Keeper of the Moon - By Harley Jane Kozak Page 0,56
the world to be walking down the street together. The feel of her skin, the warmth, the shoulder blades under her T-shirt...he felt a strange familiarity, a possessiveness that he couldn’t understand. This wasn’t erotic, this was simply—
“Declan?” Sailor looked up at him suddenly, her distress evident. “My Council is doing essentially nothing. We’re supposed to gather information within our own district but not cross into others. To listen for gossip, rumors of bad blood between the Elven and the shifters or vamps. And not to talk among ourselves, much less to anyone else. And we’re supposed to keep the entire pathetic plan strictly confidential.”
He nodded. It was what he’d suspected. And it was frustrating, but for the moment he was most concerned about Sailor. Despair was an emotion he’d never seen from her before. “And what do you plan to do?” he asked.
“Me?” She looked at him, her eyes green with a trace of scarlet. “I’m going to cross borders and break rules. I am going to find the killer. And when I do, I’m going to cut out his heart and bring it to the Council.”
Okay, that was more like her. “How?”
“By talking to anyone who’ll talk to me. And yes, I may be contagious to the Elven, so I’ll be careful, but I’ve been thinking about it, my approach and your approach. And while yours is valid, mine is, too. I don’t care if the cops are already covering this ground, because I have something the cops don’t have.”
“What’s that?”
“Insight. Insight into the minds of the dead women. I’m a woman, and I’m an actress, and I’m part Elven. And I have the disease. I’m exactly the person to do this. I’m the only one. There’s no one else.”
She had a point, he realized.
“I want to retrace their steps,” she continued. “There has to be a way to walk the path they walked, until it takes me to the man who killed them.”
A chill went down his spine.
“Maybe,” he said, “but you’re not doing any of it alone.”
* * *
As they reached the car, Sailor got a call from Darius’s assistant, who patched her through to her boss.
“I am finishing dinner at the Water Grill,” Darius told her. “I’ll be in the courtyard of the Mark Taper Forum until seven minutes before curtain. I suggest, my dear, that you arrive prior to that, prepared to deliver the report I requested. I’m not known for giving something for nothing, so please make it worth my while.” He hung up.
Sailor checked her watch. The Mark Taper Forum was in downtown L.A. She was in Studio City. Driving from one to the other would take anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours depending on traffic, and another fifteen minutes to find parking. Damn.
“You won’t make it,” Declan told her when she repeated the message.
“I have to. I need him to get me onto the set of Charlotte Messenger’s movie. Also Technical Black, Gina’s film.”
“I can do Technical Black. I know the producers.”
“Seriously? How about tonight? I’m off work at midnight.”
“Tonight? Are they shooting?”
“They are. I checked. And how about Charlotte’s movie?
He shook his head. “I was asked to invest in Knock My Socks Off, but I didn’t like the director. Or the script. Word got back to the director, who already didn’t like me. So no, I wouldn’t be welcome on that set.”
“Then I’d better be nice to Darius.”
“Yes. I’d drive you downtown, but I’ve got a meeting at Universal. A band from Dublin I’m hoping to sign. I can’t skip the meeting because they’re heading back to the airport this evening.”
“Lend me your car and I’ll drop you, then pick you up afterward. It’s on the way, and I’ll save a half hour.”
He looked at her, stunned. “Lend you my car?”
“Yes.”
“My car?”
“Yes, your car. It’s not like I’m asking for a kidney.”
He continued staring.
“So that’s a ‘no’?” she asked.
“That’s a ‘hell no.’”
* * *
The sun had set and the moon had risen by the time Sailor found Darius sipping espresso. He sat at an outdoor café in the plaza that joined the Mark Taper Forum to the other three world-class stages that made up the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles. His elegant assistant, Joshua, was sitting across from him. Upon seeing Sailor, Darius dismissed Joshua and gestured to the chair he’d vacated.
“In the interests of time,” Darius said, “we’ll dispense with the pleasantries. I’d like your report on the Council meeting.”