A Little Night Magic Page 0,79

Cain was standing in front of the kitchen door, looking grim. But to be fair, Cain always looked grim. He stalked over to me, and I handed him the printout. He glanced at it quickly; it was obvious he'd seen it before. He shot a sharp look at Stacy.

"Who the hell are you? What do you know about this?"

Betty stepped closer. "Cain, this is Stacy."

"Yeah?" He advanced on her, waving the printout. "Where'd you get this?"

Stacy widened her stance and met his eyes. "None of your fucking business."

I touched his arm, which was taut as a wire. "I asked her to find my father."

He shifted his focus to me. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"May I repeat?" Stacy said, stepping closer to him and drawing to her full height, which was still a foot shorter than his. "None. Of. Your. Fucking. Business."

"Cain." I touched his arm again. It took him a moment to look back at me, and when our eyes met, he softened a bit, but just a bit. There was still impotent fury in his expression, but he didn't seem quite as likely to act on it.

"You okay?" he asked.

I held my hand out for the article, and he gave it back to me. I looked at the picture, trying to find something in there that said sister to me. But it was just a black-and-white shot, taken probably for a school yearbook somewhere along the line. She was beautiful; a wide smile, dark eyes, and she seemed ... I don't know. Smart. If you can tell that from a picture.

I looked back up at Cain. "This is what happened?"

Angry eyes met mine, but I could tell they weren't angry with me. "Yeah. I went to the hospital to get Davina, but she was gone by the time I got there. Been tracking her ever since. And now, you're up to date."

Every muscle in my body felt suddenly weak. I had known the story, known I had a sister who had died, known that Davina had killed her. But there was something so ... visceral about seeing her, about seeing what could have been my fate. What could still be my fate.

"Liv," Betty said, putting her arm around me, "you go sit down in the living room. Stacy, go sit with her. I'm going to make some tea. Cain - "

But before she could give him any instructions, the front door was slamming behind him. Betty exchanged a look with Stacy, and Stacy walked with me to the living room, where we sat down on the couch. A moment later, I heard the kitchen door swing behind Betty.

"So, I take it that article means something then?" she said, motioning toward the printout in my hand.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"You want my take on things?"

I smiled. "I asked you, didn't I?"

"Yep. But I'd tell you anyway." She leaned forward. "I think your father's alive."

I felt my heart skip, and I stared at her. "You think so?"

"Look. People go missing for ten years without a sign, ten-to-one, they're buried in the cement foundation of a high-rise. But whoever it was in that forest with your sister was asking for Gabriel, and why would she call the name of a man who's been dead ten years?"

"I don't know," I said. "But then, I don't understand a lot of it."

"You don't need to understand," Stacy said. "What does your gut tell you?"

I thought about that for a minute, then said, "I don't know."

"Jesus Christ, Liv. Sure you do. You asked me to find him. You think he's alive, too."

Hope surged within me, and I tamped it down; I had no room in my heart for hope at the moment. "Maybe. So, what do I do now?"

"Hire a real detective, for one thing," she said.

"I don't know, you did pretty well for an amateur." I looked at her. "You seen Peach?"

Her eyes darkened. "I just came from there. She's still a little out of it because of the painkillers. Nick's with her."

I nodded. "Can I ask you something?"

"Has permission ever stopped you?"

"Millie ... do you think she was always a time bomb, just waiting to go off?"

Stacy leaned back, stretched one arm over the back of the couch, and looked thoughtful. "Yeah, probably."

"Do you think we can get her back from this?"

Stacy looked at me, then slowly shook her head.

"It's over, isn't it?" I said. "The four of us?"

She sighed. "It was always going to end eventually. Peach is getting married, Millie finally