in a hurry.
"All they know is that there's a new sheriff in town. My bet is that they're trying to impress you or freak you out. Either way, he — or she — or they — killed that kid to get to you two."
"So what do you suggest we do, Detective Berry?"
He ticked our options off on his fingers. "One: leave town. Now. Tonight. Two: interview every vampire in this building. Thr—"
"Pardon me, Your Majesty." We all looked up and saw the bellboy (bellman) who'd tried to help unpack my shoes when we got here. "The rest of the staff has arrived and await your convenience."
"Thank you, O'Neill. I'll meet with them when we've finished here."
"As you wish, Majesty." He bowed in my direction. "My queen." He ignored Jessica and Nick, but Sinclair must have said they were okay, because otherwise he wouldn't have come up to the table in the first place.
And then he trotted off. I was relieved that he hadn't drowned himself or jumped off a high building after I'd snapped at him our first night, though I'd had no idea he was a vampire.
"You dog!" Jessica exclaimed. "That's why you weren't in the room earlier ... you were out interviewing suspects."
"Of course. I am not unaware of my responsibilities, though it is always refreshing to have someone less than half my age point them out to me."
Score! I thought it, but didn't say it. Nick had the grace to look abashed. Or was it annoyed? Then he went back into jerk mode and said, "I want to be there for the interviews."
"No," Sinclair said coolly.
"Sinclair, you're not a cop. There's stuff you might miss."
My husband laughed politely.
"Maybe you should —" Jessica began tentatively.
Doing an eerie impersonation of Nick, Sinclair started ticking points off his long fingers. "One: he's out of his jurisdiction. Two: even if he wasn't, this is a vampire matter. Three: with his prejudice, he will be more a hindrance than a help, and four: although there is a killer in the city — perhaps more than one — I owe my people protection. Which does not include letting a human policeman find out they're undead."
"Besides," I said, "you have to help me do something instead. Now that Sinclair's going to be tied up."
Nick managed to look mollified and pissed at the same time.
Chapter Eleven
I knew I looked like a dork, twirling around like Maria in The Sound of Music, but I couldn't help it. "Oh, it's all sooooo beautiful!" I cried.
"This is a shoe store," Nick informed me.
"This is the Beverly Feldman shoe store," Jessica said. "It's Betsy's Graceland."
I rushed from one gorgeous shoe to the next. Pumps, flats, sandals! Lace, leather, sequins! Ballet flats! I tried to talk but gurgled instead.
Nick picked up a gorgeous pump with white lace and a brown bow. "This one is called 'Calm.' So maybe you should buy it."
"Oh, I'll buy it. I'll — miss?"
The saleswoman, an attractive brunette in her thirties, glided over to me. Unobtrusive, yet helpful: just the way I liked 'em. "May I help you?"
I whipped out one of my wedding presents ... a Black American Express card. I hadn't even known they made them in black. Turns out if you spend more than — I forget exactly, but I think it was two hundred grand — if you spend more than that with Amex in a year, you get a black card. Sinclair had given me mine the day after we got married.
The saleswoman smiled at it.
"I'd like to see Calm, Dabble, Mystery, Ravish2, Splendid, Adore, Amazing, Angelic, Heaven, Infinite, Neat, Phantom, Goblin, Fairy, and Rosella. Oh, and will you deliver these to my hotel?"
"Of course."
"You can't remember to buy milk," Jessica said, "but you memorized most of the Fall Feldman line?"
"Do not ruin this for me. Do not."
Once the saleswoman disappeared, Nick took out his gun. I wasn't sure if he was going to shoot me or himself, and frankly, I had other things to worry about. Luckily, he put it away when she came back, staggering under the load of shoe boxes.
I actually clapped my hands like a kid when I saw her.
Chapter Twelve
"That bastard," Nick fumed in the cab on the way back to the hotel. "He knew what he was getting out of. And he knew what you were sticking me with."
"Oh, come on, it wasn't so bad."
"Six hours of shoe shopping!"
"It was only two."
"Well, it felt like a thousand."
"Hey, you wanted to come along on this trip."
"Yeah,