I touched my cheek, remembering the first blow that had started me into the Grey. "I've seen this sort of thing before, and I'd say it's even money something criminal is going on."
"Like what?"
I gave a helpless shrug. "Drugs? Fraud? Tax evasion? Money laundering?"
He was appalled. "Why? How?"
"It's an easy business to hide things in—the value of an item is what you say it is, after all. Or what someone pays for it. And one of you does a lot of traveling, don't you?"
"I do, or I did until recently. Then Brandon took it over. I thought he was giving me a break to spend more time with Mike."
"That could be a cover for a lot of other activities. Has the business pattern changed suddenly? More profits? Less? Different type of goods or clients?"
Will looked askance at me. "Business has been improving…"
"And I'll bet Brandon's standard of living has suddenly gone up, yet he can't justify making you a partner, in spite of the money you've invested. Yeah, I'll bet it's doing just great for someone. And other people have noticed."
"You think the guys looking for Brandon are cops?"
"Could be cops, feds, unhappy partners at the other end, loan sharks…"
Will thought about it and shook his head, aghast. "Do you really believe that, Harper? That I could be a… a fraud or a drug dealer-or a fall guy?"
I didn't meet his glance. Instead I put my coffee cup down and started to leave. "I shouldn't have said anything. I came to ask you a favor, but it wouldn't be right now."
"No. No, no… I'm not letting you walk out on me again." I started to flinch, but he only caught my hand and turned me back. "It took way too long for you to come back. Don't just walk out. Please."
I kept my eyes away from him.
"You wouldn't have said all this if you thought I was a villain. So maybe that's not what you think. Tell me what you think."
I hesitated, then said, "I think I don't know enough. And I think you need to be very careful, Will."
We were silent a moment. He put his hands on my shoulders; then I felt his breath move my hair as he spoke. "Thank you, Harper. And I'm sorry. I was a real jerk last week. Could we try again?"
My answer was cut off by Michael yelling from the screened porch. "Will! Hey, Novak, get your buns out here!"
Will twitched and snapped a look at his wristwatch. "Damn it." He turned his eyes back to me. "I am serious. I want to see you again and I am sorry about the way I acted. I know you didn't have to come here and you didn't have to say anything, so I'm hoping that means you'll call me and give me another chance. I'll do anything you ask to show you I mean it."
Michael shouted from the hall. "Will!"
I thought about it and knew what I wanted. I groped for something to say and picked up the plate of sandwiches. "Here. You'd better take these to the boy wonder before he starves to death. And… umm… if you're free late tonight, maybe we could… discuss some things."
"No 'maybe. Definitely." He grinned and took the plate away with him. I stood in Ann Ingstrom's kitchen a moment longer, sipping cold coffee and writing a note on a pad by the phone. I considered just leaving it and slipping out the back, but I couldn't chicken out now. I headed for the front door. Passing the living room doorway, I looked in. Will was back up on the small raised platform, looking like a beat poet standing on a soapbox. He glanced up and smiled as I passed.
"Thanks, Michael," I said, dropping the note on the table as I started past him.
He swallowed a mouthful of sandwich and called after me. "Hey, Ms. Blaine! Harper?"
I turned around. Clutching my note, Michael got up and closed the door between the house and the porch.
"What is it, Michael?" I asked.
"Well, I just… well, I'm trying to say, like, you're not going to dump him again, are you? My brother, I mean. I mean, I know he's kinda geeky and all, but he's a good guy."
"He's a very good guy," I agreed. "And actually," I confessed, "I think he's kind of sexy."
Michael snorted a laugh. "Will?"
"Well…. yeah."
Michael stared at me. "Will can't be sexy. He's my brother. You're sexy."
The blush swept over me like prairie fire. "Oh, boy. I've got to go." I could hear him sniggering as I retreated.
I sat in the front seat of the truck and stared back at the Ingstrom house for a few moments. The long-haired white cat ambled around the corner and sat on the front walk. It looked at me and yawned, showing its fangs, then raised a forepaw and began to wash as if dismissing me.
Chapter 24
It was hard to settle down, but I had a lot to do before I met Will again. Places to go, vampires to see. Once it got dark, I drove to the university district. Since classes were still in session, there were plenty of residents out on the streets. I had to park in a pay lot and walk a ways to my destination.
The U-district has five movie theaters, several all-night restaurants, and a lot of bars. It's not the easiest neighborhood to find somebody in, since most residents are college students who come and go with the term schedule. I started at the first place on the list: the Wizards of the Coast Game Center.
The street level, filled with a noisy video arcade, owed its theme to science fiction movies, but below lay fantasyland. I walked down the stairs to the lower level, beneath the guardian glower of a giant, ax-wielding minotaur.
Here the walls were painted to resemble ancient stone and the support pillars had been elaborately draped in wine velvet swags. The baronial castle theme was carried out with fake torches and Gothic decorations. Fantastic paintings of mythic heroes and creatures hung on the walls. The lighting was dramatic, but not very practical.
About thirty young men and teenage boys had been paired facing each other at long tables, where they spread cards between them in some kind of duel to the numeric death. There was only one woman playing. Beyond the card players, a sword-and-sorcery film was playing on a gigantic screen in one gauze-draped corner, while a small group of people huddled around a coffee table in another. That was where I headed.
As I approached the role-players, one of them was saying something about casting a spell and several others offered vociferous disagreement.
"No, no, you can't cast that on a green wyvern."
"Yes, he can, but it's not going to work with the zombies there. They'll just keep coming."
They were a motley lot. Seven altogether, three women and four men—all in their thirties or so. One of the women was dressed in flowing robes of dark green velvet that didn't hide the fact that she overflowed her chair a bit as well. Her auburn hair was longer than mine had been before the elevator incident. One of the other women also wore a gown of some sort and a twisted ring of yellow and black fabric around her brow. The third woman and two of the men wore dark jeans and shirts. The other two men wore tunics and narrow trousers under lightweight cloaks. One of the tunic men stood next to the large woman, so that his cape was free to swirl around him when he moved. He was very aware of the effect.
I stopped beside them. "Excuse me. I'm looking for a girl named Gwen."
They appraised me, then looked around at one another.
The woman in jeans piped up. "You mean skinny Gwen?"
"I don't know what she looks like. A mutual friend said I might find her down here playing Dungeons and Dragons."
The standing man rolled his eyes. "You're a complete noob, aren't you? Don't even have a character yet, I'll bet."
"I didn't come to play. I'm just trying to find Gwen."
"If you mean skinny Gwen," started the jeans woman again, "she isn't coming tonight. She said she was going to see a movie at the Grand Illusion. She asked me to play her character for her."