Kissed by Darkness(8)
Her face hardened. “What do you know of Brent Darroch?”
“Nothing really,” I told her. What was with the attitude suddenly? “He just hired my firm to find someone.”
“Who?”
I cleared my throat, wondering how she was going to react to what I had to say. “A Sunwalker.”
She looked at me for a long moment, her gaze inscrutable. “And what will you do with this Sunwalker once you find him?”
“I’ll retrieve the necklace he stole from Mr. Darroch and then I’ll kill him.”
She didn’t bat an eye. She only held out her hand. Without thinking I placed mine in hers. “Remember, Huntress, things are not always as they seem and there are always two sides to every tale. Before you slice off the Sunwalker’s head, you might want to hear what he has to say.”
Riiiight.
She let go of my hand and reached into a voluminous bag beside her chair. She placed two business cards in my hand. One was Cordelia’s own card. The other read: Eddie Mulligan, Majicks and Potions. Weirder and weirder.
“I don’t know this Sunwalker,” Cordelia told me, “but I have heard the legends. If anyone can help you find what you’re looking for, it’s Eddie. Tell him I sent you. Tell him I said it was OK to help you.”
“Right. OK. Thanks.”
She smiled enigmatically. “Not a problem. You know where to find me if you need me.”
I turned to go. “Remember,” her voice stopped me, “look beyond the obvious. Not all of those who walk the dark path are evil.”
I glanced back at her. “They are in my world.” I strode out through the curtain and into the writhing mass of bodies in the main club. How much weirder could this case get?
Chapter Three
Inigo joined me outside the club. He had lipstick smeared on his collar and his lips looked a bit swollen. “Lucky bitch,” I said, giving him the once over. He threw his head back and laughed.
“Gee, thanks Morgan. You’d probably get some, too, if you bothered to stop and smell the roses once in awhile.”
“Whatever.” I didn’t like to think about my lack of success in relationships with men. It was pathetically Freudian and I knew it. Didn’t need to go into a whole song and dance about it. “Sense anything, lover boy?”
He shrugged. “Not much. She gave me tinglies.”
I blinked. “Excuse me?” My mind was suddenly going places it really shouldn’t go. At least not with Inigo.
“Good ones. Cordelia gave me a good vibe. I think she’s somebody we should keep around.”
I shook my head. “We’ve already got a friendly neighborhood clairvoyant. We don’t need two of them.”
He chuckled. “She’s not clairvoyant. Well, not exactly. She’s a lot more than that. She’s sort of a … a mystic, I think.”
“Right, OK. Fine. Whatever.” I pulled one of the business cards out of my pocket and handed it to him. “She said this Eddie guy can probably help us find the Sunwalker. It looks like he runs some kind of mystic mumbo jumbo shop.”
“You’re a fine one to talk about mystic mumbo jumbo.” Inigo raised a brow at me. “You’re not exactly an average, ordinary human type yourself.”
“True. But I’m not about to start burning incense and dancing naked in the moonlight.”
He gave me one of those head to toe gazes that men give women they find particularly tasty. “Too bad.”
“Pervert,” I laughed. There was no way I was admitting that the thought of Inigo watching me dance naked in the moonlight was practically giving me a hot flash.
“Tease.”
“OK, can we be serious for a minute? We need to talk to this guy, find out what he knows, even if he is a loon,” I insisted.
“OK, but you’ll have to go alone. I know this place. It’s a strictly day time operation. And you know how I feel about getting out of bed before 6pm.”
“Right. I’ll hit the shop tomorrow then while you’re getting your beauty rest.”
He reached out and caressed my cheek. Sent a shiver all the way down my spine. Now I was the one with the tinglies. “You should think about getting some yourself. You’re looking a bit tired.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said dryly. “Just what every girl wants to hear. Some young stud muffin telling her she looks tired.”
He smirked. “So, you think I’m a stud muffin, huh?”
“Oh, shut up. Kabita would kill me if she heard us having this conversation.”
“What Kabita doesn’t know won’t piss her off,” he grinned. “C’mon. I got plenty of room for two.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.