Dead Spaces: The Big Uneasy 2.0 Read online

  Nell’s return to New Orleans had stirred up more than old dirt.

  Guido paused in the hallway, watching as Claude’s SUV halted long enough for him to scramble inside. Guido smiled. He would be lucky to survive to the end of the year. Not that Guido wanted to ignite a turf war with Afoniki. Both the old man and his heir were most likely formulating their own plans for seizing what Phin had left so ill-protected. The widow, she might have been able to keep it together, but Claude was weak. And Helene was old and under indictment. She would be of limited help to Claude. Always assuming he wanted her help. Or she wanted to give it. No love lost there.

  If there was an agreement between the three old men, how very much he’d like to see the details. It must be powerful indeed to have kept three such men in check for so long.

  And where did Nell Whitby fit in? What did uncle Bett fear from her? Was there a secret still waiting to ooze up out of the past? And was it a secret that would help—or damage—Guido’s very bright future?

  Guido flexed his hands, feeling his own readiness to assume control. He was fond of his great uncle, but that would not stop him if he saw a chance. It was, after all, what uncle Bett had done.

  He glanced back, past his two bodyguards, to the door of the autopsy room, just in time to see Ingrid Baker leave. She didn’t look his direction. Her phone held to her ear, she moved rapidly, though with commendable grace. The Baker girls. The younger Baker boys weren’t unappealing either. He shook his head a bit ruefully. There were times when it seemed a great pity they were all so very law abiding. All were attractive, some rather interesting, even—his gaze went back to the closed door, still swinging slightly from the recent transit. It would be amusing to wind up Alex Baker. Amusing and easy. One just had to be careful not to push him too far. Big fists and a good shot, so Guido had heard. Still…

  “Wait here,” he said, striding toward the swing doors. Hannah Baker might be as honest as her big brother, but she had a dark side to be able to work in this place. He went in, letting the door swing closed behind him. She’d tossed the goggles and loosened the protective thing, so he could see her tee shirt and jeans. She didn’t look at all like her big brother, though the frown—

  She turned with a less than graceful jerk. And her startled eyes were quite remarkable. One hand clenched something. Something small. Her hand slid into her pocket. A secret? He loved secrets. Could smell them in the air, knew how to nose them out. Secrets become leverage.

  Her lips parted, but before he could speak, his cell shrilled an incoming text. He smiled, held up a finger. “A moment.”

  He looked down and the smile faded. Without speaking he turned and left. He would find out her secret later. She would keep. This—he smiled in deep satisfaction—would not.

  * * *

  Ferris checked at the sight of Guido Calvino shooting out of the autopsy room like someone let the dogs out. He watched him head down the hall, his cell to his ear. He’d only caught a glimpse of Guido’s face, but he looked like a guy who just won the lottery. Must have got the news about Uncle Bettino.

  Ferris hesitated outside the door, then pushed it open and slouched in, his grin on the side of deprecating. “What’d you do to Guido? He came out of here like his pants were on fire.”

  Hannah had been frowning as he entered, but the frown faded into a grin he’d call careful. A bit of wary in the eyes.

  She half shrugged. “He got a call. Tried not to look shocked.” She thought for a minute. “Tried not to look pleased.”

  Her brows arched a tiny bit. Holy Hannah. He’d always wondered what a cool drink of water would look like. Which was kinda funny, because there was nothing cool about his thoughts. Blonde and curvy in the right places and those eyes. He’d like to get close enough to figure out what color they were. He hesitated, not because it was a big secret, but because he didn’t want to talk shop. Still, she’d find out when they brought the corpse in.

  “Someone popped Bettino Calvino. Guido just won the bad guy lottery if he can hold onto it.” The sharks were certainly circling Claude St. Cyr. Odds were against him holding on until the end of the year.

  Her amazing eyes widened, improving his view into them, but he still wasn’t sure about the color. Needed to get closer. Much closer. He halved the distance between them. Nope. Still not close enough.

  “Really?” She started to morph into a forensic doc, instead of a girl with a guy. “Any news on how—”

  “Bullet to the brain.”

  “Oh.” She made a face. Caught his gaze and grinned. “It gets old digging bullets out of brains.”

  “Perps should be more creative with their killing,” he agreed, watching the grin bloom into a smile. Almost he licked his lips. Was it the forbidden? Wanting what he wasn’t supposed to have? He’d been the new guy when he first met Alex’s sisters. Was already walking a line, trying to prove he could do the job. Had no inclination to mess with his new partner’s sisters. Well, not much. He wasn’t new now. They were a solid team. Mutual respect. Could tease Alex about almost anything. Knew him well enough to know the no-go list. And he didn’t want to mess with Holy Hannah, exactly. Just get to know her. Maybe kiss her on the mouth once or twice. He studied the mouth in question. Might need more than a couple of kisses to scratch his itch. Keep it this side of serious, of course. She was Alex’s sister. Might be okay to kiss a sister, but not okay to mess with her heart.

  “So Bettino Calvino is dead.” Her brows slanted together. “Didn’t he have, like, body guards and crap?”

  “Lots of crap.” He grinned, saw the change in her eyes and liked it. “You have to do the autopsy?”

  “I’m not here,” she pointed out. “It’s my day off.”

  “Alex?” Her nod had a grimace attached to it. “Must be a tough gig for all of you.” He glanced at the coffin just off his elbow, decided it wasn’t too grimy, and propped himself against it.

  “Batons of parental-like power were supposedly passed on to the next sib in line as we each left for college. Maybe it’s a brother thing, but I got the responsibility without the power. Alex is the worst. He claims to be hands-off but…” She shrugged. Her head tipped a bit. “You have siblings?”

  “My parents kept it simple. Just me and some dogs.” Bit of an edge to his tone, so he added a didn’t-bother-me smile.

  “Maddie brought a dog home once. It took one look at the lot of us and ran for its life. Smart pooch.”

  “You ever thought of leaving?” Didn’t like the twinge in his chest from that thought.

  She laughed at that. “Every day.” She looked around. “Sometimes every hour.”

  “When you move to the new building, it should be good.” It was kind of a question. He’d read in the paper that the new coroner had asked for everyone to resign and reapply. Not sure that was a good plan. Didn’t seem like there was a lot to incentivize the reapplication part with the reported state of his budget.

  She made a face. Cute and sassy. He liked sassy. She made this place almost bearable. He crossed his arms over his chest. Holy Hannah. How had he missed this version of her?

  “One lives in hope.” Her gaze strayed to the row of dolls on the metal table, the one still missing its head. A hand slid into a pocket and clenched into a fist, bulging the fabric.

  His gaze narrowed. Color scored the line of her very nice cheekbones. He straightened. “Did Calvino say something? Threaten you?” No hitting on the pretty girl, he wondered a bit grimly, or Alex might not be the only one wanting to pop the wise guy.

  Her gaze jerked to his. “He started to say something but got the good news.”

  So why the frown pulling her brows together. Her gaze went back to its avoidance pattern and even white teeth gnawed the lower lip. So if not Calvino, then what? He looked down at the coffin. Sensed she stiffened. Stole a look. He thought she’d made a fist with that hand, but maybe it was clutching, not clenched. Had she found something? She turned back to a tray where the dolls lay in a grimy row,
and put Barbie’s head back on. Her hand left her pocket, but a slight bulge remained. She went down the row of Ken’s popping heads off, like it was progress.

  “You lose your ride?”

  Tone was too casual. “Alex wanted to talk to Nell,” he said.

  The last Ken lost his head. “Oh.”

  He liked the profile, but wanted her to look at him. “You don’t like her?”

  The brows arched. “I do like her, just not—”

  “…her relatives.” He strolled forward, casting a quick glance in the other coffin. Looked full of dust, too. She stiffened, so he stopped. “There’s one less.”

  “Still a passel of nasty cousins.”

  She picked up a magnifying glass and a Ken head, subjected it to what looked like a minute scrutiny. But there was this pulse at her neck that beat a bit too hard.

  “You find anything else in there?” He asked it casually. The color spread further across her face. She was a Baker. The inability to lie was probably imprinted in her DNA.

  “I found one of Ken’s loafers.” She held up a tiny shoe and waved it at him.

  With no more Kens to examine, her hand stole to her pocket again. If he were a betting man—which he sometimes was—he’d bet it wasn’t a doll loafer in there. If she’d found something, she’d have a good reason for hiding it. Bakers, they always had good reasons for everything they did. Also part of their DNA. Though hiding evidence didn’t usually make the list. Was it evidence though? Just some dolls in coffins—that some lawyers may or may not fight over. Of course, if there’d been human remains, no one would have claimed them.

  She fiddled with the doll closest to her. Did it matter that the Kens didn’t get their heads back. And did he really want to know the answer to that. Or what she’d found and was hiding?

  Right now, he wasn’t part of the hiding. He was in the clear—a good place to be in the NOPD. And with the mob—who might be interested or she wouldn’t feel compelled to hide it. That made him frown. What if Guido had picked up on her unease? She wasn’t unprotected, but he’d bet a month’s salary that she wouldn’t tell her brothers unless she had to. Would she know when she had to? But if he pushed, if he found out, then he was in it with her. Keeping a secret from his partner, too. About his partner’s sister.

  Not the “in it” he’d been hoping for when he took his stroll this way. He didn’t know Hannah that well, but he knew Alex like a brother. Which meant that Holy Hannah was—not a sister. His mind flinched from that, so far he almost fell over from the jerk. Neutral ground, that’s where he’d be if he didn’t ask. In it up to his neck if he did. Only it felt like the ground under his feet had already shifted. He might not know, but he knew something.

  She glanced back at him, and it was the hint of anxiety in her eyes that did it. They were blue, really dark blue except around the pupils. Close to the pupils, her eyes were a softer, lighter blue. The effect was—he tugged at the neck of his shirt. Kind of like drowning, but in a good way.

  “What did you find, Hannah?” He used her name on purpose, made it personal. Safe. He hoped. Her lips parted in protest, but he shook his head. “I can call Alex, but I don’t think either of us want to do that. Alex, well, he’s a wild card right now.” He had a chilly thought, one that killed the warm caused by her eyes. “Did Guido see—” He didn’t know what question to ask.

  Her eyes widened some more. Yeah, blue, but more than blue. Her lips firmed. She didn’t look at all like Alex. Until that. Now he could see a resemblance. The same stubborn set to her mouth. He waited her out. One thing he’d learned from partnering with Alex. How to wait.

  The clash of gazes was prolonged. He enjoyed it. Wasn’t sure she did. Her sigh signaled surrender before she pulled her hand out of her pocket and held it out to him.

  A ring.

  Not what he’d expected, though he wasn’t sure what—just not that. Not even a nice one.

  He moved in for a closer look at it. First decent smell in the place was her. He took several deep ones while he examined it. School ring. Old school. He didn’t get—she pulled the magnifying glass over for him. He used it, first on the outside, then on the inside—

  Who was Charles Baker? He didn’t remember hearing the name, but to tell the truth, he’d tuned out a lot. Alex had a reason to be interested in an old, cold case. Ferris…less reason. He lowered the glass, turning the ring with his fingers. He cleared his throat. “You wanna get some lunch?”

  Her eyes widened again. He got a cautious nod.

  He leaned close, took a deep breath of her, and his gaze holding hers, he pressed the ring back in her hand and closed her fingers over it. “Let’s go.”

  He had the upper hand, would have kept it if he looked away while she stripped off her the rest of protective gear. Couldn’t call it a tease—no sign she knew what she did to him—but Holy Hannah. When he didn’t move, she looked down at her jeans.

  “I usually wear scrubs, but I’m not working today,” she said, half apologetically, half defensively.

  “Well, let’s get out of here before someone decides you are working,” he said, a bit hoarsely. Holy Hannah.

  Two

  Hannah looked around, because she was behind the wheel and she had to, but also with a strange sense of disconnect. New Orleans looked the same. So why did it feel different? Seem different? Could it be because Logan Ferris was in her car with her? Felt like she’d wandered into an alternate reality, one where it was perfectly natural to be on her way to lunch with her big brother’s partner. One where she’d over-shared with same. She didn’t share that much with her sisters. And if she’d shared that much with her brothers? Might as well hire a billboard. That was the fast track to Zach finding out. The sisters only shared with each other. Sometimes that worked. Sometimes not.

  The wheels in her head churned out a few thoughts—and some revisions—on the man lounging next to her in the front seat of her car.

  He’d noticed more than she realized. That was a bit embarrassing.

  She liked he hadn’t asked to drive her car. Points there.

  He didn’t protest the drive-through order, or heading to Audubon Park to eat. More points.

  He wasn’t looking at her like Alex’s little sister. Might get points for that. She wasn’t sure. Still processing that he’d become her partner in—what? She’d left the ring in a desk drawer. Not with the dolls. She’d acted on instinct when Guido popped into the room. As far as she knew, Uncle Charlie was long dead, but finding his ring there? That might, just might rebound onto her dad. Zach had always played his cards close to his chest, but they all knew that the stirring of the past from Nell’s arrival troubled him—and not just because it had landed one of his oldest friends in jail for past and present crimes. Not to mention left his kids wondering if Zach had known his friend was a dirty cop.

  No Zach didn’t need more trouble.

  Hannah spotted an open parking spot, and after a moment of shock at the sight of it, pulled in quickly and a bit crookedly. Maybe it was the heat cutting down traffic to and through the park. The air was so thick, it took effort to walk to the second surprise: an empty bench. She sat with a sigh of relief—though not before she checked it for bird deposits. Heat didn’t change avian elimination practices as far as she knew.

  Ferris joined her, their shoulders almost close enough to brush together. He divided the contents of the paper bag, digging into his share without comment. That was not a surprise. Her brothers tended to eat first, talk later.

  She opened her burger though with less focus. It was hard to be hungry with humidity sucking the life out of her. The traffic flowed past on St. Charles, the streetcar rumbling through the middle of it. Distantly, she heard a ship blast a warning from the Mississippi. Even the few joggers she spotted looked like they were phoning it in. She wasn’t sure why, but the flowers smelled different in summer. Or maybe the air just moved slower, so the smell seemed richer? Mixed in with the usual bouquet of spicy scents that was New
Orleans, was something she suspected was Ferris. Logan? He’d called her Hannah like they were already friends. If she started calling him Logan out loud, her sisters would notice. And then want her to explain what she didn’t know. Had there really been a time when she thought she had all the answers? She would have shook her head but didn’t. Movement made her sweat more. But if they went inside now, that same sweat would freeze from the air conditioning. Like seriously freeze.

  She wrapped up half her burger and shoved it back in the paper bag, then picked up her Coke and took a long, cold drink.

  “Heat’s killing my appetite,” he said, finally breaking the long silence, as he added his unfinished food to the paper bag.

  Hannah felt like she’d been holding her breath since that moment he’d handed the ring back. Of course she hadn’t, but she had been holding her words which was almost as hard. He hadn’t said anything when she tossed the ring in the drawer of her desk. Wasn’t sure why she felt like he needed to be the one to break the silence. Just did. She stole a look at him. Found him looking at her. Still couldn’t parse his expression.

  “Yeah.” The sound of her voice was kind of a relief. She could still talk. “Why—” She stopped. Was that the right question?

  “You wouldn’t have done it without a good reason.” Now question marks showed in his eyes.

  “How much do you know of the old story?” she countered, while trying to figure out what to tell him, how to explain what she didn’t understand.

  He blinked. “I was on vacation when it all went down. Who is Charles Baker?”

  “He’s Zach’s brother. His older brother. He disappeared not too long after he graduated high school.” She tried to mentally edit the story, but that made her sweat. “I knew he had a brother who died, but we didn’t know there was this big mystery until Nell came back.”

  Ferris blinked. The frown pulling his brows together was kind of…charming. She looked away. And then looked back. Found him still looking, his expression now deep in puzzled territory.