Chapter 18
There was silence for what seemed like forever, then finally she heard the front door open and Jake's car back out of the driveway. That was it then. Everything she'd felt when they were together. Everything she'd thought he'd felt. It was a just a momentary burst of emotion that didn't linger once the heart had stopped racing and the skin had stopped burning.
Sliding down the door to the floor, she continued to hold in her tears, knowing that with every breath she grew stronger, more capable.
She'd had a lot of things in her life worth crying over.
Jake McMillan wasn't one of them.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
Jake arrived at the casino the next morning full of turmoil. The night before with Mallory had been one of the best and worst nights of his life all rolled into one. Being with Mallory had been everything he'd dreamed it would be and far more, and the depth of feeling he was forming for her scared him.
Then she'd hit him with stealing the voodoo doll, and it had been so easy to use that as his reason to leave. Not that he wasn't angry. Stealing that doll might be enough to make Silas bow out of the tournament before an exchange could be made. It wasn't going to take a genius to figure out who had stolen it, and Silas was no dummy.
But if he really thought about it, and G.o.d knows he'd tried not to, he really couldn't blame her for not wanting Silas to have the doll. It was creepy. And if a man trained in hand-to-hand combat and weaponry that the public didn't even know about could find a doll creepy, then he imagined it scared the c.r.a.p out of Mallory.
Then he'd gone stomping out of her cabin like an injured child, which was exactly what he felt like at the moment-the child part, not the injured. Of course, it didn't take long after he'd left Mallory's cabin for her unluckiness to set in, and the emotional injury had come dangerously close to converting to a physical one. The left side of his hip was still killing him, that patch of hair on his leg would probably take forever to grow back, and he was still waiting for a visit from the hotel manager asking what the heck had happened to the stair railing, but none of that mattered at the moment.
The reality was, Mallory hadn't wanted to make him angry, and he knew he'd hurt her with his att.i.tude. Maybe when everything was said and done it was for the best. After all, what possible future could they have? As soon as this was over, he would head back to New Jersey where hopefully, he'd still have a career, and Mallory would pay off the IRS and stay right here in Royal Flush, probably for the rest of her life.
The big plus was the call he'd received from the lab that morning, letting him know that not only did the DNA on the toothbrush belong to Mark, but that the brush had been used recently. Jake had never even held out hope for finding Mark alive, and now all he could think about is where his partner might be. Granted, it was still a slim shot with the tournament drawing to an end and Silas preparing to leave the country, but Jake couldn't help wis.h.i.+ng everything would turn out all right.
The sound of the casino doors opening broke into his thoughts, and he looked up to see the players entering the room. He reached for the chips and cards, readying his table for the day's play, and glanced up periodically, checking the doorway for Mallory. As much as she needed the money, there was that tiny bit of worry in the back of his mind that she wouldn't show up to finish the tournament.
Glancing at the doors again, he felt his breath catch in his throat as Mallory entered the casino. She was wearing the required short black skirt, but today she'd matched it with a top of pale green silk, her tanned skin seeming to glow against the lighter color of the fabric. She'd left her hair down for a change and the effect was breathtaking. Long wavy tendrils of black coursed over her shoulder, some lingering just atop her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the rest cascading down her back.
As his gaze rose to her face, she locked eyes with him, but the determined expression on her face never wavered. In that single moment, she'd let him know that Mallory Devereaux would not be swayed or taken by a single night of pa.s.sion, and that knowledge both disappointed and excited him at the same time.
She gave him the briefest of nods as she approached the table, then pulled out her pad and began taking the morning orders. Once done, she turned from the table and walked across the casino without so much as glancing at him.
It was about ten minutes later when she returned with the drinks. The first hand was still in play, so she started on the far end, pa.s.sing coffees and making sure she rubbed shoulders or arms somewhere in the mix. But when she got to Silas Hebert, she hesitated, and Jake noticed Silas was staring directly at her.
Jake knew the smile on her face was forced, but she managed to pull it off. He saw her hands shake a tiny bit as she lifted Silas's coffee from the tray and began to place it in front of him, but before she could reach the table, Silas stuck out his hand and took the mug from her, his fingers grazing hers as he lifted the coffee.
Mallory swiftly drew her hand back and started to back away from the table, but Silas placed one hand on her arm before she was out of reach. "Devereaux's your last name, right?" he asked.
Mallory nodded.
"I thought so," Silas said, and gave her a smug smile. "I knew your parents." That said, he dropped his hand from her arm and turned back to the table.
Mallory took two steps back from the table and stared at Jake, a frightened look on her face. Jake tried to blank his expression, tried to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. It took every ounce of willpower for him to pick up his cards and make the next bet.
What the h.e.l.l had just happened?
Silas had intentionally touched her - he knew it without a doubt. But why? And why the comment about her parents?
Then there was that smile. That superior smile.
There was simply no reason for Silas to touch Mallory unless he was proving a point. And Jake had a sinking suspicion that the point Silas was about to prove was that Mallory's bad luck didn't affect him at all.
Mallory hurried home after the tournament, not wanting to talk to Jake before she'd had a chance to confer with Amy and find out what her friend had said about the voodoo situation. Because Scooter had eaten with them, they'd avoided the entire conversation at lunch, but Mallory had managed to slip in the fact that Silas had blatantly touched her and was winning almost every hand.
She could tell the information bothered Amy as much as it did her and hoped like h.e.l.l her
Either way, Mallory was grateful for the reprieve. There was entirely too much going on right now and the last thing she needed was a reminder from her uncle that her entire life was on its way down the c.r.a.pper.
As soon as she arrived home, she went into the bathroom closet and pulled out the voodoo doll. It looked so harmless lying in the box - still creepy, but harmless. She felt her pulse start to quicken and placed the box on her coffee table, anxious to rid herself of its weight.
She was being silly. It was just a doll.
Granted, it was a doll that seemed to s.h.i.+ft things within the universe, but how? And where the h.e.l.l was Amy?
She was just reaching for her cell phone when Amy's car pulled into her driveway. Amy jumped out of the car, pulling a huge tote bag after her, and hurried toward the house, one shoulder slumped down from the weight of the bag.
"What the heck are you carrying?" Mallory asked as she opened the door for Amy to enter. "A body?"
Amy grimaced and dumped the bag onto the couch then rubbed her shoulder. "Yeah, I killed Patrick and brought him here in pieces. I thought we could feed him to the alligators."
Mallory laughed. Amy was definitely getting over Patrick in a hurry. "So I take it that's the voodoo research?"
Amy nodded and began to pull notebooks, binders and books from the bag. "Yeah, my friend loaned me everything she had. I promised her an exclusive on whatever we turn up with the doll." She looked over at Mallory. "She won't use names. I hope that was okay."
"I don't care. Let's just hope some of this research helps."
Amy pulled a pink notebook out of the stack on the couch and flipped it open. "I've been studying this stuff since last night and making my own notes. Basically, I think the doll was used to put a curse on you."
Mallory frowned. "That seems a strange conclusion to draw when you consider the way my life is naturally."
"I know. That's where my holdup is in moving forward, but essentially, there is no reasonable explanation for Silas to have a doll in your likeness unless he was using it to practice black arts. I mean, you're hot, but I hardly think men are going to run out and have dolls made in your likeness - especially men like Silas Hebert."
"Yeah, I guess not. But if there's a curse on me, what is it?"
Amy opened one of the books to a drawing and pa.s.sed it to Mallory. "Before you say no, I want you to take a look at this."
Mallory looked at the image, a group of people sitting in a circle, a voodoo doll in the middle. A bright light was beaming down from the sky into the doll. "So?"
Amy took a deep breath. "Those people are drawing the curse out of the doll so that they can identify the purpose. There are instructions for conducting the extraction starting on the next page."
"Oh, no," Mallory shook her head and slammed the book shut. "I'm not doing any woo-woo stuff, especially voodoo."
"Mallory, I hate to point out the obvious, but what other options do you have left? Obviously this doll is a key to everything that's happening. Don't you want to know why?"
Mallory rose from the couch and walked over to the window, staring outside. "You know I want to know why, but voodoo? I mean, it was one thing to play with stuff when we were kids, but now that I know there's something to it... well, it doesn't seem like such a great idea."
"Okay, then we'll put that on the back burner for now." Amy grabbed another book from the stack. "This book says that some of the strength of the curse is based on the precise measurements of the doll in relation to the person it's made in the image of." She pulled a tape measure from her purse. "Hold up the doll and let's get some measurements."
Mallory lifted the doll out of the box and held it out in front of Amy, who began to take measurements and jot them down in her notebook. She was just measuring the waist when Scooter walked through the front door.
"Holy s.h.i.+t!" Scooter cried, and took one step back out the doorway. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing with that? You can't play with that s.h.i.+t, Mallory. It's not a joke."
Mallory shoved the doll back in the shoe box and threw on the lid. "For Christ's sake, Scooter, I'm not an idiot. I didn't make that doll and I'm not happy it's around."
He stuck his head back in the door and looked anxiously from her to Amy. When he didn't see the doll, he took one step inside. "Then if you didn't make it, where did it come from?"
"I took it from Silas Hebert's room," Mallory said. "That night we broke into the hotel."
Scooter stared at her. "Are you crazy? You can't go around stealing voodoo things. Good G.o.d, Mallory, if Silas is into voodoo no telling what he might do to you."
"Yeah," Amy said, "that's sort of what we're trying to figure out here." She waved one hand over the stacks of books and papers.
Scooter looked nervously over the book then back at Amy. "So what are you going to do?"
"Well," Amy began, "I want to try an extraction, but Mallory doesn't like the idea."
Scooter shook his head. "I don't even know what the h.e.l.l that is and I don't like it either." He looked over at Mallory. "This is bad news. I say you put that doll at the bottom of the bayou and forget you ever saw it."
Mallory bit her lip and looked from Scooter's frightened face to Amy's excited one. "I'm sort of afraid to do that. What if it makes me drown or something?"
"Holy s.h.i.+t, Mallory." Scooter stared at her in dismay.
"Maybe the extraction isn't such a bad idea," Mallory said. "At least we might be able to find out if I can destroy the doll with no side effects."
"Now you're talking," Amy said, and clapped her hands. She grabbed the book from the coffee table and flipped past the extraction image to the instructions. "It says here that we need to do this on blessed ground. Does that mean a church or something?"
"How the h.e.l.l would I know?" Mallory said. "But if I had to guess, I'd say no. I'd guess they mean ground blessed by a voodoo person."
Amy blew out a breath. "How in the world are we supposed to find voodoo-blessed ground?"
Mallory looked over at Scooter who shook his head, obviously hoping she'd put the idea out of her mind. "I think I might know a place," she said before she could change her mind. "There's a place in the woods... a voodoo woman used to live there."
Amy jumped off the couch, grabbed the book and shoved it into the bag. "What are we waiting for? Grab that doll and let's get going. You coming, Scooter?"
"h.e.l.l, no!" Scooter watched as Mallory lifted the box off the coffee table and took one step backward out the door. "This is a really bad idea, Mallory, really, really bad."
"As opposed to the stellar life I have now?"
Scooter shook his head. "Being unlucky is one thing. Curses are something else entirely. This is scary s.h.i.+t - like worse than losing a finger even. You should at least talk to Jake before you do this."
If her mind hadn't been totally made up before, Scooter's last statement had clinched it. "This has nothing to do with Jake."
Jake drove the couple of miles down the dirt road to Mallory's cabin with mixed emotions. He was still frustrated with the position she'd put him in, but the reality was that he would probably have done the same thing if he were her. Besides, he didn't like the distance Mallory had put between them all day. Even though it was obvious that at this point there was little she could do to help, Jake missed the feeling of him and Mallory working as a team.
He was going to get that feeling back - after all, they only had one more day left until the end of the tournament, and he didn't want things left this way.
Mallory's car was in the driveway when he pulled up, but a search of her house produced nothing. He looked out the kitchen window, squinting into the fading sunlight and saw Scooter sitting on his pier, a beer in one hand, a fis.h.i.+ng rod in the other. Jake pushed open the back door and walked over to the pier, figuring Scooter probably knew where to find Mallory.
"Scooter," Jake said as he stepped on the pier.
"What?" Scooter jumped up from his chair, dropping both the beer and the rod into the bayou. Quick as lightning, he grabbed a net from the side of his chair and fished the beer out before it sank. "That was close," he said as he poured a bit of bayou water out of the top of the bottle.
He looked over at Jake and glared. "What the h.e.l.l were you doing, man? Sneaking up on people like that?"
Jake glanced behind him, watched the tip of the rod and reel sink slowly into the bayou and shook his head. "I didn't mean to startle you. I was just wondering if you knew where Mallory was. I need to talk to her."
"It's a little late for that, I would say."
"What are you talking about?"
Scooter threw one hand in the air in obvious exasperation. "Those d.a.m.n women - Amy and Mallory - I tried to tell them not to mess with voodoo, but they wouldn't listen. I tried to tell them to talk to you first, but Mallory said it was none of your business."
Jake felt his pulse quicken. What in the world had they done? "Where are they, Scooter?"
"They went to the clearing where the voodoo woman's cabin used to be-some s.h.i.+t about `hallowed ground.' Amy said they were going to 'extract' the voodoo doll. I don't know what it means, but it sounds d.a.m.n dangerous. But could I talk them out of it? Noooooooo."
Jake's mind raced with possibilities, none of them pleasant. He knew the place they'd gone-the place where he'd kissed Mallory. The question was, could he find it in the dark?
Gesturing at Scooter, he took a step off the pier. "C'mon, Scooter."
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to get the girls before they get into trouble."
"Unh-uh," Scooter said, his voice firm. "Not a chance."
"I thought Mallory was your friend."
"d.a.m.n it, why does everyone keep throwing that in my face?" Scooter grabbed his ice chest from the pier. "I'm not going without reinforcements."
Jake shook his head. "Whatever it takes."
Mallory watched as Amy drew a large circle in the dirt with a stick, not sure whether to be disturbed or amused. Surely they couldn't make things worse, right? And that was even a.s.suming the two of them could muster up any voodoo magic at all, which Mallory had doubted from the beginning. Things like voodoo couldn't be learned from a library book-at least she hoped not.
Amy motioned to her to take a seat and Mallory stepped inside the circle and slid down onto the hard ground, thankful she wasn't wearing her new jeans, or shorts.
"Okay," Amy instructed as she sat cross-legged across from Mallory. "Put the doll in the middle, then I'll light the candle."
Mallory pulled the doll out of the box and placed it in between her and Amy, as close as she could figure to the center of the circle. Amy pulled a purple candle and a set of matches from her bag.
"Shouldn't that be black?" Mallory asked.
Amy gave her an apologetic look. "It was the closest I had. I didn't have time to stop by Wal-Mart on the way over.