Whether he had elemental magic himself or stole it from his victims, Randall Dekes sounded like a very dangerous man.
"You know, Dekes has offered me far more than what the Sea Breeze is worth," Callie said, interrupting my thoughts. "He's even promised me a job heading up one of the new restaurants in the resort complex. "
"So what's the problem?" I asked.
She looked at Bria. "There was a fire about a week ago at an ice-cream shop not too far from here. Remember Stu Alexander?"
Bria nodded. "He used to give us free chocolate-dipped cones sometimes when we went into his shop. He was such a sweet old man. I remember he sent flowers to my parents' funerals, even though he didn't know them or me very well. "
"Well, he was killed in the fire. Burned alive inside his own store. Stu Alexander, who never hurt anyone in his entire life. I still can't quite believe it. " Callie wrapped her arms around herself, but she couldn't completely hide her shiver. "The cops are still trying to determine whether it was an accident. "
"But you don't think it was an accident," I said.
Callie stared at the floor. "I went into the shop the day before the fire to pick up an ice-cream cake for one of the waitresses' birthdays. Stu told me that Dekes and some of his men had been by the shop that morning. That Dekes said it was his last chance to sell out or else. Stu loved his store just as much as I do the Sea Breeze. It was his whole life. He said he'd told Dekes that he was never going to sell, no matter how much money the vampire offered him. Stu even bragged about how he got his gun out from behind the counter and got Dekes and his men to leave. But the next day, Stu was dead. "
She shivered again. "Of course, I told the police what Stu told me, but they say they can't do anything without proof. Stu was the last holdout besides me. "
This wasn't the first time I'd encountered a situation like this. Not too long ago, I'd helped out Warren Fox, an old friend of Fletcher's. A coal tycoon named Tobias Dawson had secretly discovered diamonds on Warren's land and had done everything he could to get his hands on them, even sending someone to rape and kill Warren's granddaughter, Violet. I'd stopped Dawson, though - one of my growing number of pro bono deeds as the Spider.
"Why didn't you tell me about all of this?" Bria asked. "I could have helped you before it got this far. "
Callie shrugged. "Whenever I've called lately, you've always sounded busy, distracted, worried. It seemed like you were having enough problems of your own in Ashland, and I didn't want to bother you with mine. "
Bria's gaze cut to me, and I knew what she was thinking. That maybe if she hadn't been so busy looking for her long-lost big sister, Genevieve Snow, looking for the Spider, looking for me, maybe Callie would have told her about Dekes. Then maybe Bria could have figured out a way to help her friend before now - and maybe even saved an old man from being murdered. Bria didn't say anything, but I could see the guilt glimmering in her eyes - along with that anger again.
Anger at me and the fact that I hadn't come straight out and told Bria who I really was when she'd come back to Ashland. Anger that I'd let Mab capture her. Anger that the Fire elemental had tortured her, despite my promises to keep that from ever happening. I didn't think Bria was wrong to blame me. I'd failed to protect her when it mattered most, something that would always haunt me.
Mab Monroe might be dead, but I wondered if things would ever really be right between me and my sister. If the Fire elemental and the two divergent paths that she had put me and Bria on, the things that she'd done to us, would ever really be forgotten - or forgiven.
But that was a worry for another day. Right now, the question was what to do about Randall Dekes. Was taking down Dekes the smart thing to do? I had few doubts it was the right thing, given everything that Callie had said and what I'd witnessed here in the restaurant tonight.
But I'd come to Blue Marsh to get away from my troubles as the Spider, not throw myself knives-first into someone else's problem, especially someone that I didn't have any real connection to. Callie was Bria's friend, not mine. But that was the catch - Bria loved Callie like a sister, and I loved Bria. I'd do anything for my sister, including protect her friend the best way that I knew how.
I hadn't known Stu Alexander, but I could keep Callie from ending up like him. I could keep Bria from crying over her best friend's grave like she had her parents' earlier today. I could do at least that much for my sister. I didn't know if it would make up for everything she'd suffered because of me, but all I could do was keep trying - and hope that it counted for something with Bria in the end.
"What if I told you that I could help you with Dekes?" I asked Callie. "That I could get him to leave you alone - for good?"
Bria sighed, knowing what was coming next. "Gin . . . "
She didn't get to finish her thought. The screen door creaked open, and quick footsteps sounded, hurrying across the wooden floor.
"Callie!" a worried voice called out. "Are you okay?"
This time, I was the one who froze - shocked into absolute stillness just like everyone else had been earlier. I couldn't have been more surprised, more stunned, than if the ground had opened up at my feet and Mab had crawled out of her grave right in front of me.
I'd never thought I'd hear the light, quick tread of his footsteps again. I'd never thought I'd hear that low, sexy, slightly raspy voice again. I'd never thought I'd see him again, not after everything that had happened, not after the bitter way that things had ended between us.
Not after he'd walked away from me without so much as a backward glance.
For a moment, I sat there, still frozen, wondering if I was just imagining things, if my mind was playing tricks on me - cruel, cruel tricks.
"Callie?" he asked again, drawing closer. "Why aren't there any customers? Where's the rest of the staff? And who are these women?"
I breathed in, and his familiar scent filled my nose - that sharp, clean scent that always made me think of soap. And I knew that I wasn't wrong or mistaken or just imagining things.
I drew in a breath and slowly swiveled around on my stool.
Detective Donovan Caine stood behind me.