by Kat Cotton
In the end, I put it in my bag and locked the bag up. At least that should stop Lilly since she was hopeless at picking locks. I wasn’t so sure about Earnest though.
“Jayne, the pizza will be here in five minutes,” Lilly called.
I guess that meant I had to go downstairs and be sociable. Having some time on my own had been nice. We’d had too much togetherness lately.
I sat between Lilly and Nuno on the sofa. Sooty climbed on my lap.
While we waited for the food to arrive, Lilly went through the run down for the shows. She handed around rundown sheets. There wasn’t much change in my part of the act, just that I didn’t have to appear in the finale. Lilly and Earnest had to move their acts around a bit, though.
The two of them discussed how that would work while I played with Sooty.
“Are the dogs going to be okay backstage?” Lilly asked.
“Of course. They’re professionals.” Earnest chuckled.
The sound grated on my nerves. Why did he do that? Was it a nervous thing? Because he sure didn’t seem like a nervous person.
I went back to Lilly’s run-down sheet.
“So, basically, I do exactly the same thing as our last performance?” I asked.
“Well, we’ll leave out the bit where you fought off a hell demon. Hopefully. We’ll do the show as it was meant to go.”
When she said that, I glanced at Earnest. He didn’t seem at all surprised. Obviously, he knew all about that performance. The truth, not the public story.
I nodded. I certainly hoped this would go to plan without Duke.
Lilly sighed. I think she was thinking the same thing.
“I’m sure everything will go fine,” Earnest said. “Cheer up, girls.”
I held my breath, waiting for that annoying chuckle. But nope, nothing. I exhaled just as the chuckle started. Damn. I covered my mouth, trying not to look annoyed but then I caught Nuno’s gaze. He rolled his eyes behind Earnest’s back. Ha. He’d noticed it too. That chuckle would drive a person crazy but Nuno’s expression almost had me giggling myself. Luckily, before I lost control, the doorbell rang.
Pizza.
My belly rumbled.
The two dogs jump up and ran to the door, barking like crazy.
Even if Earnest had been annoyed about the hotel, I could see why they hadn’t been allowed to stay.
He came back in and put the pizza boxes down on the table. I got up and went to the kitchen to get plates but when I got back everyone else had started eating.
I opened the box and got a slice. Then I looked at it.
“Umm... this pizza has mushrooms on it.” I opened the other box and looked. That had mushrooms too.
“Just pick them off,” Earnest said.
He could say that but it was never that simple. The mushroom-ness would’ve spread to the rest of the pizza. I sat down, staring at that pizza slice. It would’ve been pretty simple to just order one pizza with no mushrooms. Anything else would’ve been fine.
My stomach rumbled so I began picking at the pizza. Maybe I could eat a bit of the crust.
The dogs settled at my feet, looking longingly at my pizza plate. Not as longingly as I did, though. I picked some of the ham off it.
Sooty scratched at my leg. I tried to push him away but he was a persistent little bugger. Snowy jumped up on the sofa and sniffed at the plate on my lap. I’m pretty sure it drooled on me.
“Umm... Earnest,” I said, pointing at the dog.
He called the dogs to him but they weren’t budging. I couldn’t really eat comfortably with the dogs all over me so I picked some more ham off my pizza slice to give them. It might keep them quiet for a while.
As the little black dog snatched the meat from my fingers, Earnest yelled.
“You can’t feed that to the dogs!”
The dogs had other ideas. At least he didn’t chuckle after saying that. The whole jolly guy facade he put up quickly slipped.
“Well maybe if they weren’t hanging out begging for food, I wouldn’t.”
Surely if you could train your dog to jump through hoops and all other kinds of tricks, you could train them to not pant all over someone when they were eating. I didn’t blame them for begging for food scraps. Poor dogs. Being able to smell that pizza and not eat it would be torture. I knew exactly how they felt.
Earnest put his plate on the coffee table and scooped up Sooty. Before he could scoop up the white one, it’d ran over and licked his pizza.
He grabbed Snowy under his other arm and took them both outside.
Lilly and Nuno glared at me when Earnest left the room.
“What?” I asked. “I’m not wrong. Those dogs shouldn’t have been jumping over me while I was eating.”
“It’s not about right or wrong,” Lilly said. “Just keep on Earnest’s good side.”
I screwed up my mouth. Yeah, I should. Undercover work is about fitting into an environment, not making waves, but that guy annoyed the hell out of me.
“Come on, you have to admit he annoys you too,” I said.
“A bit but we have to work with him.”
“We don’t have to. It’s not like he’s the boss,” I replied.
Before Lilly could answer, Earnest came back in. I hoped he hadn’t been listening at the door. He did seem the type who’d do that.
“Happy now?” he asked me.
“Yep. I guess,” I replied.
The others ate in silence, well almost silence, with only the whines of the dogs to distract us.
“I hope they aren’t scratching the door,” Earnest said.
Again, I wondered why he hadn’t considered that. He’d arrived out of nowhere with his dogs, and those dogs obviously had traveled with him a lot, but he seemed to have no concept of dog-proofing or dog laws or any of that. What did he normally do with them on tour?
When we’d finished eating, Lilly got up to go to the bathroom. That was my chance to snoop.
“Damn, I need to go too. Can I use your en-suite?” I asked Earnest.
Earnest nodded and pointed towards his room. I wasn’t expecting to find much but you never knew. Bathrooms are a wealth of information about a person.
When I walked in, the bathroom looked as pristine as the rest of the town house. I turned on the tap then opened the bathroom cabinet.
Jars and bottles lined the cabinet shelves. Hair restoring oil — he was way beyond that, face cream, hand cream. This guy had more toiletries than I did. But, behind those bottles, I spotted the more interesting stuff. Colored liquids in unmarked medical jars. Some kind of potions?
I got one out and pulled out the stopper.
It smelled weird. There were some herbs like rosemary and basil in it but other things I couldn’t identify.
Later, when I got the chance, I’d decant some and send it to the office for analysis. Maybe send some to Buzz too. He had contacts with people who’d be able to identify things a lab couldn’t since I’m pretty sure the police lab didn’t take witchcraft into account.
The door flung open. I spun around, jar in hand.
I needed a story, a good story.
But it was only the black dog. I put the stopper back in the jar and made sure I replaced it exactly where it’d been. Then I rubbed the dog behind the ears.
“Come on, boy. Let’s go back out.”
When I got back to the living room, Earnest was in the kitchen washing up the plates from dinner.
“I need to get out of here,” Lilly hissed at me. “Nuno, are you coming?”
He shook his head. At least he had the option to say no. From the way Lilly grabbed my arm, there was no hope for me. At least if we went for drinks, I’d have the chance to get something to eat.
“Earnest,” she called. “Jayne and I are going out for a drink. Girl stuff.”
He came to the doorway. “Fine but I expect to see you all bright and early for the dress rehearsal.”
Yeah, he’d have another thing coming if he wanted to see Lilly bright and ea
rly.
Chapter 7
WITH THE COLDNESS BETWEEN us, I was surprised Lilly wanted to go drinking with me. Obviously having an excuse to get away from Earnest mattered more to her. She’d changed her clothes and refreshed her makeup so fast, I wasn’t not sure how she did it. Even in the warm evening, she wore a vintage coat with a fur collar.
She looked me over. I had on the jeans and a t-shirt I’d changed into after my shower.
“I guess that will do,” she said. “Even if I told you to change, you probably have nothing better in your wardrobe.”
She wasn’t wrong but really if someone wanted you to go drinking with them, they could be a bit politer. But that was Lilly.
After I grabbed something to eat, we headed to a small bar in the middle of the city. Lilly seemed to know her way around the city really well.
“Have you performed here before?” I asked her.
“I used to live here,” she said. “A long time ago.”
I followed her through the bar, sticking close. The mood lighting in this place was a little too dark for my liking. needed a bit more than just candlelight to navigate by. From what I could see, the place had a luxurious feel that suited Lilly, with flocked wallpaper and lots of velvet. The smell of expensive perfume and exotic drinks enhanced that feeling.
She led me to a booth at the back, a private little nook that seemed more designed for romantic trysts than girl talk. Lilly shrugged off her coat and smiled in a way that made me shudder. This was going to be more than a quiet drink. She had something to say.
A waiter appeared and Lilly ordered two cocktails without asking me if I wanted one. Probably a smart move or I’d been stressing over the cocktail list for the next twenty minutes. I squirmed around on the booth seat, trying to get comfortable. The seat seemed to slope forward a little, making it hard to relax. I definitely wasn’t a fancy cocktail bar kind of person.
Lilly leaned on the table, resting her chin on her palm, obviously very at home here.
“You have to stop vexing Earnest,” she said.
Ah, so that was what she wanted to discuss.
“I’ll try.” I looked around, hoping that waiter would hurry back with our drinks. It’d make this discussion go a whole lot smooth if I had something to toy with.
“You won’t try. You’ll stop. We have to work together and it’s not going to be easy if you get all mouthy with him.”
Her glare left no room for argument.
“You have to admit, he’s annoying as hell.”
She grimaced. “That’s beside the point. Just bite your tongue. Even if he does chuckle every time he speaks.”
“That drives me nuts,” I said.
“I know, but we have to work with him. There’s no changing that so just make life as easy as possible.”
I wondered if I should tell Lilly about the potions I’d found in Earnest’s bathroom cabinet but, since I had no idea what they were, I might be making a big deal out of nothing. It could be some homemade baldness cure for all I knew.
“Maybe Duke will be back soon and it won’t be an issue,” I said.
Even if I had a whole load of issues with Duke, his authority was unquestionable. There were so many red flags with Earnest, I didn’t even know where to start. And he obviously had a problem with me from the start. I had no idea why.
“We can only hope,” Lilly replied. “But you have to promise, Jayne. Just stay out of his way and don’t annoy him.”
I nodded as the waiter returned with our drinks. I stared at the pink, frothy concoction. It didn’t look like something I’d ever drink. He could set the wide rimmed glasses on the table without spilling a drop, a feat that amazed me.
Lilly thanked him then pulled her drink closer, stirring it with the straw.
I stared at my drink, working up the courage to try it. Finally, I took a sip to be polite. I expected a surge of cloying sweetness but it wasn’t actually that bad, more of a tart raspberry flavor.
“So, what’s the deal?” I asked. “Everyone is so evasive but tell me, who’s actually in charge of this troupe?”
If Lilly wanted to lay down the law with me, she could give me some answers.
Lilly sighed and flopped back in her seat. “It’s complicated,” she said. “Technically, Duke and I but we have other people’s interests to consider.”
“Ah, like financial backers?”
She nodded. “Something like that.”
That explained a lot, like the expensive rehearsal space for starters.
“But surely they can’t control the content of the show,” I said.
“That’s the complicated part,” she said, then took another sip of her drink. “It’s not worth going into but we have to do as they wish.”
I opened my mouth to ask more questions but Lilly’s expression stopped me. With that out of the way, we didn’t have much to talk about. We’d been together almost constantly for three days and we’d tapped out all possible conversation topics. I got the feeling Lilly had only invited me along to have that talk about Earnest. Fine with me. I’d finished my drink and get out of here. Lilly could drink on her own.
There were so many questions running through my head but I knew I’d never get a straight answer from her tonight. She wasn’t in a friendly mood. She’d taken out her compact and retouched her lipstick. Then she looked up, watching someone at the bar.
“Oh, hello,” she said with a big grin. “Let’s move to the bar.”
She picked up her glass while I followed her gaze.
Akira. Oh shit.
My mind raced with things I could say to discourage her but the gleam in her eyes said she was unstoppable.
Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe Akira could get her talking. Pillow talk always worked, so I heard. I’d never gone that far for my job but Akira might. After all, not many guys could resist Lilly. It wasn’t like it’d be a hardship for him.
I trailed along behind her, watching as she sat herself on the bar stool beside him. I could never be so blatant but it came natural to Lilly.
I sat down beside her but she turned her back to me, fully focused on Akira.
“Hey, I saw you at the performance center today,” she said to him. “I’m Lilly. This is Jayne.”
Akira smiled and introduced himself. “Which show are you with?” he asked.
Lilly told him all about the troupe and her act. “You’ll have to make sure you catch us,” she told him, stroking his arm.
“I think I’m working on your show,” he said. “I’ll definitely catch it.”
He grinned at her while ignoring me. I knew this was work and ignoring me was exactly the right thing to do but I had a feeling I’d always be ignored when I was beside Lilly.
While they talked, I studied myself in the mirror behind the bar. No makeup, a t-shirt that had definitely seen better days and my hair scrapped back in a ponytail. Nothing like Lilly with her pale complexion and red lips. Her hair curled around her face in perfect waves and she wore a dress that showed off all her curves. We were polar opposites. On top of that, after the past two days of travel, the bags under my eyes threatened to take over my face.
I’d never win in a comparison with Lilly. That didn’t matter for the most part. If anything, it helped. Lilly wouldn’t like working with a female she saw as competition. Being plain and dowdy made me completely non-threatening to her. No point even worrying about it, really. I needed to focus on getting the job done.
I did have good skin, though. That was a comfort. I’d noticed Lilly had a few blemishes she covered with heavy makeup.
“How about you, Jayne?” Akira asked.
I snapped back to reality, raising my eyebrows at his question.
“What kind of act do you do?” he asked.
I’d almost forgotten we were meant to be complete strangers. I kept my gaze on the mirror, not making eye contact with him.
“I just do some tricks on a hoop.”
“I’m sure it’s more tha
n just some tricks,” he said. “The aerial hoop can be particularly challenging.”
Had Akira’s grin always been so enticing? I guess he never had reason to grin at me like that back in the office.
I nodded, not sure how to respond. I didn’t really like talking about my act. I didn’t have to worry though. Lilly pretty soon filled any gaps in the conversation.
I went back to staring in the mirror. It wasn’t that I wanted to look like Lilly. I couldn’t imagine spending that much time worrying about my hair or putting on lipstick. I couldn’t fight in a skintight dress or chase after a perp in high heels. But I’d like the option. I’d like to know that if I wanted to, I could look pretty instead of worrying that even if I tried to put on makeup, I’d only end up looking like a clown.
Until now, I’d just accepted that I was the tomboy type but that had never been set in stone. In high school, I had no close friends so I’d never done all that girlie stuff like sleepovers or playing with cosmetics. And, with only Buzz at home, I had no female role model.
I’d never thought before that I might’ve missed out on something. Even if I ended up rejecting that girliness, it’d have been nice to have known what it was like.
I sucked down the rest of my drink. No point dragging this night out but just as I was about to leave, a round of drinks appeared. Had Lilly or Akira ordered them when I wasn’t paying attention?
I’d have to be careful. I rarely drank. When you had the secrets I had, getting screaming drunk was a bad, bad idea and I had an awful feeling that, as light and frothy as these cocktails were, they’d pack quite a punch.
Lilly inched closer to Akira so that her knee grazed against his. I definitely had to leave. Get out of the way and let him do his job.
They talked about various performances. Considering Akira had only just taken on this job, he talked a good game. He sounded like he’d been working the carnival circuit for years. I’d grown up in a circus but could never sound as convincing as him. This undercover thing suited him so much better than me. I lacked the social skills.
I drank about half the second drink then stood up.
“I should be getting back to the town house,” I said. “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.”