Dead as a doornail - By Charlaine Harris Page 0,80
I’ve made it sound,” she said. She stared down at her hands. “First Franklin said he couldn’t go somewhere with me, so would it be okay if this other guy took me instead? I thought he was thinking of me, of how disappointed I’d be if I didn’t get to go—it was a concert—so I really didn’t brood over it. Mickey was on his best behavior, and it wasn’t a bad evening. He left me at the door, like a gentleman.”
I tried not to raise my eyebrows in disbelief. The snakelike Mickey, whose every pore breathed “bad to the bone,” had persuaded Tara he was a gentleman? “Okay, so then what?”
“Then Franklin had to go out of town, so Mickey came by to see if I had everything I needed, and he brought me a present, which I thought was from Franklin.”
Tara was lying to me, and halfway lying to herself. She had surely known the present, a bracelet, was from Mickey. She had persuaded herself it was kind of a vassal’s tribute to his lord’s lady, but she had known it wasn’t from Franklin.
“So I took it, and we went out, and then when we came back that night, he started making advances. And I broke that off.” She gave me a calm and regal face.
She may have repulsed his advances that night, but she hadn’t done it instantly and decisively.
Even Tara forgot I could read her mind.
“So that time he left,” she said. She took a deep breath. “The next time, he didn’t.”
He’d given plenty of advance warning of his intentions.
I looked at her. She flinched. “I know,” she wailed. “I know, I did wrong!”
“So, is he living at your place?”
“He’s got a day place somewhere close,” she said, limp with misery. “He shows up at dark, and we’re together the whole night. He takes me to meetings, he takes me out, and he . . .”
“Okay, okay.” I patted her hand. That didn’t seem like enough, and I hugged her closer. Tara was taller than I, so it wasn’t a very maternal hug, but I just wanted my friend to know I was on her side.
“He’s real rough,” Tara said very quietly. “He’s going to kill me some day.”
“Not if we kill him first.”
“Oh, we can’t.”
“You think he’s too strong?”
“I think I can’t kill someone, even him.”
“Oh.” I had thought Tara had more grit to her, after what her parents had put her through. “Then we have to think of a way to pry him off you.”
“What about your friend?”
“Which one?”
“Eric. Everyone says that Eric has a thing for you.”
“Everyone?”
“The vampires around here. Did Bill pass you to Eric?”
He’d told me once I should go to Eric if anything happened to him, but I hadn’t taken that as meaning Eric should assume the same role that Bill had in my life. As it turned out, I had had a fling with Eric, but under entirely different circumstances.
“No, he didn’t,” I said with absolute clarity. “Let me think.” I mulled it over, feeling the terrible pressure of Tara’s eyes. “Who’s Mickey’s boss?” I asked. “Or his sire?”
“I think it’s a woman,” Tara said. “At least, Mickey’s taken me to a place in Baton Rouge a couple of times, a casino, where he’s met with a female vamp. Her name is Salome.”
“Like in the Bible?”
“Yeah. Imagine naming your kid that.”
“So, is this Salome a sheriff?”
“What?”
“Is she a regional boss?”
“I don’t know. Mickey and Franklin never talked about that stuff.”
I tried not to look as exasperated as I felt. “What’s the name of the casino?”
“Seven Veils.”
Hmmm. “Okay, did he treat her with deference?” That was a good Word of the Day entry from my calendar, which I hadn’t seen since the fire.
“Well, he kind of bowed to her.”
“Just his head, or from the waist?”
“From the waist. Well, more than the head. I mean, he bent over.”
“Okay. What did he call her?”
“Mistress.”
“Okay.” I hesitated, and then asked again, “You’re sure we can’t kill him?”
“Maybe you can,” she said morosely. “I stood over him with an ice pick for fifteen minutes one night when he went to sleep after, you know, sex. But I was too scared. If he finds out I’ve been here to see you, he’ll get mad. He doesn’t like you at all. He thinks you’re a bad influence.”
“He got that right,” I said with a confidence I was far from feeling. “Let me see what I can think of.”
Tara left after another hug. She even managed a little