“It’s very sad when you think about it,” she said. “What a waste of a life.”
“The man was a blackmailer with a gambling addiction,” Owen said. “I’d say he made some poor choices along the way, and statistically speaking, a short lifespan was almost guaranteed.”
She went out into the hall with Sebastian. “Still, it’s sad.”
Owen followed her out of the apartment and closed the door. “Let’s go see the fortune-teller.”
“We have to talk to the manager first. In addition to giving him the key, we’d better warn him that someone broke into Voyle’s apartment. We don’t want him to think we did the damage.”
“He’ll blame us anyway, but given the amount I tipped him, I don’t think he’ll call the police.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“This is horrible,” Alice whispered.
Sebastian growled softly, but Owen noticed that he did not sleek out and open his second set of eyes. That made it clear there was no immediate threat.
He looked down at the body of the fortune-teller. “Yes, it is horrible.” He had seen far worse, but he decided this was probably not the time to mention that. He glanced at Alice. “Are you okay?”
She took a couple of steps back, clutching Sebastian with one hand as if he were a security blanket. She used her other hand to hold her scarf to her nose. “Yes. I think so. What is going on here? Why would anyone murder the fortune-teller?”
He was impressed. Again. She’d been forced to deal with two murder victims in less than forty-eight hours. In addition, she was being hunted by some ruthless people. Still no signs of panic. The woman was amazing.Maybe there was something to the teachings and practices of the Ballantine Method.
He turned back to the immediate problem. They had found the body a few minutes ago. There had been no response to the doorbell, so he had decided to try the kitchen door. It had been unlocked. As soon as he opened it, he knew that what awaited them inside would be bad—and that this time the problem wouldn’t be rotting garbage.
Madam Xirena appeared to have been dead for about a day. She had been shot with a mag-rez.
The fortune-teller had been killed in the dimly lit, heavily draped sitting room she had evidently used to conduct business. She was dressed in a long, colorful gown decorated with stars and various exotic symbols associated with ancient Old World alchemy. Layers of necklaces glittered around her throat. Bracelets were stacked on each arm. Rings sparkled on her fingers.
Like Voyle’s studio, the place had been searched.
“Her jewelry looks expensive,” Alice said quietly. “Whoever killed her didn’t take it.”
“Which rules out a burglary gone bad.” He studied the sparkling shards of glass, crystals, and chimes scattered across the rug. “It’s possible an unhappy client decided to take revenge, but that would be pushing the coincidence factor right off a cliff. I think we can assume that Madam Xirena was murdered for the usual reason.”
Alice shuddered. “Someone was afraid she knew too much?”
“Whoever searched Voyle’s apartment must have found something that led him to Madam Xirena, just as we did.”
“And knew that fortune-tellers learn their clients’ deepest secrets,” Alice said uneasily. “We should call the police.”
“We will, but we’ll do it anonymously—after we’re clear of the Shadow Zone. At this point we can’t take the risk of getting delayed by a lot of questions from law enforcement. We need to get out of here. Now.”
“Why?” she asked, her eyes sharpening. “What’s wrong?”
“Besides the obvious?” He moved one hand to indicate the dead woman.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. He took the flamer out of his pocket and headed toward the door. “I’m getting a really bad vibe.”
She didn’t argue. He was very glad she didn’t ask any more questions, because he had no rational explanation for why his intuition had just slammed into the red zone. The sense that time was running out hit him hard.
Sebastian wriggled free of Alice’s grasp, sleeked out, opened all four eyes, and bounced up onto his shoulder.Probably reacting to mytension. Or maybe he was hearing dust bunny alarm bells.
When they reached the back door, he stopped and eased the curtain aside long enough to check the alley. The fog blurred the view, but he did not see any shadows moving in the mist.
“Stay close,” he said to Alice.
