“Lure him,” Amelia urged, gently as she could, trying to mask her own urgency. They both wanted the same thing, didn’t they? They both wanted her out of here. And to find Corma
c, though Amelia didn’t know where he was, what he was doing. Her captor didn’t offer any argument so this must have been possible. Cormac was still out there. He must still be out there. He wouldn’t just leave Amelia here.
Would he?
“Set a trap.”
How?
“Send a message.” Amelia knew exactly what would get his attention, what would bring him into the open without raising her captor’s suspicions. “Tell him. . .”
Cormac had to eat, but he wasn’t happy about it. He was living on fast food because it was convenient. He ate better, with Amelia around. With Ben and Kitty looking after him. With friends. He wasn’t used to thinking of himself as a man who had friends. Especially not when all his meals for the last few days had been eaten in parking lots, in the front seat of his Jeep. Better off by himself, then no one got hurt, no one got killed because they just happened to be standing in the way—
His phone rang. Caller ID said Gregory from the tea shop. He shoved the burger wrapper aside and answered. “Yeah?”
“Hi, Cormac? Can you get over here?” His voice was on edge. The man always had an edge to him, watchful, as if always solving puzzles. This was different—anxious.
“What’s wrong?”
“I got a message.”
And wasn’t this interesting? “I’ll be there in half an hour.”
Back in Deadwood he parked a couple of blocks down from the main street. The shop’s sign was turned to “closed,” but the door was unlocked so Cormac went in. Gregory was sitting at the table in back, the Deadwood Tarot squared neatly on the table, a small piece of paper resting on the felt in front of him, along with a steaming cup of tea. He glanced up at Cormac’s approach and frowned.
“What happened?” Cormac asked, pulling out the seat across from the magician.
“Isabelle Durant came in. Threatened to burn the place down if I called the cops on her. I told her that’d be a little extreme, when all she did the last time she was here was throw a chair. But I take it something’s happened since then.”
“You could say that.”
Gregory waited for Cormac to explain, but he declined to. The man glared. “I’m going to have a word with Judi Scanlon about bringing you and this mess down on me.”
“Aren’t you the least bit curious about what all’s going on?” Folks who worked in the shadows like this loved a good mystery. Or even a bad one. “What did Durant do?”
“Said to give you this. What did you do to her to piss her off so bad? She wants to kill you.” He slid the folded paper across to Cormac.
“Yeah, I know. I—” He wasn’t sure how to put it. She had been a servant to vampires, guilt by association. But Gregory might not see it that way. “She lost her job because of me.”
“That must have been some job.”
“Yeah.” He read the message, written in sloppy cursive.
I can tell you how your father died. Be here, in the street, at midnight.
Why was it always midnight? These jokers never had any imagination. The rest of it confused him for a moment. He knew exactly how his father died—he’d been there, he’d witnessed it when the werewolf they’d been hunting mauled him to death. Cormac had killed the monster; it had been his first kill. He’d been sixteen.
But Durant. . .Durant didn’t know how Cormac’s father died. It would seem like a good mystery, wouldn’t it? Something sure to draw him out, if she believed that Cormac didn’t know and that he would want to.
Amelia. Amelia had given Durant that clue as a lure. It would fire up Durant, but Cormac would know it was fake. Amelia had somehow got a hook into Durant, and she had a plan. He crumpled the page in his hand and chuckled. For the first time since losing her, he felt back in control.
“What’s it mean?” Gregory asked.
“You read it?”
“Yeah. I mean, clearly she’s trying to set a trap for you. Do you really need to know how your father died that badly? Maybe you should just let it go.”
“Oh, it’s a trap all right, but not for me.” Cormac turned the deck over, intending to fan them out to find the card he wanted. But it turned out she was sitting right on top. The Queen of Swords. He tapped his finger on it. “She set the trap. I just have to spring it.”