You storin' blackmail material now, Mercy?" There were noises in the background of his phone, people and the kind of echoing you get in a really big building.
"Wouldn't that be something," I said.
"How much do you suppose Adam would pay to keep an Xrated video of him off the Internet?" Warren laughed.
"Yeah," I said sadly, "that's what I think, too.
So no riches in my future, and no blackmail either.
Can you or Kyle meet Sam and me at Kyle's house sometime soon?" "I'm on guard duty right now, but I bet Kyle is home.
He doesn't always answer the house phone.
Do you have his cell number?" Warren worked for his boyfriend--I know, it's an awkward thing, but Warren hadn't exactly been making rent at the Stop and Rob he'd worked at before.
Kyle'd shaken a few trees, bribed a few officials (probably) and maybe blackmailed more, and gotten Warren a private detective's license.
Warren guarded clients and did quiet investigations for Kyle's law firm.
"I have it," I told him.
"Are you at Wal-Mart?" "Nope, grocery store.
Wal-Mart was an hour ago." "Poor baby," I said sympathetically.
"Nope," he said, his voice soft.
"I'm doin' something useful.
This lady deserves to feel safe--though lots of folks seem to think I'm responsible for her black eye." "You're tough," I said unsympathetically.
"You can handle a few nasty looks." Being a gay werewolf for a hundred years gave Warren a skin so thick it might as well be armor.
Not much ruffled his feathers except for Kyle.
"I'm kinda hoping her soon-to-be-ex shows up," he said softly; I thought so she wouldn't hear him.
"I'd like to get the opportunity to introduce myself to him." KYLE BROOKS'S HOUSE IS IN THE WEST RICHLAND HILLS, where the rich folks live.
Huge and yet somehow delicately designed, it settles in among its neighbors like a sly cat among poodles.
The size is right, but it's more graceful and comfortable in the desert light than the rest of them.
Divorce lawyering, at least in Kyle's case, pays very well.
I parked the Rabbit on the street, let Sam out, and got the book .
.
.
and the walking stick that was lying beside it.
"Hello," I told it.
It didn't do anything magical or warm in my hands, but somehow, it felt smug.
I bumped the Rabbit's door closed with a hip and trotted all the way up to Kyle's front door.