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"Guys, this is Celia Graves Celia, these are so blond "Jan Mortensen," he said, giving the na the introductions "This lovely lady is Trudy Cook" Trudy was pretty and petite, a redhead with a round face and clouds of curly hair that probably drove her crazy, but looked really good The save ure out she wasn’t happy about Bruno’s reaction to , either No, I’d have bet a fair a for Bruno DeLuca
Well, I didn’t blame her, not even a little After all, Bruno’s tall, dark, handsoe The cherry on top is that he has a real sense of joie de vivre He sings show tunes and cabaret numbers in the shower He can dance and he knows more dirty jokes than anyone else I know
A lot of folks are hthearted side and his heavy New Jersey accent They think heIn truth, he’s very smart and absolutely dedicated to his craft Which hy he’d been accepted into Bayview’s doctoral program … and how he’d convinced Dr Sloan to be his advisor
"And this"--Bruno gestured to a s preave enuine than Trudy’s "Bruno’s told us a lot about you Glad to finally ht be reserving judgave id look down his patrician nose While the others were dressed very casually in worn T-shirts and cargo pants or faded jeans, Jan wore an untucked blue-and-white striped dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to show just a hint of the tattoo decorating his left forearm It was obvious that shirt had been pressed and starched and the cuffs adjusted just so It was a look straight off of the runways, as were the jeans with both knees deliberately torn out Of course I got the feeling everything about Jan was deliberate
I decided to ignore Jan and to focus on the others I turned to Gary "Thanks It’s good to rew serious "So, I’ve gotta ask, did you really, seriously, face down a greater demon?"
I shuddered I couldn’t help it That was one of htened a little, and I could easily guess that the look he was giving Gary was so less than friendly "I don’t recommend exorcisms They hurt"
"Had to be scary," the GA continued
"It’s utterly terrifying, and not soh it wants to talk about," Eht" Gary squirmed, then decided abruptly that there was sootta run Later, DeLuca Guys" He brushed past Bruno and ed into the office and made her way to the one desk in the place that wasn’t littered with scattered junk, she spoke very softly, to Bruno "Just so you know, Professor Sloan was less than a minute behind me"
"Crap" Bruno released my waist and stepped over to the nearest wall Seconds later he’d vanished, replaced by a battered coat tree with a couple of jackets and an u from it
It’s not that he doesn’t like Dr Sloan Bruno thinks he’s great But the professor had been running hied when I’d left for Mexico Apparently, he still was
"DeLuca!" Dr Sloan’s voice preceded hiht about that table I want you to--" The short, wiry, elderly lasses, he found Trudy, En at all of Bruno
"Hi, Dr Sloan How are you doing?" I said
"Celia" He smiled broadly and cocked one bushy eyebrow at me "I’m well The question is, how are you? Has the curse mark faded?"
"I’m fine And I can’t tell on the mark Maybe a little I’m not sure" I held out my hand so he could look at my palm
"Jan, Trudy, coet to see a death curse of this quality on a living hu"
They obediently caave them a brief, esoteric lecture about the nature of death curses in general and ofat me, he turned directly to the coat rack "DeLuca, you may take the rest of the afternoon off to visit with the lovely Ms Graves But I expect you in , without fail Do Ia sheepish-looking Bruno "Absolutely"