Unsympathetic Magic - Laura Resnick [90]
My fingers curled into the fabric of his lightweight summer jacket as I closed my eyes, enjoying the soft tickle of his breath on my cheek and the anticipation of the moment.
My heartbeat got louder, drowning out everything else as he whispered, “I came because you asked me to.”
The sound of a polite cough penetrated my senses.
My eyes flew open and I looked over Lopez’s shoulder as he whirled to face the intruder. Catherine was standing a few feet away. She gestured to the staircase that we were half blocking.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she said in a cool voice. “I need to get to my office.”
“Of course.” Lopez turned to me. “We should leave.”
“You two know each other, then?” Catherine raised her brows and looked at me. I suspected that my face was flushed. “You didn’t mention that when you asked me about his visit, Esther.”
Lopez gave me a sharp glance.
I decided that changing the subject immediately was my best available option. “I’m so sorry about Nelli’s behavior.” I shrugged and spread my hands. “I guess she’s never seen a snake before.”
Catherine said, “I don’t want that dog coming here again.”
“No, of course not,” I said. “I’ll speak to Max. And I’m sorry about the mess in the lobby.” However, I thought Mambo Celeste should apologize for at least half of that.
“Dr. Livingston,” Lopez said, “it’s not a good idea for a snake that size to be in an uncontrolled area with a handler who can’t manage him.”
“We weren’t expecting an attack from a vicious dog on our own premises,” she said crisply.
“Nelli isn’t vicious!” I protested. “She’s just, uh . . . high-strung.”
“A dangerous trait in a dog that size,” said Catherine.
She had a point, and Lopez’s glance warned me not to get into a fruitless argument with her about it.
“There are a lot of people roaming around this building,” he said to her. “Including kids. Do you really want to risk someone getting hurt—and the legal problems that will come with that? It would be safer for everyone, including you, if you’d just insist that Napoleon stay in his cage.”
“Thank you for your concern, detective. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a great deal of work to do. Good-bye.”
As Catherine ascended the steps, Lopez watched her with an exasperated expression. Then, as her footsteps faded, he turned to look at me. For a moment, he seemed to be running through a mental list of things he wanted to discuss, trying to decide which topic to broach first. But then he glanced upstairs again, and his expression turned sheepish.
“Sorry if I’ve embarrassed you in front of your new boss,” he said.
A sudden image entered my mind of Biko barging in on Catherine in flagrante delicto. I snorted with unexpected laughter. Then I covered my mouth, recalling that the third person in that story was dead now.
Lopez looked amused and puzzled at my reaction.
I waved away his concern about embarrassing me. “Oh, she’s in no position to be critical. After all, Biko found her and Darius having sex in her office.”
“When?” He looked suddenly alert.
“About a year ago.”
“She was having an affair with Darius Phelps?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling it was not an affair so much as just an instance of two single colleagues, both working late, alone together at the office—or so they thought. Biko was practicing late that night, and I gather Catherine was, er, very noisy.” Lopez’s reaction made me laugh again. “No, she doesn’t really come across as someone who’d lose herself in passion, does she?”
He smiled. “People are full of surprises. Especially women.” When he looked up the stairs again, his expression was thoughtful. Then he returned his attention to me. “What do you say we get out of here?”
I nodded, tired of the atmosphere at the Livingston Foundation and eager to leave. “I’ll get my stuff.”
16
As soon as Lopez opened the foundation’s front door for me and I exited the building, a wall of heat and humidity hit me like a physical blow. “Ugh!”
“Yep.” He loosened his tie. “Violent crime is up all over the city.” He pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his breast pocket