Elemental Assassin 01 - Spider's Bite

berating the poor man for being so clumsy. The throng was so tight, even the giant couldn’t shoulder through it. While he tried to work his way around the tables and harridans shrieking about their alcohol-soaked dresses, I climbed up a set of stairs to the second floor and walked back the way I’d just come, weaving in and out of the clusters of people on this level. Below me, Mab Monroe looked at the crush of guests and frowned. She knew something had gone wrong. She just didn’t know what yet.
    I lowered my head, moved away from the balcony, and kept walking, not so fast as to call attention to myself, but not dawdling either. I held the phone back up to my ear. “Where are you?”
    “Supply closet. Hang a left at the end of the hallway. Second door on your right.”
    I made the appropriate turn. This hallway was deserted, so I opened the door, stepped inside, and shut it behind me. Caine waited inside, leaning on a metal rack full of toilet paper. I leaned against the wood and let out a long breath.
    “That was close.”
    “Too close,” Caine agreed.
    “What about Haley?” I asked the detective. “What did she do after I confronted her?”
    “Nothing much,” Caine said. “She sat there for a moment, looking at your back; then she got up and scurried off into the crowd.”
    Going to find Alexis, just like I’d thought she would.
    “Now what?” Caine asked.
    “Now we stay in here until Mab and her guard lose interest in me and Haley James calls,” I said. “Neither one should take too long.”
    I moved past the detective. Besides the metal rack he leaned against, there wasn’t much in the closet. A mop and a bucket. Several boxes of plastic gloves. A ratty love seat that had been salvaged from one of the club’s salons. I dialed Finn on my cell phone. He answered on the second ring.
    “You really should have stuck around,” he said. “That waiter you tripped is still getting screamed at. Sounds like a flock of crows cawing to each other.”
    “Where are you?” I asked.
    “Still at the bar,” Finn replied. “Talking to Grace.”
    Finn must have winked at her, because through the phone, I heard a woman laugh. The sort of high, squawking sound the wicked witch always made in fairy-tale movies. Must be the old, wizened dwarf I’d seen him with before.
    “Grace says hello,” Finn replied.
    “Good for Grace,” I snapped. “Want to tell me what’s going on down there?”
    Finn sighed. “Can’t you ever just relax and enjoy the show?”
    “No. Now tell me what happened after I left Haley. The detective said she got up and ran off into the crowd.”
    “Straight to Alexis,” Finn said. “Haley pulled her sister outside onto the patio. The two of them are talking right now. Alexis does not look pleased. Stephenson’s with them too. Poor bastard looks faint. Keeps mopping his forehead with his handkerchief.”
    I smiled. Good. About time the bitch realized who she was dealing with. “Keep an eye on them, but don’t let them see you. If they start to leave, call me. Don’t follow them.”
    “Yes, master,” Finn sniped. “And don’t worry. Grace will keep me company.”
    Finn hung up, and I did the same. I set my cell phone on the metal rack, right next to the toilet paper. Then I went over to the love seat and plopped down on it. The cushions squawked under my weight, and a loose spring poked me in the ass. I shifted, but I couldn’t get away from the offensive metal.
    Donovan Caine pushed away from the rack and paced back and forth, taking five quick steps from one side of the closet to the other. His shoes squeaked on the floor, and I felt the beginnings of a headache stir behind my eyes.
    “Are you going to pace for the next hour?” I said. “Because it’s already gotten on my last nerve.”
    The detective didn’t say anything; he just kept pacing. His quick, controlled movements caught my gaze, and my eyes traced over his shoulders. His clean, soapy scent filled the closet, overpowering the burning smell of disinfectant. I remembered the last time we’d been in such close proximity—last night at Northern Aggression. How hard Donovan Caine had felt against me. How much I’d wanted to finish what we started. And there was the promise I’d made to myself. To take what I could today before the detective and I said good-bye tomorrow.
    I checked the watch on my wrist. Fifty minutes. Plenty of time. Finn was downstairs keeping watch and schmoozing the elderly dwarf,