“Of course not. I’m great in large crowds.” The mayor blew on his fingers and successfully unlocked his phone. As he opened the keypad, Avi spit out the first thought that came to his mind.
“Are you avoiding your wife, sir?”
The mayor coughed. He avoided Avi’s eyes. “Well, I, that’s—” He cleared his throat. “Here, let’s focus on this poor girl.”
Before he could hit and hold nine, Avi took another big risk. “Did you say something stupid?”
“Of course I didn’t say anything stupid!” The mayor barked and then wiped the phone on his wet pants. In a quieter voice he added, “I did something stupid.” He sighed, glancing over at the freezing girls in their tiny outfits. “Red built a coatroom here, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Avi confirmed, relieved to have distracted the man at last. “But long warm coats aren’t sexy and the women think they’ll get in faster if they look sexier.”
“They seem to be letting everyone in in the order they got here,” The mayor observed.
“Yes, sir. Unless you’ve brought books to donate.”
“Red is a strange little Australian.” The mayor shook his head and then defended Red against no comment Avi had even thought. “He’s a good guy. He’ll take good care of Killer.”
“Killer, sir?” Avi asked.
“The dog.” The mayor flung his hands in the air, any thought of 911 forgotten. “My wife liked the dog,” he confessed. “She’s mad at me for letting him go in the poker game.”
“He’s here, you know.”
“Oh, I know,” the mayor assured him. “Paula is on the floor of the lobby getting fur all over her nice dress.” He pulled himself together and forcefully turned his attention back to the supposedly overly drugged woman in Avi’s arms. “What could she have taken?” He hit the nine and held it.
“Or been given sir. Maybe you should—“ Avi was about to make the incredibly stupid suggestion that the mayor get the cops involved but in that instant Tim popped up at the mayor’s elbow.
“Rory!” Tim grabbed the man’s arm. The phone fell into a puddle between the concrete and the grass. “Oh! Sorry there.”
“That’s okay. It’s a sturdy little piece of equipment.” The mayor bent to pick up the phone.
Tim leaned down with him. He whispered, “G’day mate. Glad you could make it to my opening.”
The mayor started, peering into Tim’s face. He gave a sly glance at Avi who pretended to have not heard.
The mayor knew Red Logan was an alias. He knew the whole crass Australian character was a put on for the Killer with a Conscience. He didn’t know his bodyguard was in on the whole KC thing as well.
“Avi!” Tim straightened. He slapped his friend on the back. “What’s wrong with you? It’s freezing out here. Take her to the green room. We have a nurse on staff who can take a look and decide if we need to get her to a hospital.”
“You have a nurse on staff?” the mayor asked.
“Yes. She’s one of the absinthe bartenders. Not a very good bartender yet but thankfully most people don’t have a favorite absinthe cocktail so she doesn’t have much to remember.” He put a hand on the mayor’s shoulder and turned him toward the front door while he slipped a key into Avi’s pants pocket. “Have you seen Red’s absinthe station? I’ll have our magician escort you over.”
The mayor hesitated. “I feel like I should stay and help Avi. I don’t want to abandon this woman.”
Tim stopped walking. He looked Mayor Sutton in the eyes and told him pointedly, “She’s mine.”
“She is?” The mayor half-spun to look at the unconscious woman again. “Is she the one you mentioned?”
Tim raised his voice. “You go ahead, Avi. I’ll get Janelle and meet you there.”
A flash of lighting was quickly followed by a crack of thunder and the thinning umbrella herd screamed as one and immediately laughed at each other. It reminded Avi. He tossed Vanessa back over his shoulder and caught Tim’s eye. Looking significantly at the sky he pointed at his ear and shook his head.
A moment of frustration passed over the killer’s face but he shrugged it off. He turned his attention back to the mayor who wasn’t going to be easily distracted.
“I want to know that she’s going to be okay.”
Tim gave up. He nodded his head for Avi to go and as he turned away Avi heard him whisper, “No you don’t, my friend. She’s the bomber from Winterfest.” In a louder voice he added, “Now, let’s go inside and tell your wife she can puppy-sit anytime she wants.”
Avi stepped out from under the awning and picked his way over the rough landscaping to the slick cobblestones and around to the greenroom door.
Ten
Tim pardon-me and excuse-me’d his way past sweaty, happy people flirting their hearts out in the teeming Lounge. They were loving his club. Despite the rainstorm and the un-timely stunning of his target, the Killer’s Cross grand opening party raged on. Tim had great plans for the future. Including scenting the air conditioning to neutralize the nervous male and half-drunk beer smells. If he could find a way to negate all the over-cologning, he’d make millions.
He gathered a few bottles of water from behind the bar, made sure the staff didn’t need anything beyond encouragement, and made his way back through the throng to the doors of the Theater. He’d assured the mayor their backup plan remained just that. Mayor Sutton had gracefully trusted him and turned his focus to his unexpectedly dog crazy wife, letting Tim get on with it.
So Vanessa had possibly poisoned Julia. Kissy had basically electrocuted Vanessa. And Avi was carrying a soon-to-be dead woman around for everyone to see. Tim wasn’t entirely certain how but he knew this was in fact not as sideways as this job could go.
He jiggled the handle on the Theater door and leaned on it until the hasp unseated from the lock. Once inside, he used the deadbolt to re-lock the door in the usual manner. One of his plans for the future was to install a quality lock on these doors.
He turned, expecting to see Kissy, Avi, Julia, and an unconscious Vanessa.
He saw no one.
“Hello?”
There was no response. Just in case, he jogged over to the greenroom door and checked. Avi was not there. He ran to the outside door, hopped up the steps, and looked along the building. No one. Back inside he checked first the men’s room to the left of the stage and then the ladies’ room. The ladies’ had two empty beer bottles in the trash but no humans. Something sparked in his brain and he rushed back out of the single person restroom to take a closer look at the stage floor.
Footprints in the paint. He pulled a flashlight out of his satchel to examine the footprints more closely. Before he could, a voice behind him stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Mr. KC. So nice to see you again.”
Her husky voice cut right through the muffled rock coming from the Lounge, the pounding rain from outside, and the screaming voices in his own damn head.
“I guess your friend Kissy is still carrying a little grudge against me.”
Tim turned to see Vanessa lounging on a green velvet couch caressing two angry red circles on her neck. Her middle finger sported a sparkly red candy ring. “You really do have to admire her sense of irony.”
He nodded but said nothing, assessing the situation. Could she be sitting because she couldn’t stand? How much damage had Kissy’s stun gun done? There was no way his Kissy was carrying a street legal stunner. He knew she also carried handcuff keys and wished she’d put them to use. Although he just realized that he’d never heard her mention carrying handcuffs. Perhaps that was the attraction to Avi. That and the muscles. And the cheekbones. The voice that rumbled in your chest long after he finished talking. And his silky goodness.
“My aren’t you thoughtful.” Vanessa murmured. “Wondering why I’m not dead?”
Tim cleared the fog from his head fast. He spun the carousel of characters in his repertoire and hopped in when Tim the self-absorbed killer came round. He
had to play with her at least until he’d found out where Avi was. And Kissy. And what she’d done or was planning to do to Julia.
He chuckled and switched on the flashlight still in his hand. “Is that my old friend, Mr. E’s lady?”
Tim held the flashlight high over his head and shone the spot from Vanessa’s face down to her feet and up again, deliberately pausing as she would expect him to, at her chest. He involuntarily paused at her feet simply because her black stiletto boots required a second look. The vinyl sucked to her shapely calves and he made note to keep an eye on using the spiky metal heels against her. Another possibility for why she wasn’t standing. Those boots could buy a boat for her chiropractor.
The woman barely flinched at the blinding light but he did see her eyes flick away from the brightness. That’s when he pulled the small throwing knife from its sheath along his belt. He palmed it in his left hand.
Settling into the spotlight, Vanessa recrossed her legs ala Sharon Stone though it failed to have the same effect since she was wearing a skin tight black and gold catsuit which left little to the imagination in any position. “Mr. E was my man.”
“Interesting choice. I wouldn’t have matched the two of you,” Tim observed insultingly. “He was so stylish. Lots of places to hide drugs, weapons, brains.”
“Yes, he hid his brains very well.”
Tim let an honest chuckle loose at that. He clicked the flashlight off and strolled to a white suede chaise lounges he thought would have better shown off Vanessa’s catsuited curves. Deliberately turning his back to her Tim arranged himself on the seat. The years had made him confident his ass was an asset and he wanted her to have the chance to admire him as she had the first night they’d met in the extabee warehouse. Did he dare ask if the extabee ring she sported was the one Avi had brought to the party?
He settled into the curve of the backrest and flung one leg onto the suede. When he caught her eye again he scrunched his face in confusion. “You sample your own merchandise?”
Vanessa held her hand up, finding a ray from the work lights overhead. The candy didn’t glint. “I like pretty things.”
“I’m pretty.”
Vanessa let out a peel of laughter. When she’d caught her breath she ogled him thoroughly. “Indeed you are.”
“I’m sorry our negotiations were interrupted by that unfortunate bomb in your warehouse.”
“I found the bomb to be quite fortunate.” She immediately corrected herself. “Well, not so much fortunate as wisely planned. But what negotiations were we discussing?” The woman looked honestly confused.
Tim had finally thrown her. Good. He needed to take control of this conversation if he wanted everyone, or nearly everyone, to come out of tonight alive. He remained silent, hoping she would give him some more clues to her plans.
She obliged. “You think you can negotiate for your friends’ lives?”
“Ha Ha!” Tim laughed as if this were a great joke. “My friends are friends when they are useful to me.” He looked away as if considering how much to share but really giving her space to speak. When she didn’t, he jumped back into the ruse he’d attempted in the warehouse before Kissy had attacked Mr. E. “I’m looking to branch out from assassination. You appear to be between partners at the moment.”
Vanessa’s smile broadened unpleasantly. “Oh, I’m working on someone. I like Kissy’s friends. You’re all so much more exciting than she knows.”
“She doesn’t know very much about me, that’s for sure. She,” he smiled privately, “couldn’t understand me like you can.”
Vanessa laughed but Tim could see it was to cover her sharp inhale. He saw her chest rising and falling with effort and some color rose to her pale cheeks. He wanted to see how weak she still was after the shocking she’d received. He sat up and leaned forward.
“Come on. Let’s have a drink.” Her face fell even though she hid it well and he clarified, “upstairs. I have an apartment upstairs. It’s not everything it’s gonna be yet. Perhaps you’ll have some decorating tips for me.”
“The buildings I decorate don’t end up in Better Homes and Gardens,” she demurred.
Tim could only think of one building she’d successfully redecorated or rather demolished; the warehouse. She had successfully redecorated Avi’s sports car with three guns for hire inside and she’d burnt down much of the Parkside Projects but she’d utterly failed to blow up the hospital or the gazebo. He’d give her 3 for 5 in her ‘redecorating’ business. Tim planned to lower that success rate.
He stood, crossed over to her. With the knife still hidden in his left hand, he offered her his right. “Then we’ll talk about other things. Money?”
Vanessa reached out her bejeweled hand and lay it in his. Her eyes sparkled. “Mmm. Now you’re talking my language.”
Eleven
“Your place really does need redecorating.” Vanessa strolled around the sparsely furnished loft while Tim opened an icy bottle of prosecco in the open kitchen.
“I haven’t settled anywhere in years,” he told her semi-honestly. The full truth was that he hadn’t settled anywhere ever. He hadn’t lived in any one place since he’d run away from home at sixteen and he’d never felt settled there. For the past six months he’d been bunking on an airbed in his sister’s spare room. But he’d thought this would be his first real home. Now, with the woman he loved as well as his sister and yes, Avi in danger yet again he was rethinking his immediate plans.
He pulled two glasses from the collection of five that he owned and poured out the drinks. “Here we are.”
She horse walked her way over to him. He recognized that five inch heels might make her ass stand out prettily but the ridiculousness of her walk negated any sexy value added to her rear. And why would a criminal wear shoes she couldn’t walk, much less run in?
“Oh! To make it perfect.” He turned away to the slick stainless steel fridge and after an awkward moment trying to remember how to open the fancy inset door, pulled out two strawberries. He rinsed them at the sink and then dropped them in the drinks. The sparkling wine fizzed anew. He handed a glass to his arch enemy.
“To bright futures.” Vanessa held up her champagne flute.
Tim tapped his to it. They drank and he invited her to join him on the couch.
Tim’s loft was insulated from the club by a hallway which led from the back door to the front wall on either side of the apartment. Several secret doors led from the club up to this hallway. Tim had not used any of these secret passages to bring Vanessa up. He’d taken her out through the greenroom and they’d run around to the stairwell in the rear that climbed up to his front door. He’d been hoping to run into any of his friends. They’d seen no one.
The storm looked magical through his glass block window. He wanted to make an excuse and step into the restroom to try contacting Avi or Kissy via the earpiece but he didn’t dare leave this bitch alone in his apartment.
“KC, tell me, are you in love with the lady cop?”
While his brain was racing to figure out how to handle this situation, Tim was still fully in character. He laughed derisively. “Oh, she’s a sweetheart.”
Vanessa put a hand on his thigh. “Perfect for the big, handsome, goody two-shoes cop. Oh, he’s not a cop anymore, is he?” Vanessa pouted. “I told him” she continued, “he can easily get reinstated. All he has to do is tell them he was tracking you.”
Tim raised his eyebrows, apparently appreciating her tactics but truly appreciative of the opening. “When did you tell him this? Before you blew up his car?”
“It’s easy enough to blame that on you.”
Tim turned at a sudden rattle from the bedroom corner of the large room. He looked back at Vanessa. She was five foot three, five eight in the spiked heels and she couldn’t weigh more than one ten, one twenty. There was no way she could have manhandled Avi into the Murphy bed closet.
She raised an eyebrow, “Rats?”
She sipped her sparkling wine.
Tim absently did the same. He raised his glass to her and she drank again, more deeply.
He decided to keep the conversation rolling, “I didn’t kill Avi’s brother.”
Vanessa tore her eyes from the closed doors concealing the foldaway bed. “It’s so easy to manipulate some people.” She watched him impassively. “Can you explain what the big deal is? Why is family so important?”
Tim stood. He took two steps away from the couch, keeping his own eyes off the bed. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t have any. You?”
She laughed. “I had a sister. She meant everything,” she paused to sip, “to our mother.”
“Will you excuse me for a moment.” Tim had decided. He was going to reach out to Avi and Kissy. He needed more information.
“Not at all.”
Tim set his flute on the key table beside the front door. It took two tries for him to set it evenly on the surface. His hand was shaking. He took a deep breath to calm himself and turned to the bathroom. He had to set his glass down first because he was still hiding the knife in his left hand. The rattling sound came from the Murphy bed again just as he opened the bathroom door and for a moment he was torn. He had just decided to go and see who was tucked away in the hide-a-bed when his brain registered the unconscious figure of Avi lying on the bathroom floor. That split moment of indecision was his doom.
The blow on his head came down sharp and painful. His knees crumpled and he blacked out halfway to the ground.
Twelve
Four years ago Tim crouched beneath a modern double paned window in an ancient stone outbuilding situated in the middle of a New England graveyard. He peered out through the glass while his mentor Finn searched through boxes stacked on the floor to ceiling shelves. She perched near the top of a rickety wooden library ladder whose wheels squeaked outrageously.
“Why am I hiding beneath this window in the dark if you’re going to wake the dead with that thing?” Tim hissed.
“Stone walls. Double pane windows,” she pointed out at normal volume. “Sound is not our concern, my son.”
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