Running Hot

not to tie her up while she was out, Luther decided. Once a cop, always a cop.
    He secured her wrists and ankles using his belt and the tie he had worn to the opera. Then he took out his phone and called Fallon Jones.
    “Craigmore was the founder of Nightshade?” Fallon sounded truly stunned, a rare state for him. “Damaris is his daughter. Hell, yes, she can have the antidote if she’s willing to talk.”
    “Figured as much. First things first. You need to send someone to Acacia Bay to pick up Miss Kemble. She’s unconscious at the moment. She told me her sister has no way of knowing that Grace is in town so we’re okay on that front for now.”
    “I’ll get someone out from the L.A. office as soon as possible to bring Kemble in to the lab. Probably take an hour or more to get anyone on the scene, though, depending on traffic. Keep an eye on her until then.”
    “She said her sister probably won’t come back to the room until morning but there’s no way to be certain of that.”
    “Listen up, Malone. I do not want you having a confrontation with Vivien Ryan unless there’s no alternative. We pay Sweetwater to handle problems like that. Get the Kemble woman out of there.”
    “Fine. But I can’t exactly walk out through the hotel lobby with an unconscious woman over my shoulder.”
    “Got any other ideas?”
    “How about getting me another room here in the hotel? I’ll check in and then come back here, collect Kemble and move her.”
    “Move her how? You’re on a cane, remember?”
    “Trust me, it’s not something you forget. I’ll use a laundry cart.”
    “Good idea,” Fallon said. “How’d you think of it?”
    “Just came to me.”
    “I don’t want Kemble left alone for a minute. She’s too valuable.”
    “Don’t worry, she’s not going anywhere. Call downstairs to the front desk and get me a room on a different floor.”
    “I wish to hell you’d stop treating me as if I was your personal concierge.”
    “One more thing,” Luther said. “If the Siren does happen to come back here tonight, she’ll realize that something has happened to Damaris.”
    “Let her worry about it.”
    “What if she disappears?”
    “Give me a break. She’s a diva. Probably incapable of going into hiding for longer than ten minutes. We’ll find her.”
    “Right. From now on, she’s your problem.”
    Moving fast, Luther managed to cut the connection before Fallon could do it.

FORTY-FOUR
    Damn the Renquist woman. Once again she threatened to ruin everything. How dare she show up in Acacia Bay tonight of all nights?
    La Sirène glared at Newlin Guthrie in the dressing room mirror. “Are you sure she’s here?”
    “Yes, my love, and the bodyguard, too.” Newlin spread his hands wide, half appeasing, half in supplication. “I had no trouble getting into the J&J files. Two tickets were purchased by the agency in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Kerney last night. Honolulu to L.A. Kerney is the name Miss Renquist and Malone are using for a cover. I’m sorry, my love, but I think we have to assume the worst.”
    “It is all so unfair. I don’t deserve this. I was brilliant tonight.”
    The trip to Maui had turned out to be very good for the Voice. Using her power to its full extent on Eubanks had reinvigorated her talent in the most amazing way. She should have realized long ago that the Voice needed to be properly exercised to its maximum strength quite frequently in order to keep it in top form.
    “You were flawless, my love,” Newlin said. “You are, after all, La Sirène. They adored you almost as much as I do.”
    She’d received a standing ovation; she’d taken bow after bow, all the while feeling as though she really were the Queen of the Night. Afterward, Newlin and the stage door guard had been forced to shoo the last of a seemingly endless string of admirers from her dressing room. As she had hoped, the important critics from L.A. and one from San Francisco had attended. Her new manager had called during intermission, ecstatic. He had assured her that the publicist had booked back-to-back interviews with the press for the following day.
    Everything had been perfect and now this. She had intended to deal with the Renquist creature after she finished her engagement in Acacia Bay. She was an artist. She was not supposed to have to tolerate distractions of this sort.
    She took another swipe at the heavy makeup with a tissue, wave after wave of rage crashing through her. She wanted to