Read Online After Dark by Jayne Castle - Free Book Online Page A

stuff I haven’t told you about this job.”

7
    H E’D CHOSEN THE restaurant with the help of the concierge at his hotel.
    â€œThe kind of place where the university crowd hangs out; you know, the professors, not the students.”
    â€œDon’t worry, I know the perfect restaurant, sir. A charming little bistro. It’s called Counterpoint. Specializes in New Wave cuisine. Excellent wine list. Very popular with the university crowd.”
    Lydia said nothing as she followed the maitre d’ to a table near the window. Emmett knew that she was fuming. But beneath the simmering anger, he caught the glint of recognition in her expression. He made a mental note to tip the concierge. The guy had nailed it with the restaurant.
    Emmett’s gaze swept the room, assessing the polished wooden floors, the intimately lit tables, and the waiters dressed in black and white. In recent years he had finally grasped the concept of casual chic. He knew it when he saw it—and Counterpoint was definitely it. The sort of place that served a lot of pasta and did terribly clever, artistic things with miniature vegetables.
    Lydia managed to contain herself until after the waiter had taken the order. Then she folded her arms on the table and narrowed her eyes at him over the candle flame.
    â€œOkay, talk,” she said. “What’s all this about firing me?”
    He had given a lot of thought to the problem of how much to tell her. In the end he had decided it would be best to go with at least a measure of the truth. He couldn’t think of any other way to convince her that she did not want the job.
    â€œI told you that I came to Cadence to search for a family heirloom that had been stolen from my collection,” he said.
    Her fingertips did a quick staccato on the table. “Are you going to tell me that your story about the missing cabinet of curiosities wasn’t for real?”
    â€œIt’s for real, all right. What I didn’t get around to mentioning was that the person who took it was my nephew, Quinn.”
    That information made her blink a couple of times. Your nephew?”
    â€œMy sister’s kid. He’s…” Emmett paused, thinking. Eighteen as of last month.”
    â€œI don’t understand. He stole a family heirloom?”
    â€œI doubt if he looks at it quite that way.”
    â€œWhat other way is there to look at it?”
    â€œTechinically, what he actually did was pawn it. He dropped a copy of the receipt into the mail to me. Just in case, he said.”
    â€œJust in case of what?”
    â€œI’d better start at the beginning. A few months ago Quinn took up with a new friend, a young lady named Sylvia. My sister and her husband did not approve. The long and short of it is that Sylvia came here to Cadence, apparently looking for work. Quinn followed.”
    Lydia frowned. “What kind of work?”
    â€œDon’t know. Quinn told me that she’s a fairly strong ephemeral-energy para-rez and she dreams of working in the field of para-archaeology. But she’s untrained and uncertified. Unfortunately, her resources are quite limited. No family to speak of. When Quinn met her, she was barely keeping herself off the streets by working as a waitress.”
    â€œOkay, so she came here to Cadence, and Quinn followed. With your cabinet.”
    â€œRight. And now he’s disappeared. No one’s heard from him for nearly two weeks. My sister is getting frantic. Her husband is concerned.”
    Lydia studied him. “So you agreed to come look for him?”
    â€œYes. As near as I can tell, he sold the cabinet to a dealer in the Old Quarter and used the money to get a hotel room. But he only spent two nights at the hotel, and then he just vanished.”
    Lydia looked thoughtful. “What about the dealer who bought the cabinet? Have you talked to him?”
    â€œI went to his shop, but he wasn’t there. Neither was the