Part 19 (1/2)
”She has to be here,” I repeated, rubbing the back of my neck wearily.
”She is. You know as well as I do that it's almost impossible to find a polter when they don't want to be seen. I'm not too worried about her; she appears to be savvy enough to take care of herself.”
”I doubt if she can handle a murderer, though.”
Adam squeezed my shoulder. ”I set Jules to watch Meredith's room. If he leaves it, we'll know. That's the best I can do until we find Pixie, OK?”
I hated to leave the girl alone and unprotected, but I didn't see any alternative. If Meredith was being watched...well, that would have to do. ”All right. Dad, I guess you're up.”
”Interview?” His face brightened. ”Excellent! Do you mind if I don't sit?”
”Not at all.” Adam led the way over to our little table and took a seat opposite me.
Dad walked around us in a fast circle, one that caused dizziness if watched too long. I raised my eyebrows at Adam, distracted by a sudden thought.
”You don't seem to have any problem sitting still.”
”Decades of training. I wanted a job in the mundane world, and although I used glamours at times, I figured it was better if I learned to pa.s.s as a mortal before the third arm dropped off. Plus, I'm a quarter human.”
”It does help,” I agreed.
”You don't seem to have inherited much of your father's traits. They're downright quiescent,” he said, giving the pair of us a questioning look.
”It's sad, isn't it?” Dad asked. ”She does have my eyes, though. And my good taste, in all things but her choice of men. The rest of her comes from her mother, sadly.”
I ignored my father and gave Adam a little smile. ”Like you, I knew I was going to make my way in the mortal world. It just took a little work to stifle the polter traits.”
”You disapproved of Karma's choice of husband?” Adam asked, s.h.i.+fting his attention to Dad.
”Good lord, yes. I loathed the man, and he me,” Dad answered, whipping around us in his circuit of restlessness. ”He hated all our kind, except those he could s.e.xually exploit. I didn't understand at first why he wanted to marry Karma, until I figured out his perverted s.e.xual tastes.”
”Gee, thanks, Dad.”
He patted me on the shoulder as he went past me. ”No offense intended, honey. You know I loved your mother deeply, at least until she turned into a shrew.”
”Dad!”
”Sorry. Until she decided she needed a life without me. I have nothing against mixed marriages-but Spider didn't want you for yourself, as I did your mother. He wanted you because of what you were.”
”Did Spider ever threaten you?” Adam asked.
”h.e.l.l, yes. All the time!” Dad answered cheerfully. ”He started by threatening to cut me out of Karma's life, but by the time he knew she wouldn't go along with that, the threats turned to permanently eliminating me.”
I gawked in astonishment. ”He threatened your life? You never told me that!”
He gave me an oddly meaningful look as he pa.s.sed by me. ”Unlike some people not a million miles away from here, I don't feel obliged to spill every secret I have.”
”G.o.d d.a.m.n it, you listened to my private conversation with Adam!”
”I couldn't help but listen to it. You didn't even bother to leave the room.”
I muttered a curse against the excellent hearing I knew he possessed.
”Next time, you are free to excuse yourself from the room.”
”What, and miss all the good bits?” He grinned. ”Not likely.”
”Can we get this conversation back on topic?” Adam asked. ”We've established your profound dislike of Spider, and vice versa. Were your feelings about him enough to make you want to kill him?”
”Every day. Every time I saw his face smirking at Karma. Every pa.s.sing year, when I saw what effect he had on her, how he was draining the life out of her.”
”No one has drained the life out of me! I'm just fine!”
”Honey, honey, honey.” His hand clapped onto my shoulder. ”You're a shadow of what you used to be. You were vibrant before you met Spider. Now you're just...worn out.”
I twitched my shoulder out from under his hand. ”I don't know if I'm going to be able to cope with all these compliments, so let's get off the subject of me, and back to Spider. Where were you when he was being killed?”
He tossed all three hands into the air. ”How do I know? I don't know when he was killed.”
”You left the living room before I did. What did you do after Karma and Spider went upstairs?” Adam asked.
Dad paused in his circuit for a moment as he tried to recall. ”Hmm. I went up to make sure my girl was all right, but when it was clear she was holding her own against him, I had a look around the house. You've got bats in the attic.”
”I know. Did you go downstairs into the bas.e.m.e.nt at any time?”
”Well ...” Dad flitted over to the far window and twitched back the curtain. ”I did for a minute, just to see what was down there. I heard someone breathing, and had a look-see about that, but it was only Amanita behind the heater. I was leaving when Spider and Meredith came in. Before you ask-I hid behind a rowboat until they'd gone into the other section of the room. Then I came back upstairs.”
Adam frowned in thought. ”You didn't see anyone down there other than Nita?”
He looked downright innocent, which usually meant he was anything but that. ”No. There was no one there but her.”
”Ah,” Adam said. ”Did you see anyone going into the bas.e.m.e.nt?”
”Not a soul. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so I went to the kitchen to see if there wasn't something to nosh on. Didn't see anyone there. Since the two ghosties were gone, I took a few liberties with some pecan pie I found in the fridge. By the time I was done, Karma was up from her nap, so I came back here to see what was going on.”
Apporting as he entered the room...which meant he was under stress or in the grip of some strong emotion, neither of which would be applicable if what he told us was true. I bit the end of the pen as I thought about what he could possibly have been up to that had left him in such a state.
”Anything else you want to know?”
Adam's pale gaze met mine for a second, asking a question. I shook my head.
”OK. Think I'll go have another look for Pixie. I'm an old hand at finding little girls who like to hide, aren't I, honey?”
”I was never very good at hiding,” I pointed out.
”No, but you sure tried. It was instinctive. See you later, then.” He hurried off toward the kitchen, no doubt to molest the pecan pie a bit more.