Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton [3]
Everything I needed was in my car, even the chickens. I drew the silver crucifix free of my blouse and let it hang in full view. I have several guns, and I know how to use them. I keep a 9 mm Browning Hi-Power in my desk. The gun weighed a little over two pounds, silver-plated bullets and all. Silver won’t kill a vampire, but it can discourage them. It forces them to have to heal the wounds, almost human slow. I wiped my sweaty palms on my skirt and went out.
Craig, our night secretary, was typing furiously at the computer keyboard. His eyes widened as I walked over the thick carpeting. Maybe it was the cross swinging on its long chain. Maybe it was the shoulder rig tight across my back, and the gun out in plain sight. He didn’t mention either. Smart man.
I put my nice little corduroy jacket over it all. The jacket didn’t lie flat over the gun, but that was okay. I doubted the Grundicks and their lawyers would notice.
2
I HAD GOTTEN to see the sun rise as I drove home that morning. I hate sunrises. They mean I’ve overscheduled myself and worked all bloody night. St. Louis has more trees edging its highways than any other city I have driven through. I could almost admit the trees looked nice in the first light of dawn, almost. My apartment always looks depressingly white and cheerful in morning sunlight. The walls are the same vanilla ice cream white as every apartment I’ve ever seen. The carpeting is a nice shade of grey, preferable to that dog poop brown that is more common.
The apartment is a roomy one-bedroom. I am told it has a nice view of the park next door. You couldn’t prove it by me. If I had my choice, there would be no windows. I get by with heavy drapes that turn the brightest day to cool twilight.
I switched the radio on low to drown the small noises of my day-living neighbors. Sleep sucked me under to the soft music of Chopin. A minute later the phone rang.
I lay there for a minute, cursing myself for forgetting to turn on the answering machine. Maybe if I ignored it? Five rings later I gave in. “Hello.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”
It was a woman I didn’t know. If it was a salesperson I was going to become violent. “Who is this?” I blinked at the bedside clock. It was eight. I’d had nearly two hours of sleep. Yippee.
“I’m Monica Vespucci.” She said it like it should explain everything. It didn’t.
“Yes.” I tried to sound helpful, encouraging. I think it came out as a growl.
“Oh, my, uh. I’m the Monica that works with Catherine Maison.”
I huddled around the receiver and tried to think. I don’t think really well on two hours of sleep. Catherine was a good friend, a name I knew. She had probably mentioned this woman to me, but for the life of me, I couldn’t place her. “Sure, Monica, yes. What do you want?” It sounded rude, even to me. “I’m sorry if I don’t sound too good. I got off work at six.”
“My god, you mean you’ve only had two hours of sleep. Do you want to shoot me, or what?”
I didn’t answer the question. I’m not that rude. “Did you want something, Monica?”
“Sure, yes. I’m throwing a surprise bachelorette party for Catherine. You know she gets married next month.”
I nodded, remembered she couldn’t see me, and mumbled, “I’m in the wedding.”
“Oh, sure, I knew that. Pretty dresses for the bridesmaids, don’t you think?”
Actually, the last thing I wanted to spend a hundred and twenty dollars on was a long pink formal with puffy sleeves, but it was Catherine’s wedding. “What about the bachelorette party?”
“Oh, I’m rambling, aren’t I? And you just desperate for sleep.”
I wondered if screaming at her would make her go away any faster. Naw, she’d probably cry. “What do you want, please, Monica?”
“Well, I know it’s short notice, but everything just sort of slipped up on me. I meant to call you a week ago, but I just never got around to it.”
This I believed. “Go on.”
“The bachelorette party is tonight. Catherine says you don’t drink, so I was wondering if you could be designated driver.”
I just lay there for a minute, wondering how mad to get,