"Who?"
I shook my head. "Let me see if he'll come first."
Edward gave a long nod, almost a bow with just his neck. "As you like."
I dialed Richard's number by heart. I got his machine. "This is Anita, pick up if you're there. Richard, pick up. This is important." No one picked up the phone.
"Damn," I said.
"Not home?" Edward asked.
"Do you have the number for the Lunatic Cafe?"
"Yes."
"Give it to me."
He repeated the number slowly, and I dialed it. A woman picked up the phone. It wasn't Raina. I was thankful for that. "Lunatic Cafe, Polly here, how may I help you."
"I need to speak with Richard."
"I'm sorry we don't have any waiters by that name."
"Look, I was a guest of Marcus's last night. I need to speak with Richard. It's an emergency."
"I don't know. I mean, like, they're all busy in the back room."
"Look, get Richard on the phone now."
"Marcus doesn't like to be disturbed."
"Polly, is it? I have been on my feet for over thirteen hours. If you do not put Richard on the phone right now, I am going to come down there personally and bust your ass. Am I making myself clear?"
"Who is this?" She sounded a little miffed, and not in the least afraid.
"Anita Blake."
"Oh," she said. "I'll get Richard for you, right away, Anita, right away." There was an edge of panic to her voice that hadn't been there before. She put me on hold. Someone with a sick sense of humor had compiled the Muzak. "Moonlight and Roses," "Blue Moon," "Moonlight Sonata." Every song was a moon theme. We were halfway through "Moon over Miami" when the phone clicked back to life.
"Anita, it's me. What's wrong?"
"I'm all right, but I've got something you need to see."
"Can you tell me what it is?"
"I know this sounds corny, but not over the phone."
"You sure you're not just looking for an excuse to see me again?" There was a note of teasing in his voice.
It had been too long a night. "Can you meet me?"
"Of course. What's wrong? Your voice sounds awful."
"I need a hug and to erase the last hour of my life. The first you can take care of when you get here, the second I'll just have to live with."
"Are you home?"
"No." I glanced at Edward, putting my hand over the mouthpiece. "Can I give him the hotel room?"
He nodded.
I gave Richard the hotel room, and directions. "I'll be there as soon as I can." He hesitated, then said, "What did you say to Polly? She's nearly hysterical."
"She wouldn't put you on the phone."
"You threatened her," he said.
"Yeah."
"Was it an idle threat?"
"Pretty much."
"Dominant pack members don't make idle threats to subordinates."
"I'm not a pack member."
"After last night you're a dominant. They're treating you like a rogue dominant lycanthrope."
"What does that mean?"
"It means when you say you're going to bust someone's ass, they believe you."
"Oh, sorry."
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Polly. I'll be there before you get her calmed down."
"Don't put her on, Richard."
"That's what you get for being trigger happy. People get scared of you."
"Richard ... " A sobbing female voice came on the line. I spent the next fifteen minutes convincing a crying werewolf that I wasn't going to hurt her. My life was getting too strange, even for me.
Chapter 19
Richard was wrong. He didn't knock on the door while I was on the phone calming Polly down. She was so grateful that I had forgiven her for her rudeness, that it was embarrassing. Waves of submissiveness poured out of the phone. I hung up.
Edward was grinning at me. He had moved to one of the soft chairs. "Did you just spend nearly twenty minutes convincing a werewolf that you weren't going hurt her?"
"Yes."
He laughed, a wide, abrupt sound. The smile vanished, leaving a sort of shimmering glow to his face. His eyes glittered with something darker than humor. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, but it wasn't pleasant.
He slid down in the chair, base of his skull resting on the back, hands clasped over his stomach, ankles crossed. He looked utterly comfortable. "How did you come to be the terror of good little werewolves everywhere?"
"I don't think they're used to people shooting and killing them. At least not on first acquaintance."
His eyes simmered with some dark joke. "You went in there and killed someone your first night? Hell, Anita, I've been down three times and haven't killed anyone yet."