Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell #1)(38)

“From what I could tell, she seems quite attractive.” And in some of the photos, Yvonne bore the same green-gold halo that Lon had. I started to ask about this, but he spoke before I could.

“She is. She’s also high-strung and gets off on danger. If she’s not getting coked up and gambling, she’s participating in orgies or wrecking her car.”

My mouth twisted as I remembered the image of my own car wrapped around a tree.

“Your wreck was different,” he acknowledged with a smile. He flicked ashes and ticked off a short list of complaints. “Yvonne hated La Sirena—hated the beaches up here. Too full of sea lions and driftwood instead of sexy sunbathers. Hated my job. Hated being a mother; said it slowed her down, and she had no patience for Jupe’s energy and questions. In her defense, though, he was kind of a handful when he was a toddler.”

“I can only imagine.” I chuckled, pushing hair out of my face. “What does Jupe think about her?”

“When he was younger, he thought she was glamorous. She’d bring him expensive presents when she visited. A couple of years ago he started to see her for what she was. Now he just feels sorry for her.”

That made me a little sad, but I didn’t say anything.

“He’s close to Yvonne’s sister, though—Adella—and his grandmother. The two of them live in Oregon. Adella’s a university professor. She and her mom drive down here every few months to visit us, or we go up there. They’ve been real supportive. Love Jupe to pieces.”

“At least he has that,” I said. “Not everyone does.” I gave him a closed-lipped smile and his face softened. “My mom’s parents died when I was about Jupe’s age. I never knew my dad’s parents.”

“My parents are both dead,” he said. “I inherited my money and property from them.”

“Siblings?”

“Only child.”

“Me too, but I guess you know that from watching the news.” I squinted at his scar. “So how did she do that?”

He traced his finger along it and exhaled. “She cut me with a kitchen knife on my way into the divorce courtroom.”

“Holy shit.” I was shocked and slightly horrified.

“In the end, it was worth it. My request for full custody of Jupe was granted without question. The judge said she should be locked up in a mental institution, but I didn’t have her arrested.”

“Why not?”

“Because … my dabbling with magick is the reason she’s the way she is,” he said without emotion, stubbing his cigarette into the grass. He looked away, as if that were the end of the conversation.

“What? Don’t think you can just drop a bomb like that and not explain it.”

He shrugged, but didn’t respond. Clearly he thought he’d said too much and was clamming up again.

“I’ve shared secrets with you,” I reminded him, “so it’s only polite that you return the favor.”

The barest hint of a smile, but he wasn’t budging.

“Fine,” I said, brushing my hand on my jeans. “If you aren’t ready to tell me now, I can wait.”

He looked at me for a moment, then nodded. I interpreted that to mean that he’d tell me eventually. “Ready to get back to work?” he asked. “We need to get this finished. You’ve still got to charge the damn thing with Heka once we’re done.”

I sighed and pushed myself out of my chair with a groan, carefully scanning Lon’s face for clues to his feelings. Funny that after all my years living in hiding, I was struck by the realization that someone else’s secrets might be just as interesting as mine.

13

A day had passed since Lon and I erected the ward around my house, and my servitor still hadn’t returned. I was beginning to worry, and contemplated pulling it back prematurely.

Apart from my house or Lon’s, or my now heavily warded rental car, one of the safest places I could be was probably the bar. Being around people coming and going would help to disguise my energy from any lurking spies. So, regrettably, I resumed my shifts at Tambuku until Lon had had a chance to research our new glass talon lead. Most of our regulars acted glad to see me back behind the bar. I only had to break up one fight yesterday, and it didn’t involve binding anyone, so not too bad.

Tambuku was busy today, and the work kept my mind off matters. During a short break early on in my shift, I tried to email Caliph Superior in Florida. I wanted to tell him about the glass talon and the visit to the Tamlins, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to phone him, just in case his calls were being monitored. However, my email bounced back, saying that his in-box was full.

While I debated whether to risk a call to the caliph, my phone rang. Lon’s number.

“Hey there,” I answered. I’d been getting antsy waiting to hear from him today, so it was a relief that he’d called.

But it wasn’t Lon’s voice that answered in reply; it was Jupe’s.

“Heya, Cady, whatcha doing?”

“Umm, working. What are you doing calling me on your dad’s phone?”

“You’re not mad, are you?”

“No—”

“Whew! You scared me there for a second. I didn’t know your number and he checks all the calls I make on my cell phone, I mean, uh, not that it matters … anyway, are you at your bar? I looked it up online. How come you don’t have a website?”