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"Miss Street?" The woed Maybe five years older than I was Carried her shoulders like she worked out and had mojo authority Was a pretty cool chick, really Ric’s captain friend Oh, shit I nodded

"I’ prior interest in the Inferno, frouest"

"Being a hard-ass won’t help you"

"Funny I thought telling the truth ht"

"Haskell says before this came up you impersonated an officer on that cri sexist"

Blondie’s poker face didn’t move She faced sexist every day

"And racist," I added

A little of the ice broke She really did like Ric

"Haskell has issues," she conceded Malloy started to leave, then hesitated "You e received My truth could bemy arm to my hand A white flash settled aroundNo!

Haskell poked his red, hypertensive face into the room "Guess what Guess you do have a ht! My lawyer Pretty fast service from someone Hmm

"I hope you haven’t cuffed her," I heard an authoritative voice say in the hall A boldly black-and-white CinSiner suit He had a baritone deep enough to take out the Three Tenors Cool enough to chill dry ice

"My name is Mason," he said "Perry Mason"

Not Johnnie Cochran, but not bad

Nightwine ht up with the tape pretty damn quick after we left Who else would send Perry Mason, for God’s sake?

I sat up straight in my scuzzy jailhouse chair I couldn’t wait for my next line "My name is Street Delilah Street"

He took the chair across fro to sit on a toadstool "What a coincidence My personal assistant’s name is Street Delia Street May I call you-?"

"Delilah"

He looked uneasy for the first tiet you out of this ht that was your job"

"Here, yes The convincing explanations later are up to you, young lady"

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Snow groupie had been found dead in a Du after e flashed into ed woman, really, except for the fanatic’s mania in her eyes and voice

The hotel security ca shots of this very woreen when Snow had coht over the hairpins later and my obvious rebuff The police theory was she’d come after a lock of my hair later and I’d killed her Groupies could be annoying, but the police scenario did presume a certain element of self-defense on my part

Perry had picked up on that immediately, ace attorney that he was in book and on film When he drove me home in his black fifties Caddy convertible that felt like Dolly’s loveat the Inferno breaking and entering the executive offices He frowned i occupied in another crime is not a viable defense Miss, er, Delilah Street Also, from your own testimony, you left the office in plenty of time to commit mayhem elsewhere"

"Didn’t the hotel caood question No A black batlike shape covered the lens for severalfor a vaature, or tooth marks, it was mauled It would be impossible to tell if a vampire bite was involved You, of course, are not a vampire?"

I showed e In fact, I have a deep aversion to vampires"

"Doesn’t everyone?"

"Not varoupies"

"You think this woman could have had an opportunity to approach this ’Snow’ person after you left his office, and he killed her?"

Was Snow a killer? I didn’t know What did I know ?

"The woman was demented," I said "All those Snow fans are You should see them claw each other in the mosh pit to be one of the so-called lucky few he bends down to kiss"

"On the mouth?"

"Yeah!"

I recalled ho rose after each extended smooch and placed his palelist to push her back into the crowd How the wo mass of her sister fanatics And then disappeared beneath the swell of cla wannabe recipients of what they called the Bri fish called grunion," I said "Soain until-"

"The Dumpster"

"Exactly"

"I’ve seen the security film the police confiscated," Perry said "You don’t look dressed to kill"

"What?"

"The woled It took force The killer would have been otten a warrant for your rented clothes, but Delia tells me that Deja-Vous says that you have them"

"You want theing evidence first"

"Bewhite box e got to esture of surrender, a bangle of pink cubic zirconias Snoas so predictably partial to pink Until now, I’d had no idea he could add jewels to aws H, "don’t speak to the press Call me if the police approach you for any reason And let "

I nodded twice, but sat the fence on the third condition

"Don’t worry about a thing, Delilah From what you’ve told me that detective is the one in trouble"

There was one thing I wasn’t going to tell Perry Mason or anyone else, because it liht before the little green delivery elf and Detective Haskell had barged into ht about it, the more I recalled about that apparition of a woirl and she’d worn blue velvet with a sweetheart neckline At least the bodice was blue velvet The long skirt and short petal-shaped sleeves were blue taffeta Definitely a late-forties get-up

Her hair had been light brown, pulled up and puffed out at the sides to resemble the the sixteenth century heart-shaped headdress seen in portraits of Mary Queen of Scots She’d been as doomed as that beheaded queen of Scotland, but she was a child of the 1940s, every detail screamed that She was the dead body froreen cacti, and she was dressed exactly as I’d known she had been clothed

How did I know this? I’d sensed so for the dead with mental medium tricks with passion by proxy

Yet it shookin my hall mirror Details I’d sensed when Ric and I found her-wrist corsage, sterling silver heart locket at her throat, beseeching baby eyes, everything-had reassembled whole in my own hallway Had even replaced my own reflection She couldn’t have been more than seventeen and was about to be mowed down like Bambi’s mother

Somehow, I understood she ca to identify her, but the vivid memory of an apparition wasn’t evidence I could use with others, except Ric I felt angry and helpless And I knew from her lost, plaintive eyes that she had just felt helpless, which rier

So What solid facts did I have? I had the information I’d copied off the host in my mirror, mute for the moating for now My lawyer (I did kinda like that terainst me was only circumstantial, but a black hair had been found on one of the three Deja-Vous hairpins and I knew DNA testing would prove it was h it would take time

Thank God

Perry Mason took the dress box I thanked hi back by the oleander bushes bordering the estate fence He’d been keeping up with a lot of Detroit steel today

I pushed the code to open the gate for Mr Mason to drive out As soon as his car’s shark-sharp tail fins had vanished, Quick was atin alternate rhythm

"I know Our hands and paere tied, boy, but it’s over"

I had a brain-splitting raine, my wrists and shoulders were sore, and my soul was soiled

Otherwise, I’d come out of the ordeal pretty well

When alked back into the cottage, Godfrey aiting He must have used the rear kitchen door

"Welcohtwine has ordered dinner in for you Not to worry, it’s froio Medallions of beef for you and a fine steak, very rare, for Master Quicksilver, as well as a soup bone froe and bade me not to keep you from your recuperation"

Godfrey refused to stay for thanks, but bowed his way out i over his napkin-covered silver tray, so I wafted off the linen and let him have at it in the kitchen

Godfrey had left the other tray, bearing a single white rose in a sterling silver vase, on the breakfast table The old I pulled a daarlic mashed potatoes to die for and chocolate mousse, but read the note before I ate

My Dear Miss Street,

Godfrey has left, along with these culinary offerings, a tape of the recent events in the cottage I have allowed you to use A copy of said scene rests in my private safe Any trace of these events has been erased fro tape in my central security syste events save you or I I a a record for prosecution purposes, should the need arise and should you wish to pursue such a course

I am most distressed that the authorities in any forhts in this brutish fashion All of my resources are at your coainst this creature in any htwine

Okay I sniffled a little with my dinner, which was superb and didn’t move unless I did it