The Madness of Mercury (20 page)

“Oh, they’re very much alive,” Dorothy said. “But you’re not going to see them unless I have some proof.”

T
WENTY-
T
WO

I
COULDN’T DECIDE IF
I should shut the door or wait to see if Dorothy booted the new arrival out to the street.

“Sure thing.” Reggie smiled and pulled out his wallet. A car had pulled up in front of the house. I saw Richard climb out and breathed a sigh of relief. If nothing else, he’d calm the situation. I decided this was a good moment to beat a hasty retreat. I didn’t want to wait around to follow the rest of the exchange. I needed to sort out my feelings about Don’s news about the column, and, given the recent arrival, decide if it was still a good idea to stay on Telegraph Hill. I could fill Dorothy in later about Detective Rinetti’s visit. What could he possibly have been looking for in the gardener’s shed? I grabbed my coat and purse and headed out the door with a wave to Dorothy, who barely acknowledged my leaving.

The Zodia column was to have appeared in the paper that morning, following its regular schedule. And Sam would have included my response to
Desperate in San Leandro
, the one that had started my troubles with the Prophet. If Les was under pressure to cancel my column, I had no doubt it was because of that.

I drove down the hill and through the tunnel heading for the Avenues. The thought of losing my column was more than depressing. I felt like a small boat with no anchor drifting through the city, unwilling to settle anywhere but afraid to go home. When I turned down 30th Avenue and reached my duplex, I parked across the street. I was leery of calling attention to my visit by pulling into the driveway, just in case someone was watching. As I crossed the street to climb the stairs, I spotted a piece of paper attached to the beveled glass of the doorway. I hesitated. Something told me this wasn’t a party invitation. I trudged up the remaining stairs and ripped it off the glass, convinced the Army of the Prophet had left me another nasty message.

At the top of the page, in large capital letters, were the words
THREE
DAY
NOTICE
TO
PERFORM
OR
QUIT.
A different sort of fear shot through me. The letter went on for two pages, citing various county codes, but the gist of it was that if my presence caused any more disturbances in the neighborhood, the owner would regretfully file an unlawful detainer complaint against me and I would be evicted and lose my lease.

I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach. It was all I could do not to break down sobbing. I felt as if the earth had been yanked out from under my feet. I collapsed on the stairs and re-read the notice a second time to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. The bottom line was that the owner had the right to evict me if she so chose because I’d broken the terms of my lease by creating a disturbance and by operating a business in a residential apartment. I had three days to cure these supposed defaults. Just great! Just what I needed.

I pulled myself together, grabbed a few pieces of mail out of my mailbox, unlocked the front door, and climbed the stairs. The apartment was undisturbed. Mercifully. The bubble wrap I’d taped to the broken pane of glass was intact, as was everything else. The light on the answering machine was blinking. I counted ten more hangups. I didn’t have the heart to keep up with my log today. If it weren’t for the threat of eviction—no, not a threat, a promise—I’d move back in today. The hell with Reverend Roy and the Army of the Prophet. We’d see who’s tougher. But the hard practical truth was that discretion was the better part of valor right now. If there was a slight chance of keeping my lease, it was smarter to stay away.

On the positive side, the apartment was warm and cozy and the pine wreath smelled wonderful. I stepped onto the brick hearth and stuck my face in the pine needles to breathe in the fragrance. For a second, it almost lifted my spirits. I plopped down in a chair with my coat still on and sat there a long time, staring at the wall. I mentally reviewed my letter to
Desperate in San Leandro
. I had given her good advice. The Prophet’s Tabernacle was a con. What kind of church required its followers to sign over their worldly goods? Utter nonsense! But in the meantime, the Army of the Prophet was doing a pretty good job on me. I was about to lose my apartment and my newspaper column. And if these goons threatened my clients, I could lose them too. I shuddered, thinking of my night in the parking garage. And that could be just the beginning.

I finally stirred from my funk and sorted through the mail, tossing the junk in the trash and stuffing the phone bill and gas bill into my purse. Then I walked through the apartment, checking everything one last time, locked up, and drove away, heading for the Mystic Eye. I wanted to touch base with Gale and Cheryl and see how they were coping with the repairs at the shop. I also wanted some reassurance from my friends that we’d all weather this storm.

I pulled into a vacant parking space in the back alley and spotted Gale’s Mercedes. I found her inside, in the tiny office behind the front counter going over inventory. Cheryl was at the front of the store unpacking more boxes. A side table in the office was spread with a napkin and four boxes of Chinese takeout. I sat in the chair across the desk from Gale. She was dipping into a paper container with a pair of chopsticks and expertly moving noodles and bok choy to her mouth without a drip. I was impressed.

“Help yourself,” Gale said, waving to the side table with her chopsticks. “Cheryl told me about your phone calls and emails. I wish we’d had more time to chat after the meeting.”

“It gets better.” I handed her the three-day notice. She flashed me a quick look and picked it up, skimming through the legalese while scooping up a piece of broccoli with her chopsticks.

She passed the notice back to me. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll call my lawyer. Do you know when they posted this on your door?”

“No,” I replied, close to tears.

“Well, if they couldn’t serve you, they’d have to mail a copy as well, generally regular mail and certified.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I worked in real estate, remember? So there’s a good chance this was stuck on your door today, if there was no other mail. That means in three days the owner has the option of filing an unlawful detainer complaint in order to evict you. You’d still have another five days to respond. My guess is that she really doesn’t care if you’re seeing clients and probably doesn’t want to evict you. Why should she? You’re a good tenant, after all. I think she’s done this just to cover her bases in case things get worse. In any case, you’ll be able to fight this.”

“I hope so,” I replied without conviction. “On top of that, my editor’s under pressure to shut down the Zodia column. But my problems don’t hold a candle to yours. No one’s firebombed my apartment as yet, but at the rate things are going, it wouldn’t surprise me.” I rubbed my temples. “Right now, I just feel so beaten down by all of this. It’s awful not feeling safe in my own little nest.”

“Don’t worry, honey.” Gale’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll find a way to put those creeps out of business.”

I attempted a smile in response. “I stayed at Gloria’s last night, but the furnace died so there’s no heat or hot water. I’m planning to stay with Dorothy and her aunts up on Telegraph Hill until the furnace guy finishes.”

“You should have called me. You can stay with me.” Gale has a luxury penthouse at the top of Russian Hill with an extra guest room.

“You’re allergic to cats. I had to take Wiz with me.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot. Love him, but my sinuses can’t take it.” Gale scooped up the last of her takeout and tossed her chopsticks into the wastebasket. “Look what this is doing to our business. No one’s come in all day. They’re afraid of those nuts. They probably even burn books.” Gale wiped her mouth and fingers with a tiny napkin and leaned forward on the desk. “Now tell me all about the threatening messages. Cheryl said it’s because of the Zodia column?”

I groaned. “They quote the Bible. Stuff like, ‘
Thou shall not suffer a witch to live
.’”

Cheryl piped up from behind the counter. “Not very bright. Don’t they know astrologers aren’t necessarily Wiccan?”

“I don’t know who I dislike more,” Gale said. “People who use religion as a power base or their followers. There are so many wonderful churches and congregations in the city. Why not join one of them? A real church! Foolish I can forgive, but full of hate is another matter.”

I grabbed a container with a small amount of rice at the bottom and added some beef and broccoli from another box. “I really stopped by to see if you can use any clean-up help in the storeroom.”

“It’s pretty much done. Edwin will be here later and I’m having the alarm people come today and give me an estimate.”

“Have the police checked back?

“They’ve been stopping in, and that detective called too. They’re treating it as arson, so at least they’re taking it seriously. Maybe they’ll even find enough evidence to make an arrest.

Cheryl joined us inside the office and piled a paper plate with fried rice and a vegetable mixture and squirted soy sauce over it all from a plastic packet. “Those people have figured out the identity of more of the readers who work our fairs. Maybe from the ads we post. And I got several calls this morning from people who couldn’t make the meeting last night. They accused me of giving out home numbers. You know I would never do that!”

“I know,” Gale replied. “Let’s hope the Reverend’s followers haven’t taken over the phone company.”

I returned to Castle Alley and packed up my clothes, laptop, and Wizard with his dishes and paraphernalia and lugged everything down to the car. I left a note for Kuan letting him know where I’d be and drove back up the hill. I was really getting this moving thing down.

I rang the bell and Alba opened the door. Before I could speak to her, loud voices carried from the living room. Dorothy was shouting. Alba’s complexion was pale. She looked frightened and didn’t speak a word, just helped me drag my belongings into the front hallway. Wizard started to howl, so I unzipped his carrier and he ran up the stairway to the second floor. As Alba shut the door behind me, the voices quieted.

I stepped into the front parlor. Richard was seated in an armchair and Dorothy was pacing back and forth. Neither one looked very happy. I was already regretting my decision to return.

Dorothy turned to me. “Julia, I’m so glad you’re here.

“Are you sure this isn’t a burden, my staying here?”

“Not at all! I’m so grateful for your company. If it weren’t for you and Richard, I’d probably lose my mind.”

I waited for a further explanation. Richard was staring at the carpet. I finally broke the awkward silence. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Dorothy’s voice rose. “You saw him, didn’t you? Can you believe this? Where the hell did he come from?”

Richard spoke up. “Now Dorothy, we don’t know anything for sure as yet.”

She ignored Richard’s comment. “He’s actually moved in. I made the mistake of letting him meet Evandra and Eunice. And now Evandra’s insisting he stay here. Julia, he could be anybody. We don’t know a thing about him.”

“Dorothy, calm down,” Richard said. “We can check out his story. That’s perfectly reasonable under the circumstances. We can call the attorney and ask him to find an investigator. If he’s not who he says he is, you can send him packing.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ve just been so upset.”

“I’m sure Reggie won’t cause any harm,” Richard offered. “He seems like a nice young fellow. I’ll stay here if you’re nervous.”

They’d obviously been batting around their concerns about the new arrival for some time. Dorothy could be quite intense once she put her mind to something. I decided it might be a good idea to change the subject. “Did the pharmacy deliver the new medication for Evandra yet? The doctor said to call him if you have any questions but he felt she needed an antipsychotic.”

Dorothy ran her hands through her thick hair. “I hate to do that, I really do. She’s so lucid most of the time. These episodes have come out of nowhere.”