Kiss The Witch Part 16

"Come on, Dominic. I'm only dirty on the front." He knew he had no choice.

"Do I have a choice?"

I smiled. He tossed me the keys.

EIGHT.

It stopped raining about the time I got home. Not that it mattered. I could not have gotten any wetter. I knew Lilith and Ursula had gone out shopping, but as soon as I stepped through the door, I hollered out to be sure.

"Lilith? I'm home. Ursula?"

No answer. I took that as an omen that my luck was changing. I stripped out of my wet clothes right at the door, grabbed a towel from the hall closet and headed for the bathroom. I have no idea why I did not find it strange that the bathroom door was shut. I suppose my mind was on the case and not entirely on my surroundings. And it certainly didn't help matters that I pitched the towel over my head before walking in, covering my eyes as I rubbed my hair dry.

She saw me first. I know this because she screamed. Then I screamed, took the towel off my head and screamed again. Naturally, she screamed again. I covered myself quickly with the towel, at least where it mattered, effectively putting a lid on all the screaming.

"Ursula. What are you doing here?"

She unplugged her earphones from the iPod. "Master Tony, why art thou here?"

"I just asked you the same thing."

"Is it not obvious?" She looked down at the bed of soap bubbles floating on the water and gathered them around her. "I am in the bath."

"I see that, but why are you here?"

"Why?" Her eyes meandered in silent drift, as if the answer might lie in the candles and incense burning all around her. They came back with a curious blink. "Where else would thou have me bathe?"

"No, Ursula, what I mean is, I thought you and Lilith went shopping."

"Aye, so we were."

"And?"

"My mind changed."

"I see. Well, forgive me for barging in. I'm sorry if I startled you."

"Indeed," she said. "Thou hast startled me wicked." She pointed at the towel. "But I recognized thee in time."

"What, you mean...."

"Aye." She nodded lightly, and a guilty smirk dimpled her cheeks. "Art thou not happy to see me?"

"Sorry?"

"Lilith explained it to me you know."

"Explained what?"

"Men. How thee can tell when men are happy to see you. She said you were most happy to see me last night, but not so much now I see."

"Ursula. Lilith did not... It does not exactly work that way. Did she really say that?"

"Aye. 'Tis still a wonder to my thoughts what doth birds and bees to do with it."

I took a deep breath and let it out feeling increasingly uncomfortable about the whole situation. "Okay then," I said. "I'll get out of your hair now."

"My hair?"

"It's an expression. Don't over-a.n.a.lyze it."

I backed out of the bathroom with the towel firmly in place and my dignity firmly displaced. Ursula kept her eyes on me the entire time, either to make sure I shut the door behind me or to catch a glimpse of my retreating a.s.s. Naturally, I a.s.sumed the latter, as I still had an ounce of shame to surrender.

I showered in the other bathroom, dressed and returned to the living room to collect my wet clothes. Ursula was there. She had finished her bath, dressed in jeans, a pullover blouse and sneakers. Although I was happier to see her like that, she likely would have been disappointed to find that my barometer for measuring such things remained unchanged.

Later, when I decided to fix myself a bite to eat, I asked Ursula to join me. I expected she would say no, a.s.suming she would rather avoid the uncomfortable banter that comes with the territory after one walks in on another taking a bath. To my surprise, she accepted, and oddly, did not seem uneasy. For her, there were no awkward glances, no p.u.s.s.yfooting around the obvious elephant in the room. Perhaps because there was no elephant in the room, as far as she was concerned.

For me, things were different. I could scarcely look into her eyes without imagining the two of us entangled in cardinal embrace. It drove me crazy, and I hated myself for thinking about her that way. Yet I could no sooner arrest my thoughts than stop breathing. I thought of Spinelli, my friend, my partner, my brother in arms. Had I no shame? No loyalty?

I finished my sandwich, downed my drink and made an excuse for hurrying out the door before saying something stupid like telling Ursula what was on my mind. I barely made it across the room, when Lilith walked through the door. I grabbed one of the two bags she carried and escorted her back into the kitchen.

"Lilith," I said, setting the bag on the table. "Am I ever glad to see you!" I saw Ursula c.o.c.k her head to one side, as if gauging the accuracy of my statement. "What?" I asked, only then realizing what she was looking at.

She shook her head. "I do not know, Master Tony. Methinks I have seen you more glad."

Lilith donned an I don't get it look. "What?"

"Nothing. Listen, I have to get back to work." I leaned in to kiss her on the cheek and whispered, "I can't wait until she's married and out of this house."

As I headed for the door, Lilith called back. "You want the car?"

"What?" I turned around and saw her holding the keys up, jingling them like a bell. "No. I have Spinelli's."

"Okay. Are you going to be home for dinner?"

"Yes. No. I don't know."

Again, that look crossed her face. "Are you all right?"

"Sure. I'm fine."

On the way out the door, I heard Ursula say, "I do not think he is very happy today. I can tell."

I hoped Lilith would leave it at that.

I had not driven two blocks from the house when Spinelli called. He sounded panicked and out of breath. "Tony. You won't believe it." I could hear his voice straining above the sirens wailing in the background. "Oh my G.o.d. It is awful. We saw the whole thing."

I pulled the car over to the curb and worked on calming Spinelli down. "Dominic. Slow down. Where are you?"

"We're out front of the residence on Monroe. Tony, it happened so fast."

"What happened, Dominic?"

"They blew him up, Tony. Jesus, they blew Howard Snow right the f.u.c.k up!"

"Dominic. Dominic. Calm down. Stay with me. Are you all right?"

"Yes, yes. I'm fine."

"Where is Carlos? Is he all right?"

"Carlos is fine. We're both fine. Jesus, will you stay back? Let the fire truck in."

I was sure that last part was not meant for me. "Dominic. Are you there? Come back. Tell me what's happening."

"Yeah, I'm here. Auh, Tony, man. It's chaos. I'm tellin' ya. The Hummer is gone. They blew the f.u.c.ker sky-high with Snow in it. We saw the whole thing. There's nothing left."

"All right, Dominic, listen to me. I'm heading your way now. Get with Carlos. See if you can locate the owner of the house. Hold him there until I reach you. You got that?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it. Hurry, Tony."

I dropped the car into drive and laid a patch of rubber in the street thirty feet long. It was six miles from where I pulled over to the house on Monroe Street. I made it there in less than five minutes. That was without lights and siren.

Dominic described the scene to me over the phone as chaotic. I suppose it might have been chaotic immediately after the explosion, but more likely it was his adrenalin talking. That's not to say things were not interesting. Nearly a hundred people from throughout the neighborhood gathered to check things out. Thick black smoke rising over the rooftops can pose a strong attraction for the concerned and curious.

Fire trucks, police cruisers and ambulances lined the curb from one end of Monroe to the other, forcing me to park on the next block over. By the time I got to the scene, the fire was out. The only things recognizable were the skeletal frame of the Hummer and some twisted chunks of sheet metal from the doors, hood and roof that had blown yards away. As far as a body, well, there was nothing left.

I caught up with Carlos and Spinelli inside the residence of Howard Snow's old roommate, a man named Leonard Dwyer. Not surprisingly, Dwyer was not there.

"How did you get in?" I asked Carlos.

He pointed to the door. "It was open."

"Unlocked?"

"No. Opened. The screen door was shut, but this one was wide open."

"Anyone home?"

"Doesn't look like it. We called out to identify ourselves upon entry. No one answered. I cleared the downstairs. Dominic took upstairs. He's checking the bas.e.m.e.nt now."

"Nothing so far?"

He gestured toward the kitchen. "No, but we didn't miss someone by much. There are two iced teas on the table. Lots of ice. Little condensation. The back door was open, too."

"I'm not surprise." I looked around the room. "Place doesn't look disturbed. Whoever killed Snow must have been satisfied with that."

"Do you want to put an APB out for Dwyer?"

"Yes. Do that."

"Tony." Spinelli came up from the bas.e.m.e.nt carrying a flashlight in one hand, his weapon in the other."

"Dominic. You all right?"

"Sure. Fine."

I pointed at his weapon. "You can put that away."

He looked at it as if he had forgotten he had it. "Oh, right." I noticed he holstered it backwards.

"Listen. Carlos and I were talking. I want you to put an APB out for Dwyer."

"You got it. You want me to put one out for his wife, too?"

"His wife?"

"Yeah. I suppose he has a wife. We found a woman's handbag on the chair there." He pointed to an overstuffed wingback in the parlor.

I walked over and picked it up. "Did you check it out?"

"Sure," said Carlos. "There's no ID in it."

I frisked through the bag's contents briefly before tossing it back on the chair. "Yes, make sure you indicate Dwyer may be traveling with a female companion."

"Roger that."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Carlos.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure, but I have to tell you. There is no way in h.e.l.l someone is blowing up people and houses all over town because of some stupid corn syrup subst.i.tute. I think we have to get to the bottom of that question first and foremost."

"Back to see Ferguson?"

"I think we have to."

"He won't tell you anything," Dominic remarked.

"He has to," I said.

"He won't, especially now with Snow blown to smithereens. He's going to clam up like a bear trap."

"What do you suggest?"