m over at Dane’s, waiting for him to come home.” Since the good senator obviously wasn’t answering his door, I had to assume he was out. “You might want to try calling some of your lawyer friends, asking them who’ll be arraigning the case. Get back to me if you find out.”

“I don’t have many friends anymore, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“Your books are still used in the classroom, Julius. You’ve earned respect. You’ll get it. Do you know any lawyers who will take his case?” I sat down cross-legged in the hall and rested my back against the wall.

“I’ll ask around, but the Vanderventers—” He caught himself, realizing I was sitting outside a Vanderventer door. “Paddy said he’ll help if he can.”

I thought about that. “Tell him to hold off. Until we know what’s going down at the plant, it’s better if his family still thinks he’s cuckoo.”

I wasn’t convinced he wasn’t cuckoo, but for now, he seemed saner than the rest of the world.

“Don’t do anything rash,” Julius said quietly, “but Andre may have a problem with confinement.”

I grimaced. I didn’t know about all of Andre’s problems, but I could imagine his reaction should anyone push him too far. Heads would roll. Literally. Special Ops with PTSD—ugly.

“I’m on it.” I hung up. Andre’s checkbook weighed heavy in my bag. Andre wasn’t poor by a long shot, but it didn’t matter how much money he had if he got a judge who wouldn’t allow bail. He could totally freak in jail, and then he really would off somebody.

It knotted my insides to ask for anything, especially from Max the senator. We were a few universes apart these days. He had his problems. I had mine. It would be better if the twain never met. But I couldn’t let Andre down. The pincers of eternal conflict squeezed my skull tighter.

The elevator door finally clanked and slid open. There were two condos up here, so I didn’t rush to stand. Damn good thing.

Senator Vanderventer stepped out with Glenys MacNeill, the late Max’s sister, hanging on his arm.

I could almost hear the Max inside the senator screaming Help! as if he were still caught behind my mirror.

16

The devil made me do it, I swear. Even if he was wearing Dane’s disguise, that was my Max that Glenys was drooling on. So it wasn’t for the sake of Max’s everlasting soul that I stood up and sauntered toward the couple stepping off the elevator.

I had on three-inch Ferragamos from the Goodwill store, and I was probably still half a head shorter than Glenys. Max’s family wasn’t small. I’d never let my size stand in my way. I smiled wickedly through my Luscious Ruby lipstick. I didn’t just swing my spandex-clad hips; I rolled them like a hooker. I shook out my glorious mane. I stunned the Max I saw in Dane’s eyes. He hadn’t been around enough lately to appreciate the new me.

Glenys narrowed her eyes and clung more possessively to Dane’s arm. Even if she didn’t know the soul inside his body was that of her brother, the senator was still her second cousin, for pity’s sake. Did the girl know no shame? If she had any brains or compassion at all, she would have recognized by now that the man who had walked out of the hospital a few months ago was no longer the same Dane she’d grown up with.

“Hello, Danny boy,” I purred. “I’m not into threesomes, so if you want to get it on with the lady, I’ll be moving along.”

“You’re that witch who killed Max!” Glenys cried in sudden fury, finally seeing through my vamp disguise. She dropped Dane’s arm like a hot poker and turned her glare on him. “You’re fucking Max’s whore?”

“Oh, very pretty, Glenys. Such elegant language.” I vowed again to quit cursing. It turned Glenys into an ugly bitch, even though she wasn’t half bad, in an older-woman sort of way.

“I told you I was busy, Glenys,” Dane/Max said apologetically. “I have several meetings scheduled for this evening. Tina is giving me background for one of them.”

Oh, Max, you liar, you. But then, I already knew he was a liar, which was how he’d ended up cursed in the first place.

“Sorry, Senator,” I said pertly. “It’s hard to resist. Sunday is supposed to be my day of rest, and buzzing up to D.C. to be blown off by a booty call kind of tilted my wheels.”

Max glared through Dane’s blue eyes. I smiled boldly, as if I teased and confronted U.S. senators every day. Glenys narrowed her eyes in disbelief, but she made a nice turnabout. She patted Dane’s arm, kissed his cheek, whispered a few sweet nothings in his ear. Then, after giving me a glare, she swung out.

She worked hard on that hip sway, but Dane/Max didn’t even look. Brothers really don’t notice sisters.

“Thanks, I think,” he said, unlocking his door. “She’s hatching some scheme to take over Acme now that Gloria’s out of the way. She seems to think we’ll inherit some of her shares. That’s a distant chance.”

“Her chance might be distant, but Dane has a good likelihood of inheriting,” I