Dark Carousel (Dark #30) - Christine Feehan Page 0,7
the body after or during the time of the murder. She didn’t see them near her brother or his home, either.
Taking a deep breath she let go of the napkin. The three men had been in France, followed them from the Morrison Center, where Genevieve and Charlotte had done the psychic testing, and now had followed the two women to the United States. They were Americans, but from where, she wasn’t certain. She was frustrated with the fact that she didn’t get clear, detailed information like she did on older objects.
Vince continued his conversation with Genevieve, all about her painting and what she liked to paint, volunteering to be her next male model if she was looking for one. Daniel and Bruce seemed to be concentrating on her, and Charlotte was afraid for a moment that they might have asked her something while she was trying to gather information.
“You restore art?” Daniel asked, hitching closer to her, extending his arm along the back of her chair, fingers gliding along her bare skin, tracing the spaghetti straps on her blouse.
She forced herself not to pull away, instead flashing him a small smile. “Yes. I specialize in restoring very old carousel horses, the wooden chariots and entire carousels. I can restore American carousels, but the ones I’m most interested in are from Europe. There isn’t a lot of call for that sort of thing outside of museums or private collections, and there’s even less here in the States, but it’s my first love.”
Daniel looked puzzled, as most people did. She couldn’t explain to them why she liked touching the old wood and feeling every groove in it, every carving. She loved knowing everything there was to know about the carver, long gone from the world, but so familiar to her once she’d touched the carver’s art piece.
She laughed softly at his expression. “I can see you don’t get it. The horses are unique, each one carved differently, some more than three hundred years ago. How cool is that? I was able to work on one that was carved during medieval times. For young knights to prepare for the jousting competitions, a rotating platform was used with legless wooden horses so they could practice their skills.” She couldn’t help the enthusiasm pouring into her voice in spite of the situation. She loved the fact that the carousel could be traced back all the way to the twelfth century, when the Arabs and Turks played a game on horseback with a scented ball. Italians and Spanish had observed the competition and referred to the game as “little war”: carosella, or garosello.
“Keep talking,” Daniel said gruffly. “I thought it was kind of silly, but it’s actually interesting.”
“Right?” She nodded her head, which helped her to avoid looking straight at him. She didn’t want to see the image of him driving a stake through a man’s heart. “A Frenchman got the idea to build a device with chariots and carved horses suspended by chains from arms attached to a center pole. It was used to train noblemen in the art of ring spearing. Ladies and children loved the device as much as or more than the noblemen.” She glanced at Genevieve. The strain was beginning to show on her friend’s face. Charlotte gave a little exaggerated sigh. “We should be going. We have to get up early tomorrow.”
She stood up before the three men could protest. She needed to get Genevieve out of there as quickly as possible before she gave away the fact that she was terrified. Charlotte was afraid of them as well, but she was determined to find out what was going on. The fact that the three men had followed them from France, found where they were staying and followed them to the club meant that Lourdes wasn’t safe anyway. They had to change tactics. They needed to quit burying their heads in the sand and find out what threatened them and why.
“Thanks for the drinks. We’ll see you around sometime,” Genevieve said, flashing her million-dollar smile. She stood up as well, taking a step back as Vince climbed to his feet. Genevieve was tall, but he still towered over her.
“Give me your cell. Let me program my number in,” he said, all charm.
Genevieve’s gaze shifted to Charlotte’s, and Charlotte’s nod was nearly imperceptible. The last thing she wanted was for sharp-eyed Daniel to realize they were onto them. They’d been discouraging at first because they weren’t looking to pick up men,