Silver Master

Chapter 21

DAVIS WATCHED THE EXPRESSION ON HER FACE AS SHE REalized what she had just said. Suddenly he understood. A mix of soaring admiration for her reckless daring collided with a mind-bending fear of what could have been the outcome.

“Should have figured as much,” he said. “That explains a few things.”

“Celinda?” Walker was bewildered. “Are you saying that you were going to try to kill Benson Landry? Holy shit. Have you gone crazy over there in Cadence?”

“Damn, damn, damn.” She walked to the bed and sank down on it.

Araminta, fully fluffed again, muttered in a concerned way. Celinda set her free. The dust bunny drifted up onto her shoulder.

“I had a plan.” Celinda stared at the closed door, her hands small fists in her lap. “I know his weakness, you see. I was going to try to use it against him.”

“Will one of you please tell me what the hell is going on here?” Walker demanded.

“I will,” Davis said. He walked to the window and stood looking out over the Quarter. He was still trying to get his pulse rate back down to somewhere near normal. She had planned to murder Landry. “Four months ago Benson Landry drugged your sister and set her up for the tabloids in order to destroy her business after she refused to take him on as a client.”

“Son of a bitch,” Walker said tightly.

Davis turned around. “But that wasn’t enough for him. He also threatened to ruin her whole family if she went to the police. Celinda tried to protect all of you by keeping silent and by moving away from Frequency.”

“I knew it.” Walker rounded on Celinda. “I knew you couldn’t possibly have fallen for that bastard. We all knew it. Why did he show up here this morning? To threaten you again?”

“It’s complicated,” Celinda said. Her jaw was rigid.

Davis crossed his arms and leaned one shoulder against the wall. “Your sister happened to purchase an alien relic that had been stolen from the Cadence Guild vault. I tracked her down and offered to buy it back. But Araminta ran off with it and hid it before we could make the exchange. Someone else back in Cadence is also looking for the artifact. Somehow Benson Landry found out about it, too. That’s why he came here this morning.”

“What a mess.” Walker shoved his fingers through his hair. He peered more closely at Davis. “You’re not really Celinda’s date for the wedding, then, are you?”

“No, he isn’t,” Celinda said wearily. “He’s my bodyguard.”

Davis looked at Walker. “She’s half right. I’m also her date for the wedding. It’s called multitasking.”

“Mom told me this morning that she and Dad thought things looked serious between you two,” Walker said.

Celinda’s head came up at that. “Good grief, what made her come to that conclusion?”

Walker spread his hands. “Something about the conversation that took place last night when they invited the two of you to have a drink with them, I think.”

Celinda blinked. “But we argued in front of them. It was embarrassing.”

Walker nodded. “Right. Mom said there weren’t many people who could have dragged you into an embarrassing quarrel in a public place. She said that meant that whatever you and Davis had going must be serious.”

“I don’t believe this.” Celinda was clearly flummoxed. “We had a stupid quarrel in a bar, and they assumed our relationship was serious? That’s ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous,” Walker said evenly, “is that you’re evidently planning to get rid of Benson Landry all by yourself.”

Celinda reached up to touch Araminta. “Davis is right. There’s no other way to stop a man like that. Landry’s not right inside. The proper parapsych term is para-sociopath, I think. No conscience. He sees everyone else as a form of prey. He enjoys controlling and manipulating others with fear. He feeds on it, in a way.”

Walker shuddered. “No wonder you didn’t want him for a client. In hindsight, we’re probably damn lucky he didn’t hurt you physically or even kill you in retaliation.” He stopped, fresh alarm making him tense. “He didn’t do anything to you when he drugged you, did he? I swear, if he did, I’ll kill him myself, now. This morning.”

“No,” Celinda said quickly. “He didn’t touch me, not in the way you mean.”

Walker relaxed fractionally. “You’ve spent the past four months trying to figure out how to get rid of him? Without ever discussing the problem with your family?”

“She was trying to protect you,” Davis said. “She wanted to do the job by herself in case things didn’t go right. She didn’t want the rest of you accused of murdering a high-ranking Guild official.”

“Things are dicey enough as it is,” Celinda explained.

“What was this big plan of yours?” Davis asked.

She exhaled deeply. “It was based on the assumption that a man like Landry must have made some enemies in his climb to the top. I figured I had a pretty good built-in alibi. After all this time, I didn’t think that the Frequency police or the Frequency Guild Council would look twice at a matchmaker who’d had a brief affair with Landry and then moved to Cadence City.”

“Go on,” he said, morbidly fascinated.

“Two months ago I managed to purchase a mag-rez gun.”

“Which explains the one I found under your bed.”

Her eyes widened. “You know about my gun?”

He didn’t have to answer because Walker was staring at her with the kind of shock only an older brother could comprehend.

“Damn, Celinda,” Walker said. “Everyone knows it’s illegal for everyone except cops to carry mag-rezes.”

She made a vague gesture with one hand. “Turns out it’s not that difficult to buy one on the streets in Cadence. It took me a while to figure out how it’s done, but in the end all I needed was a lot of cash. The little man who sold it to me showed me how to fire it and included a couple of spare clips in the bargain.”

“I don’t believe this,” Walker said. “My sweet, naive little matchmaker sister bought a hot mag-rez.”

“In my spare time I’ve been driving out into the countryside to practice,” Celinda said. “I’m getting quite good.”

“Oh, jeez.” Walker massaged the back of his neck as though he might be getting a headache. “You were just going to walk up to Benson Landry and shoot him?”

“Not exactly.” Celinda looked affronted. “I planned to make it look like he’d been hit by one of his many enemies. I’ve been studying him for the past four months, charting his movements. I decided it would be impossible to get onto the grounds of his estate. Too much security.”

Davis raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Praise be, some common sense, at last.”

“The same was true of his office in the Guild compound,” she continued, ignoring him. “But he’s involved with a lot of civic and political stuff. He attends receptions and fund-raisers every week, and he spends a lot of time at his club. He doesn’t surround himself with security when he goes to places like that. It’s bad for his image.”

“You mean he doesn’t use any obvious security,” Davis said.

She looked at him, frowning. “You saw him a few minutes ago. He didn’t have any bodyguards with him.”

“Got a hunch they were waiting for him down in the lobby.” Davis gave that some more thought. “My guess is he didn’t bring any up here because he believed that he was going to be talking to you alone about the relic. Evidently he didn’t want anyone, not even his security people, to hear that conversation. Interesting.”

Walker began to pace the small space. “This is a hell of a situation. One thing’s for sure, we can’t tell Mom and Dad about it today. They’d be frantic. And Rachel’s day would be ruined if she found out what was going on.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Celinda got to her feet and straightened her shoulders. “That is precisely why you will both keep quiet about this whole thing. Understood? If either one of you upsets anyone else in the family, I will never forgive you.”

“Okay,” Walker said, raising a hand, palm out. “I agree that keeping quiet about this is for the best. At least for today.”

Celinda switched her steely gaze to Davis. “Will you give me your word you won’t say anything more about this today?”

He contemplated the possibilities and then inclined his head. “Assuming no other factors in the equation are altered, I’ll keep quiet. I think we’ve got a better chance of handling this from Cadence, anyway.”

Celinda regarded him with deep suspicion. “Factors?”

“What do you mean about dealing with this from Cadence?” Walker asked, watching him closely.

“Benson Landry thinks Mercer Wyatt is an old man who’s lost his edge,” Davis said. “He’s wrong.” He thought about how Wyatt would react when he learned that Landry was trying to steal the missing relic. “Probably dead wrong.”