purpose. I’d never conversed with a vision before, so I should make the best of it.
“I might still have my beauty,” I told this phantom husband of mine, “but I lost the diamonds.” Yes, I was baiting him, trying to draw him out.
“So everyone thinks,” said he, “but you still have them, don’t you?”
“Do I?” In my experience with Dante, I had concluded that ghosts had no reason to lie. But maybe this specter was delusional.
I realized that Dominique had died in this very spot, and I got dizzy again, my world seeming to tilt and flip entirely, my viewpoint coming from somewhere near the ceiling, the stage below me.
I tried not to look but, despite myself, I stared down at the outline of Dominique’s body in the center of the stage floor.
Grief overwhelmed me.
Someone held me while I cried and stood me upright again. Above me, the ceiling. Below me, that terrible stage floor with the chalk outline of Dom’s body.
“Nick!” I said when I realized those were his arms around me, him consoling me, or maybe I knew all along.
As we stood there, he grabbed a cord with a switch at the end, and the curtains parted with a
“whoosh” of sweeping purple velvet, thick silk red and gold tassels bobbing with the movement.
Eve stood on the audience side of the open curtain still wearing the gold Victorian gown. Beside her, Kyle looked dapper in torn jeans and a black V-neck T-shirt, the two of them handcuffed together.
Fourteen
He who would travel happily must travel light.
—ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
“Are you all right?” Nick asked looking me over like I was a prized porcelain figurine. I pushed back the cloak’s hood to reveal my face and hair. “I’m fine.”
“Good,” Nick said. “Now I can beat you.”
I shook out my hair. “How did you find us?”
“I called Higgins to pick me up, and he told me where he was waiting for three idiots—my words, not his. I had one of the guys from the New York office drop me in front of the theater, and after he left, I came after you by myself.”
“Thank God.”
“No, thank Nick,” Nick said. “Come here, you two putzes,” he told Eve and Kyle. “Do you know how much trouble Mad can get you into?”
“Hey?”
Eve opened her mouth and Nick gave her a warning look.
“Let me rephrase that,” Nick said. “Kyle, do you know how much trouble Eve and Mad can get you into?”
Kyle winked at Eve, but he was wise enough not to tick off Nick, as he, our so-called rescuer, unlocked the cuffs.
When Kyle and Eve were free, Nick rubbed his nose, his eyes bright with amusement. “Go find your own clothes and leave the stolen costumes where they were. No more nosing around on your own.” He narrowed his eyes my way. “This is a murder investigation.”
Eve and Kyle left, but Nick didn’t let me go. As a matter of fact, he held on tighter, making me feel cherished, important. We rarely did that in this relationship, held tight. Too dangerous, clinging.
“You’ve been trying to read vintage clothes again,” he said.
“I think I’ve been hallucinating, instead. Not much I saw made sense. And I’ve never had a historical character, or a ghost, in a vision, converse with me. It was like Hogwarts set in Oz narrated by Doctor Who.”
“Serves you right. Go put that cloak away and let’s get you out of here. Kyle has a schedule to keep, even if he’s too polite to say so.”
We were a quiet group getting back into the limo, but I managed to smuggle a black trench coat with a nefarious past in one of Dom’s big old Marc Jacobs purses, my own purse also stuffed inside, and pass it off as mine. The coat had been worn by someone spying on Dominique, and I needed to find out what else it could tell me. Nick didn’t even notice.
To my surprise, Higgins took us to a forensics morgue. “I thought we were supposed to go straight to Dominique’s,” I said.
“I’m sorry, Mad,” Kyle said, guilt skewing his “I’m okay” expression. “I
“I might still have my beauty,” I told this phantom husband of mine, “but I lost the diamonds.” Yes, I was baiting him, trying to draw him out.
“So everyone thinks,” said he, “but you still have them, don’t you?”
“Do I?” In my experience with Dante, I had concluded that ghosts had no reason to lie. But maybe this specter was delusional.
I realized that Dominique had died in this very spot, and I got dizzy again, my world seeming to tilt and flip entirely, my viewpoint coming from somewhere near the ceiling, the stage below me.
I tried not to look but, despite myself, I stared down at the outline of Dominique’s body in the center of the stage floor.
Grief overwhelmed me.
Someone held me while I cried and stood me upright again. Above me, the ceiling. Below me, that terrible stage floor with the chalk outline of Dom’s body.
“Nick!” I said when I realized those were his arms around me, him consoling me, or maybe I knew all along.
As we stood there, he grabbed a cord with a switch at the end, and the curtains parted with a
“whoosh” of sweeping purple velvet, thick silk red and gold tassels bobbing with the movement.
Eve stood on the audience side of the open curtain still wearing the gold Victorian gown. Beside her, Kyle looked dapper in torn jeans and a black V-neck T-shirt, the two of them handcuffed together.
Fourteen
He who would travel happily must travel light.
—ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
“Are you all right?” Nick asked looking me over like I was a prized porcelain figurine. I pushed back the cloak’s hood to reveal my face and hair. “I’m fine.”
“Good,” Nick said. “Now I can beat you.”
I shook out my hair. “How did you find us?”
“I called Higgins to pick me up, and he told me where he was waiting for three idiots—my words, not his. I had one of the guys from the New York office drop me in front of the theater, and after he left, I came after you by myself.”
“Thank God.”
“No, thank Nick,” Nick said. “Come here, you two putzes,” he told Eve and Kyle. “Do you know how much trouble Mad can get you into?”
“Hey?”
Eve opened her mouth and Nick gave her a warning look.
“Let me rephrase that,” Nick said. “Kyle, do you know how much trouble Eve and Mad can get you into?”
Kyle winked at Eve, but he was wise enough not to tick off Nick, as he, our so-called rescuer, unlocked the cuffs.
When Kyle and Eve were free, Nick rubbed his nose, his eyes bright with amusement. “Go find your own clothes and leave the stolen costumes where they were. No more nosing around on your own.” He narrowed his eyes my way. “This is a murder investigation.”
Eve and Kyle left, but Nick didn’t let me go. As a matter of fact, he held on tighter, making me feel cherished, important. We rarely did that in this relationship, held tight. Too dangerous, clinging.
“You’ve been trying to read vintage clothes again,” he said.
“I think I’ve been hallucinating, instead. Not much I saw made sense. And I’ve never had a historical character, or a ghost, in a vision, converse with me. It was like Hogwarts set in Oz narrated by Doctor Who.”
“Serves you right. Go put that cloak away and let’s get you out of here. Kyle has a schedule to keep, even if he’s too polite to say so.”
We were a quiet group getting back into the limo, but I managed to smuggle a black trench coat with a nefarious past in one of Dom’s big old Marc Jacobs purses, my own purse also stuffed inside, and pass it off as mine. The coat had been worn by someone spying on Dominique, and I needed to find out what else it could tell me. Nick didn’t even notice.
To my surprise, Higgins took us to a forensics morgue. “I thought we were supposed to go straight to Dominique’s,” I said.
“I’m sorry, Mad,” Kyle said, guilt skewing his “I’m okay” expression. “I
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