Luck turned to me opened her mouth to speak but immediately started to sob instead. Murphy folded her in his arms.
Luck spoke on an exhaled sob and my brain had trouble processing her words. A second later it clicked and I realized she'd said, “No, she didn't.”
Luck, turned away from Murphy, her breathing still heavy and erratic, but a bit of an improvement. “She wouldn't have left without saying goodbye. She wasn't even up for retirement.” She dragged a hand across her cheeks. “Where are her cats?”
“They're still in her apartment, with all her things,” Murphy said looking down. “We’re going to go over there shortly.”
As if the thought of the abandoned cats triggered another breakdown, Luck’s sobs renewed their force. Her pain was understandable. Luck had been a friend of Kitty’s for centuries. She’d been a maternal figure in Luck's life; in truth, the only mother she'd really ever had, never having been human.
I sank into the nearest chair. I hadn't known Kitty for long, but there was one thing everyone was aware of, including me; she'd never abandon her cats like that.
The next thought that came into my mind was something no one else in the office would know. I wasn't even sure myself but I feared it deep in my gut.
This was Malokin. He had her, and it was because of me. The waffles from breakfast felt like an unwelcome lump in my stomach as my fingers clenched the arms of the chair.
Luck was still crying; Murphy was hanging his head so you couldn't see his face. Death was walking over and I wasn't sure how I was even going to speak to him when he got there.
I stood abruptly, even though my legs shook. “I've got a job in twenty minutes,” I said, trying to scramble in my mind for details if they asked.
I didn't need a whole concocted excuse. They nodded, too consumed by their shared grief to care.
Chapter Ten
Call or fold
The card sat on the table. It was a linen blend, with his name written in black ink. I'd expected script, but it was fat, bold type. There wasn't an address or a logo, simply a number beneath the single name Malokin.
A Wal-Mart bag containing a pay-per-minute phone sat on the table next to the card. I couldn't risk using the work phone for this. I wouldn't put it past Harold to have all our lines tapped.
I knew he had her. Fate had been right; even as I'd been hoping that I could stay out of whatever this mess was, I'd feared it myself. These people—or whatever they were—had me marked as a target. If they'd gone as far as kidnapping Kitty to bring me into the fold, they weren't going to let this go easily.
I hoped just kidnapping. It was still an assumption. There was only one way to be sure. If Malokin confirmed it, there was no going back. I'd have to do something.
Or I could pretend that this had nothing to do with me. How long would that buy? A week, a month? Then what? Perhaps someone else disappeared?
And the whole time I'd be thinking of Kitty. Where she was, if anywhere. Was she gone for good, deader than anything mortal could ever be? Or did he have her still, slowly torturing her while I went about my day?
I sat there pondering my two choices, neither of them good, while a grey cat did figure eights through my legs. It was one of Kitty's cats, dropped off this afternoon. We'd all taken a cat in. I'd assumed they'd all be black, but I was clearly mistaken. Smoke, the grey cat, was on partial retirement for ineffectiveness. No one took a grey cat crossing their path seriously.
When Smoke stopped moving, I looked down and she shot me a stare. I could've sworn it was accusatory. There was something very un-cat-like about Smoke.
“I don't know if it has anything to do with me. It's just a hunch.”
She let out a meow that was just short of a howl.
“Smoke, it's not that easy.” I reached down and gave her a scratch behind the ears. She let out another accusatory meow, even as she positioned her head for better access. “What if I'm wrong? What if he has nothing to do with her going missing, and I'm just opening myself up to more trouble?”
The cat jumped up on the table and nailed me with a stare, then let out a flat “Meow?” Then I swear, Smoke rolled her eyes.
“It's not that simple. You're a cat. You can't understand the complications.”
Smoke jumped off the table and pranced in a slow manner to my bedroom, and then slammed the door. Great, now even the cat’s pissed off. Good work.
I wished I’d asked Paddy more questions last time I’d seen him. It would help to know who I was dealing with. Maybe I should go stroll through the vegetable aisle or go get a drink.
I knew one thing for sure; if Malokin had taken Kitty, it was to get to me. It needed to end with me. I'd call and work something out. He didn't seem like an illogical sort. This could be handled with minimum exposure and limited damages.
I unpacked the phone but it took me three attempts before I was able to dial Malokin's number correctly. My nerves—which I never used to have—were making my fingers shake and hit the wrong numbers. I took a deep breath to work the fidgets out of my system, so my voice wouldn't quaver when I spoke to him, then hit dial.
“Hello?”
“It's Karma.”
“I'm happy to hear from you.” His voice took on a softer tone.
I bet you are. There was a gloating quality to his voice that chased my nerves away quicker than a double dose of Xanax.
“You have Kitty.” It wasn’t a question at all, not anymore. I’d known it for sure the second he answered.
“Yes.”
I'd been expecting some denials or a run around, not a clear cut “yes;” but that's what I got. Even the people who I'd defended who were guilty had taken a while to finally spill the details, and I'd been there to help them. Things were a hell of a lot different when there was no penal code.
It was time for the scary question. “Is she okay?”
“Okay? That's debatable. Shall I say, she's as good as she was.”
Even his jokes sucked. His laugh grated on my ears and flamed my anger.
“I want her released.” The words came out between clenched teeth.
“Then I suggest it's time for us to meet. A proper get together, where we can discuss the situation.”
It was hard enough to not punch the wall listening to him through the phone. No, he needed to have a face-to-face sit down.
I stood, crossing my one free arm across my chest. “Fine.”
“Alone.”
I had to think for a second on how much a response of duh would affect our future negotiations? Probably shouldn’t. “Figured.”
“I'll know if you aren’t.”
“Sure you will.” This time I couldn’t stop some of the sarcasm from leaking out as my eyes rolled in my head.
He rambled off an address and we agreed upon a time for tomorrow evening. As much as I’d have liked to handle this all on my own, I still wasn’t sure what I was dealing with. I needed back-up. If I couldn't find Paddy by then, I’d tell Fate. I wasn’t going to meet Malokin alone if it wasn’t necessary.
It didn’t matter anymore anyway, when I thought about it. If I wasn’t going to be able to fly under the radar, I might as well join their war. Didn’t look like there was much choice, because Malokin taking Kitty meant I’d essentially been drafted.
I was just about to hang up when he started talking again. “By the way, they did throw Suit in a ditch.”
The pencil I'd used to scribble down the meeting details snapped in my fingers. “I don't know what you're talking about.”
“Come now, I know your memory isn't that bad. Lars didn't want to answer, but I feel you deserve to know. They did bury him out back. Of course, I dug him up and gave him a proper burial.”
“I'll see you tomorrow.” I clicked the phone shut.
There'd been only two people in the room when I'd said that: Lars and Fate. I was certain he didn’t get that information from them. As I looked around the condo, every nook and cranny took on a different light. Had that bastard tapped my condo?
???