Gail nodded. “Of course you are. I trust you.”
The tone of her voice indicated to me that she didn’t trust the Morenos at all.
“That hurts,” Marta said. “I know we have some bad history, but Jesse and I have some good memories together. I’m sure he’d trust me to pay whatever we agree to.”
I had to smile. Marta was a smooth talker and I was sure she hadn’t been hurt by Gail’s comments, but then Marta was right.
“Marta’s right about that. I do trust her, Gail. We’ve been through some tough times together and she always had my back.”
Marta stretched out a hand and clasped mine.
Gail eyed our hands for a long moment and then cast a frosty glance toward me. I refused to be intimidated and kept holding Marta’s hand.
“All right, if that’s what you want,” Gail said testily. “You can copy the spell if you promise me the thorn when you get it.”
“Absolutely,” Javier said, putting his right hand out.
Gail took it in a brief shake, dropping his hand almost immediately.
The server appeared with two beers and placed them in front of Javier and Marta.
I felt a thump against the side of my shin from a sharp contact with Gail’s boot. I glanced at her and her gaze moved from my eyes to where my hand held Marta’s. I raised my eyebrows in a question and Gail said, “Do you two want to be alone?”
I released Marta’s hand and pulled mine back to my side of the table.
“What’s the matter, Gail, jealous?” Marta asked.
“He’s my partner, Marta. I’ll thank you to keep your hands off of him.”
“Must be nice to have two women arguing over you,” Javier said and smirked at me.
“It’s not like that,” I said quickly.
Javier took a sip from his beer and eyed his sister and Gail. They’d begun a staring contest.
I moved my left hand under the table until it rested on Gail’s thigh. I squeezed lightly and she turned to look at me. I smiled softly and lowered my eyebrows.
“We’re good, Gail, now didn’t we agree to talk with Javier and Marta about teaming up on this job?”
Gail placed her right hand atop my left hand and patted it twice. “Yes, my bad, it’s been a bad couple of days.”
I thought about how much easier her couple of days had been than mine, but I’m not insane, so I kept my lips closed.
“What’s the matter, Gail, that time of the month?” Marta said as a smile spread across her face.
“What the hell does that mean?” Gail snapped.
Marta sat back and raised both her hands. “Whoa, just joking. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
I gave Gail’s thigh another squeeze and pulled her leg against mine. I knew why Gail reacted so fiercely, “her time of the month” had taken on a completely new aspect since the werewolf bit her. “Marta doesn’t always know when to keep the conversation pleasant, but I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it.”
Gail made an effort and appeared to relax, even going so far as to give Marta a half-smile. “Sorry, I have been on edge lately. Too many solo hunts will do that to you.”
Well, that shut the Morenos up. Whatever Javier and Marta had done to get Gail’s father killed was hard for Gail to accept. For a minute, everyone was silent, then Gail sighed deeply and said, “But I said I would work with you since Marta and Jesse don’t have the trust issues Javier and I do. We’ll cooperate with the rest of this job, but nothing is forgotten or forgiven. Now, I suggest we plan on separating up as we did last night to cover both the remaining professors. During the day, we should see if we can identify why the spirit is here at all. It must be attached to some kind of relic. If we can identify it, we should be able to dispel it, permanently.”
Javier nodded, “Good plan. Were you able to find any likely prospects in the storage area?”
Gail opened up her purse and removed the silver bracelets. She set them in the middle of the table. Marta nudged the bracelets apart to the limits of the small chain fastening them together. She said, “There’s writing, did any of the local tribes have a written language?”
“None that I know of,” Gail said.
“Are these slave bracelets?” Javier asked as he fingered the chain. “Seems a little weak for slave bracelets, besides there’s a clasp.”
“Yeah, and they look a little big to fit any man’s wrist.” I rolled up my sleeve and picked up one of the silver loops. I’ve got normal sized hands and wrists, but my hand went through the opening with no trouble and it was obvious I’d be able to slide them past my elbows. “Could they be worn on the biceps?”
“I’ve seen bracelets worn that way, but not with a chain attaching them,” Marta said. She took the bracelets back from me and held them in front of her at the limits of the chain. “It’s a short chain. I know the locals weren’t as big as we are, but it seems like these would hold your arms pretty close together.”
I returned my left hand to Gail’s thigh; she hadn’t made me remove it.
Javier spoke up. “Maybe it’s a bondage rig. Could be the locals were into something kinky,” Javier said.
I felt the muscles in Gail’s thigh tighten, but she didn’t react in any other way.
“Maybe,” I said, “But silver was pretty valuable back then, maybe it was ceremonial.”
“And why isn’t there tarnish on the silver? Did the professor’s clean it up?” Marta asked.
“We didn’t get a chance to ask. We were a little busy with the spirit and had to leave before the cops showed up,” Gail said.
“We can find out, but it doesn’t really matter,” Javier said taking the bracelets from Marta. “These are too valuable to just melt; we should do an exorcism on them.”
“Why, so you can sell them to a collector?” Gail
