The Gamble and the Grave (Veronica Barry Book 4) Read online

  The Gamble and the Grave

  by Sophia Martin

  Copyright 2015 Sophia Martin

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

  Other books in the Veronica Barry psychic mystery series:

  The River and the Roses

  The Fire and the Veil

  The Plane and the Parade

  Veronica in Paris (prequel novella)

  Other books by Sophia Martin (find them on Amazon)

  The City Darkens

  Broken Ones

  Many, many thanks to everyone who helped make this novel the best it could be: Rick, Kathryn, the DT on BBC, and the experts at AbsoluteWrite. No way could I do this without you.

  Chapter 1

  Veronica Barry smoothed sweaty palms over the tweed skirt she wore. Melanie hadn’t exactly blind-sided her, but close enough.

  “I’ve never done a—a reading like this before,” she said, feeling hot and cold at the same time.

  Daniel smiled at her as he sat down next to her on Melanie’s couch. “You’ll do fine.”

  “How do you know? I don’t know if I’ll do fine,” Veronica said, shooting a glance toward the kitchen, where Melanie was putting the finishing touches on dinner. “You can’t possibly know I’ll do fine if I don’t even know.”

  “I know,” Daniel said firmly.

  “I can’t believe she did this,” Veronica muttered. “I can’t believe I agreed to it.”

  “It’ll be a breeze,” Daniel said.

  “Is my hair okay?” Veronica asked, running her hands lightly over her dark hair, which she’d pulled into a braid behind her head.

  “Of course.”

  “And my eyes are even?” Veronica rarely wore make-up, but she’d put on eye-liner and a little mascara for the occasion.

  “Your eyes are gorgeous,” Daniel said with a grin.

  “Right, but are the lines straight?”

  “Ronnie, you don’t have to worry.”

  The doorbell rang and from upstairs Melanie’s daughter, Angie, shouted, “Got it!”

  Veronica felt the blood leaving her head as Angie took the stairs two at a time, her blonde hair flowing behind her like a mane as she descended. She leapt to the front door, a long-limbed colt—then yanked it open. Assistant District Attorney Darnell James, a tall, dark-skinned African American man in a navy suit, stood there next to a slim man with neatly combed, wavy red hair. Veronica forced herself to stand up as Daniel did to greet the men as they came through the entry hall and into the living room.

  “Darnell,” Daniel said, extending a hand.

  Darnell shook it and smiled, then extended it to Veronica. For one wild moment she thought of refusing to take it. Get a grip, she ordered herself, and grasped his hand. Nothing unusual happened.

  “This is my partner, Jake Garrity,” Darnell said, turning to the red haired man. “Jake, this is Daniel Seong, he’s one of our finest detectives, you know. And, this, of course, is Veronica Barry.”

  Jake smiled and shook both their hands. Still, nothing came to Veronica. Angie jogged off to the kitchen, shouting, “Mom, they’re here!”

  “It’s a real pleasure to meet you,” Jake said to Veronica. She wished she could say likewise without lying, but right now she wished she’d never laid eyes on him. She managed a weak smile.

  Daniel grinned. “Ronnie’s a little nervous,” he said, and she considered stomping on his foot. Really hard.

  Darnell grinned back. “Well, I suppose we’re both a little nervous, ourselves. We’ve never done this before.”

  “Neither have I,” Veronica muttered. She gave up the idea of doing violence to Daniel’s feet. It wouldn’t help, and then she’d have to let him lean on her all the way home, since now they were living together. Not a solution to the present problem at all.

  “Ronnie, you have done this hundreds of times,” Daniel said.

  “Not like this,” she breathed.

  They all stood there staring at each other for what felt like a year until finally Melanie hurried in, at least as much as someone as pregnant as Melanie could hurry. She was just two months away from her due date, but Melanie already looked like she was ready to give birth. Veronica noticed she was limping a bit as she walked, wiping her hands on a dishcloth. Melanie’s hip must still be bothering her—a symptom of her loosening ligaments, which she’d been seeing a physical therapist for.

  I should have refused on the grounds that Mel should be taking it easy, not hosting dinner parties, Veronica thought with regret.

  “Dinner’s about twenty minutes out,” Melanie said, giving each of them a big smile.

  Too late now.

  The thought of sitting through dinner made Veronica’s stomach feel liquidy. They had twenty minutes, which meant they could do it before dinner. And then if it didn’t work, they could sit through the whole meal thinking about how it didn’t work, and trying not to talk about it, she supposed. Oh happy day.

  “Melanie, you’ve met Jake, I think,” Darnell said.

  “Christmas party last year, and the year before,” Jake said.

  “And there was that time you came in to take Darnell to lunch,” Melanie added. “Just the one time.” She raised her eyebrows.

  “My job keeps me pretty tied up,” Jake said.

  Melanie blinked and gestured to the seats and the couch. “Please, let’s all sit. Angie’s making us a salad and she’ll keep an eye on things for me in there for a while.”

  They took their seats: Veronica and Daniel together on the couch again, Jake and Darnell each in an armchair. Melanie started pulling a dining room chair in for herself and Daniel and Jake both rushed to help. Jake insisted that Melanie take the armchair and he positioned the dining chair by Darnell’s side.

  “What do you do?” Daniel asked Jake.

  “Jake’s a contractor,” Darnell said to Daniel as Jake seated himself.

  Daniel nodded. “How’s business? I imagine it’s been a little rough these last couple of years?”

  Jake sighed. “The good old days are definitely gone. But I have several city contracts, so I’m in better shape than most guys in my field.”

  “That’s how we met,” Darnell said, giving Jake a warm look. “He was hired to fix up those courtrooms that got all of that water damage two years ago.”

  Jake nodded. “I had to chase him out of the construction zone.”

  “I didn’t realize they had started working and I was trying to take a short cut to the municipal wing,” Darnell chuckled.

  Jake narrowed his eyes and smirked. “I still think you’re making that up,” he said. He peered at Veronica conspiratorially. “It’s all an excuse. He was trying to meet me.”

  Darnell laughed. It was a light sound, and out of character for him. Veronica gave him her first genuine smile of the evening. He must really love Jake.

  “So,” she said, resolving to forge ahead and get the whole thing over with. “You wanted my help?”

  Darnell’s face sobered and he nodded. He reached over and took Jake’s hand.

  “We’re just hoping…” Jake said, but his words trailed off.

  Darnell’s hand squeezed his. “Has Melanie filled you in a bit?”

  Veronica nodded. “Yes. You’ve been trying to adopt, and an adoption fell through?”

  Darnell sighed. “Two.”

  Melanie’s eyebrows went up. “Oh, Darnell, I didn’t know it was two.”

  He grimaced, looking at Jake, whose eyes became shiny. “It’s been quite an ordeal. There about six months ago we thought the agency had found us a little boy, but then—wel
l, the details don’t matter. It didn’t work out. And then just last month… more or less the same thing. We just… we just need to know that there’s hope.”

  Tears had formed in Jake’s eyes, and he blinked them away.

  “This has all been very hard on Jake,” Darnell said, but Veronica could tell from the thickness in his voice that it had been very hard on him, as well.

  “I can imagine,” Melanie said, brushing a blonde curl out of her face.

  “Melanie told you, I hope…” Veronica started, and then she wasn’t sure how to say it. They were both looking at her and she could tell how deeply they needed for her to see something. They had to realize there were no guarantees. “I hope she told you that I—I don’t always see things just—I mean, I will try my best but I can’t promise anything.”

  “Of course,” said Darnell, and Jake nodded, but their eyes hadn’t changed, the longing was still there, and it was still directed at her.

  Oh god. This is no good, she thought, but what could she do? When Melanie had called her yesterday and asked for her help with Darnell and his partner, and Veronica hadn’t wanted to turn her friend down, especially since Darnell was Melanie’s boss. But now that it was time to do it, she wished she’d just said no. This gift of hers was unreliable. She could go whole weeks without a single feeling, without a vision or a spirit’s voice in her ears. In fact, it had been at least a week since anything, and the last thing she’d gotten was a half-formed echo of a warning to stay away from McKinley Park, if she recalled correctly. And then it turned out there was a skunk loose there and a couple of dogs got sprayed, so staying away had been a good idea, she supposed. But hardly information on the level of what Darnell and Jake were after.

  “So what do we do?” Jake asked.

  That was another thing. What did they do? Veronica had no procedure for this kind of thing. She was going to feel like a sham no matter what. Having them light candles or hold hands or whatever wasn’t going to make that any better. Well, maybe holding hands wasn’t too terrible an idea.

  “Okay,” she said, sucking on her bottom lip and releasing it. She gave each of them a quick, nervous smile. “Um, Daniel, maybe you could switch places with Jake? And Darnell, can you scoot closer? I’ll take each of your hands.”

  Daniel got up from the couch and Jake settled into his place. Veronica took Jake’s right hand in her left and reached out with her right to take Darnell’s left.

  “I’ve never done this before,” she said again. “Not like this. Most of the time when I get something I’m not even trying to, you know. And when I have tried to it’s always been with objects, mostly. Just not… not deliberately holding people’s hands and all.” She was babbling. It was a lovely habit she had when she was nervous, particularly in situations like these, involving her gift. Daniel was gazing at her from beyond Darnell’s extended arm, his eyebrows slightly arched. The urge to stick her tongue out at him washed over her and she closed her eyes, trying to hold in the eruption of giggles that suddenly threatened to destroy her composure.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I am nervous.” Jake squeezed her hand and she opened her eyes.

  “It’s okay,” he said, glancing at Darnell. “If you don’t see anything, it’s not like we’re worse off than before.”

  Veronica sucked on her lip, released it, and nodded. “Of course,” she said. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried to concentrate.

  Darnell and Jake. Darnell and Jake, she thought. But she felt too keyed up and trying to force a vision wasn’t going to work. I just need to relax, she told herself. Just relax, V.

  “Mom, I think the casserole it going to burn!” came Angie’s voice from the kitchen.

  Veronica’s eyes flicked open and she released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

  “Oh,” Melanie said, and she struggled to stand from the armchair. Daniel hurried to her side and helped her.

  He glanced at Veronica. “I’ll just help Melanie a bit with dinner, okay?”

  Veronica gave him a nod and turned back to Darnell and Jake. She was still holding their hands. “Let’s try again,” she said. “Maybe you should close your eyes, too? I don’t know. And just relax and try to let your minds wander.”

  Practice what you preach, Veronica told herself as she closed her eyes again, and she focused on her breathing, making it deep and even.

  Flickers. Movement. Her eyes were closed, but it was like someone shined a flashlight over her face, then moved on.

  ~~~

  Up ahead, a red haired, thin man was walking, holding the hand of a small boy with silky, brown hair.

  ~~~

  Then she was looking down at her hands. She was sitting at a desk, and her hands were dark brown, and wide, with thick fingers. Darnell’s hands. There was a poinsettia on the right corner of the desk. The black office phone, labeled by the buttons corresponding to different colleagues, buzzed, and a dot as red as the poinsettia lit up by the name Melanie.

  She was covered in cold sweat, but she didn’t know why. She felt lightheaded. She stared at the red light on the phone without reaching to pick it up. She felt so tired. Picking up the phone felt like too much effort.

  Her left arm and shoulder hurt, and there was pressure around her chest. She pressed her right hand to her shoulder. The phone buzzed again, but she couldn’t breathe, and the pain was getting much worse. She tried to hit the button on the phone, to call for help, but her muscles were cramping up. She felt choked. As she reached for the phone the pain doubled and she lost control, gasping and knocking the poinsettia off the desk.

  ~~~

  Veronica jerked her hands away from Jake and Darnell, pressing them to her chest. She panted and rubbed a hand over her mouth, feeling the panic slowly subside even as she became aware that her behavior must seem very strange to them.

  “I’m sorry,” she blurted through her fingers, though she still hadn’t really caught her breath.

  “What did you see?” Darnell asked.

  She tried to calm herself and think back through the vision. It hadn’t started out in Darnell’s body, had it? Unless he was the one who saw Jake walking ahead with the boy. But she didn’t think so. She didn’t think his presence was there at all in that first snippet of a vision.

  She steadied herself and met each of their gazes. “Okay, I think I did see something good,” she said at last. “But I saw something bad, as well.”

  Darnell and Jake shared a glance. “Tell us,” Jake said.

  Veronica forced herself to straighten in her seat—she was hunched over when she came out of the vision. Her body seemed not to believe that the pain was really gone. She took another long breath and smoothed her hands over her knees.

  “I saw you with a little boy, Jake,” she said. “Just for a moment. A little boy with shiny brown hair. I saw your backs. I—I don’t think Darnell was there.”

  Darnell frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because of what else I saw. It was like a second vision, unconnected to the first,” Veronica said. She sucked on her lip and released it. “Darnell, do you have a poinsettia on your desk at work?”

  Darnell raised his eyebrows and nodded.

  “Have you… have you had any health troubles lately?” Veronica asked quietly.

  His eyebrows drew down. “No,” he said.

  “Have you ever—um, had any kind of—of heart condition?” she asked.

  Jake turned and stared pointedly at Darnell.

  “No,” Darnell said, his face grim.

  “Don’t do that,” Jake said.

  Darnell’s eyes cut to him, but his face was closed.

  “I can’t believe you sometimes,” Jake said. He turned to Veronica. “His doctor heard something, and his blood pressure has been really bad, and his doctor wants to send him to be evaluated with a cardiologist. But Mister Invincible ADA here refused to consider it.”

  Veronica gave a slow nod. “You should do it. Do it very soon.”
/>   Darnell said nothing, his face a mask.

  “What did you see?” Jake demanded.

  “I saw and felt it,” Veronica said, her embarrassment gone in the light of Darnell’s reluctance. She had to make him see. “You had a heart attack, Darnell. In your office, sitting at a desk.”

  “He’s been so tired lately, and not sleeping,” Jake said, arms crossed over his chest.

  “I’ve just been under stress,” Darnell growled.

  Jake grimaced. “You’ve got to do it, Darnell. You’ve got to go.”

  Darnell shook his head. “I’m fine.”

  “Darnell, please,” Veronica said. “I felt it. You were in real trouble. Please see the cardiologist. If I’m wrong, at least you’ll know for sure that you’re fine.”

  “I already know for sure,” he said, but she could tell he wasn’t as certain as he claimed.

  “Darnell…” Jake said.

  Darnell shrugged a bit and gave Veronica a half-grin that wasn’t very convincing. “I didn’t think I’d be getting a health evaluation when we did this,” he said.

  “I can’t predict what kind of information I’ll get,” Veronica said. She gave him a little smile. “But Darnell, when I do get this kind of information, it’s really important that people take me seriously about it.”

  “Didn’t you see something about Melanie?” Darnell asked in an obvious ploy to change the subject.

  Veronica sighed. “I did, and she’s been all over her OB about it, but so far, nothing’s come up.”

  Darnell turned to Jake and gave him a satisfied look.

  Jake rolled his eyes. “Just because nothing’s happened to Melanie…”

  “What about me?” Melanie asked from the doorway.

  Veronica, Darnell and Jake all turned to look at her.

  “Nothing important,” Veronica lied. Melanie gave her a quick smile.

  “Daniel and Angie have all the dishes on the table,” Mel said with a gesture behind her. “You all ready to eat?”

  ~~~

  The dinner was almost as awkward as Veronica had feared, except that at least they’d been able to come back to the mini-vision she’d had of the little boy and Jake. That part of the conversation had been fun. She tried to remember every minute detail to share it with Jake and Darnell, even though she really wanted to keep nagging Darnell until he promised to go see the cardiologist.