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No,a somber black suit
Funeral, he realized suddenly
He shook his head, stopped in the street Froht, a rock band hammered out a Stones tune From the other corner, he could hear jazz So out an indiscernible tune
He swore softly
New Orleans
Hell, welcoreat to be here
"You’re going off the deep end, Nikki," Julian said "That was just great Throwing yourself into a group of drunks What were you expecting? And don’t even think about giving me a lecture on how no one deserves to be attacked You went flying into a sludge of inebriated testosterone in its sweet young pri?"
"I saw hi it open herself Julian’s words ood friend, and he would have defended her to the death, which, considering the drunken ht have been the sad finale if it hadn’t been for their strange savior--but he couldn’t begin to understand how she was feeling "Julian, I’m sorry, but… I saw him," she repeated
"Yeah, and I saw him, too, whoever the hell he was, and I have to ad he showed up when he did I’ot it into my head to defend you from a pack of wolves"
She waved a hand in the air "Not hi had been al as theand broke the whole thing up I mean, I saw the man as in the coffee shop that day The day before Andy was killed"
"Okay, okay, so you saw hi behind her to the door "Some bum as in the coffee shop You saw him Great But… so what? Nikki, I’m sorry to say that we have tons of drunks and addicts in this city You saw a loser in a coffee shop, and tonight you saw hiain Hell, I run into the same people I don’t really know day after day And as to this guy--you can’t really think that he followed you all day, through a tour, into the night… and then went after Andy?"
She had reached her door and was suddenly so irritated that she nearly twisted her key in half unlocking the door Before letting Julian in, she spun on hi about him"
"When? At Madame’s?" he demanded "Was he someone she knew? What exactly did she say?"
Fiercely, she shook her head "She didn’t know him, or at least I don’t think she did And she didn’t say anything about him in the café It was… in the drea dead And I… I think it’s important soht her by the shoulders and pushed her forward, into the parlor of her apartment Once they were inside, he closed and locked the door, then looked at her sternly "Nikki, you had a dreahtmare Weird? Yes The uilty about the fact that Andrea was murdered People do feel that hy her, why not s happen on a daily basis It’s just that usually bad things don’t occur so close to us So think about it--under these circuht play tricks People don’t remember their dreams in detail, so you don’t really knohat you drea uy was dead, but now you’re certain you saw him on the street It’s one or the other, Nikki You’ve got to get a grip"
"Julian, what if--"
"I know a doctor, Nikki A good one"
She stared back at hi out At last she found her voice "I don’t need a doctor, Julian I need some faith here"
"Nikki, I’h, then walked into the living rooht switch and sat down on the Victorian sofa "Okay, you really believe that you had a drea killed"
Julian sighed "Or being killed She was talking about the guy you’d seen at Madauy What you need to do, logically, is go to the police I think you’ll feel better if you stress to Detective Massey the fact that you’ve seen this guy, this kind of scary buain Massey can hunt hirily, her ar But his words o see Detective Massey I think I can describe the man fairly well Maybe they can do a sketch of him And if they find him and question him… well, I’ll feel better"
She was startled to realize that Julian was frowning
"What’s wrong?" she asked
He shook his head, stared at her "Nikki… say that the guy in the coffee shop was a junkie Hard up And maybe a psycho to boot And… what if he did follow us around all day?"
"What are you getting at?"
"Nothing," he replied quickly
"What do you ?" she deoing to say"
"I’ll only worry you"
"I’m worried now"