JК
The Lunatic Cafe :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 17 из 234Trusting, or above such petty concerns. I was going to have to start stocking my own writing materials. It was getting embarrassing.
"I'm back, Dolph, go ahead."
He didn't ask what took so long. Dolph isn't big on extraneous questions. He gave the directions again. I read them back to him to be sure I had them right. I did.
"Dolph, this is at least a forty-five minute drive." I'm usually the last expert to be called in. After the victim has been photographed, videotaped, poked, prodded, etc. . After I come, everyone gets to go home, or at least leave the murder scene. People were not going to like cooling their heels for two hours.
"I called you as soon as I figured out nothing human did it. It'll take us at least forty-five minutes to finish up and be ready for you."
I should have known Dolph would have planned ahead. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can."
He hung up. I hung up. Dolph never said good-bye.
I gave the man back his pen. He accepted it graciously as if he'd never doubted its return. Good breeding.
I went for the doors. Neither Jean-Claude nor Richard had made it to the lobby. They were in public so I didn't really think they'd have a fistfight, angry words but not violence. So the vampire and the werewolf could take care of themselves. Besides, if Richard wasn't allowed to worry about me when I was off on my own, the least I could do was return the favor. I didn't think Jean-Claude really wanted to push me that far. Not really. One of us would die, and I was beginning to think, just maybe, it wouldn't be me.
6
The cold wrapped around me outside the doors. I hunched my shoulders, tucking my chin inside my collar. A laughing foursome walked a few yards ahead of me. They hung on each other, huddling against the cold. The women's high heels made a sharp theatrical clatter. Their laughter was too high, too shrill. A first double date that had gone well, so far. Or maybe they were all deeply in love and I was feeling bitchy. Maybe.
The foursome parted like water around a stone, revealing a woman. The couples came back together on the other side of her, laughing as if they hadn't seen her. Which they probably hadn't.
I felt it now, a faint stirring in the cold air. A sensation that had nothing to do with the wind. She was pretending to be unseen. Until the couples had noticed her, by not noticing her, I hadn't noticed her, either. Which meant she was good. Very, very good.
She stood under the last streetlight. Her hair was butter yellow and thick with waves.
"I'm back, Dolph, go ahead."
He didn't ask what took so long. Dolph isn't big on extraneous questions. He gave the directions again. I read them back to him to be sure I had them right. I did.
"Dolph, this is at least a forty-five minute drive." I'm usually the last expert to be called in. After the victim has been photographed, videotaped, poked, prodded, etc. . After I come, everyone gets to go home, or at least leave the murder scene. People were not going to like cooling their heels for two hours.
"I called you as soon as I figured out nothing human did it. It'll take us at least forty-five minutes to finish up and be ready for you."
I should have known Dolph would have planned ahead. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can."
He hung up. I hung up. Dolph never said good-bye.
I gave the man back his pen. He accepted it graciously as if he'd never doubted its return. Good breeding.
I went for the doors. Neither Jean-Claude nor Richard had made it to the lobby. They were in public so I didn't really think they'd have a fistfight, angry words but not violence. So the vampire and the werewolf could take care of themselves. Besides, if Richard wasn't allowed to worry about me when I was off on my own, the least I could do was return the favor. I didn't think Jean-Claude really wanted to push me that far. Not really. One of us would die, and I was beginning to think, just maybe, it wouldn't be me.
6
The cold wrapped around me outside the doors. I hunched my shoulders, tucking my chin inside my collar. A laughing foursome walked a few yards ahead of me. They hung on each other, huddling against the cold. The women's high heels made a sharp theatrical clatter. Their laughter was too high, too shrill. A first double date that had gone well, so far. Or maybe they were all deeply in love and I was feeling bitchy. Maybe.
The foursome parted like water around a stone, revealing a woman. The couples came back together on the other side of her, laughing as if they hadn't seen her. Which they probably hadn't.
I felt it now, a faint stirring in the cold air. A sensation that had nothing to do with the wind. She was pretending to be unseen. Until the couples had noticed her, by not noticing her, I hadn't noticed her, either. Which meant she was good. Very, very good.
She stood under the last streetlight. Her hair was butter yellow and thick with waves.