Simone met me for lunch that afternoon. The topic inevitably turned to the guys. Our vampire guys.
"Josef has been too busy for me lately," Simone was saying over her grilled chicken salad. "The cover story seems to be that he and Mick are working on a case together."
I nodded. "That's Mick's story too. I wonder what they're really up to?" We sat a minute in silence, munching on our salads. "Josef brought over a big envelope to Mick's this morning. I could have looked in it, but I was respectful, and didn't."
"That's admirable," Simone replied, meaning it. "I know I couldn't have resisted." She thought a moment. "Say, you think Mick is still sleeping? You have a key to his place, right? We could just sneak in, and…"
"No, way, Simone. I have a feeling this is more 'vampire business', and I'm going to stay out of it."
"Come on, Beth. Aren't you the least bit curious?"
"Of course I am. But what if we get caught? I don't want to betray his trust—again." I'd recently had to explain to him why I'd kept Dean Foster's pictures from him, then I'd had to tell Ben Talbot that Mick and Josef were vampires. I'd been trying to redeem myself by being a good girl, even though Mick swore he had forgiven me. I didn't want to be in that position again.
"I have an idea—I'll open the envelope. Then, you won't have to worry about betraying anybody."
"I've created a monster," I murmured ruefully. Simone and I had become good friends, mainly because I'd included her in on my recent hijinxs where our vampires were concerned. We'd definitely had some adventures, and Simone used to be my reluctant cohort. Those days seemed to be long gone now.
She laughed. "It's all your fault, and you know it," she said, mirroring my thoughts. "Come on, Beth. You know you want to."
Oh, I more than wanted to. Those reporter instincts didn't go away just because I worked in the DA's office now. The little devil on my shoulder was agreeing with Simone. Technically, if I didn't look in that envelope, I wouldn't be the one betraying Mick. I tried to make myself hold out a little longer.
"Shouldn't we have learned our lesson last time?" I asked.
"Yes, I know better now than to crash a vampire poker game or get in the crossfire of psychopathic Cleaners. But this situation is entirely different. We're just opening a little envelope."
"I'm sure Pandora had the same reasoning." I was definitely not used to being the persuadee, as I usually was the persuader. To be honest, it really wasn't taking much persuasion on Simone's part. I pulled out my purse and laid out more than enough money to cover our lunch and the tip.
"Let's go. Mick could be waking up any time."
She giggled uncharacteristically and nearly raced me to the door.
Outside Mick's apartment, I tried to think of excuses for why Simone and I would have shown up on his figurative doorstep. Had I left an article of clothing there? I didn't think so, but that excuse would just have to do. Not wanting to disturb him, for vampires could sometimes hear even when they're upstairs sleeping in their freezers, I pressed the remote key entry and peaked inside. It was quiet. I didn't want to risk calling for him. I motioned for Simone to follow me. We were in.
We tiptoed through the living room and into the kitchen, where the envelope still remained on the counter. "That's it." I whispered. Simone eagerly picked it up, opened the metal clasp, and looked inside. She pulled out a key card from a downtown hotel. It was encased in its own little sleeve that had the room number on it: 1027. And a packet of papers. She turned each page, scanning it quickly while I nervously looked toward the stairs.
"It's a list," she said. "Of what, I'm not sure."
"Not another list!" I exclaimed in whispered terror.
"It's not a list of names. It looks to be titles of something. Movies? Books? I don't recognize any of them."
Tamping down my earlier guilt, I held out my hand. "Let me see."
I read a few titles. Salt Peanuts, Satin Doll, You Better Know It, Need Your Love So Long, Fever, A Sinner Kissed an Angel….There were several pages of them.
"I think these are…songs."
"Okay." Simone almost seemed disappointed that it wasn't something more sinister. "Well, that doesn't tell us much." A slip of sticky note paper we hadn't noticed before suddenly floated to the floor. I picked it up. 7:00 Friday, was the simple message in Josef's flowery handwriting.
"I think this had been stuck to the key card," Simone said. "Do you suppose this is a meeting time for the hotel room?" Lots of paranoid thoughts flickered through my mind. No, this is Mick we're talking about. Oh, and Josef. Paranoia returned.
"Do you think this could be a freshie party?" I asked shakily. We looked at each other in wonder. Just then, we heard a noise upstairs. The vampire had arisen. "Let's go!" I hissed. I hastily returned the contents of the envelope and placed it back on the counter. We made it to the door in what seemed like vampire speed, and I tried to shut the heavy door as softly as I could. We literally ran to the elevator, and I pounded on the button. We were lucky and it opened right away, but the unfortunate man inside was nearly knocked down in our haste to get in. We apologized and sighed in relief as the door closed behind us.
I yawned and stretched, sitting up in my freezer. The clock said one o'clock p.m. I was pulling on my pajama bottoms when I thought I heard a noise downstairs. I listened a moment longer, and heard muffled running feet and the click of the front door. I scrambled to the stairs and made it to the monitor by the door. No one was there, but I could still smell Beth's perfume in the air. And—I inhaled deeply—Simone had been here too. I wondered what that was all about. Women. I'd stopped even trying to figure them out. I walked back to the kitchen, thinking with a smile about our passionate night together. Now that was something I understood. It was then that I saw a large manila envelope resting on the counter, and I picked it up curiously.
Inside was the key for the hotel room Josef had reserved for the band Friday night before our gig. We were supposed to meet there for a final fitting of the matching suits Josef insisted we wear.
"If I'm going to be on the stage with you clowns," he had said, " at least I want to look good."
Tonight , before we practiced, his private tailor was supposed to take our measurements. Josef had no doubt the suits would be ready in time, even though we performed the next night. He was used to getting his way, and no doubt the poor tailor would be working round the clock.
The other thing in the envelope was a list of songs. We couldn't decide on another song for our set, so Josef had composed a list of his favorites, some that we had performed together long ago. I had my doubts that we could perfect a new one before tomorrow night, but once Josef set his mind on something, well…ask his tailor about that.
I read through the list while I drank my breakfast, and one song stood out that I thought would be perfect, and relatively easy to play. Another plus was that I also still remembered all the words. I smiled at the thought of Beth hearing me sing this one to her—it fit how I felt about her perfectly. I couldn't wait for her reaction.
I dressed and did some accounting work in my office, realizing that my business had suffered lately, since I hadn't had time to take on any new cases. After a couple hours of that, I called Beth. It wouldn't be long before she got off work.
"Hi, Mick," said Beth in her sultry just-for-me voice.
"Hello sweetheart. I guess I just missed you when you and Simone were here this afternoon."
"Uh…yeah. I figured you were still asleep and we didn't want to wake you. Simone had been out to lunch with me and tagged along …"she trailed off with no further explanations.
"Did you forget something at my place?" I prompted.
"Yeah." Abruptly, she changed the subject. "So, do you have any plans tonight?"
Sometimes my mind spun at her thought processes. I shook my head in amusement. "Josef and I will be working again tonight, but I might be able to come by later, if you will be up." Again, I hated keeping secrets from her, as we had agreed not to do in the past, but this was a surprise, not a deep, dark, life-threatening secret. That was how I was going to justify it to her, anyway. She was hesitating, and I could almost hear her annoyed expression.
"Sure," she said dully, "what time, do you think?"
"Is midnight too late again? I don't want you to be too tired for work." That's probably why she was so annoyed. I'd kept her awake quite late last night, not that she had seemed to mind much at the time.
"I'll be awake. Come on by."
"Okay." I wasn't used to the coldness in her tone, especially after our hot night last night. "Are you mad at me about something?"
"No!" Her tone changed again. "No, of course not. I'm sorry, I'm just a little distracted. And I've missed you lately. I know you've been busy…"
"Yeah, but I'll make it up to you, I promise. Last night was a start, wasn't it?"
I could hear the smile in her voice. "And I thought Josef's ego was big," she said. Where did that comment come from? "I guess a few more nights like that, and all will be forgiven."
"I look forward to it. I'll see you later?"
"Yes, you will," she said, now using her bossy tone, then, softly: "I love you, Mick."
"I love you too, Beth." And, on that happy note, we said our goodbyes.
Of course, Josef's tailor had to be a woman. And she'd brought along her helpers—also female. The four of us stood somewhat impatiently at Logan's place, while the scantily clad beauties took our measurements. Logan and Josef seemed to enjoy the entire experience. Guillermo and I were just annoyed.
"I don't see why this is necessary," I said to Josef, watching in alarm as my inseam was measured.
"In my continuing quest to improve your style, I thought this was the perfect excuse to get you to wear something other than one of those damn henleys of yours." Josef always wore designer suits, expertly tailored. I was a jeans kind of person, as were the other guys.
"Well, don't you think matching suits are a little much? And nothing too flashy. I mean, it's not that kind of bar."
He laughed. "Don't worry, Mick, your masculinity will be well-protected, I assure you."
The tailors finished up, hastening to reassure Josef that all would be ready and perfect by show time. With all he was likely paying them, I certainly hoped so, for their sakes.
We got down to business, practicing the song I'd suggested from Josef's list. It sounded so good, we agreed that it should be the first one we played. This was our final rehearsal, and we were all satisfied with the four songs we'd be playing. Our teamwork had improved dramatically, and we actually sounded like a band, rather than a group of individuals.
"Hey, we sound much better than we ever did in the sixties," Guillermo was saying, as he packed up his drum set.
"Yeah, and maybe this time the girls will be swarming us." Logan said, as he put his bass guitar in its case.
"You seriously need to get laid, my friend," said Josef.
"I'm working on it. I mean, look at me. I'm going to be out. At night. In a bar. That's a major step for me, I'm telling you." We all knew he was more comfortable playing Guitar Hero than clubbing for women.
"Well, a guy's got needs, and they can't just be met through an online porn site." Logan's face reddened. I took pity on him.
"Leave him alone, Josef. We can't all have your uh…self-confidence." Or overinflated ego, I thought. I slung my guitar over my shoulder by its strap. It was approaching midnight, and I hated to keep Beth waiting. Guillermo and Logan went upstairs to load the drum set into Guillermo's van. Daryl's club had a piano, so Josef didn't have to worry about getting his there.
"By the way," Josef said on our way up the stairs. "Did Beth tell you I saw her this morning when I dropped off those songs?"
"No, she didn't mention it."
He smirked. "I didn't suppose she would, although she promised she'd tell you I'd come by."
I paused at the landing. "What did you do, Josef?" I asked suspiciously.
"Nothing, Mick. Absolutely nothing. You would have been proud." I knew I wasn't going to get any more than that out of him. I'd have to see what Beth had to say about it later.