Mississippi, in the Warehouse District. Again, we were back to the Warehouse District.
The entire district had smelled vampy. Renee could easily have a hidden lair there.
Rick murmured, "Want to hire me to look up the current owners of her original land?"
Without looking up I said, "Sure. Just put it on my tab." I couldn't help the wry smile that pulled on my mouth. I had hired Rick when he was undercover to look into some land ownership and purchases. So far, I hadn't paid him.
"Youare going to pay me for my time, aren't you?"
I pulled a folded money order from my jeans pocket and held it out to him. He grunted, unfolded the paper to check the amount, and grunted again. "Nice. This is more than I was hired for. What's the rest? Tip? Or do I have to . . . work it off?"
His question had a decidedly erotic tone to it and I didn't have time for flirting, not with Angelina and Little Evan missing. "Tip. Definitely tip."
"Spoilsport."
"But you can buy the beer on your tip money on Saturday night. After the children are back home safe and sound."
"Deal." His voice was toneless again, all business, the life-or-death business of being a cop. I sometimes envied them the ability to turn that stony, cold mien off and on.
I felt a vibration and Rick pulled a cell phone from his pocket, opened the cover. His brows went up as he checked a text message. "I'm being shunted to the special cases division. I have a conference today at five in" - he checked the text again - "room 666.
What kinda meeting place is this?" He closed the cell and put in back in his pocket. "
'Bout time the brass gave me something to do besides paperwork. I hate paperwork.
What?"
I pulled my brows back down and stuck my eyes back on the file. "Nothing. Can I get copies of these files? It's a hassle coming all the way down here every time I need info."
"You'll miss me, but I'll see what I can do."
"I haven't slept in two days. I'm heading back to my bed."
Rick leaned in and pushed back the hair that brushed my cheek. Tucked it behind my ear. His fingertips were warm on my skin. "Alone?"
I spluttered with laughter. This guy could twist anything into innuendo. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I certainly hope so."
So tired I could barely think, I made it home and to my rumpled bed, where I stole four uninterrupted hours of sleep, waking only when someone knocked on the front door, three distinct taps, leaving the wards sizzling in reaction. It had to have hurt, telling me that it wasn't a delivery or a salesman. It was more imperative than that. I had a visitor.
Or maybe a Visitor. The queen of England would knock like that, taps to announce herself, not to ask admission.
I wrapped up in the chenille robe that came with the house, tied it snuggly, and went to the door. Peeking through a clear pane in the door's new stained glass, I wasn't surprised to see Mol's oldest sister, water witch, professor, and three-star chef, Evangelina Everhart. Evangelina was a bigger, broader, more authoritative version of Molly, a three-star-general version of Molly, wearing a business suit, panty hose, and a posture so upright it looked as if she were born with a witch's stick up her backside.
She was carrying a suitcase. My heart did a nosedive. A cabdriver behind her unloaded two more cases onto the curb. Evangelina looked up and met my eye through the pane of glass. Too late to pretend I wasn't at home.
I opened the door and stood aside. Evangelina looked me over from bare toes to mussed hair. Her lips pursed, censure on her face at the evidence that I had been napping while her sister was in the hospital and her niece and nephew were missing. I grinned sourly and walked away without a word, leaving the door open. Evangelina and I weren't the best of pals. To her, I was the Hell's Angel, motorcycle-riding, bad-influence friend of her younger sister.
I put on a kettle of water for tea, listening to Evangelina pay off the cabbie and carry her luggage over the threshold. The front door closed with a restrained snap. Molly's ward was still up, but it clearly recognized family; she entered with no problem and stepped into the kitchen. Standing in the entrance, she sniffed, looking around again at