The small pixy bristled. 'Get Turned, Tamwood,' he snarled. 'Why am I here if not to sneak around? The day I can't evade a baker is the day I—' He cut his thought short. 'Uh,' he reiterated, 'yeah. I'll be right back.' Pulling a red bandanna from a back pocket, he put it around his waist like a belt. It was a pixy's version of a white flag of truce, a declaration to other pixies and fairies that he wasn't poaching should he stumble into anyone's jealously guarded territory. He buzzed off just below the ceiling, headed for the kitchen.
Ivy shook her head. 'He's going to get caught.'
I shrugged and edged the breadsticks closer. 'They won't hurt him.' Settling back, I watched the contented people enjoy themselves, thinking of Nick and how long it had been since we'd been out. I'd started on my second breadstick when a waiter appeared. Already silent, the table went expectant as he cleared away the crumbs and used plates. The man's neck from behind the blue satin shirt was a mass of scars, the newest still red-rimmed and sore looking. His smile at Ivy was a little too eager, a little too much like a puppy. I hated it, wondering what his dreams had been before he became someone's plaything.
My demon bite tingled, and my gaze roved across the crowded room to find Piscary himself bringing our food. Heads turned as he passed, drawn by the fabulous smell that had to be emanating from the elevated platter. The level of conversation notably dropped. Piscary settled the platter before us, an eager smile hovering about him, his need for his cooking skills to be recognized looking odd on someone with so much hidden power. 'I call it Temere's need,' he said.
'Oh my God!' Glenn said in disgust, clear over the hush. 'It's got tomatoes on it!'
Ivy elbowed him in the gut hard enough to knock the wind out of him. The room went silent except for the noise filtering down from upstairs, and I stared at Glenn. 'Uh, how wonderful,' he wheezed.
Sparing Glenn a glance, Piscary cut it into wedges with a professional flourish. My mouth watered at the smell of melted cheese and sauce. 'That smells great,' I said admiringly, my earlier distrust lulled by the prospect of food. 'My pizzas never come out like this.'
The short man raised his thin, almost nonexistent eyebrows. 'You use sauce from a jar.'
I nodded, then wondered how he knew.
Ivy looked to the kitchen. 'Where is Jenks? He should be here for this.'
'My staff is playing with him,' Piscary said lightly. 'I imagine he'll be out soon.' The undead vamp slid the first piece onto Ivy's plate, then mine, then Glenn's. The FIB detective pushed his plate away with one finger in disgust. The other patrons whispered, waiting to see our reaction to Piscary's latest creation.
Ivy and I immediately picked our slices up. The smell of cheese was strong, but not enough to hide the odor of spice and tomatoes. I took a bite. My eyes closed in bliss. There was just enough tomato sauce to carry the cheese. Just enough cheese to carry the toppings. I didn't care if it had Brimstone on it, it was so good. 'Oh, burn me at the stake now,' I moaned, chewing. 'This is absolutely wonderful.'
Piscary nodded, the light shining on his shaven head. 'And you, Ivy girl?'
Ivy wiped her chin free of sauce. 'It's enough to come back from the dead for.'
The man sighed. 'I'll rest easy this sunrise.'
I slowed my chewing, turning with everyone else to Glenn. He was sitting frozen between Ivy and me, his jaw clenched with a mix of determination and nausea. 'Uh,' he said, glancing down at the pizza. He swallowed, looking as if the nausea was winning out.
Piscary's smile vanished, and Ivy glared at him. 'Eat it,' she said loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear.
'And start at the point, not the crust,' I warned him.
Glenn licked his lips. 'It has tomatoes on it,' he said, and my lips pursed. This was exactly what I had been hoping to avoid. One would think we had asked him to eat live grubs.
'Don't be an ass,' Ivy said caustically. 'If you really think the T4 Angel virus skipped forty tomato generations and appeared in an entirely new species for your benefit, I'll ask Piscary to bite you before we leave. That way you won't die but just turn vamp.'
Glenn scanned the waiting faces, realizing he was going to have to eat some pizza if he wanted to walk out under his own power. Visibly swallowing, he awkwardly picked the slice up. His eyes screwed up and he opened his mouth. The noise from upstairs seemed loud as everyone downstairs watched, their breath held.
He took a bite, his face distorting wildly. The cheese made twin bridges from him to the pizza. He chewed twice before his eyes cracked open. His jaw slowed. He was tasting it now. His eye caught mine, and I nodded. Slowly he pulled the pizza away until the cheese separated.
'Yes?' Piscary leaned to put his expressive hands atop the table, genuinely interested in what a human thought of his cooking. Glenn was probably the first in four decades to sample it.
The man's face was slack. He swallowed. 'Uh,' he grunted from around a partially full mouth. 'It's uh… good.' He looked shocked. 'It's really good.'
The restaurant seemed to heave a sigh. Piscary straightened to all of his short height, clearly delighted as the conversations started up with a new, excited edge to them. 'You're welcome here anytime, FIB officer,' he said, and Glenn froze, clearly worried that he had been made.
Piscary grabbed a chair behind him and swung it around. Hunched over the table across from us, he watched us eat. 'Now,' he said as Glenn lifted the cheese to look at the tomato sauce under it. 'You didn't come here for dinner. What can I do for you?'
Ivy set her pizza down and reached for her wine. 'I'm helping Rachel find a missing person,' she said, flicking her long hair needlessly back. 'One of your employees.'
'Trouble, Ivy girl?' Piscary asked, his resonate voice surprisingly gentle with regret.
I took a sip of wine. 'That's what we want to find out, Mr. Piscary. It's Dan Smather.'
Piscary's few wrinkles folded into a soft frown as he gazed at Ivy. With telltale motions so slight they were almost undetectable, she fidgeted, her eyes both worried and defiant.
My attention jerked to Glenn. He was pulling the cheese off his pizza. Appalled, I watched him gingerly pile it into a mound. 'Can you tell us the last time you saw him, Mr. Piscary?' the man asked, clearly more interested in denuding his pizza than our questioning.
'Certainly.' Piscary eyed Glenn, his brow furrowed as if not sure whether to be insulted or pleased as the man ate the pizza, now nothing more than bread and tomato sauce. 'It was early Saturday morning after work. But Dan isn't missing. He quit.'
My face went slack in surprise. It lasted for three heartbeats, then my eyes narrowed in anger. It was starting to fall together, and the puzzle was a lot smaller than I had thought. A big interview, dropping his classes, quitting his job, standing his girlfriend up at a 'we have to talk' dinner. My eyes flicked to Glenn, and he gave me a brief, disgusted look as he came to the same conclusion. Dan hadn't disappeared; he had gotten a good job and ditched his small-town girlfriend.
Pushing my glass away, I fought off a feeling of depression. 'He quit?' I said.
The innocuous-looking vamp looked over his shoulder to the front door as a rowdy group of young vamps swirled in and what looked like the entire wait staff flocked to them with loud calls and hugs. 'Dan was one of my best drivers,' he said. 'I'm going to miss him. But I wish him luck. He said it was what he was going to school for.' The slight man brushed the flour from the front of his apron. 'Security maintenance, I think he said.'
I exchanged weary looks with Glenn. Ivy straightened on the bench, her usual aloof mien looking strained. A sick feeling went through me. I didn't want to be the one to tell Sara Jane she had been dumped. Dan had gotten a career job and cut all his old ties, the cowardly sack of crap. I would have bet he had a second girlfriend on the side. He was probably hiding out at her place, letting Sara Jane think he was dead in an alley and laughing as she fed his cat.
Piscary shrugged, his entire body moving with the slight motion. 'If I had known he was good at security, I might have made him a better offer, though it would be hard to give more than Mr. Kalamack. I'm just a simple restaurant owner.'
At Trent's name, I started. 'Kalamack?' I said. 'He got a job with Trent Kalamack?'
Piscary nodded as Ivy sat stiffly on the bench, her pizza sitting untouched but for the first bite. 'Yes,' he said. 'Apparently his girlfriend works for Mr. Kalamack, too. I believe her name is Sara? You might want to check with her if you are looking for him.' His long-toothed smile went devious. 'She's probably the one that got him the job, if you know what I mean.'
I knew what he meant, but from the sound of it, Sara Jane hadn't. My heart pounded and I started to sweat.
