Damn Him to Hell

probably kept her talents on the down-low in front of golden boy. The Zone hadn’t warped Leo yet. Maybe.

“You do realize that Dane had to set up his fortune in a blind trust when he took the senate seat, and any part of his share of Acme will go into it?” I thought I’d lay out the law just to move the meeting along. “Apparently he’s trying to prove he’s presidential material by removing himself from control of any private entities. That means his trustees will take over his votes.” And I had no idea who they were, but I’d bet Gloria had been top dog. Blind trusts are never really blind.

“If MacNeill is a trust executor, he gets the controlling vote,” Paddy concluded gloomily.

“Since chances of your mother leaving anything to you are slim,” I said, “I suggest that if you believe there really is a will and there’s any chance that MacNeill can find it, you start making amends with Dane. Maybe you can be included as executor of his trust in Gloria’s place.”

I could almost see the not happening thought bubble forming. I wanted to smack Paddy’s head against the wall. If it had been me, I’d have put on my power suit and waltzed into Acme’s office and sat down at the head honcho’s desk and forced everyone to prove I didn’t belong there.

Paddy wasn’t me.

Although I supposed that kind of arrogance would be bad mojo for a scientist who is supposed to be objective.

“Can we get into the plant and reconnoiter?” I asked.

Andre and Cora continued their private conversation. Leo slurped up spaghetti. We were getting nowhere. As a team, we sucked.

I’d been hoping for any other way around it, but we desperately needed to get into Acme—to find the will, to free Bill, to stop the scary rumbling. But no one was talking about what I wanted to talk about. They just didn’t grasp the potential for disaster if Acme slipped out of Dane’s or Paddy’s hands. It was all legal mumbo jumbo to them.

I preferred action to reaction, but I wasn’t getting either tonight.

In frustration, I studied the other customers. Not too long ago, they’d included spies and media all out to get me. I wasn’t at all certain they weren’t doing the same now, although, according to Julius, Andre was higher on their hit list these days. He’d been charged with murder, after all, a rather juicy one. Nervousness about taking on a case for which I wasn’t prepared made me antsy.

Ha. I spotted a familiar face. I didn’t know his name, or that of his fellow reporters, but they’d all had cameras and microphones waving under my nose a few months back. It wasn’t as if I’d forget their faces. I wondered if other Saturn’s daughters were plagued with media nuisances while they battled demons and monsters, or if I was just special.

Andre must have noticed my expression. He slapped his hand over mine in warning. The touch tingled. I gave him my best evil-vamp smile, licking my lips and watching him hungrily. Leo had me blocked in and Cora had Andre trapped. He couldn’t do anything except hold my hand and tap my rubber shoe with his leather one. Not at all satisfactory.

“Do you dance, Leo?” I purred, still watching Andre.

“Not on poles,” Leo said, drinking his beer. But then his gaze caught the way Andre was holding down my hand, and he got the message. “We’re not solving anything here. Maybe it’s time I took you home.”

Since we lived in the same building, that almost made sense. Except I’d never needed anyone to escort me anywhere, and I wasn’t ready to call it quits for the night. I wiggled my fingers under Andre’s. He didn’t release me.

“Clancy is asking for trouble, Schwartz,” Andre said, filling in the conversational gap I’d left open. “Either carry her out of here or dispatch the reporters.”

He knew me too damned well. “Not my boss anymore, Legrande,” I pointed out. “If I want to talk to reporters, it’s my business.”

“I’m your only client and I’m paying your office rent, so yeah, I get to be your boss. I don’t want my lawyer irritating the press. They’ve been behaving so far. They’ll go away when they don’t see me murdering old ladies.”

With my free hand, I pinched the hard, bronzed one holding me down. Andre didn’t even flinch. Chinese water torture probably wouldn’t loosen his grip. I didn’t like being boxed in, physically or otherwise.

“I can always go back to Snodgrass, Legrande. I don’t need you or your problems if you’re going to boss me around. Those reporters over there could be our key to Acme. Let me loose or I’ll scream. Let’s see how many white knights come running.”

With disgust, he shoved my hand away. A pity, actually. I kind of liked the human contact. The imperiousness, not so much.

Leo warily let me out, looking as if he’d far rather heave me over his shoulder. Golden Viking had used that maneuver once before, when I’d been in no emotional shape to deal with it. He probably sensed I’d carve his heart out if he tried it now.

I tossed the mane of hair I’d yet to have cut and bit color into my lips as I swung toward the table of reporters, giving them a full view of the goods. Under normal circumstances, brown-wren me and my crooked teeth wouldn’t be overtly noticeable, but black leather works for me, and these guys knew me enough to be leery.

Since I would never be the friendly sort people would welcome with open arms, I was learning to accept that response. I might prefer it otherwise, but these guys didn’t count for much.

“Hello, boys,” I purred, noting there were no women with them. Poor Jane was stuck at home with her two-year-old. I wondered how many men at this table had wives at home dealing with the kids while they drank beer and annoyed people like me. “Looking for some entertainment?”

“Working the poles these days, Clancy?” one of the older ones asked. “What does your boyfriend the senator think about that?”

I gave him the brilliant gap-toothed smile that Max had told me turned him on. “Why, if you believe everything the media says, Danny Boy has a pole in his apartment just for me. A more original story would be a newsman who reported news instead of gossip.”

They slugged back their drinks and glared. I had no sympathy. If they couldn’t sell newspapers with real stories instead of entertainment news, then they needed to get out of the business.

“So, what’s the real news?” a balding one asked. “Give us something worth writing about.”

“I’m just a little ol’ lawyer, not a big bad investigative reporter. And I can’t say anything that would jeopardize my client’s case.” I hesitated just a fraction, giving them time to absorb the fact that I actually had a client. “But the senator and Andre aren’t real news. It’s the actions of Acme Chemical that should be examined. Corporations are where dirty deeds are hidden these days.”

“That’s your boyfriend’s family gold mine,” one of the younger ones said, trying to sound smart-assed. “You had a fight with Dane? That why you’re over there playing footsie with a murderer?”

I sighed and glanced at the balding guy with mock sympathy. “Is this what you have to put up with every day? Does he always believe what he’s told without getting the facts?”

I left them snickering at the younger guy’s expense. He was probably glowering and vowing revenge, but I’d made them all think, for a change. Real news wasn’t lying out in the street, waiting to be picked up. As with gold, you had to dig for it in dirty, sometimes dangerous, holes.

But those lazy bums wouldn’t be digging into the dungeon soon enough for me, dang it.

I sauntered out and headed up the hill. Maybe I could catch up with the Fat Chick and chat, find out how much she knew about this business.

Within minutes, I was aware of being followed. Oversensitive to bats, I saw pink ones darting about under a purple street lamp. A yellow rat scampered across the street. The Zone liked color as well as food.

I stopped at the corner and leaned against a neon blue building to reconnoiter, as they say in the movies. If necessary, I knew how to blend into the shadows. I’m small and dark and I’d been doing it for most of my life. But I fancied these were friendly footsteps.

Leo and Cora walked toward me, acting not exactly like a happy couple but more like pissed-off bodyguards. I sighed and stepped back onto the sidewalk. “You really shouldn’t follow me, you know.”

“Yeah, and you really should keep your mouth shut, but we know that’s not happening, either,” Leo said.