Part 4 (1/2)
”At least you made it into the office.”
”Yeah, barely.” A phantom throb started between her legs again. G.o.d. ”By the way, it was a really...I search for the word...
differentexperience talking with him.”
”Oh? Oooohhh.” Kiko nodded. ”He put you under. You know, you didn't look like you were that far gone when Breisi and I came into the room. I'll betyouwere a hard customer.”
Dawn was still back at ”put you under.” As in ”hypnosis”? It would go a long way in explaining her inability to stop revealing personal tidbits to The Voice. What an a.s.shole.
Kiko pointed to his head. ”Now, I'm no slouch in the mind-over-matter department myself, but the boss...He's the best at hypnosis. I've already learned a ton of things from him, but I'm stuck at where you initially read people. That's my forte, I guess-reading. Maybe I'll never go as far as the boss-you know, where he uses his voice to get what he needs, toreallygo inside. Not that it matters. He says the two of us brainiacs have different talents anyway.” He donned a wors.h.i.+pful grin. Aw, The Voice's pet acolyte.
”The boss says,” Kiko added, ”that mind skills are a good tool against bad guys who're being stubborn or defensive about giving up information.”
Her? Stubborn and defensive?A bad guy?
She crossed her arms over her chest, as if to block out more attempts at the mind games she'd been subjected to tonight, courtesy of Kiko and the freakin' Voice. ”I recall that he asked questions that had nothing to do with Frank.”
”Maybe they did and you don't know it.”
”You'd better be right, because you know what? I don't like anyone in my head or pulling words out of me.”
She didn't add anything about how the apparent hypnosis had affected her body because, truthfully,thathad been the highlight of her day. It had offered a measure of comfort, pleasure. Calm. But that's just how she operated, no apologies necessary. s.e.x was her balm, dignified or not.
But had The Voice ”read” this about her and used it as a means to relax her?
Anger twisted in her chest. It was an invasion, she thought, and she didn't appreciate it one d.a.m.ned bit.
Kiko was raising an eyebrow, probably knowing exactly what was going through her head. ”He was testing you, I'll bet. Seeing how much you'd be able to take on the job. Seeing if you'd measure up.”
Bulls.h.i.+t. ”I'm warning you, if anyone tries to go where no man has gone before on me again, I will tear you apart. I will draw and quarter your a.s.ses. Relaythatto the boss.”
He shrank away from her, clearly knowing she wasn't kidding. ”Don't get uppity. He would never go in uninvited. And once he's inside,youdecide how he's going to function.”
”Say what?”
”You...” Kiko paused, then shrugged fatalistically. ”You have to leave some kind of door open for him to get in, a willingness, whether it's conscious or unconscious. That's what he uses to enter, then to take control. I don't know exactly how it worked with you, but-”
”Unbelievable.” Okay, so this meant s.e.x was her doorbell. She was well aware of that. The Voice had just better keep it cla.s.sified information. ”What kind of business do you chuckleheads do, anyway?”
Kiko paused, then lifted his dimpled chin. ”We help with life's strange emergencies.”
”Which means...?”
”Well, it means things like 'how did Robby get into that movie?'” Kiko hesitated. ”I don't know. I could be wrong about you.
Still, I really feel it's going to take more than explanations to bring you into Frank's life.”
He stopped and turned around, leaving Dawn with a thousand more questions she didn't really want to ask.
A few seconds pa.s.sed.
Dawn couldn't stand it anymore. ”So the agency is...” She used her hands to search for a description.
”Paranormally inclined?” Kiko smiled. She just stared at him. There was no way Frank would've been into this junk.
”I'm not some naive client who needs entertainment as a side platter to a main course of case solving, so just give me real answers.”
”I'm trying.”
What a drama queen, she thought. There's got to be a logical explanation waiting right around the corner.
But he wasn't giving it to her yet. ”The boss is being cautious about taking you on because I think, deep down, he hates having you walk in your dad's footsteps. But he knows I'm always right in the end. See, that's another thing-I can sometimes grasp the future, and that's just as useful as hypnosis, he says.”
Touching. The Voice cared for her. A lot of good that would do Frank. ”Kiko, I can look out for myself. And, I swear, Limpet doesn't have to hire me on, not after I find Dad. I'll be going back to regular work.”
”I'm sure.”
”I will.”
”I know you think so. But, in the meantime, a consultation fee wouldn't come amiss for you. Am I right?”
d.a.m.n it, it was a b.i.t.c.h to be broke, especially when her dad constantly made so many bad investments with the residuals from her mom's legacy. And if Dawn was going to desert her job back in Arlington in order to find Frank, her pockets would be even lighter. ”I suppose I could get paid for my time and effort.”
”Good.”
Pride stinging, she shut her mouth.
Kiko glanced over his shoulder at the GPS device Breisi was using to get to the Pennybakers', then back at Dawn. In the meantime, Breisi uttered a victorious ”Yesss!” while pumping her fist by her side. Score for the Dodgers.
”If we're done with Boss Talk,” Kiko said, ”it looks like we've got a few minutes for me to catch you up on what's happening with this case.”
Good. The nitty gritty. Maybe now Kiko would drop the ghost c.r.a.p and get down to bra.s.s tacks.
”Shoot,” she said.
”Okay. The boss approached Marla Pennybaker, Robby's mom, after the publicity hit about her 'dead' son being inDiaper Derby. The Internet is what started it all. All the film geek chat rooms were buzzing about the sighting, calling Robby's appearance 'the ultimate Easter Egg.'”
”Ah.” An Easter Egg was code for an inside movie joke, usually a scene that's tucked away on a DVD as a bonus. ”You told me that Robby's mom said special effects weren't the reason her son appeared in the movie. Why's that?”
”Because about four months before Robby's death, he dropped out of the movies, went through a phase where he refused to work. We'll see why with further investigation, I'm sure. He hid inside the house, even while his mom and dad tried to get him out, but Robby was adamant about not making any public appearances at all. Then he did something out of character: he had someone come in to pierce him, and he grew out his hair so he looked like a little punk. There were no pictures, no recorded images of him during that time.”
Dawn sighed and glanced out the window. ”I remember Robby in the movies. He was so clean-cut. So cute.” ”Right. That's why Mrs. Pennybaker believes something is off. Robby's long-haired, pierced image couldn't have been spliced intoDiaper Derbybecause it isn't available.”
Her mind wasn't quite wrapping around all of this. It didn't want to. ”So, somewhere, heisalive?”
But that didn't sound right. She thought about how Robby hadn't aged in twenty-three years.
Don't even think ”paranormal,” Dawn. Don't.
”I have my doubts about him actually 'being alive.'” Kiko actually used air quotes for that last part.