“He seems to do that a great deal.” Nodding, she told him he did. “What if I did use you to get information? Why do you think I should trust you not to be with him anyway?”
“I don’t know. I could tell you that I find I no longer like the man he is. But I’m pretty sure that I was just as bad as he is when I was alive. I could tell you that I have found that I love my niece more than him, but that’s not true. I don’t hate Vinnie like I thought I did, but he’s my blood, dead or not. Amber? I never liked her, but that’s not the point, is it?” He told her he was more interested in why they were going to hurt Vinnie. “I don’t know that they want to hurt her. The house is all he can talk about. I know for a fact that there are safety precautions that Vinnie put in to keep the two of you safe. Even this, this power that keeps us away, is helping, but as to why he wants in, I really don’t know. If there is a treasure and that’s what he wants in for, then he’s dumber than I thought.”
“I think he’s trying to get in to kill her.” She had no answer for him because to be honest, it would be like him to kill his only child. For no other reason than she was breathing. “Did he say what sort of treasure there was? Physical, or just in his mind.”
“Diamonds and emeralds, he told me. Some old money. Mostly, he said it was jewels. I have no idea what he thinks to do with them. He can’t even lift them up, much less sell them. Unless that’s what he has Amber doing.” She thought on it. “Christ almighty, he’s using his wife to get into the house to do his dirty work. He’d do it too. And so would she. They have this...they’re attached like you’d not believe. He does things and she has always been right there with him. In anything. When they put out the order to kill him, I was surprised that she wasn’t brought up on charges as well. But he’d do it. He really would.”
“You mean kill his daughter.” She nodded and watched as Vinnie laughed again at something her father had said. The panther never moved from her position at her feet. “I’ll think about your offer. But if you do hear something and let me know, then I’ll talk to Steele. He has more power than I do.”
Nodding, Millie felt better than she had in a long time. At least since she’d been killed. She turned to watch the exchange between the two of them as Mitch was when she thought to ask him about Vinnie.
“She can’t see us, can she?” He said nothing. “She could if she wanted. I know that Amber could see Horrie when he came around. All she has to do is concentrate hard on him and the rest will be easy. She might not like what she sees, but she’ll be safer if she can see us. But I’m sure you know that, don’t you?”
“My friend told me the same thing. She has to want to see us and believe in me.” She nodded, then turned to him. “What do you see when you look at him? Do you see the monster that I do?”
“Yes. And I see you for what you are as well.” He asked her what that might be. “You’re in love with Vinnie. And you glow with it. Like Steele does with his wife’s love. Use it against him, all of us if you need to, and you’ll be as powerful as you can be when you deal with the dead. We do not...most of them don’t care for the concept of purity. And you have it with your love for her. That gives you more power than most people have running in their homes…you are in love.”
Millie left him then. She didn’t want to see him making fun of her. She wasn’t sure he would, but things had been so good for her lately that she didn’t want to mess it up. Going to see her sister-in-law wasn’t always a good thing, but Millie was determined to help Mitch and Vinnie if it was the last thing she did. And for some sad reason, she thought perhaps it might be.
Chapter 7
The morning had dawned bright and sunny. Of course. But so long as she stood as still as she could and didn’t venture into the sunshine streaming into the room, Vinnie figured she could stay long enough to see what the judge was going to do about this ridiculous law suit. And the more she found out about the couple she’d been about to represent, the more she wished she could hunt them down and drain them both. She thought she might yet if things didn’t go the way she wanted them to. When the judge came into the room, Vinnie actually smiled. Judge Wilson was a man known for his lack of tolerance for stupid people taking up his time.