But I was expected to slap on a smile and keep marching blindly forward to the wedding.
I hated it.
Right now I hated my whole freaking life.
I knew I was feeling sorry for myself. But I couldn’t seem to help it.
I needed comfort, a friendly voice, somebody to lie through their teeth if necessary and tell me that it wasn’t all my fault, and that eventually everything would be fine.
I checked my watch, figured out the time difference, and called Dawna. After all, what are friends for?
Dawna sounded bright, perky, and cheerful enough to make my teeth ache. “Good morning! ’Bout time you called in. You would not believe the stack of messages I have for you!”
“Good morning to you.” I tried to force cheer in my voice to match hers and failed, miserably.
“Uh-oh. Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“Gran’s in the hospital. She’s going to be all right, but we had a big blow-up.”
“Let me guess, was it about your mom?”
“Isn’t it always?”
Dawna gave a gusty sigh. “Pretty much. Sorry. Why’s she in the hospital?”
I told her the whole story. If the phones were being tapped, I wanted everyone listening to know that we’d stopped the a-hole and that nobody who targeted my family would survive.
“Wow! Sorry times two, girlfriend.”
“Me, too. I figured I’d call and see if you had any good news to cheer me up.”
“Actually, I do have some,” she assured me. “First, Ron’s moving out today. The movers are due here at nine o’clock and the cleaners are coming at one. I’m supposed to tell you that”—she imitated Ron at his most pompous—“he’s abiding by the agreement and expects you to do the same.”
I found myself letting out a knowing snicker. “Write the man a check and sign it. And don’t quibble.”
A chuckle was followed by the shuffling of papers. “Dom Rizzoli called. He said I’m supposed to tell you”—she paused, and I heard another rustle of papers as she dug for the right message—“He said to tell you: “‘Good news. You won’t have to testify against Raul.’”
That was a shock, but a good one. “Say what?” Paulo Ortega was the drug king pin whose tunnels I’d used to escape. Raul was his baby brother and right-hand man. Paulo was a violent psycho who ruled his own private army with an iron fist and practically unlimited funds. The stick, and the carrot, generally used in that order. I’d been scheduled to testify about the tunnels and the vampires in them. I wondered what had happened. Had the Mexican authorities decided—or been convinced—not to prosecute?
Dawna continued, “Rizzoli didn’t say, but I actually know why. I read about this online. The border patrol found scattered remains in the desert, the morning after the full moon. There was enough to do DNA matching, and it’s Paulo and Raul. It looks as if they got on the wrong side of a pack of werewolves.”
Wow. What an ugly way to go. Almost as brutal and violent as some of the things I’d heard they’d ordered. I couldn’t say I was sorry. I bet it was Maria’s family. Paulo had learned the hard way that payback is a bitch.
Literally.
“Celia? You still there?”
“I’m here. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, but I can’t say they didn’t deserve it.”
“That’s almost exactly what the guy who wrote the online article said.”
I believed it. Thinking about the Ortegas, though, reminded me of Mexico. Not good. Not the kind of memories that would improve my mood.
“Anything else?”
“Yup. When you get back, the INS and the DEA both want to meet with you and have you map out as much of the tunnels as you can remember. Oh, and the Levys are on their way to Serenity with the dresses and they are gorgeous. You are going to look so amazing! Bruno’s finished your joint present for Adriana and King Dahlmar. Since he was working on it in the same office with Jan, he had it checked to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with, and it’s fine. Emma swears it’s the best focus she’s ever seen, even better than the mirror you had made for Vicki.”
Oh! So that’s what he’d been making at the college. I’d assumed the mirror was a class assignment.
Wow. That was awesome. It would be the perfect gift for Adriana, who was a fairly powerful clairvoyant. And Dahlmar was enough in love that pleasing her was sure to please him. Score.
“He said to let you know he’ll bring it with him when he flies out to Rusland. He doesn’t want to risk letting it out of his sight until then.”
I didn’t blame him. Major magical artifacts are big business and valuable as hell. Even the express courier companies won’t insure them for full value. They’re just too likely to be stolen. “He’s sending you his itinerary by e-mail, so be sure to get online.”
Thinking about seeing Bruno made me smile, and while Dawna couldn’t see it, she knew me well enough to guess.
“I’m supposed to tell you he loves you and he’s really, really sorry. Just between the two of us, I’m thinking that you’re going to be able to hold that whole body bind thing over his head for quite a while.”
I laughed. “Maybe.” Probably not. Then again, he really shouldn’t have done it. And I did not want him to get into the habit of pulling that kind of crap.
“Ready for the less good news?”
I groaned. “I suppose.”
“Dottie came in and got Minnie the Mouser.”
“What?” That was a shock. Fred and Dottie lived in government housing. No pets allowed. She’d gotten me to take in her adored cat Minnie after a friend—a cop—who’d been looking after her died in the line of duty. Since I’m gone so much, we’d made her the office cat. We all loved the silly furball. She was spoiled rotten.
“Dottie said it was only for a couple of days, that she didn’t want her getting underfoot with the movers coming in.”
Well, that kind of made sense. Although, come to think on it, we could’ve just locked her in my office for a couple of hours. I wondered if my clairvoyant friend was up to something. I wouldn’t put it past her.
Dawna continued. “But she was acting all weird and sad. She wandered around the whole place, even up to the third floor.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course she had. I’d told Dottie a million times not to take the stairs with that walker of hers. But did she listen? Oh hell no.
“She told me to ship all of your boxes—the ones in the storeroom—to your house. She was so insistent that I went ahead and did it. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Nah, it’s okay. She’s a seer. Who knows, maybe she saw that we’ll need the space.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of how I looked at it.” Dawna paused; in the background I heard the door open and people moving around. “Gotta go. The movers are here. Call me later.”
“Right.”
We hung up without saying good-bye, but that was okay. Things back at the office were in good hands. The Levys would be here soon with the dresses and Bruno had come up with the perfect wedding gift. All in all, not too shabby. Oh, there were still plenty of things to worry about: Dottie acting strange, Okalani being in danger. But I wasn’t going to think about them now. I was just too damned tired. We were almost back to the compound. I wanted food and sleep, in that order. Everything else would just have to wait.
I woke to the sound of someone knocking on the door to my suite. A glance at the clock told me it was only 10:30. I’d had less than three hours of sleep, which was worse than none at all.
“Go away,” I growled, and pulled my pillow over my head.