Lake Silence (The Others #6)(88)
“Where?” Vaughn snapped.
Grimshaw thought about the Mill Creek Cabins, but realized that not only were those rented on an annual lease; they were owned by the Sanguinati at Silence Lodge. Not the kind of landlords these humans would want.
Darren, Vaughn, and Hershel looked at one another. One by one, they nodded, as if casting a vote.
“Fine,” Darren said. “We’ll stay at the boardinghouse until we conclude our business.”
“Until eleven a.m. tomorrow,” Grimshaw corrected.
He was sure getting him reassigned to some remote human village in the Northeast was going to be a high priority for these men. He’d call Captain Hargreaves and give him a heads-up, but they would be out of the boardinghouse before they could put anything in motion.
He hoped that was true.
“Ms. Xavier will be going back to her place in about half an hour,” Julian said. “She can fit two people and some luggage in her car. The rest of you will have to ride in the available UV.”
“What are you going to do with the other two vehicles?” Grimshaw asked Vaughn and Darren.
“We’ll leave them here. For now,” Vaughn replied.
As the humans filed out of the room, Ilya plucked the book out of Heidi’s hands and gave her a fang-tipped smile. “This is Ms. DeVine’s property.”
“Oh, but . . .” Heidi began.
“We wouldn’t want anyone to think you were trying to leave with something that wasn’t yours.”
“Who would cut up stiff about a paperback?” Hershel snapped.
“Do you know where you are the moment you walk out the door of this building?” Ilya asked, his focus still on Heidi.
“The Jumble?” she replied hesitantly.
He shook his head slowly. “You’re in the wild country, and there are a lot of beings between you and the nearest human place who would ‘cut up stiff.’”
Heidi trembled. Tears filled her eyes.
Her husband didn’t put an arm around her, didn’t do so much as take her hand.
Dismissing the man, Grimshaw studied Ilya and realized the vampire hadn’t been trying to frighten Heidi; he’d been trying to warn her.
Mikhos, watch over me.
Thirty minutes later, Vicki DeVine was still in her office with Natasha Sanguinati. Grimshaw figured that was Ilya’s doing. Ineke was at the front door, tapping one foot as she waited for Heidi and Hershel to get their things packed. Or repacked, since Conan insisted on looking inside their luggage to make sure they hadn’t taken anything from the cabin.
None of the Others took pity on the humans who had to haul their luggage back to the cars unassisted. Neither did Julian. And Grimshaw decided he needed to keep his distance from these people, just in case Darren or Vaughn upset something that had bigger claws than Conan Beargard.
It took more than thirty minutes, but the three couples finally headed for the boardinghouse, leaving him and Julian in the hall with Ilya Sanguinati until Vicki and Natasha came out of the office.
“They’re gone?” Vicki asked.
“They’re gone,” Ilya replied.
“Thanks for your help.”
Grimshaw wasn’t sure who was being thanked, but since the Sanguinati seemed to be waiting for him and Julian to leave, they walked to the cruiser and drove back to Sproing.
He didn’t say anything until they turned off the access road and were heading for the village. “You get any feeling about those people?”
“I don’t get feelings about people, Wayne,” Julian said. “I sense places.”
“What’s your sense of The Jumble?”
Julian looked out the passenger window. They were pulling into a space in front of the police station before he finally said, “It’s no longer a safe place.”
CHAPTER 50
Them
Moonsday, Sumor 3
The four men and their wives met in the Danes’ room in the boardinghouse because Yorick couldn’t even leave to go to the bathroom without that damn dog trying to dig a hole in his groin looking for who knew what.
Damn Vicki. He wasn’t sure there was a way to pay her back for shooting off her mouth like that, but he’d sure like to try.
Vaughn poured the wine, looking pissed and pleased in equal measure. He hadn’t expected to be thrown out of The Jumble; hadn’t expected to be thwarted when he sent Trina to look through the papers in the office and pull out anything that could support Vicki’s claim to The Jumble. But Vaughn said those things were a temporary setback in turning The Jumble into a high-end moneymaking resort.
Yorick wasn’t so sure they would be able to turn The Jumble into anything. Not anymore. The other men had done these kinds of deals before, buying a run-down property and fiddling with the deed in order to add a few more acres of land from neighboring plots. Then they built what they pleased with none of those creatures being the wiser. But those deals, from start to finish, had been made with other humans, had been done quietly, and they had been done before the Humans First and Last movement made that colossal blunder last year that riled up the scary forms of Others that usually didn’t even notice humans. But this? People dying and Vicki making such a fuss, bringing in cops who had no allegiance to Vaughn or the rest of them, to say nothing of those freaking vampires. Too many people, too many things, were watching them now.