“I’m sorry you lost her,” he said, in the softest of tones.
Her smile turned sad. “I am too,” she said. “But I also have to remember that we had the time that we did, and that’s got to be worth a lot too. And I’m really, really happy that I got the chance to know her.”
“Exactly,” he said. He brought over two plates to add to the table.
She stared at mushroom omelets with some bacon on the top, all with a cream sauce drizzled over that. “Is that hollandaise sauce?” she asked in amazement.
“Absolutely it is,” he said. “I hope you like it.”
“Interesting that you just went ahead and cooked and didn’t even ask.”
“See? The thing about asking is,” he said, “that it leaves you open for people to say no or to get fussy. I find it much easier to just make a meal. Then you’ll either eat it or you won’t.” He didn’t appear perturbed either way.
“Well, that’s a direct way to do it,” she said with a smile. She sat down, took a bite, and smiled even bigger. “My God, it’s wonderful,” she said. “You really do cook, don’t you?”
“Well, I’ve cooked a couple meals for you now,” he said. “How were they?”
“Delicious,” she said faintly. “I can’t do anywhere near as good as this.”
“I think that’s because you’re off in your own world most of the time,” he said.
She nodded. “Exactly. I live in my own world, but this is divine. I don’t think I could ever make it.”
“I’m pretty sure you can.” His phone rang just then. He frowned at her.
“Go ahead and take it,” she said. “We never know when it’ll be one of those important things we need to hear about.”
“Exactly,” he said. He checked the ID, lifted his phone to his ear, and said, “Andy, what’s up?”
“That present—it belonged to Elena.”
The breath left his chest as he whispered, “Jesus Christ.”
“We also have the autopsy report,” he said. “She was poisoned to death. Likely in her drink.”
“Of course.”
“It was a fatal dose of ketamine.”
“Wow.” He glanced up at Cayce.
As soon as he hung up, she stared at him. “What was that all about?”
*
“What was that?” Cayce asked harshly, her gaze shying back, as if against a coming blow.
He reached across the table, slid his hand over hers, and said, “Finish eating. We’ll talk about it afterward.”
She stared down at the last of her omelet and shook her head.
“Three more bites,” he said with determination.
She glared at him, quickly shoveled three bites in her mouth, swallowed, got up, and asked, “What is it?”
“The box that was downstairs, that I came and picked up?” he started with, putting it in her mind. “I didn’t tell you at the time, but it was a piece of skin—and not from Liana, as we’d assumed. It was from Elena.”
Her face paled, and she felt the world spinning around her, as she took the impact as a visceral blow to her stomach. She whispered, “Dear God! How is that even possible?”
“It’s obviously from the killer. What I don’t know is the why? To scare you? To hurt you? To show you something?”
“Was there a message? Was there something, anything to make sense of this?”
“There was a message,” he said. “It said, ‘A gift for you to keep forever.’ They are working on analyzing the handwriting now. I’m really sorry, Cayce. I know that’s the last thing you needed this morning.”
She just stared at him and slowly sank to the single chair in the living room. “A gift to keep?”
“Yes,” he said, “and that brings up all kinds of possibilities.”
“Like?” she said softly.
“Like maybe he was preserving her,” he said.
She winced at that. “That doesn’t sound any better.”
“No, it’s not meant to,” he said, “but I don’t think he was trying to destroy her. I guess a fine distinction is here. I think he was trying to keep the masterpiece intact.”
“And giving me a piece was for what?”
“Maybe giving you a chance to keep a part of her safe forever too.”
*
Halo could feel the vibes tightening around them. Mommy was getting mad. They were all in hiding. When Mommy got mad, bad things happened.
And before she got mad, bad things happened.
That made Mommy madder.
He tucked his knees up to his chest, shaking as the evil walked by.
An evil he knew well.
Crying in his mind, he shoved his fist into his mouth to keep as silent as possible and rocked back and forth.
Please leave me alone.
Good boy. Bad boy.
Chapter 18
It was brutal news to impart.
“Does that message mean anything to you?”
Cayce gave a broken laugh. “How could it mean anything to me?” she snapped. “None of this makes sense. I mean, obviously I would love to have Elena be with me forever, but I don’t want a piece of her organic body. I already have her soul with me.”
He slid his head to the side. “Meaning that your friendship will still cross the barriers of life and death?”
“Something like that,” she said with a nod.
“What happened when you guys were around eighteen? Could it be pertinent?” His gut said yes. “I’m pretty sure it is.”
“I don’t even know what to say,” she said. “I was stupid. I was young. My ex-fiancé was an older man.”
“He beat you up?”
“If you want to put it that way. He beat me up and put me in hospital. Elena came, swooped into the hospital, checked me out against doctor’s orders, kept me at her place until I healed, and set the cops on him. He committed suicide soon afterward. Couldn’t stand the publicity was my take on it …” She found it hard to talk about still—yet, when she got started, she couldn’t stop. “My stepfather was a nasty piece of work. He beat up my mother a couple times before he got caught for his lovely criminal activities. I swore I’d never be with a man like that, but somehow that’s the same place I ended up.”
“Oh, God,”
