Eleventh Grave in Moonlight (Charley Davidson #11)(63)

“Hey, pumpkin. Cookie told me you took the day off.” He was so happy, I couldn’t tell him he had nothing to do with it.

“I did. So, has she told you anything about the case we’re working on?”

“No. She’s been … well, I’ve been a little distracted lately.”

“Care to tell me why?”

“No.”

“’Kay. So…” I filled Ubie in on the usual. It was enough to grab his interest with razor-sharp claws.

“I’ll keep you updated on what I find out, but if you can check out this cold case—”

“I can do that,” he said.

Reyes and I left the restaurant. It was one thing to allow eavesdropping of some random bits of research that can be found online. It’s another altogether to allow information about my client to leak. I had yet to confront Shawn about his providing an alibi for the Fosters when Dawn Brooks was abducted. I would definitely need an explanation, but now was not the time.

I explained the entire case to Ubie, leaving out the details about who my client was. I focused on the Fosters and what Cookie found.

“Charley, if that is true, I’m going to need more. I don’t think I can get a warrant on information obtained … creatively.”

“Okay, so, like what? How about a confession?”

“If they are who you say they are, they’ve been on the run and in hiding a very long time. They aren’t just going to recite you a tell-all.”

“I have a plan.”

“When don’t you have a plan?”

“True.” I looked over at Reyes as he drove home. “But it’s a pretty good plan, providing I have a little help.”

“Okay, well, keep me in the loop. On the stalker front—”

“Joe?”

“Joe?” he repeated.

“Joe Stalker.”

“Right. On the Joe front,” he said, finding it easier to go along with me than point out the many flaws of my mental process, “we are all set on this end if you’re sure you still want to go through with it.”

“Of course I want to go through with it. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I figured you would. Just checking.”

“Have you heard from Amber?”

“I’ve been texting Osh all day. She’s fine, and he’s decided he wants to go back to school.”

“Oh, hell, no.”

He chuckled. “I don’t know what I would do without you, pumpkin.”

That sounded ominous. “Are you going somewhere?”

“I don’t think so. Just wanted you to know how much you mean to me. Oh, and if I’m late for any reason tomorrow, Officer Tang will be in charge.”

“Late? Why would you be late?”

“I have about a hundred cases at any given moment, pumpkin. There’s been movement on an old one that I need to look into. It could take me a while. But don’t worry. Just go on with the plan.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

“Always. Be good. And stay home.”

Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. I hadn’t had an evening home alone with the ball and chain in a few days.

*

Reyes and I raided the coffeepot at Calamity’s, then I hoofed it to the second floor to fill Cookie in with everything as Reyes talked to his manager, Valerie. I mistook her for a coat rack once and tried to hang my jacket on her head. I thought it was funny. She did not. But there were only so many hateful glances a girl could take. The fact that I was married to her boss, a boss with whom she was hopelessly in love, was hardly my fault. I got him first. You snooze, you lose when it comes to love. Or was that war? Either way.

By the time I got up to the office, Cook had gone home for the day. I decided to get some paperwork done. Realized that was crazy talk. And went about trying to figure out how to get revenge on Mr. Reyes Farrow. Payback was such a bitch.

I came up with a hundred ideas thanks to a website called Tortures-R-Us. Oh yeah. They had some fabulous ideas. But first, now that I could do the whole dematerialize thing, I wondered if I could spy on him. Would serve him right.

I closed my eyes and let the celestial realm wash over me. It really was stunning. Then I concentrated. Went in search of my prey. Ended up on a corner on Central, in the nonprofessional sense, and watched as the two realms collided.

I was a part of everything around me. I could always feel emotions, but this went way beyond that. I knew them. Everyone who walked through me. I knew what they were going through on a much deeper level. Not that I could read their minds or anything. More like I could feel their emotions suss out their deepest desires. Their greatest worries.

It was like a high. It was like—

I stopped and thought about what I was doing. Was I pulling an Osh? Was I feeding off them somehow? Siphoning their energy to get high?

I backed off immediately and watched from afar. Actually, from up high. Reyes used to do this all the time. He would literally float around me to keep watch. But he was always covered in a massive, black, undulating robe. I’d have to ask him how he did that.

After a few minutes of people watching and taking a couple of notes—one girl was in serious trouble and on the verge of committing suicide—Reyes stole back into my mind as he was wont to do. Probably because he was walking down the street, going in the opposite direction of me.