windows had been covered by beautifully painted wood panels, and there were two doors to the room. There was just enough space between them for a person to stand.
I set my bags on the floor by Hadley’s chest of drawers, and I rooted around until I found my cosmetics bag and my tampons. Trudging back into the bathroom, I extricated my toothbrush and toothpaste from the small bag and had the delight of brushing my teeth and washing my face. I felt a little more human after that, but not much. I switched out the bathroom light and pulled back the covers on the bed, which was low and broad. The sheets startled me so much that I stood there with my lips curled. They were disgusting: black satin, for God’s sake! And not even real satin, but some synthetic. Give me percale or 100% cotton, any day. However, I wasn’t going to hunt down another set of sheets at this hour of the morning. Besides, what if this was all she had?
I climbed into the king-size bed—well, I slithered into the king-size bed—and after an uneasy wiggle or two to get used to the feel of them, I managed to fall asleep between those sheets just fine.
14
SOMEONE WAS PINCHING MY TOE AND SAYING “WAKE up! Wake up!” I roared back to consciousness in a terrified rush, my eyes opening on the unfamiliar room streaming with sunshine. A woman I didn’t know was standing at the foot of the bed.
“Who the hell are you?” I was irritated, but not scared. She didn’t look dangerous. She was about my age, and she was very tan. Her chestnut hair was short, her eyes a bright blue, and she was wearing khaki shorts and a white shirt that hung open over a coral tank top. She was rushing the season a little.
“I’m Amelia Broadway. I own the building.”
“Why are you in here waking me up?”
“I heard Cataliades in the courtyard last night, and I figured he’d brought you back to clean out Hadley’s apartment. I wanted to talk to you.”
“And you couldn’t wait until I woke up? And you used a key to get in, instead of ringing the doorbell? What’s wrong with you?”
She was definitely startled. For the first time, Amelia Broadway looked as if she realized she could have handled the situation better. “Well, see, I’ve been worried,” she said in a subdued way.
“Yeah? Me, too,” I said. “Join the club. I’m plenty worried right now. Now get out of here and wait for me in the living room, okay?”
“Sure,” she said. “I can do that.”
I let my heart rate get back to normal before I slid out of bed. Then I made the bed quickly and pulled some clothes out of my bag. I shuffled into the bathroom, catching a quick glimpse of my uninvited guest as I went from bedroom to bath. She was dusting the living room with a cloth that looked suspiciously like a man’s flannel shirt. O-kay.
I showered as quickly as I could, slapped on a little makeup, and came out barefoot but clad in jeans and a blue T-shirt.
Amelia Broadway stopped her housecleaning and stared at me. “You don’t look a thing like Hadley,” she said, and I couldn’t decide by her tone if she thought that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“I’m not at all like Hadley, all the way through,” I said flatly.
“Well, that’s good. Hadley was pretty awful,” Amelia said unexpectedly. “Whoops. Sorry, I’m not tactful.”
“Really?” I tried to keep my voice level, but a trace of sarcasm may have leaked through. “So if you know where the coffee is, can you point me in that direction?” I was looking at the kitchen area for the first time in the daylight. It had exposed brick and copper, a stainless steel food preparation area and a matching refrigerator, and a sink with a faucet that cost more than my clothes. Small, but fancy, like the rest of the place.
All this, for a vampire who didn’t really need a kitchen in the first place.
“Hadley’s coffeepot is right there,” Amelia said, and I spotted it. It was black and it kind of blended in. Hadley had always been a coffee freak, so I’d figured that even as a vampire she’d kept a supply of her favorite beverage. I opened the cabinet above the pot, and behold—two cans of Community Coffee and some filters. The silvery seal was intact on the first one I