Night Shift
Page 44

“Yep. See you.”
He nodded as graciously as Queen Elizabeth II and went back to his card game as soon as he’d handed over her change.
On her way home, Fiji realized that Midnight was able to have its own little rainbow. Madonna and Teacher and Grady were African American, Sylvester was Native American, and though Suzie hadn’t lived at the hotel for long, she had been born in Hong Kong. Midnight, crossroads of the world, she thought, and smiled to herself.
Back in her own warm kitchen, Fiji added some leftover vegetables to the soup as it was heating and got out her frying pan for the grilled cheese sandwich. She was so hungry she considered making two, and sliced extra cheese.
Fiji was surprised to hear a knock at her back door while the first sandwich was sizzling in the pan. She sighed heavily, to show the fates how reluctant she was, before she answered the door. “Olivia,” she said, trying to sound welcoming. “What can I do for you?”
“You can make me a grilled cheese sandwich,” Olivia said. “That smells great, Fiji. And while we eat, I have something to talk to you about.”
“Okay.” Fiji was mildly interested. She and Olivia were not bosom buddies, but Olivia was never boring. She popped another sandwich into the skillet. In a very few minutes, Olivia having declined any soup, they were sitting at the kitchen table together eating and talking.
“Lemuel has a new vampire buddy,” Olivia said, apropos of nothing.
It was easy for Fiji to see this was not a good thing, to Olivia. “I’m guessing you’re not crazy about this development?” she said.
“It’s a woman,” Olivia answered.
“Oh. Gotcha.” But after she thought about it longer, Fiji wasn’t sure she really did. “Surely you don’t think Lemuel is two-timing you?”
“No.” Olivia’s face was grim. “But she’s got something he needs, and he bought her from Joseph Velasquez.”
“What’s she got that Lemuel needs?”
“She can read Etruscan.”
“Well, shit. No way to compete with that.” Fiji was bewildered, but also amused.
Olivia laughed, a harsh sound. “Nope. Since I don’t think anyone left in the world except a few vampires can speak or read fluent Etruscan.”
“So why does Lemuel need an Etruscan speaker? Oh, wait. The travelogue, the one he’s been trying to translate . . . and it was taking him so long, right? That’s in Etruscan.”
Olivia nodded. “So until the book is translated, we’ve got little Miss Subservient living with us.”
“What’s her name?”
“Christine something. She’s from Dallas, she lived in a vampire nest there. Lemuel has nothing to do with them, especially Joseph, the leader.”
“How did he know Lemuel needed an Etruscan speaker?” Fiji was confused.
“He didn’t until we showed up asking for one. We found Christine in the Vampire Directory. So we gave Joseph, the sheriff, a present, and he gave us Christine. Whose maker was Dr. Parker Quigley.”
“Am I supposed to recognize that name?” Fiji was embarrassed. “I don’t.”
“I didn’t, either,” Olivia said. “Don’t feel bad. As I’ve since found out, Dr. Quigley was a kind of shady and scary guy in his day—surprise, surprise. Because of his research into ancient Egyptians and ancient Roman burial customs and rituals. Anyway, while he was doing more research he eventually ran across an Etruscan vampire named Arria Auclina.” Olivia pronounced the name carefully: Ar-REE-ah Aw-CLEE-nah.
“And this Arria Auclina made him a vampire.”
“You got it. She was pretty excited that someone was interested in her people. And she taught Dr. Quigley Etruscan, to keep the language alive. And then he taught Christine. In another huge enormous totally unbelievable coincidence, Dr. Quigley was the vampire Lemuel ran across in New Orleans. He gave him a dictionary, to help in translation. But the dictionary was pretty crappy, as it turns out, so that’s one reason Lemuel’s had such slow going getting the book translated.”
“This is kind of convoluted,” Fiji said.
“No shit. Joseph, who evidently is Christine’s boss, decided she was expendable. Turns out the vampires of Dallas have been feeling ‘bad emanations’ from Midnight.”
“That’s a lot of vampires thinking about us. I’ve always been glad Lemuel kept them away from here,” Fiji said. “When the daytime people were here looking for Barry, it made my skin crawl.”
Olivia looked at Fiji doubtfully. “You’re not saying Lemuel makes your skin crawl,” she said, in the tone of someone who is just making certain of a fact.
“No, I’m used to Lemuel and I talk to him the same way I talk to anyone else.” Though I almost always think before I speak, with Lemuel, Fiji added silently.
“He’s one of a kind,” Olivia said proudly. “Almost literally. At least, he’s really rare.”
Fiji carried the plates and her bowl over to the sink. “So I guess you have a goal in coming to visit? Not that I’m not glad to see you and share lunch and a good story with you,” she said over her shoulder.
“I do have a purpose,” Olivia admitted promptly. “Lemuel happened to be outside Teacher and Madonna’s trailer last night, and he heard them talking about you. Teacher said he’d been in your house, and you’d caught him, and then evidently you paid him back?”
“I did both those things.” Fiji sat down opposite Olivia. She didn’t exactly feel defensive, but she definitely felt wary. “So?”
“Hey, I’m not critical! Because it turns out that the Reeds seem to have come here to spy on me.”
This was unexpected news. “Sure you’re not being paranoid?” Fiji asked gently. “Because he searched my house.”
Olivia gaped at her. “Really? But I have to tell you, I’m pretty sure he’s here because of my family.”
“You have a—an unpleasant family background?”
“Yeah. I’ve got family issues. No big surprise there, huh?” Olivia’s smile was bitter.
“Don’t we all? You met my sister.” Fiji waited for further revelations. This was sure a day for them.
“She was a piece of work, sure enough. But my father . . . well, he’s rich and he’s powerful. So it’s most probable the Reeds are working for my dad.”