Chapter 6

I'd taken a cab to Club Zero's neighborhood. About half a block over and one up I stood out of the way and waited for Justine to pass. I figured she would come this way since it was the most direct rout to the club. I wasn't sure if this would be one of the nights that the girl would be checking the books but I was low on ways to contact her. If this didn't pan out I'd have to think of something else. My feet were getting sore and my knees were stiffening when about two hours later finally I saw her go past in a cab. I turned toward the club entrance and when I was about fifty feet from it I pulled out the sports bottle and drank the potion. My vision grayed out pretty fast and for a moment all I wanted to do was find a nice out of the way spot to sit and admire the scenery. I focussed my attention on walking to the door and the moment passed. Most potions have a very short duration and I didn't want to waste this one. If it gave out on me before I had finished talking to Justine we might both end up dead.

Club Zero is one of those places you read about in storybooks. At least it would be if the storybook were sold in one of those stores with a sign that included the letters XXX. It's all light and smoke and good times. All of the light was red or flashes of pale blue. All of the smoke was unhealthy. All of the good times involved... Ahumm. Never mind. The club has a certain image it tries to maintain. I hadn't quite figured out what that image was but it involved a lot of leather and vinyl clothing. Sometimes it involved no clothing at all. I was wearing my big leather duster, the same as last time I had visited, so I probably wouldn't stand out. I slipped in behind a group of folks that were clearly complying with the club's image. We passed through the first door which was a level below the street at the bottom of a flight of concrete stairs. The doormen at the end of the darkened hallway smiled and wished us all a good visit and didn't look at me twice. Maybe not even once.

I had felt the music long before I could actually hear it and once inside the club I could feel it rumbling through my chest cavity. I thought my ears would go numb. The club hadn't changed at all since my last visit but I wasn't sure where Justine would be. I doubted she would do paperwork on one of the metal framed platforms in all of this smoke and noise. But luckily I caught sight of her at a bar off to one side speaking with a tall, well muscled man of indeterminate age tending bar. She was holding a clipboard but that was the most businesslike thing about her. Justine isn't tall for a woman but tonight she was wearing a pair of heals that added at least four inches to her legs which were on display below the hem of a black leather skirt split up to her hip. A white silk blouse gave her something of the naughty librarian look.

I made my way through the bumping, sweating crowd toward the bar with the intent to wait for her conversation to finish. I was saved this bother when Justine turned with a wave to the bartender and headed my way. She nearly bumped into me as she passed and I had to fight up stream in her wake before I could touch her elbow. Such an action in Club Zero must be so out of the ordinary that she looked back immediately. I would guess that most women there are touched in other places. Probably most of the men too. Justine's face went from gray to technicolor for just an instant as she looked up at me.

"I'm not in the mood for company, sir," Justine said with her dazzling smile.

"Justine," I said. "It's me. Harry."

"Sir," she said. "While I am an employee I am not a mixer. I have work to finish. I'm sure you'll be able to find more pleasant company with one of the other girls."

I cursed the potion for a moment but then said with a bit of will. "Justine, look at me."

Her eyes came up with an annoyed flare. A bit more color formed and her expression softened. She nearly ruined my plan when she stepped toward me. I held up a hand to stop her.

"I haven't got much time," I told her. She frowned, not understanding. "I'm using a potion so that I won't be recognized. Is there somewhere we can talk?"

"Ah. This way." Justine is as pretty a girl as you're ever likely to come across. She also happens to have quite the brain and she knew how to put it to use.

"Lara wouldn't have minded if you wanted to speak with me," she said as we walked towards a door in the back of the club. We entered into a small, dimly lit room with a desk and filing cabinets. Justine closed the door and switched on the overhead lights then locked the door.

"I think she would mind," I told her. "I think there's more going on than what she told me. Who was Danica? Did Lara have any reason to kill her?"

"Danica was just one of the lower ranking members of the Court," Justine said. "Lara could have gotten rid of her easily enough without resorting to killing her."

"How well did Lara know Danica?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, Harry," Justine said. "But they had spent a good bit of time together over the past two months. Lara had her working on something."

"Working on something?"

"Some special project. Lara never told me anything about it." Justine frowned in thought. "I know Danica had been traveling quite a bit. I had to process all of the tickets for her."

"What kind of tickets?"

"Airlines," Justine said. "Danica was flying all over the place. West coast, east coast, Italy, Japan, Hawaii, England and a bunch of other places. I think Lara was trying to gather information but I don't know about what."

"Sounds like Danica was more than an unimportant member of the court," I mused. "Did you see anything unusual in the past week or so? Did Danica do anything different? Was Lara acting funny? Anything?"

"I'm sorry, Harry but..." she trailed off.

"But?"

"Danica did order a set of tickets that she didn't use," Justine said thinking. "About two weeks ago. They were for a flight from Anchorage, Alaska to Chicago."

"But Danica never used them?"

"No. Someone else did."

"And you don't know who it was."

"No. I did set up a hotel room though." She looked at me intently. "Is it important?"

"Maybe," I was trying to keep my heart rate under control. If I got excited now my potion would burn up before I could get to the door. "Which hotel?"

"The Alistair." Justine looked at me closely. "I think you need to hurry, Harry. You're getting... I'm not sure but I think your potion is wearing off."

"Do you remember the room number?" I had to have this information but I wasn't going to get either of us killed. I wanted to leave. Now. But I waited for Justine's answer.

"Room 819. Harry, go now." Her voice was urgent as she snapped the lock open and switched out the lights. I left without even a backward glance. I brushed through the crowd trying to avoid eye contact while still blending in with all the stuff anyone at Club Zero would expect to see. I made it past the doormen just as the potion was giving out. They had been more or less in color as I swept through the curtain in the hall. Once on the street I breathed in heavily. I wanted to fill my lungs with as much clear air as I could and get my heart rate under control. I felt the last vestiges of the potion in my veins reform the magic shroud as I slipped down an alley. I wasn't sure if anyone would have been watching for me but I'm easy to pick out of a crowd. Not too many people are as tall as I am and few of them wear long, black, leather dusters.

I'd risked a lot but I had gotten what I'd gone to the club for. I finally had a line on what Danica Raith had been up to and I was willing to bet that room 819 was where I would find the mystery man.