Rituals (Cainsville 5)

"Would you like to leave?" I asked. "Let me handle it?"

He glanced toward the front door and Lloergan lifted her head, sensing it might be time to go, but he said, "No, I want to stay for Rose."

When I checked my phone, Gabriel said, "The DNA results won't come that quickly, Olivia."

"I'm not--"

His look stopped me.

I put my phone away. "It doesn't matter. I'm sure this woman isn't your mother."

"As tempting as it is to presume that, I need to consider the possibility, and prepare a plan to deal with that."

He took out his notepad and pen, and I realized he was literally going to plan this, as if she were a potential client he wanted to avoid. That was how he would cope.

"Okay," I said. "So if the DNA is a match--"

"I'll handle it," Rose said as she came in with the tea tray. "If the DNA is a match, I'll meet with her. I will handle the situation without Gabriel getting involved."

"I don't see how that's possible," Gabriel said.

"It is. It will be. I...I failed to--" She cleared her throat. "I'll handle it."

She failed to handle it twenty years ago. That's what she started to say--that she hadn't realized how dire the situation had been and therefore failed to save Gabriel from Seanna.

It didn't matter if Gabriel had purposely hid Seanna's neglect and abuse. Rose still blamed herself for not seeing through the lies. Nothing anyone could say would change that.

As we sipped tea and nibbled cookies, Rose distracted us with the tale of her latest client--a woman who wanted the cards to tell her if she'd ever lose weight, rather than, you know, try losing it. It hadn't taken Rose long to determine that the woman was indeed carrying an extra two hundred pounds that could be lost with no change in diet or exercise. Namely her husband, whose constant bullying and haranguing only made the woman eat more as she sunk deeper into depression.

What the client needed was a therapist. What she wanted was magic. So Rose would give her both, gradually convincing her that a future as a single woman might be the way to both health and happiness.

We were still talking when Lydia called. I scrambled off my chair fast enough to wake Lloergan. I motioned that I'd take the call in the next room.

"Is that Lydia?" Gabriel asked.

When I hesitated, he prized the phone from my clenched hand and set it on the desk. Then he poised one finger over the speaker button and looked at me.

I swallowed and nodded. He hit it.

"Lydia? It's Gabriel," he said. "I'm with Olivia."

After a moment's silence, she said, "I need to speak to Liv on a personal matter."

"Gabriel knows," I said. "He's on speaker. So is his aunt. You have the DNA test results?"

Another pause. Then, "They've run the tests, but...they had a problem processing Gabriel's DNA. They think the sample may be degraded. I said no, it's fresh, and we provided plenty of it. I'm going to send the samples to another facility. That may take a few days."

"The results were inconclusive?"

"Yes."

"It's Gabriel's sample that's the problem?"

"Yes. I've let them know exactly how unhappy I am with their explanation. They had the nerve to suggest we'd supplied a manufactured sample, one that wasn't entirely human. We won't be using their services in the future. Gabriel? Could you provide a more direct sample for the second test?"

He shook his head at me.

"I think we're going to drop it for now, Lydia," I said. "Maybe science isn't the best way to handle this."