Bloodfever
Page 26

Derek OBannion. Any other questions?
He regarded me a moment, then a slow half-smile curved his lips. Just as OBannion had earlier, he suddenly seemed to find me much more interesting. Well, well. He brushed the pad of his thumb across my mouth, then cupped my chin and angled my face back up to the light, searching my eyes. For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me himself, to taste the complexity and complicity of me. Or was that duplicity? And you were kissing the brother of the man you killedwhy? he murmured silkily.
I didnt kill him, I said bitterly. You killed him without my permission.
Ballocks, Ms. Lane, he said. If Id asked you that night if you wanted him dead so you could be safe, youd have said yes.
I remembered that night. I would remember it forever. Id been freaked out by the rapidity with which my life was unraveling, terrified of Rocky OBannion, and fully aware that if we didnt do something about him, he was going to do something very bad and no doubt unspeakably painful to me. I have no delusions about my ability to withstand torture. Barrons was right. I would have said Do whatever you have to do to keep me safe. But I didnt have to like it. And I didnt have to admit it.
I turned and walked away.
I want you to go to the Ancient Languages Department at Trinity College tomorrow morning, Ms. Lane.
I drew up like hed yanked my leash, and scowled up at the ceiling. Was something Cosmic up there playing tricks on me? Was the whole universe in on a great big lets-mess-with-Mac joke? The Ancient Languages Department was the only place in all of Dublin Id made a mental note never to go. Youre kidding, right?
No. Why?
Forget it, I muttered. What do you want me to do there?
Ask for a woman named Elle Masters. Shell have an envelope for you.
Why dont you go get it yourself? What did he do all day?
Im busy tomorrow.
So, go get it tonight.
She wont have it until morning.
Then have her send it by courier.
Whos the employer here, Ms. Lane?
Whos the OOP detector?
Is there some reason you dont want to go to the university?
No. I was in no mood to talk about dreamy-eyed guys and dates I could never have.
Then what, Ms. Lane, is your problem?
Shouldnt I be afraid the Lord Master might get me while Im out and about?
Were you worrying about that tonight when you were letting Derek OBannion shovehis tongue down your throat?
I stiffened. He was walking into the Dark Zone, Barrons.
So? One less problem for us.
I shook my head. Im not you, Barrons. Im not dead inside.
His smile was ten shades of ice. So what did you do? Run after him and offer yourself on a silver platter to get him to turn around?
Pretty much. And then Id had to spend the next three and a half hours in a downtown club, dancing and flirting with him, and trying to keep his hands off me, while Inspector Jayne watched from a corner table. Trying to use up so much of his time that he would be disinclined to go back and search the Dark Zone tonight. Eventually trying to beg off nicely, and failing.
Like his brother, Derek OBannion was used to getting his way, and if he didnt, he pushed harder. In my blind determination to avert culpability in another death, Id forgotten he was related to the man whod brutally murdered twenty-seven people in a single night to get what he wanted.
By eleven-thirty, Id had as much as I could take. With each drink he tossed back, hed sprouted more hands and a worse attitude. I hadnt been able to extricate myself gracefully so, in a fit of desperation, Id excused myself for the bathroom, and tried to sneak out a side door. Id figured I would call him tomorrow, pretend Id gotten sick, and if he asked me out again, evade, procrastinate, and lie. I really hadnt wanted another OBannion pissed off at me in this city. One had been bad enough.
Hed caught me outside the bathroom, shoved me into a wall, and kissed me so brutally that I hadnt been able to breathe. Flattened between his body and a brick wall, Id grown light-headed from lack of oxygen. My mouth still felt swollen, bruised. Id seen the excitement in his eyes and known he was a man turned on by a womans helplessness. Id remembered his brothers restaurant, the carefully coiffed and tightly controlled women, how the waiters were forbidden to serve a woman a meal or a drink unless a man ordered for them. OBannions were not nice men.
When Id finally wrested myself free, Id made a scene, loudly accusing him of forcing his attentions on me when Id already told him a dozen times I wasnt interested. If hed been anyone else, the bouncers would have tossed him out of the club, but in Dublin, nobody tosses an OBannion. Theyd thrown me out instead. The tape-to-my-derriere inspector had watched it all through narrowed eyes, arms folded, without lifting a finger to help me.
I made another enemy in this city tonight, as if I didnt already have enough.
Still, Id accomplished my goal and it hadnt been an easy one to tackle.