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I put that thought aside for the moment, figuring I could revisit it once I’d gotten the whole Athene problem worked out. If she was still in the area, there weren’t many places she could have gone to ground. Globe had exactly three hotels — a Best Western and a Holiday Inn Express near the intersection of Highway 70 and Highway 60, and a shabby little motel called the Dew Drop Inn out on the western edge of town. None of them seemed like the sort of place where she would hole up, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. It shouldn’t take me too long to call each hotel and —
And nothing. I wasn’t a cop or even a private investigator; it wasn’t as though I could call any of the hotels in question and ask whether a woman matching Athene Kappas’ description had checked in there earlier in the day.
Also, I guessed that Calvin would have checked both those places just as soon as he realized his other suspect had bolted. While I didn’t expect him to keep me abreast of every development in the case, I had a feeling he would have told me he’d located Athene.
So…she had to have gone someplace else. Another Airbnb or some kind of vacation rental? That seemed like the likeliest explanation, but again, I figured Calvin must have checked any place like that as well. And it wasn’t as if Athene knew anyone in Globe; she couldn’t have headed over to a friend’s house.
Frowning, I turned away from the window. I didn’t want to bother Josie when I knew she had a house pre-inspection to manage — it might have been Sunday, but that didn’t matter to Josie Woodrow — but on the other hand, she seemed like the best person to ask whether she knew of anyone who was listing vacation rentals on Craigslist or something, the kind of place Calvin might not think immediately to check.
For some reason, Hazel’s face flashed into my mind. No, she hadn’t lived in Globe her entire life like Josie, but she’d been there for more than seven years and pretty much knew everyone as well. And if I called her, then I wouldn’t have to bug Josie while she was trying to work.
I got my phone from my purse and pushed the “call” button next to Hazel’s name on my contacts list. It rang a couple of times, and I wondered if she was going to pick up. After all, the day was a beautiful one, and I thought it was entirely possible she’d decided to go hiking, maybe bring along a palette for someplein airpainting. She had several pieces in the town’s one and only art gallery, and I’d been eyeing her sunset vision of the San Ramon river, all gold-brushed cottonwoods and warm, lovely tones. It would look gorgeous in my living room.
But then her voice came through my iPhone’s speaker. “Hi, Selena. What’s up?”
She sounded almost tense, which was very unlike Hazel. Small-town life suited her, and she tended to be relaxed and easygoing no matter what the situation. My spider-sense tingled a little, but I only said, “Hi, Hazel. This is going to sound like a weird question, but do you know of anyone in town who’s recently started renting out their house as an Airbnb or other kind of vacation rental, someone Calvin might not know about? It’s just that my friend Athene has gone missing, and — ”
A long pause. Then Hazel said, “She told me you’d probably figure it out.”
“‘She’?” I repeated, not sure what she’d meant by that remark.
“Athene Kappas,” Hazel said. “She’s here.”
11
Questions and Answers
Athene definitely didn’t looklike her normal in-command self. Her long, near-black hair had been pulled back into a barrette rather than flowing down her back the way she usually wore it, and her face was bare of makeup. Shadows darkened the skin under her eyes.
“I put my second bedroom on Craigslist just a day ago,” Hazel said as she handed me a glass of iced tea and poured more for Athene. Judging by the way Athene’s hand shook as she held out the glass, I had a feeling she really didn’t need any more caffeine.
Not that I was going to say anything. If anyone had earned the right to be jittery, it was Athene Kappas.
“Things have been a little tight lately,” Hazel went on, “so I figured I might as well give it a try. I was looking for more of a long-term renter, but — ”
“But I told her I’d pay her for a month’s worth of renting the room,” Athene cut in. “I needed a place to think.”
“What happened?” I asked. She didn’t look like someone who’d just committed a violent murder, but appearances weren’t everything.
But while her aura spiked with the yellow and pale orange of worry, I didn’t see any gray and black guilty edges to it. While it wasn’t too hard to manage your expressions, it was very difficult to change your aura.
She rubbed her hand over the fabric of the long black skirt she wore. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Athene wear anything but black.
“Violet showed up,” she said, her full mouth compressing to a flat line.
I racked my brains, trying to remember who Violet was. Lucien had so many groupies hanging around, it was hard to keep track of them all. I had a vague recollection of a slight girl with pale blonde hair, but I couldn’t recall for sure if the girl in my memory was Violet or another one of Lucien’s hangers-on.
Apparently seeing my mystification, Athene gave me a grim smile. “Violet Clarke. One of Lucien’s little fans…and just barely legal. She’s obsessed with him. He told her where he was going, the idiot, and she followed us here.”
Hazel had been watching our exchange, expression one of worry…and a little confusion. “Where is Violet now?”
“Who knows?” Athene said with a lift of her shoulders. “She and Lucien had their little ritual on Friday night, and then they took off together.”
Ritual. I recalled what Josie had said about the loud, tribal music and the scent of incense that had permeated the place. I’d thought Athene and Lucien were practicing sex magic, but it sounded as if it must have been Violet instead.
Who knows what my face did as I reacted to that disturbing mental image, but Athene must have picked up on it, because she gave me a little smirk before drinking some more of her iced tea.
“No, it wasn’t me,” she said. “Lucien and I were always all business. I went into my bedroom — that was part of the reason why we rented that particular Airbnb…it had two bedrooms…and left them to their business. When they were done, Lucien came and knocked on my door and told me they were headed out. They’d gotten it into their heads that they wanted to perform another ritual out in the woods, next to the river, to pick up some of its energy.” Another swallow of tea, and she finished, “That was the last time I ever saw him.”
