Disappearing Nightly (25 page)

“To do what, honey?” Duke asked, his arm firmly around Dolly.

“To do the act with Barclay tonight!”

Barclay said, “Oh, so
that
was how he knew about tonight’s performance.”

“And that was when he formulated his plan,” I said. “Delilah was right, Hieronymus must
have known his time was running out. He was getting desperate. And he thought he had a second shot at getting his victim via Barclay—through tonight’s performance! He obviously thought Dixie was a vir…Um. Go on, Dixie, you tell the story.”

She nodded. “I told Hieronymus about our plans when we were talking. And I said we naturally wouldn’t do the disappearing act. He agreed that was wise, and he said lots of nice things about how good it was of me to help a friend and how he wished we could solve the case before the show so that Barclay and I could do the
whole
act. And I said, gosh, I sure wished for that, too, because Barclay felt so bad about Clarisse, and Daddy missed Dolly so much.”

“So when Hieronymus called you today,” I said, “and told you the case was solved and it was safe to do the disappearing act…”

“It never occurred to me I couldn’t trust him! He was Dr. Zadok’s assistant, after all! And he’d been so nice to me!”

“And then he hexed our cell phones,” Duke said, “to make sure no one else could get in touch with us.”

“Even with Max giving us the green light—as we thought—we were nervous the first time we rehearsed the disappearing act,” Barclay said. “But it went smooth as silk, so we had no worries after that.”

“The conduit was never engaged in rehearsal,” I said. “Only in performance. Only when energy, concentration and focus were at their peak.”

A little while later, I found Max blushing under Delilah’s grateful hugs and kisses as she thanked him profusely (again) for returning her dear Samson to her. Samson apparently hadn’t been as chilly as I’d supposed, since he was still wearing nothing but his gold lamé G-string. Since the “girls” had left the Pony Expressive in the middle of the performance to come here and help if needed, they were all dressed for work. Whoopsy was as scantily clad as Samson, Khyber looked like a harem boy, and Satsy was in glorious purple drag.

Joe Herlihy had been so relieved to see Golly Gee alive, he’d embraced her. After that, though, it took only a few minutes for them to remember how much they disliked each other, and they were soon sitting at separate tables.

I sat down with Joe now and said, “Hey, we can get the show up and running again!”

“Once the crystal cage is ready.”

“I’ll talk to Magnus,” I said, “and he’ll have it ready soon.”

“
You
believed the cage might be dangerous, too, didn’t you?”

“The thought crossed my mind,” I said.

He hesitated. “Esther, did you and your friend Max…Um, wait no. Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

I watched Golly flirting with Goudini and sighed. “I guess I’m back in the chorus.”

“It’s a shame.” When I looked at him in surprise, Joe said, “Don’t get me wrong. I’m very, very glad I didn’t inadvertently kill Golly, which is what I was terrified might have happened. But you’re a lot better as Virtue, Esther. I wish you had the role.” He sighed and shook his head. “But Matilda wanted a young pop star for the leading lady.”

“Life upon the wicked stage,” I said. “Oh, well. My turn will come.”

“Yes, it will.”

To my surprise, I found I kind of liked Joe. When the pressure was off, he was just a nice, ordinary fellow, instead of a basket-case magician.

Suddenly Whoopsy rose to his feet, looking anxious. “Fuzz!”

My heart skipped a beat as my eyes were drawn to the entrance of the cabaret. Lopez flashed his shield at the Goth girl trying to block his entrance. He was in his working clothes: a gray suit, white shirt and dark blue tie. As he put his badge away, his suitcoat flapped open for a moment and I saw his holster and gun.

He scanned the room. He frowned when he saw Max, and his brows lifted as he studied the interestingly clothed (and unclothed) performers in our festive group. Then he saw me. He went still as our gazes locked.

He looked tired, puzzled, a little worried
…and God, he looked good to me. If Avolapek had escaped, he might have eaten Lopez, I suddenly realized. I was so glad that hadn’t happened.

Lopez’s gaze traveled over me as he approached the table where I sat with Joe. I realized for the first time what I must look like after fighting with a demented adept, being manhandled by a demon, nearly getting immolated, being drenched with water of highly questionable origin and translocating twice in one night. We stared at each other.

Then he said, with obvious concern, “Are you okay?”

“I am now.” I smiled at him. “How’d you find this place?”

“It was a little harder than I expected—how do their customers find them, I wonder?” He shrugged. “But I’m a cop, I’m good at finding things.”

“I’m glad you came.”

As Khyber walked behind Lopez, probably in search of more beverages, he gave me a thumbs-up sign and mouthed,
He’s hot.

“When I got here, there was a nice van, abandoned in the middle of the street, being towed away,” Lopez said to me. “I don’t suppose you’d know anything about that?”

“Oops.” I’d have to tell Barclay. Meanwhile, I should change the subject. “Are you off duty yet?”

He looked around with a skeptical expression. “I’m not sure.” He froze. “Is that Golly Gee?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. And over there—that’s Clarisse Staunton.”

He gave me a sharp glance. “They’re back?”

“Yes.”

“Where were they?”

“You can ask them,” I said. “But you won’t understand the answers.”

“Where’s Hieronymus?”

“Hieron…” I frowned. “Um…”

“When I got back to the house a little while ago, I found two messages from you. Both kind of garbled. Apparently you wanted me to come here and…” Lopez spread his hands and shrugged again. “And stop a really bad disappearing act that was about to be performed by someone named Hieronymus? Whose stage name is Phil Hohenheim?”

I looked down at my drink. “Oh, he never showed up.”

“Where is he?”

I shrugged. “Who knows?”

He sighed. “I was told you sounded frantic when you left those messages. There was also something about a kidnapping, and—”

“Oh, ignore all that. I’d had
way
too much coffee,” I said.

“You’re not going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Everything’s back to normal now,” I assured him.

“I am
so
afraid to ask you what that means.”
He glanced around the room. “That woman over there. Is that Dorothy Mertz?”

“Who?”

“Uh, Dolly the Dancing Cowgirl.”

“Yes.” So he had continued looking into the case today. A man of his word, I thought, liking the way he looked even when he was tired and a little exasperated with me. I added, “And Sexy Samson has come home, too.” I touched Lopez’s sleeve. “Everything really is back to normal. You can drop the case.”

He eyed Joe. “What about you?”

Joe appeared nervous again. Well, cops had that effect on some people. From several tables away, Whoopsy was still watching Lopez the way a monkey would watch a snake. “Me?” Joe bleated.

“Mrs. Herlihy accused Miss Diamond of vandalizing the crystal cage,” Lopez reminded him. “She also complained about Dr. Zadok harassing you.”

“Oh, that? Those were just a couple of silly misunderstandings, Detective. It’s all water under the bridge now.”

“You’re not going to press charges?”

“No,” Joe said firmly. “We’re not. Definitely not.”

Lopez met my eyes again. I said, “We’re hoping to get the show up and running again in a few days. You wanted to come see it?”

Joe said, “Hey, I’ll get you a couple of complimentary tickets, Detective! No problem!”

Still holding my gaze, Lopez said, “Thanks, Mr. Herlihy. But I’ll only need one ticket. I’m not bringing a date.”

“Detective Lopez!” Max joined us, smiling broadly. “What a pleasant surprise!”

“You seem to be celebrating something,” Lopez commented, as I rose from my seat and used a napkin to wipe some of Delilah’s lipstick off Max’s cheek.

“Yes! We have tracked Evil to its lair,” Max burbled, “confronted it there and triumphed! Would you like a cocktail?”

“No, thank you.”

“A sober young man,” Max said to me, beaming with approval. “And polite.”

Lopez asked, “Why do half of you look as if you’ve just come through a siege?”

“Ah!
There
you are!” Goudini shouted, seeing his tiger’s trainer at the door. “Come on! I’ll show you where we’ve locked up Alice!”

Lopez stiffened. “Now you’ve locked someone up? Esther—”

“Oh, it’s just the tiger,” said Max.

“You’ve got a
tiger
with you?”

“The poor thing was so frantic,” Max said. “First the hunger, then the demon, then the fire, then the water, then the translocation…Well! You can imagine what an ordeal it all was for her.”

“Strangely,” Lopez said, “I almost can.” He looked at me, waiting for an explanation.

“
I
want a cocktail,” I said.

“Esther was the heroine of the evening,” Max continued, and I realized from the reckless glitter in his eyes that he’d been imbibing rather freely. “I am told she even broke through the invisible barrier to beat the stuffing out of Hieronymus, with scarcely a thought for her own safety.”

“Hieronymus?” Lopez repeated. “Indeed?”

“I suddenly need some air,” I said. “Detective, would you escort me outside?”

“Not just now.” He said to Max, “Tell me more about Esther’s brave confrontation.”

Obviously intent on doing a little matchmaking, Max said enthusiastically, “Well, Lysander, who saw some of the episode from his position on the sacrificial altar—”

“
Where
was this Lysander?” Lopez asked, blinking.

“He says that Esther walloped Hieronymus with a cast-iron candelabra!”

“It was just a candlestick.” When Lopez gave me a dark glance, I wished I’d kept my mouth shut.

“She saved lives!” Max said.

“So this man—Lysander—was a witness?”

“If you pull out your notebook,” I said to Lopez, “you can forget about a free ticket to the show.”

“Oh, you’re going to see
Sorcerer!
” Max said. “Me, too! Perhaps we can go together! What night would be good for you?”

“Uh…” Lopez looked to me for help.

“Will you take me outside
now?
” I said to him.

“Perhaps we could have dinner together before the show,” Max said to Lopez. “Oh, unless you’re Lithuanian? I have nothing against Lithuanians, mind you, it’s just that trying to share a meal with one can be a little complicated for me.”

“Okay,” Lopez said to me. “Outside.”

“Or, no, here’s an even better idea!” Max said. “We’ll take Esther for a late supper after the show! Won’t that be nice?”

Lopez’s hand in the small of my back urged me to speed up as we crossed the floor and headed for the exit. I kept stumbling.

“Why are you only wearing one shoe?” he asked.

“I lost the other. It upsets me to talk about it.”

We passed through the curtain covering the doorway and let it drop behind us. Then he let out his breath.

“Okay, remember how I said I’d rather you stayed away from Max?” he said.

“Yes…”

“Right now, I’ll settle for you just keeping him away from
me.
Deal?”

“Deal.” I stepped a little closer and toyed with his tie. “So…are you off duty yet?”

“Officially. But…” He shook his head. “I caught a homicide tonight.”

“You make it sound like catching a cold.”

“So I still have to go back to the house and do all the paperwork I left lying around—”

“Heigh-ho, the glamorous life.”

“—when I found messages from you on my desk. One of which asked me to come here right away.”

“Oh.” I leaned a little closer to him. “You dropped everything for me?”

His coal-black lashes veiled his eyes. “I did.”

“That’s nice,” I said. “Even though I am a tax-paying citizen entitled to the dedicated protection of the police force.”

“What happened tonight?” he murmured, leaning a little closer to me, too.

“It doesn’t matter now. It’s over.”

His lips looked full and firm, and I really wanted to know what he tasted like.

He whispered, “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

I whispered back, “Are you
ever
going to kiss me?”

He smiled a little and I felt his breath on my cheek just before our lips met. His mouth was warm, and he tasted sweet and unfamiliar, lush, tempting—and a little bit like coffee. His lips were pillowy, even richer than I’d expected, and, oh my, he knew how to use them.

“Mmm,” I said.
“Mmm.”

I sank bonelessly against him and slid my
arms around his neck. Deepening his kiss, he backed me up against the wall and tightened his hold on me, pressing his body all along mine. After a long, dark, spinning moment, he pulled away just enough that we could both breathe. My heart was thundering, and I felt light-headed and weak—in that
good
way. I clung to him as he nuzzled my hair.

Then he murmured, “Uh, Esther?”

“Hmm?”

“Why do you smell like sulfur?”

“Just kiss me again,” I whispered.

He did.

And for a little while, the whole world disappeared.