13. Thirteen
THIRTEEN
Charlie and Jack offered to drop me back at the office. They had a meeting with a designer for their new house to talk over a few things — the ancient cupboards being the main problem — but I asked them to drop me downtown. I had plans to meet Lex for lunch.
Charlie seemed interested when we stopped in front of Olde Nola Cookery on Bourbon Street. She’d listened to what I’d told her about Bourbon Street bars and locals and was confused about Lex’s restaurant choice.
“Lex loves the waitstaff,” I explained as I pushed open my door. “The food is good, but he loves flirting with the servers.”
Jack smirked and Charlie nodded.
“Okay.” She waved. “I guess we’ll see you later.”
“Odds seem good,” I agreed.
Lex was already seated, and I wasn’t surprised to find Cady, one of the buxom servers he absolutely adored, hanging out by his table. There was already an iced tea waiting for me.
“Hey, Freya,” Cady said without looking at me. Why would she look at me when Lex and his beautiful face could be her focal point? “Do you know what you want?”
I didn’t have to look at the menu. “I’ll have the Mardi Gras pasta. Thank you.”
“And I’ll have the shrimp platter,” Lex said, giving Cady an exaggerated wink that had her sighing.
I glared at him as Cady reluctantly headed to the kitchen to put in our order.
“What is it with you and servers?” I was honestly curious.
He’d never explained why he was so often thrilled to take home a server or bartender for a three-day run.
“Is it because you like to imagine them waiting on you in bed?”
He snorted. “No. That’s weird.”
“Then what is it?” I rested my elbows on the table and waited.
“I work a lot,” he started. “The only thing I do more than work is eat.”
“You’re saying that it’s just the easiest way to pick a fling.”
“If you want to look at it that way, sure.”
“Have you ever considered that the women you choose aren’t as happy as you to say goodbye, and put boogers in your food when you return to the restaurant after breaking up?”
Amusement had his lips curving. “No, I have never considered that. Thanks for putting that idea in my head.”
“That’s what I’m here for.” I sipped my iced tea. “So, I’ve had a day already, and it’s only noon.” I didn’t wait for the sympathy I knew wouldn’t be coming my way and jumped straight into the story.
He was unhappy when I told him there’d been another murder. He looked murderous when I told him about my conversation with Brett.
“That guy needs a testicle twist to teach him some manners,” he huffed.
“I know I saw that symbol on that statue,” I stressed. “I have to break into that house for a better look.”
Lex arched an eyebrow. “Do you want to go to jail?”
“No, but I want to see that statue. The little turd could have shown it to me, but he didn’t even get up from the couch.” I was verging into rant territory, but there was no stopping me. “It wasn’t even a real couch. It was one of those little hard ones that looks like a clam.”
“I always think those look like vaginas,” Lex mused.
I made a face. “Why do you always think about vaginas? I’m serious. It’s weird.”
His smile was wolfish. “Once you’ve been to the promised land … .”
“I’m so glad I never found you attractive,” I said. “I would have killed you long ago if sex had entered our relationship.”
That had him throwing his head back and barking out a laugh.
“I found you attractive for about five minutes when we were twenty. You took out a rabid vampire, and you looked hot doing it. For one, shining moment I was like, ‘Why haven’t you looked at her this way before?’ Reality set in when you opened your mouth.
That’s when I remembered why we’d never work as a couple. ”
I had only a vague recollection of the story. “What did I say?”
“You said that he smelled like farts that had been trapped in a car for ten years, and it reminded you of your father.”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “I don’t remember saying that.”
“It reminded me that you were one of the guys.” He shrugged. “We’re like siblings now.”
“Yes, I’m your only sister,” I teased.
“That’s probably for the best because you’ve got the hots for Knox Cullen.”
I hadn’t been expecting him to say it and had been mid-sip. I practically spat my iced tea in his face. “That is a bald-faced lie,” I snapped once I’d managed to swallow.
“Oh, don’t do that.” He wagged his finger. “You might be able to lie to other people — not Toni, but Charlie and Jack will still fall for your nonsense — but you can’t lie to me. I see the way you look at him.”
“I don’t look at him in any specific way.” I had to force myself to meet his steady gaze even though I desperately wanted to look down at the table. “He’s just a guy.”
“A guy you went with to hang out with his mother last night.”
“Because she had a story.”
“Uh-huh. And how long were you in the 9th Ward?” The way he asked the question made me realize he was chasing a very specific answer.
“What does that matter?” I demanded, avoiding the question entirely.
“That’s what I thought.” He was smug when he leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “I stopped by your place last night to see if you’d made it home. You were still gone at nine o’clock.”
“How do you know I wasn’t out with Toni?”
“Because I was out with Toni not long after that. Or, rather, we ended up at the same bar. She was with those artsy friends of hers that I can’t stand.”
I wasn’t a fan of those women either. Briefly, I considered making up a lie about going elsewhere, but I never lied to Lex. It just wasn’t how we related to one another.
“She invited me to stay for barbecue,” I admitted. “Alice, not Knox. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Uh-huh.” Lex didn’t look convinced. “Keep telling yourself nothing is happening there, and things are going to explode.”
“You think he’s going to hurt me?”
“No! You guys are going to be in the same spot and your clothes will magically combust.”
I choked on my own snort. “That is ludicrous.”
“If you say so.” He shook his head. “What’s your next move? How are you going to identify the symbol?”
I’d already thought of that. “Kit and Kat. They know a little of everything.”
“After lunch?”
“Are you coming with me?”
“Of course. They love me!”
I inclined my head toward Cady, who was drooling over him from an alcove. “You might have a nooner if you don’t attach yourself to me for the afternoon.”
“Weirdly, I feel the need to stick close to you.”
“Because of Knox Cullen?” I was affronted.
“Because you’re digging yourself in deep on this one, and I don’t think it’s going to be easy to extricate yourself from the fallout. And I’m interested in what they might say. If that symbol is important, I want to know what it means.”
“Do you promise to stop making up stuff about Knox Cullen if I let you come with me?”
“No.” He shook his head and said nothing else.
“No?” I challenged.
“Freya, I get that you haven’t been interested in romance for a long time.
You’ve had other things on your mind.” He didn’t bring up my family.
They were always the biggest time sucks in my life.
“You might not want forever with Cullen, but you want to see his little wolf, whether you want to admit it or not.”
“Stop!” I insisted.
“I won’t, but I’ll let it go for the time being. It seems we have bigger concerns.”
Because he was right, I reluctantly nodded. “If anyone can help, Kit and Kat can.”
“Here’s hoping.” He lifted his iced tea in a toast.
I didn’t smile, opting to remain petulant. Lex was seeing things that weren’t there. Somehow, I had to make him realize it.
KIT AND KAT CARTER OWNED A MAGIC shop in Marigny. They were the real deal, hoodooists of the highest order. The mere idea of them sitting outside Jackson Square and grifting tourists was an evil thought I’d never entertain.
Did they sell their services? Of course. They had to make a living. They let the customers — and locals in need of certain potions — find them, however. They never performed like trained monkeys.
Lex drove to their shop. He was a shifter and could walk the distance with no problem, but he liked his truck and treated it like a flex. Even as we parked at the curb, he winked at a woman who looked him up and down, and then nodded at her boyfriend as he checked out the truck.
“Your whole life is weird,” I lamented as we walked to the door of the shop. At one time it had been a Creole cottage. The witches had renovated it years before, and now it didn’t even look as if it had been a house.
Kat looked up from her spot behind the cash register. She had dark black hair and pale skin, the opposite of Kit’s white hair and dark skin. The only thing they shared was their startling blue eyes. There was a reason people stopped and stared when they were out and about in the city.
“Well, well,” Kat purred as she filled her eyes with Lex. “I was starting to think you’d forgotten about us.”
“It’s good to know you haven’t,” Kit agreed as she appeared behind Lex and trailed her fingers over his shoulder. “I was going to cry thinking you’d moved on.”
“So hard,” Kat agreed.
Lex grinned as he glanced between them. “I could never forget you ladies. You’re at the top of my all-time favorites list, right where you belong.”
“So sweet,” Kit cooed as she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“So charming,” Kat added as she kissed his other cheek.
I was going to puke. “This is disgusting,” I complained as I moved to look behind the register.
As expected, the sisters had fresh beignets.
“I’m taking one of these,” I said, not bothering to wait for a response.
“I need something to wash the disgusting taste of … whatever that was … out of my mouth.” I offered a vague wave.
Kat laughed at my discomfort and abandoned Lex to tread closer to me. “Grumpy as always, I see,” she teased.
I shrugged. “I’ve had better days, that’s for sure.” I bit into the beignet. It was good. It also wasn’t from any restaurant — local or otherwise — that I was aware of. “Who made this? That’s who should be getting your love. Not this guy.” I jerked a thumb at Lex.
For his part, Lex had grown weary of the sisters’ cooing over him. Seeing me with a beignet was enough to get him walking in my direction. “That had better not be the only one,” he warned.
I rolled my eyes at him. “There’s more.” I didn’t let him snag the one I’d already bitten into and skirted away from him. “We’re here for a reason,” I announced before taking another bite. “Seriously, where did you get this?”
“From one of our admirers,” Kit replied, sharing a conspiratorial look with Kat. I didn’t want to think — not even a little — about what that look might mean. “People like to bring us gifts.”
“Right.” I rested my elbows on the counter as I regarded them. “So, as I said, we’re here for a reason.”
“You only stop in when you’ve hit a wall on one of your cases,” Kat said. “We try not to take it personally.”
Was that true? I didn’t want to be that person.
“I appreciate the thought you’re apparently putting into this, but it’s not necessary,” Kit said. “You’re a busy person. So are we. Please tell us what’s going on.”
“Well, it’s a long story.”
“I’ll tell it,” Lex interjected. “You tell a story like my Nana. You go on and on and on.”
“I do not.”
“You take thirty words when one would suffice. It’s painful.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re on my last nerve today.”
“Another good reason we’re not sexually attracted to one another.”
I opened my mouth to say something snarky, then thought better of it. He was right.
“This is the thing,” Lex started. He was already five words deep before I caught up. At that point, it was better to let him finish. We were never going to get out of here if we didn’t streamline the process.
Kit and Kat listened with rapt attention. When he finished, Kit moved to one of the bookshelves and started looking through the old leather-bound journals.
“What’s she doing?” I asked Kat in a low voice.
“I believe she’s looking for an old journal we found many years ago,” Kat replied. “It belonged to one of the police officers working the Axeman case.”
I perked up. “Seriously? Did they have a suspect?”
“I don’t know.” Kat wrinkled her nose. “Serial killers have never been a curiosity for me. Others find them fascinating. Me? Not so much.”
“I read it when I was 14, I think,” Kit said. “It was interesting, if a bit infantile, given what we know about serial killers now. They had no idea what they were talking about.”
“Then why do you think it will be helpful?” I asked.
“Do you have anything else to go on right now?”
She had a point, loath as I was to admit it. “Not so much.” I dragged a hand through my hair. “I need to know what we’re dealing with. Is it a copycat? Was the original Axeman killer a paranormal? Did he leave the area and come back?”
“I can’t answer that, but my gut says no,” Kat replied.
“I believe the Axeman was killed back then, and that’s why he was never caught.
A killer like that follows a certain trajectory, and it’s impossible to interrupt that trajectory without something massive happening.
He either had a heart attack or some sort of injury that stopped him, or he died.
You don’t stop killing after taking out that many victims.”
“They don’t even really have firm numbers on his victims,” I mused. “Reports basically say six people were killed and a dozen more injured.”
“Does the exact numbers matter?” Kat’s eyes were clear when they locked with mine.
“I guess not.” I pursed my lips. “If it were a paranormal, why would he or she stop?”
“We can’t answer that. If the Axeman died, perhaps his ghost lived on, and he found someone new to force to do his bidding.”
“Like, he’s possessing someone?” I thought back to the story Alice had told. She didn’t have many details, but maybe they weren’t necessary. “Could he have done it before?”
“There’s no way of knowing, especially since we have no idea who the original Axeman was. If we had a specific soul to follow from back then, we might be able to find it now. That is not the case.”
“Right. Is there any way to prove that it’s a possession?”
“Not off the top of my head,” Kat replied. “You could try talking to ghosts. They might better know the rules of something like that.”
I could think of only one ghost who might be readily accessible. “That’s a good idea,” I said. “Can you keep looking for that journal? I might want to read it if you can find it.”
“Of course.” Kit bobbed her head. “But we may have accidentally sold it. It has happened. More than once, I’m afraid.”
“Maybe you sold it to the current killer?”
Kit looked troubled. “That hadn’t occurred to me. I’ll see if I can find the records if it truly is gone.”
“Do what you can.” I forced a smile for her benefit. “I appreciate anything you can do.”
“Of course. What will you do if you can’t find your answers?”
I didn’t want to think about that too hard. “I have no idea.”