Read Online Criminal Confections by Colette London - Free Book Online Page B

utility payments.” Impatiently, Danny gestured. “Ready now?”
    I wasn’t. “Do you think she’s really dead?” I whispered.
    Danny wasn’t having any part of my incipient meltdown.
    â€œIf you’re angling for me to carry you—” Dubiously, he eyed my glammed-up ensemble. And me in it. “I’m not going to.”
    â€œReal chivalrous.” He did think Adrienne was dead. Oh no.
    â€œWe’ve still got two flights to go,” he argued further.
    â€œYou’re up for the challenge, He-Man.”
    But even before he shook his head, I started moving. I knew better than to rely on anybody else for help. Even my old pal.
    Another flight up, on the next landing, I stopped again. Danny’s now what? expression was not enough to budge me.
    â€œI should have stayed with her.” My head swam with visions of poor Adrienne, blood splattered and limp. “You know, to—”
    â€œTo keep her company on her ride to the morgue?” He shook his head, probably wishing he’d turned down that gratis LAX to SFO plane trip I’d offered. “She won’t know any better.”
    â€œDanny!”
    â€œBesides,” he added in a softer tone, “Nina was there.”
    That was true. She had been. Adrienne hadn’t been alone.
    I was glad about that. I was. Not for the first time, though, I wondered about Danny’s pragmatic side. It tended to veer toward merciless sometimes. At least it did with outsiders. He hadn’t done much more than exchange nods and hellos with Adrienne. He wasn’t invested in her. Not the same way I was.
    A clatter of footsteps—and accompanying voices—from the landing below sent Danny into motion again. He grabbed me.
    Moments later we lurched into my room upstairs, me still shivering and him still stone-faced. He pocketed his room key.
    Scratch that. My room key. “Where did you get that?”
    â€œDo you really want to talk about that now?”
    I didn’t. But I wanted to do something my way. I had my pride. Like I said, humility isn’t exactly my forte.
    Besides, being annoyed at him felt better than being freaked out and upset about Adrienne. Poor Adrienne.
    â€œYes, I want to talk about that now.” I watched Danny stalk to the window, then look out. He pushed the button that drew the drapes. With silent, luxurious efficiency, they obscured the expansive view. Bye-bye, sliver of the Golden Gate Bridge. Bye-bye, moonlit night. Bye-bye, Adrienne. I refocused. “So spill.”
    Instead, he faced me. The concern in his face made me wonder if he’d glimpsed Armageddon outside. Nothing else could have made Danny look so . . . tender. Even with his rampaging beard stubble and tattoos.
    â€œHave you been sweating?” he demanded.
    â€œSweating?” I crossed my arms. “That’s a new kink you’ve got there. You like a little Slip ‘N Slide action these days?”
    Impatiently, he crossed the plush carpet. He stuck the back of his hand against my forehead. He squinted into my eyes.
    â€œEasy, there, killer!” I joked, giving him a shove. “This routine might work with most women, but I’m not most women.”
    â€œYou’re still shivering. You might be in shock.”
    The tone of his voice gave me goose bumps. “Maybe. Or . . . ?”
    â€œOr you might be experiencing what Adrienne did tonight.”
    â€œWhat?” No wonder Danny looked tender. He was mentally composing my eulogy. Instantly panicked, I rushed to the mirror. I don’t know what I expected to find. Spots, maybe. Hair falling out in formerly ponytailed clumps. Blood gushing from my nose. Something macabre and pandemic-like. Instead, my own ordinary face, a lot paler than usual, stared back. “I do feel dizzy.”
    As I said it, a wave of nausea passed over me. I couldn’t believe any of this was happening. Everything felt slightly