David grinned to show his small teeth. 'I've got an appointment for you with Emojin, Cincy's best tat design artist, the first week in April. I'll pick you up.'
'April?' I said, my fear and anticipation easing. 'I didn't know it would take that long.' Maybe with a little luck, they'd forget about the entire thing.
Shrugging, David watched the road. 'She's the best, and nothing but the best for my first female alpha.'
I snorted and propped my elbow up on the window as I looked out. My schedule was going to be very full in April. Just watch.
Jenks was snickering, and I sent my gaze to the passing upper-class homes, ignoring him. We were almost there by the look of it, and I'd be glad to get out of the car and take my frustration out on some demon summoners.
'Big lots,' I said, seeing the eighty-year-old oaks and shady lawns. The houses were set way back and had iron fences and stone drives.
'The harder to hear your neighbors scream, my dear,' was David's answer, and I sent my head up and down in agreement.
Halloween decorations were everywhere—expensive and elaborate displays. Most of them moved, a combination of mechanics and magic that had been found only on locked Hollywood back lots until the Turn. David exhaled loudly as he turned the car onto a cobblestoned, circular drive. 'This is it,' he said as our momentum slowed and the sound of the tires became louder.
The house was a sprawling ranch with what looked like an inground pool in the back and elaborate landscaping in front. Inside the garage was a black two-seater Beemer, a riding lawn mower, and little else. A basket of cherry tomatoes with a gingham liner was sitting on the steps, a clear indication that the homeowner was Inderlander. I still had to go out and get my tomatoes, and I made a mental note to ask David if he would mind stopping at the Big Cherry on the way home.
Black and orange decorations covered the front porch between the huge Boston ferns and the greyhound statue. They might want to take it in tonight, or someone was going to cover it in tomato. Or worse.
The brakes squeaked as David stopped, and as he put the car in park, Jenks hovered before me. 'Be right back,' he said, then zipped out the window.
David got out of the car, shutting it with an attention-getting thump. Inside the house, a small dog started yapping hysterically. David looked good in his suit, but also tired. It was just after the full moon, and the two ladies had probably run him hard.
Eager to get my life back, I jumped out of the car and slammed the door.
'Relax, Rachel,' David murmured as he came around the car, gripping his briefcase and wrangling his shades into place.
'I am relaxed,' I said, then jiggled my feet impatiently. 'You want to hurry up?' Please don't be Nick. Let me have made one good choice in my life.
David hesitated, his dark eyes flicking to the barking dog visible through a window. 'You can't arrest anyone. You don't have a warrant.'
I nudged him into motion and up the short walk. 'If I'm lucky, someone will take a swing at me, and then I can hit 'em.'
Looking askance at me with a wry grin, David snorted. 'Just tell me if it was demon damage, and we'll leave. If it is, you can come back and make whoever it is chew his own balls on your terms, but as far as I'm concerned, this is just some nice lady with a crack in her wall.'
Yeah, and I'm the cosmetics girl at Valeria's Crypt. 'Whatever,' I muttered, then tugged my dress straight and checked my complexion charm as we took the stairs to the shady porch. I wanted my Halloween back.
David rocked to a halt on the mat, tilting his head to watch the dog having hysterics through the long window beside the door. 'It's not illegal to summon demons.'
I huffed as I tucked my shades into that ugly brown purse, right next to the splat gun, the magnetic chalk, and the heavy-magic detection amulet—so far a nice friendly green. 'It's illegal to tell them to kill someone.'
'Rachel…,' he coaxed as he rung the bell and the barking dog jumped up and down. 'Don't make me sorry I brought you.'
I stared, fascinated as the blond fuzz ball turned somersaults. 'Me?' I said coyly.
The little dog yelped, vanishing in the blur of a swinging foot. I blinked, and my mouth was hanging open unintelligently when the door moved, revealing a middle-aged woman wearing a paisley-patterned dress and an honest-to-God apron. I sure hoped it was a costume, because the fifties look was not an attractive fashion statement.
'Hello,' she said, sounding like a little-miss-hostess doll. Her eyebrows arched, and I wondered if I had a run in my stockings. She didn't appear as if she was a demon summoner. She didn't appear as if she was in mourning either. Maybe she was the cook.
'I'm David,' David said as he shifted his briefcase and shook her hand. 'David Hue. And this is Ray, my assistant. We're from Were Insurance.'
Ray? As in a little drop of sunshine? I gave him a dry look. I wasn't incognito, here.
'Ms. Morgan,' I said, extending my hand, and the woman took it briefly with a noncommittal smile. A wave of redwood spilled from her, telling me she was a witch rather than a warlock, and she'd been spelling heavily lately. I wasn't buying the housewife image—she could probably slam me against the wall. Better be polite.
'I'm Betty,' she said, stepping back and giving her dog another shove. It skittered sideways and parked its little yappy butt in the archway to the dining room. 'Come on in.'
David gestured for me to precede him, so eyeing the panting but silent dog happily staring at me, I went in. Betty's skirt swayed as she set a cordless phone on the table by the door between the huge bowl of wrapped candy and the plate of frosted sugar cookies. Orange pumpkins and black cats. By golly, she bakes, too.
'I understand you have some water damage?' David prompted when the door shut.
A shiver passed through me as it clicked smartly closed. Everything was clean and bright, lit by a high window. The hall was spacious, and clearly the woman was wealthy. The fact that her husband had just died of a heart attack was nowhere on her face or house. Nothing.
Heels clacking, the woman started down the hall. 'In the basement,' she said over her shoulder. 'This way. I have to say I'm surprised you're working on Halloween.'
Her tone was slightly sour, and I imagined Betty only offered to be available today as she thought we wouldn't work on Halloween. No one else did.
David cleared his throat. 'We like to settle claims fast. Get your life back to normal.'
Catch you in a lie, I added, looking at the décor. It was all angles and stark colors that made me uncomfortable. It smelled like hard-boiled eggs. On a long table was a big flower arrangement of lilies and black roses. Okay, so someone had cared.
The rapid patter of the dog's nails at my ankle pulled my gaze down, and the little dog panted happily up at me as if I were his best friend. 'Go away,' I muttered, motioning with my foot, and he yapped playfully, dancing around my toes.
Betty halted at an unadorned door painted white, and she turned, frowning at him. 'Beat it, Sampson,' she said roughly, and the cheerful little dog sat at my feet, his banner tail sweeping the tiled floor like mad.
With a last scowl, she opened the door, flicked on the light, and headed down. I looked at David, and he gestured for me to go first. I shook my head, not liking the bare boards and ugly walls after the open whiteness of the rooms upstairs, and sighing, he went first.
Betty was yammering about something, and I took a breath to steady myself. I didn't want to go down there, but that's what I was here for. Frowning, I looked at Sampson. 'Everything okay down there, sport?' I asked him, and he stood, his entire backside waving as he ate up the attention.
'Stupid dog,' I muttered as I started down. But maybe not so stupid, since he stayed at the top of the stairs in the sun while I followed Widow Betty into the electric-lit blackness underground. Two steps in, I opened my purse and checked the lethal-spell amulet. Nothing. But the heavy-magic charm was glowing brightly enough to read by.
'I don't know how long the wall has been leaking.' Betty's voice came echoing up as she reached the bottom and opened up a second door. It was unusual, but they might have had the vamp door for resale value. 'I only come down here when I have to store something,' she said as she flicked on the lights and the scent of carpet cleaner
