Guild Boss (Ghost Hunters #14)(12)

“Any reason to believe that someone has come looking for you?” Gabriel asked.

“No. We have an excellent neighborhood watch in the Dark Zone. People would notice strangers in the area.”

Gabriel glanced out at the ruins of the Dead City. “Don’t you feel vulnerable here at work?”

“At first I was worried about taking the job, but it turns out you can’t eat or pay the rent if you don’t work. I’m no longer so concerned. Otis comes with me every day. He would sense a threat.”

Gabriel switched his attention to Otis. “I think you’re right. It’s obvious he has bonded with you.”

Lucy smiled at Otis. “We’re pals.”

“When I couldn’t get hold of you I called your parents’ house. Mrs. Bell said that you were all right but that you were still recovering from your experience in the Underworld. She said it would not be a good idea to try to get in touch with you.”

“That sounds like Deborah. She views me as an embarrassment to the family.”

Gabriel was silent for a moment.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

She thought about that, remembering the dreams and the nightmares. “I guess I sort of trust you.”

“Sort of?”

“Well, you did rescue me from the Underworld, but then you turned me over to the demons. I realized that was not your intention, but I also knew I was no longer at the top of your list of priorities. You had completed your mission and you were off to the next one.”

“So the jury is still out on whether you can trust me?”

Gabriel didn’t sound offended now. She got the feeling he was in working mode—collecting facts for a file.

“Otis likes you, so that means I’m leaning in your favor,” she said.

“Obviously you’ve given the issue of whether or not you can trust me some serious thought.”

She sighed. “Okay, I realize you weren’t working for the kidnappers.”

Irritation flickered in his eyes. “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to hear that.”

“I was just another mission for you—admit it.”

Gabriel’s expression hardened. “You were a mission. Right after I brought you up to the surface I was tasked with another assignment. I spent four weeks in the Rainforest tracking a serial killer. You know as well as I do that high-tech communication devices don’t work down there. And even if they did, I wouldn’t have been able to risk contacting you or anyone else. The killer knew I was hunting him. I had to disappear for a time.”

“I understand. You’re a professional. You had a job to do.”

He looked irritated again, but he did not contradict her.

“Let’s get back to the demons at the hospital,” he said. “The ones who gave you the drugs.”

“There were two of them that first night,” she said. “Both male, but that’s all I can tell you. On the second night only one returned. That was a win for me. Taking out one demon was hard enough for Otis and me. Two would have been a problem. I mean, we’re good, but we didn’t have mag-rez pistols, just a bedpan.”

“You’re sure the demons weren’t on the staff at the clinic?”

“Yes, for the same reason you mentioned. There was nothing in the papers about an injured doctor.”

“Do you have any proof of what happened in the clinic?”

This time she gave him a knife-edge of a smile. “Of course not. I hallucinated the whole thing, remember?”

He did not take the bait. He just waited. She hesitated, and then, because Gabriel Jones was the one person who might just possibly be persuaded to believe her, she unfastened the top two buttons of the safari shirt and showed him the pendant she wore on a chain-link necklace. The stone was a skillfully cut and polished chunk of smoky gray amber.

“The demon I beaned with the bedpan was wearing this under his lab coat,” she said.

Gabriel studied the pendant. “You took it?”

“It would be more accurate to say I stole it. He was unconscious at the time.”

“I see.” Gabriel raised his eyes. “Why did you take it?”

She shifted a little in the seat. “Remember me telling you that the kidnappers wore necklaces set with glowing blue stones?”

“Yes, but this stone is gray. What is it, by the way? Looks like amber, but I’ve never seen gray amber.”

“It’s amber.” She refastened the top two buttons of her shirt. “When the second demon walked into the room that first night, this stone glowed blue.”

“Think it’s been tuned to be a signal stone? Clubs, sports teams, and gangs sometimes use them to show affiliation with a group.”

“Maybe. I haven’t dared take it to a tuner who might recognize it and notify the demons—I mean, the bad guys.” She really did have to break the habit of thinking of the kidnappers as demons. “The pendant has been cold and gray the whole time I’ve had it.”

“Can I take a look at it?” he asked.

She hesitated. “All right, but I want it back.”

“Do you really believe I’m going to steal it?”

She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “No. It’s just that I’m afraid of losing it. It’s the only proof I’ve got that someone tried to kidnap me and then, later, tried to make me forget everything.”