B. Donna - Blood Pool

She didn’t bother to look up as he made his way over to the chair opposite her.

“I need to know where she is, Sol. You’re my last chance.”

“Why don’t you let Jade show you?” Solaris lowered her lids and bore into Bo’s soul with her gaze.

“I don’t trust her,” he stated.

She canted her head. “After all she’s done, you still don’t trust her?”

Bo stood and paced, not knowing what to do with all the angry energy tearing apart his insides.

“What has she done? Almost gotten me killed? Lied?”

Solaris reached for her cup of tea. “I know you want to blame someone for everything that’s happened, and someone is responsible, but it’s not her. You can trust her.”

“Tell me where Raven is…please,” he begged.

Sorrow filled her eyes. “I don’t know. Don’t you think if I had this information I would tell you?”

Bo heard the sound of a door creak behind him. He turned.

“Oh, it’s you,” he spat with disdain.

Jade stood in the threshold between Solaris’s office and the hall leading to the basement.

“Yeah, it’s me. I figured since you don’t want to hear where your lady love is, I thought I’d share the information with…”

She was about to say with someone who cares . Bo could hear it in her voice as clearly as if she’d spoken the words aloud.

But she knew better , he thought.

Of course he cared, but he was hurting too much. And he was a cop, which at times sucked for him. Cops don’t trust anyone and sometimes he missed that ability to simply trust.

“His name is Henri Rioux, and he lives at 19 Avery Drive, in Bayport.”

“Does Tobias know?” Solaris asked as Bo ran out of her office.

“Of course I told him,” Jade said.

Solaris rose from her seat. “Bo-wait!”

Jade tried to shimmer into Bo’s car, but only made it across the room. “It works so much better when Tobias is around,” she whined.

“Come on. I’ll drive,” Solaris offered.

“He’ll be back shortly. She’s not there,” Tobias said as he walked into Solaris’s office. “I caught him as he was getting into his car and told him. I’m worried about him. He’s falling apart. He’s just sitting in his car, staring into space.”

“He hasn’t eaten or slept since we were in the Keys,” Jade added.

“I’ll go talk to him, maybe get him to eat something,” Sol said, grabbing a small leather pouch.

Solaris walked out into the afternoon sun. It would be glorious weather for the celebration that night. Except for their current predicament, she would be ecstatic.

Knocking on the glass window with one hand, she reached for the handle on the passenger side of Bo’s Mustang with the other. It wasn’t locked. She slid in silently.

They both sat there watching the workers from the town put up barricades for the final parade. Shopkeepers set up tables outside to sell their wares in preparation for the big night.

“She found her once. She can find her again,” Solaris said, breaking the silence.

“I know.”

“So what’s the problem?”

He turned to her, his eyes red from the tears he’d shed. “I should be able to find her. We had that connection once. Maybe she doesn’t love me anymore. Maybe she regrets the price she had to pay for saving me. And if she doesn’t now, she will in the future.”

“Bo, she’s not Lamai, she’s human. That’s why you don’t have the same connection-not because her feelings for you have changed. I may not know where she is, but I do know she still loves you.”

Bo rubbed at his face with callused hands.

“I want you to come inside and let me make you a bowl of soup. You need to eat or you’ll be no good to Raven when we get her home,” she said with a smile.

Jade stood by the entrance of Blood Pool and watched as Solaris walked in with Bo at her side. She saw the tiny leather pouch hanging around the older woman’s neck and wondered what was inside. Solaris would never tell, but whatever was in there must have helped get Bo to eat a bowl of stew and get an hour of sleep.

Up until this point, Raven had some semblance of trust that Laroque would not poison her, but that had drastically changed. She was bone-tired and weak from not having eaten since they left the house in Key West.

Her muscles ached from the rough travel and bad weather. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed next to Bo and drift off to sleep in his arms. She thought back to the last time they were together at home.

It was a bittersweet memory.

When Mick arrived in her room with a bowl of soup, she was leery about accepting it. From behind his back he revealed a bag from a local hamburger joint.

“It’s a double cheeseburger. You have to eat, and I don’t blame you for not wanting anything prepared in this house,” Mick said.

“My last meal-from the king of burgers,” she said with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that.” He lowered his voice. “Laroque is keeping everything very hush-hush. I haven’t seen him since he returned with Henri. He’s up to something. I just don’t know what.”

“You can’t read him?” she asked, taking the bag.

“I’m sure by now you’ve figured out he’s a powerful bokur . He can create any illusion he wishes. So, to answer your question, no, I can’t read him.”

Raven took the sandwich and nibbled at it. Her gaze lingered in the corner, staring at a coat rack. On it was a velvet gown in a forest green color. It was cut low both in the front and back. A jewelry box sat on a dressing table alongside it. She reached for it and took a closer look.

It contained a magnificent diamond and ruby necklace.

Graduated, pear-shaped, alternating stones made up the antique jewelry. There were earrings to match. Raven hesitantly touched the box.

The word mother came to her then cancer . A glimmer of understanding penetrated Raven’s psyche. Laroque’s mother must have had the disease. Perhaps this was Laroque’s reason for wanting to work on a cure for cancer.

“You need to dress in that outfit after you’re done eating.” Mick pointed to a doorway at the other end of the room. “You can shower in there. I left you soap and shampoo. There are plenty of towels.”

“What’s going on, Mick?”

As he turned to leave, he looked into her blue-green eyes. “We’re going to the ritual soon. It’s almost dark.”

“I’m running out of time,” she said.

Mick just looked at her with a sad smile and left.

Raven swallowed the last bite of her sandwich then took a hot shower.

The dress fit perfectly, and for a moment, Raven was lost in her reflection in the mirror. The gown hugged her curves of as if someone had painted it onto her. The back was seductively plunging, reaching all the way down to her waistline.

Laroque entered the room with a cup of tea.

She removed the necklace nestled in the jewelry box and put it on.

“Here, it’s cold out. Have some peppermint tea.”

“Oh, shit,” she mumbled. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

Philippe Laroque stood before her in a black designer suit-Versace, Raven guessed. He looked her over and signaled with his hand for her to turn. Reluctantly, she spun around.

He handed her the teacup. “Drink it.”

She put it down.

“Really, Raven,” he said in an exasperated tone. He lifted the cup and took a sip. “Now drink some.”

She took the tea and drank a bit. It tasted delicious.

“There are shoes in that box by the bed. Put them on,” Laroque ordered.

Raven sat and took out the velvet pumps, which were the same shade of green as her gown. Suddenly, she felt woozy and held onto the edge of the bed.