Red (7 page)
“Can you do that?” I asked. “I mean, won’t you get in trouble or something?”
At this, Nate finally turned toward me. “I don’t usually get this kind of advance warning,” he admitted. “Usually I get notified a few seconds ahead of time or even just after. There’s a reason I was tipped off this time around. And, well, I like you, Red. A lot. I’d hate to see anything happen to you.”
I swallowed hard, trying to process what I’d just heard. I don’t know how a person is supposed to react when she finds out she may or may not be dying soon, but for me, it just hardened my resolve to solve this case and bring the killer to justice. If I was going out, I was going out doing my job. That’s how I always figured it would happen anyway.
And, no, I hadn’t missed the fact that Nate said he liked me. In fact, the words played over and over in my head, somehow negating the pronouncement of my possible doom. Call me a silly little schoolgirl if you want, but knowing Nate cared made me go all fluttery inside. And who wants to die prematurely when she feels fluttery?
When I looked over at Nate again, the shadows around him seemed to have darkened—a by-product of his apprehension and concern, I supposed. Aside from Gran and Eliza, I’d never really known what it was like to have someone actually worry about me. Yet here was this guy I’d rarely spoken to outside a crime scene, putting himself out there to bring a killer to justice and, with any luck, save my life in the process. Somehow, just saying a simple thank-you didn’t seem adequate.
I hopped down from my bar stool and took hold of Nate’s hand, pulling him to his feet. Then I did something I almost never do to anyone—I slipped my arms around his waist and hugged him. It felt good. No, not just good, great. His arms came around me and held me close against him, making me feel safe and protected. I didn’t realize how much I had missed that feeling until that very moment.
Afraid of letting the embrace go on for too long, I stepped back a lot sooner than I would have liked and grabbed my coat off the back of the bar stool. “Come on,” I said, trying to make my tone light. “If we’re going to crack this case, I guess we’d better get going.”
Nate grabbed his fedora and placed it on his head at just enough of a rakish angle to make my heart trip over itself. And if that hadn’t done it, the smile he gave me would have. “Lead the way,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Somehow, that was all I needed to know.
Chapter 10
I pocketed my phone and shook my head. “Still no answer,” I told Nate. “He’s probably still sleeping off the most recent midnight snack.”
“We’ll try again later,” Nate told me. “With Vlad being one of the walking dead, I can play hardball if I have to. No worries.”
I nodded, wondering what exactly it meant when Death decided to play nasty against one of his escapees....
Seeing as how the day was still young and neither Vlad nor Seth were accessible, Nate and I decided to visit the site of Dave Hamelin’s suicide and see if we could find any clues as to why Dave would have done himself in.
I knocked on the infamous red door of Happy Endings and waited, knowing it would take a few minutes for someone to answer. Hardly surprising, considering what most of the employees did for a living. Although the FMA tolerated this kind of business as a necessary evil to keep our kind out of trouble and our identities secret, the Ordinary police weren’t so willing to look the other way and came poking around every now and then.
Finally, the dwarf I’d run into the previous night opened the door and ushered me in. “Good day, Red. Always a pleasure.”
“Hey, Ted,” I greeted him with a nod. “How’s it going?”
“Busy day,” Ted grumbled, flipping the end of his beard over his shoulder to keep from stepping on it. “Lots of people coming and going—so to speak.”
“Well, we won’t take up much of Snow’s time,” I promised. “I just wanted to ask her a few questions.”
“Who’s the stiff?” Ted asked gruffly, with a nod toward Nate.
“Death,” I replied.
Ted’s eyes widened a little, but he said nothing until we reached a set of French doors that led to Snow’s private quarters. “She’s with a client,” he told us. “She’ll be with you momentarily.”
“Thanks, Ted,” I called as he shut us in.
Nate did a slow turn, taking in the lavish decor in Snow’s private apartment. The entire sitting room was covered in rich, lush fabrics of red and gold that went perfectly with the crystal chandeliers, golden candelabras, and intricately carved cornices. Sculptures that looked like they might actually be marble originals of nudes dating back several centuries were set in a series of recesses that lined every wall.
I walked to a beautifully crafted golden serving cart set near a bust of some long-dead Roman and poured myself a shot of Goose in a crystal glass. “You might as well have a seat,” I told him, pouring another drink. “Snow could be a while.”
“They seem to know you pretty well here,” Nate said, sounding a little bemused by it all. “Do you come here often?”
I laughed at the implication of his question and glanced at him over my shoulder. He was still standing in the center of the room, taking it all in. “Here,” I said, bringing him my second shot. “Drink this. You look like you could use it.”
Nate downed it with a wince and handed the glass back to me. “I’ve never been in a brothel,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting . . .” He made a sweeping gesture with his arm.
“All of this?” I asked. “Snow brought some of this with her after the divorce. The rest she has acquired over time. Having lived as a princess all those years, she developed expensive tastes.”
Nate sat down on an ornately carved settee. “And she makes enough to cover the cost of these expensive tastes?”
I grinned at his naïveté. “Oh, yeah.” When he looked at me, his shock evident, I chuckled and sat in a thronelike wingback chair next to the settee. “You have to keep in mind, Nate, Snow caters to Ordinaries as well as us Tales. You’d be surprised what people pay to live out their ultimate fantasies.”
Nate shook his head slowly. “How does a princess fall into this kind of life?”
I grunted. “She has a husband who leaves her for an Ordinary and an ironclad prenuptial agreement that gives her practically nothing in the divorce settlement. She had to do something. And there was a need for this kind of business for our kind. Something safe and anonymous. It keeps a lot of people out of trouble.”
“Except Dave Hamelin, apparently,” Nate pointed out.
“There’s always the ones who are too stupid for their own good,” I said. “That’s why I have a job.”
At that moment, the doors opened to reveal a vision of beauty and elegance. Olivia “Snow” White glided into the room, her chocolate brown curls cascading over her shoulders and down her back, her lovely heart-shaped face flushed, her emerald green eyes sparkling brightly with afterglow. She wore a loosely belted diaphanous white dressing gown—and nothing else. Even I had to blink at the spectacular curves visible through the sheer material.
“Hello, Red,” she husked, her voice as soft and silky as her milky white skin. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Hey, Snow,” I said, coming forward to shake her hand.
She lifted her gaze over my shoulder, letting her lovely eyes travel the length of Nate’s body with such appreciative hunger he couldn’t possibly have mistaken her admiration. “Did you bring a friend for me to play with?” she asked with a mischievous grin.
I felt a stab of irritation at her presumption, but said evenly, “Sorry, not this time. Olivia, this is Nate Grimm—”
Snow came forward and extended a delicate hand. “Detective Grimm,” she purred. “I’ve heard of you. I’m surprised you haven’t visited before now.”
Nate cast a desperate glance my way, then said, “I’m afraid this isn’t a social call.”
She offered him a gorgeous pout in response. “Pity. Perhaps another time?”
Nate took a slight step back from her even as she moved closer. “Perhaps.”
“Dave Hamelin committed suicide in the alley last night,” I said, pointedly interrupting Snow’s advances. “I thought I’d see if you’d heard anything about it.”
Snow sighed dramatically, then took a seat on the settee Nate had recently vacated, draping her body decoratively across the pillows for our benefit. Her negligee gaped open, giving us a tantalizing glimpse of full breasts that she did nothing to cover. Once she was comfortably seated, she made a dismissive motion with her hand, waving away my question. “Why would I possibly have heard anything about his suicide?”
“He was on parole,” I told her, going to the serving cart and pouring her a glass of Merlot. “I was only bringing him in for a minor violation—he got pinched by the Ordinaries soliciting a working girl. He would have been out again in a couple of months.”
Snow shrugged as she reached for the wine. “Some people simply cannot handle going back in.”
I held on to the wineglass as she tried to take it, forcing her to look up and meet my eyes. She pressed her ruby red lips into an angry line, then let out an irritated huff.
“You gonna talk to me?” I asked, releasing the glass and nearly sloshing wine onto her negligee. A single crimson droplet landed on the back of her hand. With a slow, languid motion, she licked it off, holding my gaze.
“I suppose I might have heard something,” she murmured. She took a sip of her wine, then ran her tongue along her lips with a glance toward Nate. “If I tell you what I’ve heard, what’s in it for me?”
I resumed my seat in the wingback chair and smiled. “The contentment of knowing you did the right thing?”
Snow threw her head back and laughed. “Red, you never cease to entertain.”
I grinned at her, familiar with the routine. “A regular laugh riot, that’s me. Now, what do you have for me?”
Snow abruptly abandoned her stylized pose and sat up quickly, setting down her wineglass with such enthusiasm it sloshed over onto the table’s dark wood. I leaned forward, too, eager for her most recent gossip.
She glanced around dramatically, then whispered, “You didn’t hear this from me—”
I held up my hands. “I never do.”
She grinned, revealing remarkably white teeth. “Ever the soul of discretion, my friend. The word among my girls is that Dave’s business was booming. He recently did some work for Todd Caliban.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I knew that.”
Snow’s eyes flashed and she leaned forward farther, motioning for Nate to lean in as well. He hesitated until I gave him a nod, indicating that he should play along. Gamely, he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees (and working hard to keep his eyes on the carpet).
“Who else?” I asked.
“The Charmings.”
This raised my brows. “James and Cindy?”
Snow nodded vigorously. “Yes! And guess who else!”
“Why don’t you just tell me and save me the time and effort,” I suggested. I heard Nate choke back a laugh and shot him a warning glance. He gave me an “Oh, come on” look but smothered his grin nonetheless.
Fortunately, Snow hadn’t seemed to notice. “Tim Halloran,” she whispered. “Isn’t
that
interesting?”
that
interesting?”
Hell, yeah, it was.
“Tim Halloran?” Nate repeated. “The Sandman?”
Snow nodded again. “Precisely. Dave had done such a wonderful job ridding Caliban’s restaurant of rats, he was suddenly in high demand among the wealthy. It was odd, really. All of these highly affluent people with their droves of servants and attendants suddenly finding themselves with an infestation of rats?”
“That
is
odd,” I said, starting to get a little itch at the base of my spine that told me the whole thing was a little too coincidental. “Do you know of any other interesting clients Dave has had lately?”
is
odd,” I said, starting to get a little itch at the base of my spine that told me the whole thing was a little too coincidental. “Do you know of any other interesting clients Dave has had lately?”
Snow shrugged, baring her pretty shoulder. “Those are the only ones I’ve heard about, but I bet you could get a client list from his office girl. She’s a pretty little thing. Tell her to give me a call if she needs a job.”
I got to my feet. “Thanks, Snow. I’ll pass the word along.” I glanced over at Nate, whose gaze had wandered away from the carpet, and snapped my fingers to get his attention. “Coming with me, Grimm?”
Nate lurched to his feet, looking flustered and a little embarrassed. “Right behind you.”
I couldn’t help but grin a little in spite of a surprising twinge of irritation at his interest in Snow. I really couldn’t blame Nate for taking a peek—it wasn’t like Snow was doing anything to keep him from it. And, well, by all accounts Nate wasn’t exactly a monk.
As we made our way to the door, Snow glided up between us, putting a slender arm around each of us. “He’s quite a catch, Red,” she purred in a faux whisper. “If you decide you don’t want him,
do
send him my way.”
do
send him my way.”
I turned toward her to throw back a saucy retort, but that was a mistake. Seeing it as an invitation, Snow pressed into me, reaching up to twine a lock of my hair around her finger. “Or you both could drop by for a visit.” With that, she brushed a kiss to my lips, nipping at my bottom lip just enough to make her point. “Then you can pay me in the kind of currency I like best.”
“Tempting as always,” I told her, edging out the door. “See you around, Snow.”
I heard her disappointed sigh. “I could make a mint with her, Detective,” she said to Nate as he tried to squeeze past her. “Petite but tough—and those eyes! Have you ever seen any that shade of blue? Like a robin’s egg. Some of my clients would pay a fortune for an hour or two with her. Too bad she’d rather play it straight.”
I turned back in time to see Nate’s face contort ominously. “Nate!” I hissed, interrupting whatever remark he was about to make. “Come on.”
He gave Snow a tight nod in farewell, then fell in behind me, his jaw clenched so tightly I thought I heard his teeth creak. When we got back to the car I expected him to start it up right away, but he just sat behind the wheel, his expression shifting so rapidly between different emotions I couldn’t even keep track.
“You okay?” I asked after a few minutes of watching the fascinating display.
“What the hell was that all about?” he said at last.
I frowned at him. “What? Snow’s little cat and mouse game? That’s the usual with her.”
“She kissed you.”
“Yeah, I know. I was there. So?”
Nate shifted in his seat, adjusting the way his coat was draped around his thighs. “That was . . . It kind of took me off guard. I mean—never mind.” A flush of crimson began to creep into his cheeks. “I can’t believe she thinks you’d go to work for her.”
I tried to hide the grin pulling at the corners of my mouth. The fact that he was so offended for my sake and yet apparently aroused by Snow’s coming on to me gratified me on several levels.
“Snow’s harmless,” I explained. “She knows I’d never work for her. It’s just her way of trying to maintain an illusion of control over the situation. If that’s what it takes to get the information I need, I don’t mind playing along.”
Nate looked a little dazed for a moment longer, then shook his head and started the car. “So, what do you think the deal is with the rats? Coincidence?”
“No way,” I said. “Rats in Chicago certainly aren’t out of the ordinary, but at the Charming compound? Cindy’s fairy godmother is . . . well, Lavender’s still powerful enough to take care of a few rodents.”
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