The woman was a certifiable fruitcake, Rob thought as he gently guided Eris to the left to keep her from bumping into a streetlight. Up ahead, he could see the rundown front of the Red Light Cabaret.
There were upscale clubs in this town, and then there were the dives. This one wasn’t at the bottom of the list but it was close. Large red letters painted on the window identified the establishment. The remainder of the window was painted black so pedestrians on the street couldn’t see in. At night, large floodlights illuminated the windows from behind, making the words glow.
They stopped outside the club, as if that were a big surprise, Rob thought. After all, the police report specifically stated the last place Debra was seen was at work and the roommate confirmed that fact. Why they couldn’t have taken his car instead of trekking through the heat was beyond him, but then again, so was this woman.
“I guess you want to go in?” Sweat ran down his back, causing his shirt to glue itself to him and reminding him they could have traveled here in air-conditioned comfort.
“Please.”
He held the door and, when they entered, a blast of cool air greeted him. If he’d known he was going to be walking the French Quarter at high noon, at the end of July, he would not have worn a business suit to the meeting this morning. He put a hand on Eris’ back and guided her to the bar as he looked around and dared any of the patrons to approach her.
“It’s a two-drink minimum. Man or woman,” the bartender stated as they took their seats.
“Bring me two bottles of water,” Rob answered and immediately the man placed two bottles of warm water in front of him. He hated warm water, but he unscrewed the top to the first bottle and took a drink.
“And what will the pretty lady be having?”
Eris flashed the man a breathtaking smile. “Water.”
The one word was deep and sexy and Rob paused with the water bottle halfway to his mouth.
She placed her hands on the bar and leaned forward. “Is there any way I could get cold water?”
“For you—no problem.” The bartender stuck his hand down into a tub containing iced-down beers and pulled out a bottle of water.
Eris took the water and held the bottle to her neck then rolled it across the exposed skin above her breasts. “Thank you so much.”
The bartender laughed. “Anything for you, sugar. Let me know when you want the other bottle.”
“I’ll be sure to ask for you when I’m ready, big boy.”
The man roared with laughter as he headed down the bar to serve another client.
“That was typical.”
“What was?” Eris turned to face him.
“Another woman, flaunting herself to get what she wants, and here I thought you were different.”
Eris met his hard gaze with one as equally determined. “You’re one to talk. You did the exact same thing earlier.”
“I did not.” His words were short as he held on to his temper.
“Yes, you did. Back at Debra’s apartment. You smiled and talked all nice to that girl and then pulled out a twenty.”
“I paid for the information. I didn’t do what you just did.”
Eris waved a hand at him as she took another drink of water. “Suit yourself. If it makes you feel better to say you didn’t, fine by me. Denial is a very long and lonely river, you know.”
“I’m not in denial.”
She looked over at him and gave a short snort of laughter. “Sure.” She turned away so she could lean across the counter to get the bartender’s attention. “Hey, big boy, can I have that other water?”
The man pulled another bottle from the ice and placed it on the bar. “Anything else, love?”
“Nope, that’s all.” Eris flashed another drop-dead gorgeous smile at the man.
“I have a couple of questions,” Rob said before the man could walk away.
“Questions will cost you another two rounds.”
Rob pulled out his wallet and paid for all the drinks as the bartender retrieved another two warm bottles of water for him.
“Whatcha needin’ to know?”
“What can you tell us about Debra Thorn?” Rob pulled out a small notepad and flipped to a blank page.
“She hasn’t shown up for work in a week.”
“No calls?”
“Nope.”
“Any idea where she might have gone?”
“Last time I saw her, she said she was headed to that new club Intempo.”
“When is your next payday?”
“Friday.”
“Thanks.” Rob closed his pad and put the paper and pen back into his pocket as he stood.
“Let’s go.” He walked to the door and waited for Eris to catch up.
“You wasted your money. I could have followed Debra’s aura.”
He opened the door for her and she walked through. “I like facts. The harder and the colder they are, the better.”
“Things aren’t always concrete.”
Rob slipped his shades on against the midday glare. “They are for me. I live in a black-and-white world.”
“Must be really boring.” Eris turned to the right and started walking.
“Intempo is this direction.” Rob pointed to the left and waited for her to come back.
“I know that.” Eris stopped and turned to face him. “Debra didn’t go that way, she went this way.”
“The bartender said she was headed to Intempo.”
“I heard what he said and I’m telling you that he’s wrong.”
The temperature felt as if it had risen another ten degrees while they were inside. Beads of perspiration formed on his body, causing his shirt to stick to his back. God, he wasn’t going to follow her around the Quarter in this unbearable heat. “What are you planning to do? Wander the streets until you stumble over a body or drop dead of heat stroke?”
Her smile was sugar sweet but fire flashed in her eyes. “Bite me.” With that, she turned and sashayed away from him.
“I’m not going that direction, so don’t expect me to save you the next time you walk headlong into trouble.”
“Fine by me.” Her words were tossed over her shoulder at him as she rounded a corner and disappeared from sight.
Chapter Three
Eris kept her feet moving and refused to look behind her. The man could go find a very high cliff and jump for all she cared. He was stubborn, narrow-minded and controlling.
She laughed at the thought of living in a black-and-white world and then thought how cold and lonely that must be. She lost the thread of Debra’s aura she was following and silently cursed herself for letting the man distract her. After a few seconds of intense concentration and searching, she picked it up again and continued down the street.
The aura circled the block and before she knew it, she was once again on Bourbon Street headed toward Esplanade. Several minutes later, she crossed Esplanade and entered an older residential neighborhood that had seen better times forty years ago. Twenty minutes later, Debra’s aura became more and more confused as she approached a rather run-down house.
Eris stopped on the sidewalk and studied the building. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind this place was a crack house, and Debra was either here or had been here recently. She lost the clear connection she had to the girl as Debra’s essence became more confused and agitated. It was hard enough tracing a person when they left a clean path to follow—this wasn’t one of those times. There were a lot of factors that could muddle a person’s residual spirit, not the least of which was drugs, she thought, studying the old house.
She swiped at a bead of sweat running down the side of her face. July was a scorcher in New Orleans, she thought absently as she finished off her now-warm water.
Opening her senses to the unseen world around her, she tried to get a better, firmer fix on Debra. The onslaught of multiple feelings hit her hard, causing her to stagger back. These personalities were jittery, agitated, needy and hurting. Immediat
ely she felt unbalanced and nauseated. Taking deep, cleansing breaths, she bent over and placed her hands on her knees for support. It was like being on a cup and saucer ride at the carnival with a nasty hangover.
Eris was on the verge of being sick when a warm, rough hand touched the bare skin at the small of her back. Instantly she felt comforted and the nausea subsided. For a moment, she let herself enjoy the rare feeling of being calmed.
“What’s wrong?”
She jumped away from the gentle touch and the deep baritone voice as if a hot iron had branded her. Whirling around, she faced the man whose touch made her feel safe but whose presence made her want to pull out her hair. “Let me guess, you couldn’t find Intempo and, being a male, refused to ask for directions?”
For a few seconds, his face showed genuine concern for her discomfort, but her words sufficiently wiped that expression away. Now he looked more than peeved at her and she could deal with that.
“I know exactly where Intempo is located, considering I’ve visited it a few times.” His words were short and clipped.
That didn’t surprise her at all; he looked like a high-priced playboy. “So why are you here and not there?”
“Because I have an assignment to do whether I like it or not.”
“Ah. The responsible type.”
“Very much so. You, on the other hand, go running off without thinking twice about it.”
“True, but there is nothing wrong with that.” She put her hands on her hips and glared up at the man. Boy, he sure was tall.
“Didn’t say there was anything wrong with that. If you would have stayed put another ten seconds we wouldn’t have needed to walk in this heat and we wouldn’t both be standing here looking like two melted ice-cream cones.”
“How so?”
“We could have retrieved my car from where I left it.”
“Then I would have been stuck doing things your way.”
“True, but then we would have gone to the club, talked to a few people and found that Debra’s been hanging with a guy named Jerome Broussard. Then, after a phone call or two, we would have come up with an address for the guy, which happens to be on the other side of town.”
The smile was gone from his face and she knew he wasn’t happy with her, but she refused to back down. “How do you know all of this?”
“I made some phone calls while following you on this cross-country hike through the Quarter and learned everything we needed to know.”
Eris considered his words for a few moments then dismissed them. He didn’t understand how she worked. “You didn’t learn everything. Jerome’s address might be on the other side of town, but Debra is here.”
“I hope you’re right. Because soft-shoeing it back across town in heat pushing one-hundred degrees isn’t my idea of fun.”
She hoped she was right also because she couldn’t get a good read on Debra and really didn’t want to face this man if she was wrong. Maybe the extreme heat was distorting her ability. Once again she’d gotten so involved in following someone’s essence path she hadn’t paid attention to the world around her. Now that he mentioned it, she noticed the way her clothes clung to her damp body, making her uncomfortable. She could only imagine how he felt wearing a suit and tie.
She turned toward the house. “Well then, let’s go find out.”
She walked toward the house, not waiting for a response. The closer she got, the more distorted the aura became. A hand on her arm stopped her from entering the house, and then it was gone.
“Don’t tell me you’re going in there?”
“Okay, I won’t.” Opening the screen door, she walked into the entryway of what once was a grand house. The screen door slapped shut and she heard a muttered curse as the door opened and closed again. Then Rob’s presence was behind her, strong and dependable, like the man.
There were two doors on the bottom level and stairs at the end of the hall leading to a second floor. Her guess was the house had been divided into four apartments.
“Which door?” Rob’s asked as he moved past her.
“We’ll have to try them one by one.”
Moving to each door in turn, she dismissed them both after studying the auras that surrounded each. Upstairs, she stopped in front of the first door. She placed her right hand against it and swayed at the anger emanating from within. Dropping her hand, she stepped back.
“She’s in there.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.” She crossed her fingers behind her back as she told the lie.
Rob raised his hand to knock, but she stopped him. “What? Do we have to wait for Venus and Jupiter to align before we can find out?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. It’s just that there is some bad stuff going on in that place. Two people are in there, and at least one of them is in an out-of-control rage.” Without a second thought, she retrieved her pistol from the holster strapped to her right calf. She’d worn the holster, with jeans to cover it, because she didn’t want to deal with her purse.
“You know how to use that thing?” She felt him watching her every move as she chambered a round.
“Yes and I even have my carry permit, thank you very much. I’m guessing you’re carrying?” She hadn’t seen him wearing a shoulder holster or side arm that morning.
He gave her a knowing smile and reached behind him to pull out his gun. “Amazing that we find common ground in the guns that we carry.”
She watched as he pulled his pistol from its holster. It was a larger version than hers, but they were both top-quality pieces. “I’ve tried carrying mine at my back but I find it bothers me too much. It doesn’t bother you?”
“I’m a good four inches taller than you, which gives me more room to work with. I also like the fact the gun can’t be seen like a shoulder holster can when wearing a jacket.”
At five-ten she’d always had the problem of finding a man she could look up to. That wasn’t a problem with him. She was still staring up at him when there was a muffled scream and the sound of glass breaking from the other side of the door. Rob gently pushed her to the side, stepped forward and kicked the door open before she could stop him.
Bedlam broke out inside the apartment as Rob disappeared. Eris took a deep breath and followed. The apartment was a single room that smelled of sex and drugs, had holes in the walls and ceiling and should have been condemned years ago, such as so many others in the city. A roach crawled across the two-burner stove and disappeared into a crack in the wall. Eris turned her attention back to the rest of the room. The bed was shoved into a corner and huddled there was a sobbing woman with the covers pulled to her chin.
Between the bed and Rob stood a naked man brandishing a large, wicked knife and shouting threats.
“Drop the knife. We only want to talk to the lady.” Rob’s voice was barely distinguishable above the woman’s hysterical crying.
“I paid good money for the bitch and I ain’t done with her yet.”
Eris watched as Rob holstered his gun, never taking his eyes off the man.
“Your time just ran out, so why don’t you hit the road.” Rob’s words were hard and cold.
“Like hell.”
The man jabbed and her heart did a double flip as Rob grunted and moved back. In the small confines of the apartment, there was little room to avoid the attack. The man pulled back and smiled before lunging. This time, instead of moving away from the attack, Rob stepped into it, taking the man by surprise.
Before she could tell what Rob was doing, the man was sailing through the air directly at her. Eris hit the floor as the body flew over her and slammed into the wall behind her. The stunned man dropped his knife as he slid to the floor and she quickly scooped it up.
Rob stepped over her, grabbed the man by the arm and slung him out into the hall. He slammed the apartment door, turned the lock and then leaned one shoulder against it. The man bellowed and cursed from the other side, demanding his clothes and threatening to call the p
olice.
“Find his clothes before a neighbor calls the cops,” Rob ordered. “I really don’t want to explain this.”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you kicked down the door.” Eris scrambled to her feet and gathered the man’s pants, shirt and shoes. The underwear and socks he could live without because she wasn’t about to touch them. She bundled the items together before handing them over to Rob.
He took the clothes from her and held them casually in one hand. It was then she noticed how cool, calm and collected he was about everything. The noise from the other side continued as the man resorted to slamming his entire body against the door. Rob remained unfazed. “If I wanted to think about every action before doing it, I’d have stayed with the FBI.”
He flipped the lock, placed his free hand on the doorknob and turned to her. “Get back over there with her and stay out of my way.”
Another loud crash sounded from the hall and Eris wasted no time getting in position next to the girl, who remained in the bed with the sheet pulled up around her, crying uncontrollably.
Eris tightened her grip on the gun as she gave Rob a slight nod, indicating she was ready, and watched as he opened the door. Unthinkingly, the man barged into the room, only to be greeted by Rob’s fist to his jaw. Eris straightened as the man hit the floor and lay sprawled on his back.
“You sonofabitch. I’m calling the cops,” the man growled as he started to get up.
Rob shoved him back to the floor with a foot. “Please do, and when they arrive, you can explain to them why you’re here paying for sex and whose drugs are scattered about the room.”
Eris watched the man deflate as Rob’s words sunk in. She couldn’t help but be impressed by his handling of the situation and was fascinated by his controlled strength. She wondered exactly what the suit, shirt and jacket disguised.
Rob tossed the man’s possessions into the hall. “Be glad I’m in a good mood today or I’d be pounding you into the ground. Now get the hell out of here.”
Bayou Heat Page 4
