Chapter 9

STRAINED RELATIONS

Jack Speros’s parents looked as though they were maybe a few years younger than Jordan and Heather Fairfield, although right then, they were emanating such a muddled mixture of anger and grief that it was hard to get a good read on them, except to note that they were both tall and athletic-looking, with his mother sporting a blonde longish bob and her husband dark in contrast, his skin a deep tan that I guessed was a year-round kind of thing.

I’d called Calvin and told him to meet me at the Best Western, then had rushed out…well, waddled quickly…to my Jeep so I could hurry over here.

To say my arrival wasn’t exactly welcomed by the Speroses might have been a slight understatement.

“Who the hell are you?” Jack’s father demanded almost as soon as Jordan opened the door.

“I’m Selena Marx,” I said, doing my best to keep my tone even. “I’m Chloe’s half-sister.”

“And she’s helping us figure out who killed Jack,” Chloe added. She was sitting on the farther of the two queen beds in the room, face pinched with worry, as she and her mother held hands.

Jack’s father gave me a disbelieving look. “You’re a cop?”

“No,” I said. “But I’ve solved quite a few murders, Mr….?”

I let the words trail off and gave him a direct look, since no one in the room seemed too inclined to make introductions.

“Max Speros,” he said, his tone curt. “And this is my wife Leslie.”

Saying it was very nice to meet them didn’t seem like the right thing to do, so I settled for giving him a nod of acknowledgment.

“Anyway,” he went on, “I don’t think we need to look any further than this room to see who killed my son.”

At once, Chloe sat up a little straighter, hot color burning high on her cheekbones, bright in her otherwise pale face. “I didn’t kill Jack. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“Well, of course you would say that,” Leslie Speros put in, her voice just as tightly wound as her husband’s. “And I’m sure you’ll get a jury to believe you, with that innocent face of yours.”

“Okay, okay,” I said, holding up a hand. “I know tempers are high, and rightly so. But let’s look at this logically. Why in the world would Chloe have a motive to murder your son?”

Leslie’s chin lifted. “Because he dumped her, and she couldn’t take it.”

My eyes widened, and Chloe wore a similarly owl-eyed look.

“ I dumped him, ” she snapped.

Rather than look offended, the Speroses shared a glance that bordered on smug. “Well, of course that’s the story you spread to everyone,” Max said. “But we know what our son told us.”

“Which wasn’t the truth,” Jordan shot back. “He obviously wanted to misrepresent what really happened because he didn’t want to admit that Chloe broke up with him.”

“That is not — ” Leslie began, but didn’t get any farther than that, as someone knocked at the door right then.

Jordan, who was the one who’d let me in the hotel room and who’d remained standing near the door, went ahead and opened it. Outside stood Calvin, wearing his tan San Ramon tribal police uniform.

“You called the cops on us?” Max demanded.

“No, he didn’t,” Calvin said calmly as he came inside. “I’m not here in an official capacity. I’m Calvin Standingbear, Selena’s husband. It sounded like she needed some moral support.”

The Speroses went quiet then, clearly unsure as to how they should proceed. True, my husband had just said he wasn’t here in his role as chief of the tribal police, but still, he was such an imposing figure in his uniform, six and a half feet tall and with waist-length black hair pulled back into its usual Navajo silver clasp, that his mere presence had clearly cowed them a bit.

“I did need some moral support,” I said, going over to him so I could slip my hand in his. Then I looked at the Speroses. More than anything, I wished I could see their auras, but it didn’t seem as if those shimmers of telltale color intended to make an appearance any time soon.

So I’d just have to rely on gut instinct. I honestly didn’t think they were bad people but were trying to find a scapegoat, trying to find an easy solution to their son’s death when they didn’t know what else to do. And since Chloe had already been arrested for Jack’s murder, it felt as though they’d latched on to her as the obvious suspect because that was easier than sitting back and waiting for the police to produce another possible killer.

“This is a tragedy all around,” I said, still trying my best to sound calm and soothing, doing whatever I could to cool the temperature in the room. “You’ve suffered a terrible loss. But I know Chloe had nothing to do with Jack’s death.”

Leslie Speros sniffed. “Of course you’d say that — you don’t want your little sister to go to prison.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Calvin said. “Because Chloe’s not guilty. I think the best thing for everyone involved is to take a step back and allow each other some space. That means going on back to your own hotel or wherever you’re staying.”

“It’s an Airbnb,” Max Speros said. His voice still had that hard note in it, but I could tell he’d already taken Calvin’s measure and knew there was no way he’d emerge the victor in a physical confrontation with my husband.

And that didn’t even take into account the obvious problems involved in assaulting an officer of the law.

“Your Airbnb, then,” Calvin replied, still sounding completely unruffled.

Max Speros looked at his wife. Her mouth tightened a little, but otherwise, she didn’t reply.

However, even that small response seemed to be enough for him, because he gave her a brusque nod, and then the two of them walked out of the hotel room.

The door slam as they left was enough to make me wince.

“Thank you,” Jordan said. “I tried to tell them that confronting us here wasn’t a good idea, but they wouldn’t listen to reason.”

“I’ve never seen them like that before,” Chloe added. Her voice wasn’t much more than a whisper, and she cleared her throat before she went on, “They were always so nice to me.”

“Well, people often show their true faces when they’re under a lot of stress,” I told her. “And I can understand why they’re not acting completely rational right now. But at least it seems they’ve come to their senses enough to realize they need to respect your boundaries.”

“A guy in a uniform can have that effect,” Jordan observed, his tone now dry. With the Speroses gone, he seemed much more relaxed.

Not all the way, though. I had a feeling the tension in his shoulders and the taut look to his jaw wouldn’t disappear completely until his daughter had been exonerated.

“Glad I could help,” Calvin said, although a frown pulled at his brows. “What I can’t figure out is how they knew to find you here.”

“That’s my fault,” Heather replied. She pressed her lips together, guilt clearly tugging at her. “I thought it would help Leslie to know where we were staying so we could meet after they got to Globe. I never in a million years thought they might actually believe Chloe was responsible for Jack’s death.”

On the surface, it seemed a strange conclusion to leap to, especially when Chloe had been in their son’s life for several years and would have had ample reason to off him if she truly did have murder on her mind.

But people often liked to latch onto the closest target, and if Jack truly had lied to them and said that he was the one to initiate the breakup and not vice versa, I could see why they might have viewed her as a woman scorned, someone who wanted to get rid of the person who’d caused her so much pain.

Of course, that didn’t explain why Jack had come to Globe if he was the one who’d walked away from Chloe. However, I had a feeling his parents would find some way to justify his actions, even if they didn’t make much sense at first glance.

“I’ll let Henry Lewis know what happened here,” Calvin said. “Things didn’t get too out of hand, but still, he should be aware that the Speroses are openly hostile to your family and may do something rash. I have a feeling that if they know the local police are keeping an eye on them, they’ll behave themselves a little better.”

Thank the Goddess for Calvin. I knew he’d present the situation factually, with zero embellishments, but at the same time, he’d also make Henry aware the Speroses were something of a wild card.

Or loose cannons.

“We appreciate that,” Jordan said. He reached up to push a hand through his gray-flecked hair, hair that was probably almost as thick as it had been back when he’d met my mother in that club in Reseda. “But I’m also sorry for dragging you into all this. Heather called because we didn’t know what else to do.”

“It’s fine,” I replied, then looked over at Calvin. He didn’t appear too worried by the situation, which told me he knew the Speroses were going to be on their best behavior for at least the next little while. “Honestly, I was just sitting at home, trying to figure out what to defrost for dinner. This was much more interesting.”

Both of Chloe’s parents chuckled then, and she got up from the bed so she could come over and give me a quick hug. “You are seriously the best big sister in the world,” she declared.

“I don’t know about that,” I said. This time, my cheeks were the ones that were flushed. “But I’m glad — we’re both glad that we could help.”

“So…what should we do now?” Heather asked. Unlike her husband, she was still obviously upset by the encounter with the Speroses, her face pale and her voice shaky. “I mean, this is a pretty small town — no offense. I don’t know how we’re supposed to keep avoiding them for however long all this is going to take.”

Chloe turned back toward her mother. “Mom, I already told you that I don’t expect you to stay here the whole time. We don’t even know how long it’s going to take to get a trial date. You know you and Dad can’t stay away from your jobs that long.”

Heather’s mouth set. “We’re not going to abandon you — ”

“It’s not abandoning her,” I cut in, but gently. “Calvin and I will be here for her — and my mother, too. She was already planning to be here for at least the next three months, maybe longer. You don’t have to worry about Chloe not having a support system.”

While my words seemed to cheer Heather a bit, I couldn’t ignore the direct look she gave my rounded belly. “I think you’re going to have your hands full very soon,” she remarked.

“I am,” I said calmly. “But I’ve got Calvin and his whole family as well as my mom. We’ll have attention to spare for Chloe, I promise.”

Something about Jordan’s expression was almost skeptical, as though he couldn’t quite let himself believe that I’d have any energy or time to spare for this newfound sister of mine. To my relief, though, he didn’t try to protest, but only said, “And Heather and I really appreciate that.”

A smile touched my lips as a thought popped into my mind. “I think I know how to avoid the Speroses…at least for the rest of the day.”

It was a good thing I had so much food in the freezer — and that the dining room at Calvin’s and my house could accommodate a big group…at least, once we put the leaf in the table.

Of course, Jordan and Heather had tried to demur, pointing out that they could handle themselves if they bumped into the Speroses at one of Globe’s few dining establishments. The ranks of those restaurants had swelled slightly over the last couple of months, thanks to Sofia Barnes getting her brewpub up and running in record time, but still, the odds of encountering Jack’s family were at least one in four.

It just seemed smarter to have the Fairfields over at the house and avoid running that particular risk.

The weather that day was mild enough that Calvin could take everyone on a hike to use up some time, while I remained at home. As much as I enjoyed hiking around these hills with my husband, I knew I wasn’t up for that kind of activity at the moment…and probably not for at least another couple of months.

Instead, I thought I should take advantage of the unexpected free time to consult the Tarot and see if it could provide me with any insights into the true killer’s identity. I probably should have done so earlier, but the events of the past couple of days had spilled over me like a river in flood, and this was the first time where it felt as if I had the opportunity to truly calm my mind and allow it to be open to any messages the universe might want to send me.

So I went into my office and lit some white sage incense, the kind that always seemed to create the sort of soothing space I needed for this sort of work. Off from their shelf came my set of beloved Everyday Witch cards, and then I started shuffling.

It took a while before I felt the tingle in my fingers that always told me when it was time to stop and pull a card. In situations like this, I generally liked to pull three; it had been a long time since I’d done the much more elaborate Celtic Cross configuration, mostly because that was the sort of card pull I’d done for clients in the past who’d booked me for a full reading, and I’d left the Celtic Cross behind the same way I’d left the life I’d once lived.

Now, though, I only wanted to get some clarity and — if I was lucky — a few hints that might guide me in the direction I needed to go.

The very first card was the Devil, and a worried breath escaped my lips. True, I was performing a reading to track down a murderer, so I doubted I would pull any truly beneficent cards — like the Star or the Nine of Cups — in a situation like this. But….

Well, at least it’s not the Ten of Swords, I told myself with a mental grin. That grim image of a hapless witch lying face-down in the road, her back pierced by ten blades, tended to come up all too often when I was doing these readings.

Then again, this was only the first card in the pull.

Back to what was lying on the altar in front of me. In general, the Devil represented temptation, being swayed from one’s true path by giving in to greed or lust or sometimes just taking the easy way out of a difficult situation. Sometimes it could also signify feeling helpless, of being controlled by outside forces. Whatever interpretation was at work here, it wasn’t anything positive…which didn’t surprise me too much.

The next card was the Seven of Swords reversed, and I let out a hiss of breath from between my teeth. Once again, not something you wanted to see in a personal reading, as it was often connected to deceit or betrayal. I didn’t always pay much attention to reversals, letting the overall feel of a reading guide how I was supposed to interpret a card, but in this case, its lesser meaning of keeping secrets might very well be in play.

Question was, who was keeping secrets from whom?

It was way too early to make a definitive judgment one way or another, so I paused for a moment, holding the remaining cards in my hands, praying to the universe and the Goddess to guide me to something that would provide the most illumination.

My fingertips tingled, so I pulled out the card they were touching and laid it on the altar.

The Emperor, reversed.

I frowned, staring down at the trio of cards that lay on my pretty blue and green springtime altar cloth. In many cases, the Emperor was a positive card, but reversed like this, it could indicate some kind of controlling figure, or even a lack of discipline.

But which meaning of the card was at work here?

Put together, the collection of cards didn’t seem to have an overall direction. Loss of control. Betrayal. Domination.

But who had felt out of control and dominated? Jack Speros?

Nothing Chloe had told me about her former boyfriend seemed to match that description. All right, possibly he’d felt betrayed when she broke up with him, as though his life was out of control, and yet I had the nagging sense somewhere deep inside that I wasn’t reading this set of cards correctly.

Which meant that the best thing for me to do was to leave them lying on my altar for now, so I might go back from time to time and revisit them to try to get a better sense of what they were attempting to tell me. Standing here and frowning down at them wasn’t going to change anything.

Besides, my feet hurt.

I left my office and went back to the living room so I could elevate my legs for a while. Calvin and Chloe and her parents had only been gone for about a half hour, so I knew I still had some time alone. The hike he’d taken them on wasn’t particularly strenuous — none of them had been dressed for anything more challenging than a glorified walk — but it would still keep them occupied for a good chunk of the afternoon. Then we could have an early dinner, and the Fairfields could go back to their hotel…which I had to hope wasn’t being surveilled by the Speroses.

Sadie had followed me out of my office and then jumped on the couch so she could snuggle next to me. My belly was far too big for her to sit in my lap anymore, but she still seemed to be content to just be close like this. I stroked her tiny, silky head and fondled her oversized ears, and she leaned into me, glad of the extra attention.

Then my stomach seemed to clench, and I pulled in a sharp breath.

Was that a contraction?

I sat there, dead still, my hand lying on Sadie’s back. For a moment or two, I didn’t dare breathe.

What would happen if I went into labor now, with no one around to help me?

You’re not going into labor, I told myself. Dr. Carlisle said you might get a twinge here and there, but it’s perfectly normal.

True…but what if that really had been a contraction?

Then you’ll call Calvin and you’ll call your doctor. He has his phone, and it’s not like you’re stranded in the middle of the Gobi Desert or something.

As the seconds passed, I realized that the sudden ache in my belly hadn’t been anything more than the twinge my doctor had mentioned. All right, “twinge” was sort of downplaying the sensation, but since no others appeared ready to follow, I knew everything was fine.

For now.

I dismissed that thought as best I could. All the same, the unsettling sensation had served as a harsh reminder that this baby was coming soon, and if I didn’t do some hard work between now and then, I might not be able to help Chloe clear her name.

Problem was, I didn’t even know what form that hard work should take.