Was this one of Strata Luna's prostitutes?
'Get away from him.' Elise's voice was level, even though her heart raced.
The woman fell forward, sprawling across David, all the while watching Elise.
She was beautiful, with copper skin and strange eyes.
She stroked David's arm. Without speaking, staring at Elise, she nuzzled him, shifting his head around. She pressed against him so they were cheek to cheek, both facing Elise.
David's eyes were wide open.
Jesus.
A tremor ran through her gun arm.
Was he dead?
Jesus.
'Get off him,' she said.
Kill her.
With the woman turned sideways, there was only one vulnerable spot. The middle of her forehead, which was only inches from David's.
Elise was a decent shot, but no sharpshooter. And in these conditions… low light. Lots of shadows… her gun arm shaking.
'Put up both hands and move away,' Elise commanded.
Where was her fucking backup? Where were Starsky and Hutch?
'Or I'll blow your head off.'
The woman's smile broadened. She lifted her hands high. Then, as if being pulled by a string, she sat upright, still straddling David. She swung her leg over his body, one of her arms dropping.
'Up!'
She raised her arm, then awkwardly slipped from the platform until she stood beside it.
'Move away from him.'
Hands in the air, the woman shuffled sideways, skirting the foot of the burial vault.
Then she began moving toward Elise.
'Stop! Right there!'
She stopped.
Kill her.
'Who are you?' the woman asked.
Elise had the feeling she already knew the answer. 'Detective Sandburg.'
'Elise,' the woman said slowly, with syrup in her voice. That sly smile again.
It was giving Elise the creeps.
Kill her now!
'Elise Sandburg. I know all about you. About how you were left in a cemetery as a baby. The daughter of a conjurer.'
She stared at Elise a long moment, then began to chant:
Blue glasses of a conjurer Cast a fatal spell Get ready for the funeral Ring the coffin bell.
Elise held her flashlight in one hand, revolver in the other. The next step would be to handcuff the woman, but that would take some cooperation-something that seemed highly unlikely.
'My name's Marie. Marie Luna.'
Elise felt a thud deep in her belly.
This was Strata Luna's daughter. The one who was supposedly dead and buried. The one who was supposed to have hung herself.
She recalled Strata Luna's sadness when they were discussing daughters. Elise had thought she'd been sad because her children were both dead. Instead, she'd been sad because at least one of her offspring was twisted and evil.
What do you do with an evil child?
What Strata Luna had done? Pretend she was dead?
'We're sisters,' Marie Luna said.
At first Elise thought she meant 'sisters' as in all women were sisters.
'Jackson Sweet was your father,' Marie Luna continued. 'He was my father too.'
The floor shifted.
All her life, Elise had wanted to know her roots, know where she'd come from, but this was a sick joke-that's what it was. Her father-a root doctor. Her mother a prostitute turned permanent monastery guest. Her sister a murdering psychopath? Didn't get much funnier than that.
Marie Luna was just playing with her head. Trying to trip her up.
'That makes us half sisters.' Marie Luna took a step closer, then another, the fabric of her heavy skirt shushing across the stone floor.
She's lying, Elise told herself, her stomach churning.
Marie Luna stopped. 'Look at me. Our skin isn't the same color because your mother was white-mine was black. But look at my eyes.'
Oh, God. Those eyes. They were Elise's eyes. She could even see a resemblance to Audrey in the woman's face.
Marie Luna nodded and kept smiling that horrid smile, pleased that Elise was now convinced of their familial bond.
Kill her.
She laughed. 'I'm your sister. You wouldn't hurt your own sister, would you?'
Emotions rose in Elise's throat and she let out a choke of denial. This is a nightmare. This isn 't real. It can't be real.
Elise risked a glance at David.
Staring at her. Life in his eyes. Trying to tell her something.
She has a knife, David tried to say, but no words came out. Hidden in her skirt.
He could see the horror in Elise's face, see her struggling with what Marie Luna had told her.
Marie Luna would be able to see it too. She would be ready for the second Elise wavered.
Things were changing. David's body was waking up. He could feel sparks of electricity shooting along nerve pathways, zapping him.
He forced himself to let go of his thoughts of Elise and focus on the physical. Don't think about anything but getting your ass off this slab.
Move, his brain commanded.
Move!
Suddenly he lurched sideways, rolling off the marble vault, the lantern going with him.
He tried to catch himself. His arms didn't respond. He smacked into the floor, the lantern shattering.
Marie Luna lunged for Elise, screaming, the knife appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
Raised.
Plunging.
A gun discharged.
Marie Luna tugged the blade free, then brought it down again.
Elise's flashlight hit the floor, the lens shattering.
Absolute darkness.
Strata Luna's daughter continued to shriek, stringing words together that made no sense.
Elise was silent.
Silent.
Blond hair floating in the tub.
Little blue fingers.
NO!
This couldn't be happening.
Not again.
