Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,126

stores might think she was doing something sneaky like those people who were looking at the empty houses the other day. But all the Others knew that Virgil’s human deputy wore a shiny on her shirt that could be seen from the air, so Jana’s presence would make it clear that Dawn was a resident of Bennett on official business and not a snack.

She just hoped the Elders knew what the badge meant.

* * *

* * *

When Zeke made a “come here” motion, Abigail reluctantly crossed the street. Thank the gods there was an official salvage business now and nobody else had to help sort through the possessions in the houses—unless that help was a kindness to a neighbor.

Since the salvage van was parked in the driveway of a house where people were hustling in and out, she didn’t think Zeke was waving to her just to be friendly.

“Good morning,” she said.

“Morning, Abby. You and Kelley heading out to work?”

“Yes. We were just leaving.” Since Kelley now viewed the sweet Abigail persona with suspicion, she kept hoping he’d leave altogether so that she could play the brave abandoned wife and garner sympathy from her new neighbors.

“Ask him to wait a few minutes, okay? A few of us camped out in these houses last night in order to work past dark. We have all the jewelry sorted in three of the houses—at least we’ve got what looks like costume jewelry sorted from the nicer things. We need Kelley to assess the good pieces and assign values for all of it so that the costume jewelry can be sold.”

“All right, I’ll tell him.” She took a step back, as if even the mention of jewelry was a source of pain.

Zeke didn’t comment, but she had a feeling that he thought he knew the reason for her reacting that way.

The reason walked out of the house carrying a banker’s box.

“I think a lot of the paper in this box can be shredded,” Dina said. “If the attorney assigned to handle this street keeps the last couple of statements, that should be enough to confirm what was in the account.”

Zeke gave Abigail a sharp look. “Something wrong?”

Everything. The dissonance surrounding this woman was so strong, she would draw negative things to everyone on this street. And Abigail’s carefully tended protection stones would be completely overwhelmed by that dissonance, leaving her vulnerable to something more than a broken marriage.

“The pendant.” It was a slice of rose quartz in a gold frame that gave it the look of an old oval mirror. At the top was a spill of leaves and vines that held chips of turquoise. It was exquisite workmanship, but the stones created a strong dissonance with Dina’s personality.

Dina deposited the box in the van before turning to confront Abigail. “What’s your problem? I didn’t lift it from one of the houses. It was on display in the jewelry store, as part of the store’s original inventory. I saw it, liked it, and bought it. So what?”

Dina was smart and had a sharp-edged sense of humor—and she and Abigail had disliked each other on sight. Just not compatible. Would never be friends. And now Kelley’s not-so-subtle attraction to the woman was an actual reason to dislike Dina—if sweet Abigail hadn’t been so hurt by the “gold girl” on Zeke’s team leading her husband astray.

Abigail would have been amused that Kelley was planning to leave her because she had “played him,” but he couldn’t see that Dina was doing the same thing. If she didn’t say anything, he’d get what he deserved when he moved in with the bitch, but if she didn’t say anything, whatever trouble came would touch all of them.

Which meant revealing her little secret to more people.

“What about the pendant?” Zeke asked, sounding impatient.

“It’s not in harmony with Dina,” Abigail replied. “It’s a beautiful piece, but it doesn’t fit who she is, and instead of bringing her good fortune, it will attract a darkness to her that will cause pain and sorrow.”

Dina gave her a cold, hostile look. “Bullshit. The only thing wrong with this necklace is that Kelley put it aside for me and not you.” She walked back into the house.

Zeke fixed his eyes on the van. “Dina was out of line, saying that to you.”

“You mean saying without saying that she and Kelley are having sex?” Abigail said.

Zeke winced.

“Zeke, talk to her. This has nothing to do with Kelley. I promise it doesn’t. But I have a feeling