Page 5 (1/2)

Mark Davidson was chareous flirts when they wanted to be

First, though, Lauren demanded to knohere her friend had been Deanna seemed surprised that Lauren had been so worried just because she&039;d wandered off and told her, "Shopping And I&039; in and out of stores alone You&039;re the one who left us high and dry, you know"

Ignoring that, Lauren asked, "Did you take a carriage ride?"

"A carriage ride? Why would I have taken a carriage ride?"

So whatever had so disturbed her was really nothing, Lauren thought Maybe she needed to start worrying about herself

Over a couple of really po&039;boys, Mark entertained the

"So are you good?" Heidi asked good-naturedly

"I leave that to the listener to decide"

"I&039;d love to hear you play soed "So, tell me more about your business," he said

He had quite a knack for turning the conversation away froht-and decided not to allow it "Mark lost a fiancee, too," she said "Her name was Katie, and she looked like me Or I look like her"

The table went dead silent

"I&039;m so sorry," Heidi said

"Me too," Deanna told him She reached across the table and squeezed his hand

Lauren noted the way he studied her in return Not lasciviously, ive herself away somehow

"He&039;s worried about us," Lauren added

"Why?" Heidi asked

"Because of that body they found in the Mississippi," Lauren said

To her surprise, Heidi bestowed a treine We go on vacation and find a handsome protector," Deanna said She turned to Lauren "And he&039;s in the cottage right next to ours"

They were both crazy, Lauren decided The sun was too much for them And the way they were flirtShe wasn&039;t sure whether to scream or vomit

"He thinks he knoho the killer is, that it&039;s the same man who killed his fiancee"

"Oh, ently, real concern in her eyes

"I didn&039;t actually say that he killed her, but he was responsible for her death," Mark said, frowning at Lauren

"You should go to the police if you have any inforht, I should," he said To Lauren&039;s surprise, he stood "I think I&039;ll take a stroll down to the station right now Thanks soe six, if you need me"

"Are you two insane!" Lauren asked in a vehelance of amusement; she knew that, even at a distance, he had heard her, and she blushed

"What is the matter with you?" Heidi demanded "He&039;s unbelievable"

"That would be the point," Laurenridiculous," Heidi announced "He obviously has the hots for you, but if you&039;re going to be an idiot and turn down a good man, let Deanna have a crack at him"

"Lauren, if you&039;re not interested in hi off the deep end," Deanna told her

"Hey, I wasn&039;t the one sleepwalking," she snapped "And he&039;s lying-I&039;ll be you he&039;s lying He isn&039;t going to the police station"

"We can follow hiht after we pay the check He joined us for lunch and walked out," Lauren renal the waitress

"May we have the check, please?" Lauren asked when the woave me his credit card before he joined you," she said "You don&039;t have a check"

"Oh Thanks," Lauren said, staring at her blankly

"I&039;ll leave the tip," Heidi offered

"He was really generous," the waitress said "You don&039;t need to Honestly"

"Thanks," Heidi told her "We&039;llwe&039;ll just add to it," she said la in her purse, then laid a bill on the table "Hey, look at this" Heidi said

It was the beautiful antique cross He&039;d left it on the table, Lauren realized

"Where did this coeous left it," Lauren said She shook her head, but took the cross fro to prove to you both that he&039;s full of shit"

She led the the architecture that never failed to enthrall her and the street ood When they reached the police station Lauren opened the door to go in, then froze

Mark Davidson was there, talking to the desk sergeant

She backed out of the doorway, stunned

"Ouch," Heidi protested, as Lauren stepped on her foot

"I take it Mr Davidson is inside?" Deanna said dryly

"Yes," Lauren said, puzzled

"See?" Deanna said

"Soht," Lauren said

"You always think soht," Deanna told her "Lauren, you can&039;t live your life with nothing ever being right," she added gently

"You don&039;t understand," Lauren tried to explain

"Yes, we do" Both of the at her in concern They were convinced that she couldn&039;t get beyond the past, and that she desperately needed to

"No," she insisted "I&039;uyor even a decent enough wrong guy Movies, dinnermusic," she said "Honestly, I know you don&039;t have to plan a lifetime with someone to enjoy his coravely to Deanna

"I do," Deanna said

"And that would be?" Lauren asked

"Sex Wild, hot, passionate sex," Deanna said

"Oh, please!"

"Spontaneous Wicked," Heidi said, agreeing with Deanna

"Can weShe is attracted to him," Deanna said triumphantly

"How could she not be?" Heidi said

"Look," Lauren insisted, "soht here"

"The fortune-teller," Deanna told Heidi gravely

Heidi linked an aroing to do with you Wait! Brainstor a vision It&039;sat a craps table"

"You lose at craps all the ti it Come on, slave, let&039;s trot on back over to Harrah&039;s I see us sunning in the late afternoon sun later A dip in the pool will be followed by dinner K-Paul&039;s tonight Then we&039;ll hit Bourbon Street for h she didn&039;t sound convinced Then she looked at Deanna and frowned "You&039;re sure you didn&039;t take a carriage ride today? I could have sworn I saw you with a tall, dark-haired guy, like the one I saw you talking to in the bar last night"

"The cute guy?" Deanna said

"Yeah Were you in a carriage with him?"

"No," Deanna said

It could be difficult to tell if Deanna was blushing, because her skin was such a beautiful shade of copper, but Lauren thought she had reddened

As if she were lying

"Hey, pay attention here, slaves," Heidi demanded

They both looked at her "Harrah&039;s," she ordered

Lauren let out a breath, still staring at Deanna "Right Harrah&039;s," she said

And she started to walk

Mark had known the woed on by Lauren

Luckily, they had quickly departed

And he had gotten more of a response at the police station than he had been expecting Of course, it had been sos here had changed

At the desk, he&039;d inforeant that he didn&039;t have any solid information, but he knew of a European national now in the country who had been linked to various cri the woive infor officer in a cubicle somewhere

To his surprise, he was ushered into the office of Lieutenant Sean Canady, an impressive man with steel blue eyes and a rock-hard chin

"I understand you have infor his seat after a handshake and indicating a chair across from his desk

"Not exactly," Mark corrected "But I do have reason to believe that the crime may be associated with a man named Stephan??? who I believe is in this area now"

"I see" Canady&039;s hands were folded on his desk "Sadly, Mr Davidson, h I admit it&039;s somewhat less common"

"No"

"So?"

Mark took a deep breath "There are a nuest decapitation will prevent so a vampire And there&039;s a modern belief that some vampires are careful to dispose of victims they aren&039;t entirelysure of Population control, if you will Survival of the"

"Hottest? Most clever?" Canady said

The man must think he was an idiot, Mark realized "Yes"

Canady&039;s eyes didn&039;t flicker He was either trying to huon bound for the asylu surprised him at all

Or maybe

He&039;d had previous experience with va there&039;s a vampire loose in the New Orleans?" Canady said

Mark shook his head "No," he said Then he took a deep breath "No, I&039;ain!" Deanna said triu at Lauren with sheer pleasure in her eyes "The Creature frooon Bonus, bonus, bonus!"

Deanna loved the slot machines with bonus features Especially this one

They had both wandered away fro Heidi, had been ht bets, to play on her own

Deanna and Lauren had scaled down to the penny

"Isn&039;t that just great?" Deanna asked, pointing at the Creature "Can you believe that htened people?"

Lauren reflected on the question "It was a long tio Before they could do the kind of special effects we have now"

"I don&039;t think that creature would have frightened

"Cocktails?" an attractively and scantily attired waitress asked, interrupting their conversation

Deanna looked at her watch "Sure"

"Re?" Lauren asked softly

Deanna waved a hand in the air "It&039;s almost five o&039;clock"

"It&039;s three o&039;clock"

"Close enough Ru like ht beer, please," Lauren said

"Wow Going all out," Deanna teased

Lauren looked hard at her friend Deanna was super-ht and exotic features and coloring It was hard to o for a carriage ride today?" Lauren asked her

Deanna stared at her "No"

"Where were you?"

"Where were you?"

"Looking for you"

Deanna "I left Heidi trying on her twenty-fifth hat and wandered into a few stores"

Lauren was sure she could see color suffusing her friend&039;s cheeks again

"What aren&039;t you telling uy froe of unease "That&039;s who I thought you ith in the carriage"

"How strange," Deanna ain

"What?" Lauren persisted

"There was a carriage-well, there are lots of carriages in New Orleans-and I was tempted to take a ride, but then I saw Jonas"

"Jonas?"

"The guy from the bar"

"And then?" Lauren persisted

"We chatted, he said he&039;d hoped we&039;d run into each other again tonight, he left, I found Heidi, and then we found you And the hunk-next-door"