move around from place to place saying that owning property is wrong.”
“Like communists?” I asked. I had just finished reading
“No,” Saul said, “not communists. They’re more like dropouts from life. They say they believe in free love.”
“Free love? Is that like they say, ‘That ain’t my baby, baby’?”
Saul laughed and we began the ascent to Nob Hill.
Near the top of that exclusive mount is a street called Cush-man. Saul took a right turn there, drove one block, and parked in front of a four-story mansion that rose up on a slope behind the sidewalk.
The walls were so white that it made me squint just looking at them. The windows seemed larger than others on the block and the conical turrets at the top were painted metallic gold. The first floor of the manor was a good fifteen feet above street level — the entrance was barred by a wrought iron gate.
Saul pushed a button and waited.
I looked out toward the city and appreciated the view. Then I felt the pang of guilt, knowing that Feather lay dying four hundred miles to the south.
“Yes?” a sultry woman’s voice asked over an invisible intercom.
4 1
W a lt e r M o s l e y
“It’s Saul and Mr. Rawlins.”
A buzzer sounded. Saul pulled open the gate and we entered onto an iron platform. The elevator vestibule was carved into the rock beneath the house. As soon as Saul closed the gate the platform began to move upward toward an opening at the first-floor level of the imposing structure. As we moved into the aperture a panel above us slid aside and we ascended into a large, well-appointed room.
The walls were mahogany bookshelves from floor to ceiling —
and the ceiling was at least sixteen feet high. Beautifully bound books took up every space. I was reminded of Jackson Blue’s beach house, which had cheap shelves everywhere. His books for the most part were ratty and soiled, but they were well read and his library was probably larger.
Appearing before us as we rose was a white woman with tanned skin and copper hair. She wore a Chinese- style dress made of royal blue silk. It fitted her form and had no sleeves.
Her eyes were somewhere between defiant and taunting and her bare arms had the strength of a woman who did things for herself. Her face was full and she had a black woman’s lips. The bones of her face made her features point downward like a lovely, earthward-bound arrowhead. Her eyes were light brown and a smile flitted around her lips as she regarded me regarding her beauty.
She would have been tall even if she were a man — nearly six feet. But unlike most tall women of that day, she didn’t let her shoulders slump and her backbone was erect. I made up my mind then and there that I would get on naked terms with her if it was at all possible.
She nodded and smiled and I believe she read the intentions in my gaze.
4 2
C i n n a m o n K i s s
“Maya Adamant,” Saul Lynx said, “this is Ezekiel Rawlins.”
“Easy,” I said, extending a hand.
She held my hand a moment longer than necessary and then moved back so that we could step off of the platform.
“Saul,” she said. “Come in. Would you like a drink?”
“No, Maya. We’re in kind of a hurry. Easy’s daughter is sick and we need to get back as soon as possible.”
“Oh,” she said with a frown. “I hope it’s not serious.”
“It’s a blood condition,” I said, not intending to be so honest.
“Not quite an infection but it really isn’t a virus either. The doctors in L.A. don’t know what to do.”
“There’s a clinic in Switzerland . . . ,” she said, searching for the name.
“The Bonatelle,” I added.
Her smile broadened, as if I had just passed some kind of test.
“Yes. That’s it. Have you spoken to them?”
“That’s why I’m here, Miss Adamant. The clinic needs cash and so I need to work.”
Her chest expanded then and an expression of delight came over her face.
“Come with me,” she said.
She led us toward a wide, carpeted staircase that stood at the far end of the library.
Saul looked at me and hunched his shoulders.
“I’ve never been above this floor before,” he whispered.
t h e r o o m a b o v e
was just as large as the one we had left.
But where the library was dark with no windows, this room had a nearly white pine floor and three bay
