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“Hello, Selena,” said Eugene Dershowitz.
16
Family Ties
We satin the living room, Eugene and Violet pressed up against each other in a way that told me everything I needed to know about their relationship, while I occupied the easy chair.
Not that there was anything particularly easy about my state of mind right then, although I found myself incongruously relieved that I’d taken to sleeping in loose tank tops and yoga pants after I started cohabiting with Archie, rather than going to bed in a pair of panties and nothing else the way I used to back in L.A.
“You did it,” I said, my tone flat.
“Did your psychic powers tell you that?” Eugene asked with a sneer. He resembled his brother a good deal, although he had a head of thick black hair, very unlike his brother’s shaved pate. Somehow, he managed to be even less attractive than Lucien.
“I don’t need psychic powers to put two and two together,” I said coolly.
Violet sent me an evil little smile. “Eugene has always been really good at hiding his powers. Lucien had no idea that his little brother was actually stronger than he was.”
“And so you decided to murder him so you could inherit everything?”
Eugene shrugged. “‘Murder’ is a very strong word. Let’s just say that I thought it was a good time for my big brother to move on from this life to his next turn on the wheel of existence.”
“But you still wanted the money.”
Violet’s expression turned condescending. “Well, duh. Except the problem was that Lucien had made Athene his heir, and Eugene would only inherit his money if she was dead, too. So we had to take care of that problem as well. Luckily, the both of them being here in Globe and away from all the protection spells they’d cast on their homes back in L.A. was all the opening we needed.”
While that revelation made some sense, I couldn’t ignore one inconsistency in the narrative. “But you helped him cast a protection spell on Friday night,” I pointed out. “Athene told me about it.”
“Using sex magic,” Violet replied before adding with a smirk, “I faked it.”
Ah. Well, if she’d pretended to have an orgasm, then the spell wouldn’t have been solid…and it would have left both Lucien and Athene open to magical attack.
“And where do I come in?” I asked, doing my best to sound calm. I had to guess they didn’t mind telling me the truth because they planned to get rid of my troublesome self as soon as I’d done whatever it was that they needed from me.
The couple exchanged a glance. Looking at them, I had to wonder how they’d managed to conceal their relationship from Lucien. The man had his faults, but no one could have accused him of being imperceptive.
On the other hand, he also had an ego the size of theTitanic. Most likely, he hadn’t seen the signs because he couldn’t allow himself to believe that anyone would prefer his far less talented and charismatic brother over himself.
Except Eugene had turned out to be just as powerful after all.
He frowned. His eyebrows were as sparse as his brother’s, an odd contrast to his thick hair. Maybe he’d had a little help in that department, either via some kind of enchantment…or a lifetime membership in Hair Club for Men.
“Lucien hid his will,” he said. “I’ve looked everywhere, and I can’t find it. He must have put some kind of concealment spell on it.”
“What makes you think I would know where it is?” I asked. “Lucien never mentioned a will to me.”
“Maybe not, but you can talk to him, right?”
I stared at Eugene in consternation. How could he know that?
Looking smug, he went on, “Yes, I was down by the river when you had your littletête-à-têtewith my dearly departed brother. Poor guy was having a hard time getting the words out, wasn’t he? But you still could hear him.”
Too bad I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me until it was too late,I thought. If I’d only put the pieces together even ten minutes earlier….
But that couldn’t be helped now. I had to pretend to go along with their wishes until I could come up with a way to extricate myself from the stickiest situation I’d ever found myself in.
“So…you want me to talk to Lucien so he’ll reveal the location of his will?” I asked.
“Exactly. Then we’ll go back to Los Angeles, and you can go on with…well, whatever it is you’re doing in this useless little town.”
