Thin Air Page 0,57

me a thin, tired smile. "Jo," she said. "Need a lift?"

I nodded and opened the back door of the car. No surprises lurking back there, just clean dark upholstery. My sister rolled up her window, and the driver-I couldn't see him-accelerated the car smoothly away from the jail into traffic. No matter what time of the day or night, there was traffic in Las Vegas, at least near downtown, where we were. I saw a confusing blare of neon up ahead, and had a strong, wrenching sense of dejà vu.

"How'd you find out I was here?" I asked.

"A detective called me, and Eamon and I pulled together the bail money." She looked kind of defiant. "Can't say we don't care, can you?" Like I was going to?

"Of course we care," said the driver, in a low, musical accent that I could only vaguely identify as British. I saw his eyes in the rearview mirror, couldn't tell what color they were in the glare of passing headlights and ambient neon. He was watching me as much as he was watching the road. "You're looking better than I expected-a hell of a lot better than the last time I saw you. Feeling all right?"

I opened my mouth to reply, something polite and nonconfrontational, because I had no idea what my relationship was to this new guy. I didn't get a chance to be evasive.

"Before you start," Sarah said, "Eamon wants to apologize. So let him, please. He's the one who insisted we come and get you. You owe him, Jo. Give him a chance."

Who was Eamon, and what did he have to apologize for? What was I holding against him? God. Welcome to Brain Damage Theater. I was tired of confessing ignorance; I decided that maybe dignified silence was the best defense. They must have taken it for assent.

"I know you told me to stay away from Sarah, but I couldn't do it," the driver-Eamon-said. "I won't apologize for that; whatever she and I do is between the two of us. But I do apologize for making that promise to you in the first place."

Okay, so whoever Eamon was-and nice voice, by the way-I hadn't approved. But since I had no idea why I hadn't, and Eamon and Sarah weren't likely to give me an unvarnished explanation, I just nodded. "Water under the bridge," I said. Aphorisms were made for moments like these. Saved me from saying anything that might be proven wrong. "Are you two okay?"

Eamon's eyes focused on me in the rearview for so long that I thought he might drive over a curb. Or another car. He was one of those avoidance drivers, though-either great peripheral vision or awesome luck. Or something else. Maybe he's a Djinn. Except I didn't get any Djinn vibe from him.

"Us?" Eamon said, and raised his eyebrows. "Of course we're all right. Sarah, tell your sister you're fine."

"I'm fine," Sarah said. She didn't look it. She looked tired and puffy and not in the best possible state. Hungover, maybe. Or worse. The way she said it sounded hollow, but not as if she were really scared of him. Just...submissive. Wonderful. I had a wet rag for a sister. "Jo, you need to understand, I love Eamon. I know you didn't want us to stay together, but..."

Oh, God. The last thing I needed was to be the relationship police for a sister I'd barely met and-based on Cherise's memories-hadn't had much in common with to begin with. "I'm over it," I said. "Eamon and Sarah, sitting in a tree. True love. Trust me, I'm more worried about the fact that I was sitting in jail for a murder that I didn't commit." I left it there. I wanted to see what they'd have to say. Which was nothing, apparently. Eamon braked for the light at Fremont Street, and we all stared at the explosion of dancing lights during the pause. "Thanks for bailing me out."

"It seemed the thing to do." Eamon was being just as uninformative as I was. Not helpful. "Did you speak with the good Detective Rodriguez while you were in the precinct house?"

So he knew my friendly-or, at least, not adversarial-cop. "Yeah, I saw him."

"Ah. How is he?"

"Healing up. He had some kind of accident."

Eamon nodded. He kept watching me, and there was a tight frown grooved now between his eyebrows. "Did he say anything about what happened?"

"No." I felt a weird surge of alarm. "Why?" Please don't tell me that I'm