“Consider my interest piqued.” He arched an eyebrow. “What time do you want to go?”
“I have a lesson with Taz and then work.” Neither appealed to me, but routine was important to maintain the illusion. “I’ll grab a bite on River Street after work and wait until the boat is empty. I’ll call you with the all clear.”
“I’ll be here,” he said as he stood. “I have some reading to catch up on.”
“Great.” How much damage could he do between now and then? “See you later.”
Movement teased the corner of my eye, announcing Taz’s stealthy arrival. I was tempted to stay seated and let her take a free swing at me just to see her face when Woolly zapped her into next week for attacking me on warded ground. Thanks to the new sigils, I was safe even sitting on the bottom step with my feet resting in the cool grass.
“You look like someone fed your parakeet to a cat.” She braced her feet apart and tapped her boot, the one usually flying at my face. It was weird seeing her use it for standing. “What happened?”
“Doing the right thing sucks,” I confided. “It sucks hard.”
“How is that a newsflash? People do wrong because it’s the path of least resistance. It gets them what they want without them putting in the work to earn it.” She popped her knuckles. “Being a good person is hard. Doing the right thing is hard. That’s why only masochists keep a clean nose.”
“That’s the most I’ve heard you speak,” I marveled. “It’s also the first time I’ve been called a masochist.”
A roll of her shoulders dismissed the conversation, and a curl of her fingers invited me to dance.
Too bad this wasn’t the happy dancing I’d done earlier. Maybe I’d get lucky and Linus would patch me up one last time before I marched him off to the gallows.
Thirteen
Halfway through my lesson, Taz accused me of stepping into punches I could have deflected. Our earlier conversation left her convinced I was punishing myself, and she refused to be an enabler. She spat at me on her way out and informed me lessons were over until I got my head on straight. I wanted to fight her, and that more than anything convinced me the bare-knuckle brawl I craved was my dumbest idea yet.
I had no business fighting with anything tougher than a plush bear.
Taz would yank out my stuffing, gnaw off my button eyes and rip me apart at the seams if I kept pissing her off.
Work didn’t go much better. I was tucked away in the same parlor on the Cora Ann and given another task to complete alone. I sneaked upstairs on my break, but I found Mr. Voorhees already there. He stood in the center of the room, his arms at his sides, flexing his hands into fists. I left him to whatever he was doing and slinked back to my post before he could pressure me to talk to the police. I almost tried again when Arnold dismissed me for the night, but I figured there was no point when Linus and I would return within a few hours.
With that happy thought in mind, I drove to HQ and went in search of Amelie. But it was Neely who intercepted me in the hall with a wrinkled nose and reddening eyes.
“What do they have you doing over there?” He sneezed three times fast. “Cleaning out sewers?”
“I’ll have you know the perfume I’m wearing is eau de mold, not sewer.”
“That explains it.” Another sneeze ripped through him. “You can’t stay here. I love you, but no. You have to leave. My allergy medicines can only do so much.”
“I’m looking for Amelie.” I took a healthy step back. “How booked is she tonight?”
“She’s not. At all.” He gave me a funny look. “She called in last night and tonight. She didn’t tell you?”
“You must have your days wrong.” I frowned. “She picked me up after her shift last night.”
“I can check her timecard if you’d like, but I’m telling you she wasn’t here. Cricket almost blew a gasket. Even after she shuffled the girls around, she still had to lead a tour herself to make up the difference. She was not pleased.” He dashed beneath his watery eyes and darted around me to hold open the door. “Sorry about the eviction notice, but you’ve got to go. Call me if you want to finish this conversation later.”
A prickling sense of foreboding raised the hairs down my arms, but I wouldn’t let him see me rattled.
“I understand not everyone appreciates the bouquet of a good vintage mold the way I do.” It was a miracle that fungi-encrusted wallpaper hadn’t sent the Cora Ann’s passengers screaming long before Timmy. “We’ll have to catch up this weekend. Promise. I owe you a drink for getting me the job with Mr. Voorhees.” I fluttered my eyelashes. “Unless you don’t want the scoop on my date with Boaz.”
Neely rolled in his lips, but a whimper escaped. “Begone, temptress!”
“Oh, I’m going.” I winked at him on my way past. “And I’m taking the details of our playground rendezvous with me.”
“You’re killing me.” He thumped his head on the door. “I’m in actual, physical pain.”
“Yeah, if you’d stop banging your head, you wouldn’t have that problem.” I sashayed toward Jolene, grateful to Cricket for all her lessons as I played my part to the hilt. “Toodles.”
Lost in thoughts of Amelie, I didn’t notice Detective Russo until she stepped into my path.
“Ms. Woolworth.” She raked her avaricious gaze over me. “You’ve got your color back.”
The distance to HQ and the safety it promised helped me stand my ground. “Can I help you?”
“You can tell me the truth.” Her expression sharpened. “What really happened to Maud Woolworth?”
“I told you she suffered a heart attack.” The Society would back that lie, though it tasted foul in my mouth. “Check the medical examiner’s report. You’ll find it matches my account.”
Just that fast, she changed tactics. “Where did you go after Ms. Woolworth died?”
Air solidified in my lungs, making breathing about as possible as taking flight. “Away.”
“Can you be more specific?” She pulled out that damned notepad and checked one of its earliest pages. “Your mother is deceased. She died in a car accident when you were five. That’s when Maud became your guardian. There’s no mention of your father, so you couldn’t have gone to him. You were a minor. Someone had to care for you.”
Care was not the word I would use. I had been fed and clothed and sheltered in the broadest sense, and that was all.
“Given Ms. Meacham’s concern over your latest disappearance, and the signs of physical abuse present when we met, I must now consider her account in a new light.” The pen in her hand tapped against the pad, eager to record my miseries. “The blood at the scene—did it belong to you?” She whirled her pen around my face, the healed evidence of my latest bout with Taz still clear. “Who hurt you, Grier? Was it Maud? Or someone else? Are they still hurting you? Do you need help?”
“Maud was my mother’s best friend. She was a second mother to me. She never raised a hand against me, and she would have ruined anyone who dared to try. Financially, socially, emotionally.” I set my jaw. “No one has abused me.” Lies, lies, lies. “I stayed with Clarice Lawson, Maud’s younger sister, until I came of age.” Lies, lies, lies. “That’s it. That’s all there is.”
She set her mouth into a mulish line. “I don’t believe you.”
“You asked me questions.” I shrugged. “I can’t help you don’t like the answers.”
“What are you hiding?” Her hand snaked out to shackle my wrist. “Tell me the truth.”
A black figure coalesced behind her, his bony fingers spread wide in anticipation.
“Let go.” The clench of her hand made cold sweat blossom down my spine. “Or I’ll make you let go.”
This woman had made an enemy out of me by invoking Maud, but it still wasn’t smart to go around roughing up Savannah’s finest. Not unless I wanted to bring the Grande Dame down on me.
“You heard the lady.” The door to HQ swung open, and Neely strolled out with his phone lifted. He was recording the whole thing. “Let her go.”