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After regrouping, I left Greg at the mansion. I had to talk to Lance and that was something Greg didn’t need to be a part of it.
Staying on decent terms with my exes was a good thing because John was the one texting back the hotel and room number. I got on the elevator and hoped Lance would have learned something from his recent brush with his own mortality.
I knocked on the suite door and heard some voices and noise inside. A woman answered the door. It wasn’t John’s new wife; I’d met her.
“Hi, I’m Deanna. I need a word with Lance Weathers.” I smiled.
The woman nodded and held up a finger. She closed the door. Maybe I should’ve led with I come in peace...
The door opened and I was waved inside.
Lance sat in the desk chair with his laptop in front of him.
“Hope I’m not disturbing you,” I said.
“John said you might be coming by. I don’t know why,” Lance said.
“I’m not here to upset you or talk about Mary Lou. Nothing about the divorce or anything, I swear.” I tucked my hands in my pockets.
“Sit.” Lance nodded to the guest chair.
“Thanks.” I sat down and took off my coat. The room was warm. Lance wasn’t in his normal suit. “Hopefully you’re feeling better. Taking it easy.”
“I’m feeling fine. My doctor gave me a couple of pills to take and a diet to follow. Up my exercise and all that. Decrease stress,” he replied.
I nodded. “Well, you never struck me as unhealthy. Stressed, yes. I hate to suggest this but I did a little checking.”
“Out with it. I don’t care what supernatural theory you’re going to give me so just get it off your chest.” Lance closed his laptop.
He wasn’t much of a believer.
“Fine. I checked with Death and you’re not on the list,” I said.
“Good. My doctor would agree,” he replied.
I smiled. “But I had a vision. I don’t know if things have changed but you should be careful. I think someone might be after you. Cursing you or attacking you. You got sick that one night, a stomach bug. Then not long after, a heart attack.”
“You’re here to warn me about a curse? You’re the most likely one to curse me,” he said.
“Hardly. I don’t deal in evil or dark magic. I know you have doctors and all that but if anyone tries to bait you into a fight, don’t. Watch what you eat. Go to church,” I advised.
“You can’t lift this curse?” he mocked.
“I didn’t curse you. Greg could try to cleanse you of any evil but I’m pretty sure that would piss you off more. Since I don’t know the details, I can’t give you a concrete cure but I had a curse on me once. You can outlast. You can be careful and survive it.” I shrugged.
Lance snickered. “I know you mean well but I’m not afraid of a curse. I’ve been a lawyer for decades. Plenty of people have cursed me and wished me dead. Never worked. This is a normal part of aging. The stomach thing was a fluke. Could happen to anyone. Not life-threatening. Worry about your friends. Leave me alone.”
“Sorry to trouble you.” I got up and headed for the door. “This wasn’t a ploy to get you to go easy on the divorce or give up on anything. I don’t want anyone to die if it’s not their time.”
Lance nodded. “I believe you. You don’t want blood on your conscience.”
“Bye.” I closed the door behind me and felt sorry for the nurse or caregiver stuck with Lance. His temper would boil over again at some point.
My guardian angel, Amy, showed herself in the hallway. I normally ignored her because she was a visual distraction who rarely spoke.
“What?” I walked for the elevator. “I did everything I could.”
“You did.” Amy kept pace with me.
“And you showed up to pat me on the head? What?” I asked again.
Luckily, I was alone in the elevator.
“Death wished me to tell you that the list has not changed.” My angel vanished. She was still there but I didn’t see her anymore.
“So chatty.” I rubbed my neck. Lance was still in danger. He’d ignore it. He wasn’t listed for a natural death.
My phone beeped. Paul wanted to take me to dinner.
I texted back that I needed the break.
Even though it was chilly outside, I dressed to show a bit of skin. Not for Paul or any man, really. It was somehow a rebellion of those creepy church men who needed women to cover up so they could behave.
Who drew that line? I stared at myself in the mirror. There were limits. I certainly saw women at Dungeon who wore too little in my opinion...street legal or not. Men didn’t have to walk around in nothing to get attention. But I wasn’t dressing like a nun either.
“You okay?” Ivy poked her head in my room.
“Why do you like dressing like a woman? Being a man has to be easier,” I said.
Ivy smiled. “It’s easier and you can jeans and T-shirts your way through life...girl or guy. Pant suits work, too. But men’s clothes are so boring. Like a uniform. Jeans, T-shirts or a suit. Business? A suit. Party? A suit. Wedding. Shake it up, a tuxedo-style suit.”
“You’re lucky,” I said.
“I love fashion.” She shrugged.
“But you can take it off. You can be a guy and avoid judgement if you want. Women have to worry every time they pick a dress. It is cut too low? Too high? Is it going to look like I’m a prude or a slut? Too much makeup or not enough?”
“Has Paul ever said anything like that?” Ivy asked.
“No, not him,” I replied.
“Half of that crap is women doing it to other women. Drag queens are nasty to each other. So cruel. Men judge each other on other things.” Ivy adjusted my necklace.
“How pretty the woman is on their arm?” I should be grateful I had a good guy but I was so worried about those young women. There hadn’t been another word from Candace.
“That’s part of it. Money. Cars. Power. They’re all supposed to be alpha males. Rich and powerful. Like a superhero. And there’s no excuse for failure. No room for fear or emotion. Men don’t do that.” Ivy rolled her eyes. “I like being a guy but I like the freedom of walking the line.”
“Do you like Paul?” I asked.
“Do you?” She turned it on me.
I smiled. “I do. He’s different.”
“Good. He’s a good one. Smart and strong but not a jerk. Not perfect but no one is. Go have a nice dinner and forget about life for a bit.” Ivy winked
“Sounds good. Thanks.” I put on some lipstick as the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Ivy ran down the stairs in heels better than I could’ve.
Why was tomboy a bad label? Comfortable clothes were functional. Heels were just torture.
“De, get down here,” Ivy called in a tone that didn’t say the expected cute guy had arrived.
I found her at the front door with it wide open. It wasn’t the blood so much as the pieces of dead snake on the welcome mat that was nauseating. The big snake had died with its mouth open and the fangs extended.
I shook my head. “Any note?”
Ivy sighed. “No. But the snake is poisonous. I think we can assume it’s your new enemy church.”
I texted Matt some pictures of the scene.
Then my phone rang. “Don’t touch anything. Leave it. I’ll be home in a few. No note this time?”
“Nope. Gross dead venomous snake.” I looked up at the security camera in the corner of the porch ceiling.
“Check the camera footage,” Matt said.
I pulled it up on my phone and played back the last hour on fast forward. A guy with a ski mask on and wearing all black had left the lovely gift. He held the live snake in one hand and a hatchet in the other as he mounted the porch steps.
Ivy watched the footage over my shoulder and covered her eyes as the trespasser chopped the snake’s head off, then peeked through her fingers. With each hack she grimaced.
The guy dropped his reptilian victim and ran off, leaving nothing to trace him.
I got back on the phone with Matt. “Nothing we can use. Guy wore a mask. Butchered the snake right here on the doormat.”
“Okay, well I’ll put the video in the report so we have some sort of description, but don’t let it bug you. I’ll ask around with the neighbors, see if I can get info on a car, if anyone saw anything. Big picture, there is nothing more we can do beyond that. They’re just trying to scare you,” he said.
“I’m scared for the young women there, not me. If there was nothing to hide, they wouldn’t be trying to warn us away.” I felt like there was a target on my house and my friends—but what were they doing to the girls worried me.
“Just keep doing whatever you were going to do. Don’t let them stop you,” Matt said.
“Okay, thanks. Bye.” I ended the call.
“Paul should be here any minute,” Ivy said.
I nodded and called him.
Paul picked up. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m just running a bit late. Ivy had something we had to talk about. Mind if I just meet you there? I don’t want to lose the reservation,” I said.
“Sure. Traffic is crazy anyway. I’m near the restaurant. Ivy okay?” Paul asked.
“Yeah, I just need a few minutes and I’ll be on the road. I really need a night out. See you soon.” I ended the call.
Ivy scoffed. “He’s a doctor. He’s had to cut up dead bodies. Snake tartare won’t freak him out.”
“I know. I just don’t want him to worry about me. I want to enjoy the evening.” I deserved a personal life and Paul didn’t need to deal with every gory detail of every case—at least not until we were living together or more.
––––––––
AFTER A NICE MEAL, I debated dessert. I’d managed to avoid talk of the church and Ivy’s issues.
“You don’t have to do the girl thing,” Paul said.
“Girl?” I shot at him.
“Sorry. The dessert thing. You deserve a reward after the day you had. All I can report on is work and the rehab center stuff. Computers and stuff are in. Staff is being trained.” Paul sipped his water.
I froze for a second. He didn’t mean the snake. He couldn’t know about the snake. “Lance was his usual jerk self when I was just trying to help. But he didn’t yell.” I ordered dessert. Something I’d never tried before.
“That’s progress for him. Some people can have blockage and no symptoms until it reaches a certain point. Or the symptoms are mild enough that they put it down to stress or heartburn. Gallbladder attacks can mask things, too.” Paul had every medical rationale ready to go.
“You think it’s not a curse?” I asked.
Paul sighed. “That is your territory. If he’s got a curse on him, he does. I don’t question your expertise. But medically, it could be a coincidence. If he takes his meds, followed the instructions, and follows up with his cardiologist regularly—he shouldn’t die anytime soon.”
“Maybe my vision was wrong.” I shrugged. “Or things changed with treatment? I haven’t had another preview of his death.”
“Good. Are you still planning on redecorating? Your living room does have a very chapel feel to it,” Paul said.
I smiled. “Holy water and candles. Gran liked her protective stuff around at all times.”
“It’s your place. Eventually you need to make it all yours,” he said.
I shrugged and checked my phone. “It’s a big place.”
“Worried about those women from the church?” he asked.
I nodded. “I hope those men didn’t take away Candace’s phone. I’ve got no messages from unknowns that might be her or other girls. I don’t know how else to get in touch with them.”
“You do. But I don’t think we should go to church there again. That wouldn’t be safe,” Paul said.
“Definitely not attending church there. I’m afraid they’d set a trap or something creepy. The club?” I wasn’t eager to go there either, but it was safer than that backwoods church. “However, odds are, they won’t let her out if she’s being punished.”
“We can try it. I don’t have a better idea.” He tapped his fingers on the table.
The dessert arrived and I enjoyed it. I’d need the sugar rush and another cup of coffee if I was going to hit Dungeon tonight.
As I sipped my coffee, I got a vision. “Crap.”
“Candace? Lance?” Paul asked.
“Lance and Greg fighting. We were headed to the club anyway. That’s where they are. Let’s go and sort it out if we can. Try to help.” I shook my head.
As Paul paid the bill, Mary Lou’s texts started hitting my phone. She needed me to come and wrangle Greg. Where was Lucifer’s security now?