'Do you know what this is?' Flora touched the ruffled green edge of a red leaf attached to a bushy plant sitting atop a stalk that was at least two feet tall.
David glanced nervously over his shoulder, expecting Elise to appear any second. He'd left the tea party to get away from Strata Luna and her painfully accurate insight. Instead of finding Enrique, he'd run into Flora-who'd apparently been watching for him.
'It's called a lollipop coleus,' Flora told him, even though he hadn't asked. Even though he wasn't remotely interested. 'They don't normally grow like this.'
'I see.'
'It took Strata Luna a year to cultivate this particular plant.'
'That's weird,' David said. 'Kind of Tim Burton.'
'Tim who?'
'The director,' he said, seeing he'd already lost her.
'It's called a topiary.'
'Don't talk to Strata Luna about me, okay? No matter how mundane the information might seem.'
'I don't have to tell her anything. She just knows.'
He let out a snort of disbelief.
'Let's not fight.' Flora smiled and moved close, backing him up against the wall. She put her hands on his hips and pressed against him.
He whipped out the photo of Gary Turello and held it in front of her face. 'Ever seen this guy?'
'Da-vid.' She laughed.
'I'm serious.'
'It's Gary Turello. Now put it away.' She snatched the photo and tossed it over her shoulder.
'You knew him?'
'We didn't hang out or anything. He was into the punk scene, always getting a new piercing every week.'
'Remember anything else about him?'
'He didn't mind the weird shit. If a client was into kinky stuff like beating or bondage or drinking blood, we always sent them Turello.'
'Do you remember any of the clients?'
'I never saw them. And unlike you, my naive man, those kind of people always use false names, and the meeting places always change. It might be an abandoned warehouse one night, the basement of an empty Victorian the next.'
'Anything else?'
'Should I come by tonight?' When he didn't answer, her hands moved up his body to finally link behind his head, her fingers digging into his hair. She pulled his face close.
At first he put up a fight, but then he bent his head and pressed his lips to hers.
He was kissing Flora when Elise caught up with him.
'Gould?'
He and Flora sprang apart.
Flora gave him a wicked smile. 'I'd better go.' She scampered off, leaving David alone with Elise.
'Were you just making out with Flora Martinez?' Elise asked, clearly shocked.
David wiped at his mouth and pulled his hand away. 'Kissing,' he said, distracted by the red lipstick on his fingertips.
'Did she attack you?'
'We… have kind of a relationship.'
That announcement was followed by a long span of silence.
'You're dating one of Strata Luna's prostitutes?' Elise finally asked.
'Dating isn't really the right word…'
'What is the right word? Paying? For services rendered?'
'Seeing each other. That would be more accurate.'
'I'm not one of those people who has big issues with prostitution unless it involves innocent children,' Elise said. 'Under those conditions, I'd be looking for a death sentence if such a thing were possible.'
'Flora's a good person.'
She picked up the photo of Gary Turello and handed it to him. 'Moral issues aside, she's too close to the case.'
'It just happened.' He pocketed the photo.
'Did she approach you after our visit to Black Tupelo?'
He could see she might be able to accept that.
'I knew she liked you,' Elise said.
'I called her. Before Black Tupelo.'
'What?'
'I called for a prostitute.'
'Jeez, Gould! Are you crazy?'
'Possibly.' He thought a moment. 'Probably.'
'You're a cop.'
'I was drunk.' Out of his mind, that's what he was.
'That should never be an excuse.'
She was right. 'I know.' He looked down. Anywhere but at Elise.
'Isn't this great?' he asked, cupping a ruffled coleus leaf under his fingertips. 'It's called a topiary.'
'I didn't know you were a master gardener.'
'Wouldn't you say it's a little Tim Burtonish?'
'Pre-Sleepy HollowT she asked.
'Goes without saying, doesn't it?'
He wasn't tricking her with the diversion, but she still played along. He liked that about his partner. She knew when to push and when to stop pushing. But then he regarded her more closely and realized she seemed preoccupied with something more than just his relationship with Flora.
'You okay?' he asked.
She pulled in a deep breath. 'Just one of those days when I've been given a little too much information.'
Chapter 24
James LaRue wormed his hand through the T-shirts and underwear in his top dresser drawer until his fingers made contact with a box the size of a cigarette pack. It was said that the underwear drawer was one of the first places burglars looked when robbing you. If they found James' stash, they would most likely think it cocaine, snort a little, and be dead within a minute.
He carefully extracted the box from its hiding place and carried it down the hallway, through the living room to the kitchen, where he lifted the lid.
Nestled against cotton batting was a small glass vial filled with white crystalline powder. Beside it, a sewing needle. James removed the glass container and held it at eye level.
Tetrodotoxin. TTX. The tiny vial contained enough to kill the inhabitants of a small city.
Carefully, he removed the rubber stopper, then slipped the fine, sharp tip of the sewing needle inside, tapped it free of residue, and lifted it out, recapping the vial. He swirled the needle in a glass of water,wiped the needle clean, and replaced it and the vial inside the box, which he left on the counter.
A dangling chain brushed against his temple. He pulled it, turning on the ceiling fan.
He held the glass high, noting the clarity of the water.
James had never been a big one for extreme sports. Growing up, he'd been a little on the geeky, frail side. No rock climbing or cave diving for him. But he'd found a way to compensate for that lackluster past without leaving
