Rituals (Cainsville 5)

"Absolutely, sir. I'll keep my eye out. And good luck with Todd. It seems you have a decent case."

"I hope so," I said. "Anything you can do for him, I personally would appreciate."

"We both would," Gabriel added.

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you, sir."

He backed away, bumping into the wall as he went. I waited until he was gone to roll my eyes at Gabriel.

He lifted the envelope. "May I?"

I nodded. He opened it and pulled out a piece of paper. I watched over his shoulder as he unfolded it to reveal a name: Greg Kirkman.

"Does that mean anything to you?" I said.

Gabriel shook his head and handed me the paper, and I pocketed it for future research.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Pamela Larsen. My mother. Convicted killer. Guilty of murdering four people by her own hand, and a fifth by her command. Except those four were also killers, whom she'd executed to heal me. She'd spent half her life in prison for that. And her fifth victim? Also killed to protect me. Or that was her excuse. In truth, she'd conspired to kill a man I'd loved, a crime intended to separate me from Gabriel by condemning him to life in prison for murder.

How do I reconcile that? The woman who gave up her freedom so I could walk and the woman who took away one man I loved and tried to do the same to a second?

It cannot be reconciled. Instead, we have come to an understanding. Gabriel will handle her appeal because that helps with Todd's. I will visit her when she has something useful for me, through the network of fae who curry the favor of Matilda's fearsome mother.

With Pamela, I got a private visiting room, no glass, no speaker. Ironic, considering she was the actual killer. Also frustrating

, when she'd been convicted of the exact same crimes as Todd, given the exact same sentence, and yet she was seen as less of a threat. Women always are.

When we reached the visiting room door, I asked Gabriel, "Have you ever seen Silence of the Lambs?"

"No, but I've read the book."

I had to laugh at that, a soft whoosh of a laugh, relief at breaking the tension. "Touche. But that's what this feels like sometimes. My deal with the devil."

"Except Pamela hasn't eaten anyone."

"Allegedly."

I opened the door. Pamela was already waiting at the table. Anyone overhearing me compare her to Hannibal Lecter would laugh on seeing her there, a very ordinary woman with graying dark hair, thirty extra pounds, and a face unadorned by makeup, showing every one of her forty-six years. The type of woman who has settled comfortably into middle age and begun the transition to grandmother-hood, ready to start dandling babies on one plump knee while sneaking them candies from her overflowing purse.

When I first started visiting, Pamela would give me a look not dissimilar to what I get from Todd--unalloyed pleasure, the doting parent happy to see me whatever the circumstances. With Todd, that was genuine. With Pamela...I would like to say it was a false front, but it was more a half mask, one that puts a pretty sparkle on uncomfortable truth. Now, when I walk in, I get my real mother, and in her face I see pride.

I don't need to wear a mask for my daughter--she'll see right through it. She's tough and she's smart, and she's a little bit ruthless, a little bit arrogant, a little bit cold. As she should be.

In Pamela's pride, I see the best of myself and the worst, and it is as discomforting as dealing with Pamela herself.

"Gabriel," she said, and others might hear a purr in that voice, but my ear heard a snake's warning rattle. "I met your mother yesterday. Lovely woman. Drug addict. Petty criminal. Con artist. Has a much higher opinion of her intelligence--and herself--than is warranted. I can see the resemblance."

"Hardly," Gabriel said. "I've never done drugs."

I laughed under my breath and pulled out a chair. "Now you understand why Gabriel and I get along so well. The common ground of maternal criminality."

"Seanna Walsh is hardly on my level," Pamela said.

"True," I said. "She's smart enough not to get caught."

Pamela's eyes narrowed.