Running Hot

someone besides the maid?”
    “Yes. I was forced to leave the stage before I could correct the situation. Some people were getting off the elevator, you see. You know how my talent works. I can handle at most two people in a private performance but no more.”
    “We’re doomed,” Damaris whispered. “It’s all gone wrong.”
    “That’s ridiculous. Pull yourself together. I’ve rescheduled my private performance with Eubanks for tonight. I’ve got a much more appropriate venue in mind. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be on a plane back to San Francisco.”
    “But what about the other woman?” Damaris wailed. “If she was able to resist you, she must be a sensitive. Any possibility she was Nightshade?”
    “How should I know? Daddy’s the great secret agent in the family. It’s his job to find out things like that.”
    “Is there any possibility that she could identify you?”
    “Only if she is a true fan, which I doubt. She gave no indication that she recognized my voice. I was in full costume, as we arranged, so she could not possibly describe me.”
    “But if she was Nightshade, she’ll warn Eubanks,” Damaris said.
    “Eubanks is still at the hotel if that makes you feel any better. I watched him go into the spa a short time ago.”
    “She wasn’t Nightshade then.”
    “Probably not.”
    “Who was she?”
    “I have no idea. Ask Daddy. When he finds out who she is, I intend to give her one of my private performances. I will not tolerate the sort of interruption I was forced to endure today.”
    “Vivien, you sound like you’re starting to obsess here,” Damaris said anxiously. “Are you absolutely certain the woman was able to resist your singing?”
    “Only for a short period of time. I’m sure I could have destroyed her, given another minute or two. I’m going to hang up now. It has been a very unsettling day. I need to prepare myself for my next performance. Good-bye, Damaris.”
    “Wait—”
    “Tell Daddy to find the bitch.”
    La Sirène closed the phone and tossed it aside. Really, it was such a responsibility being an older sister. Poor Damaris was so easily upset these days. It was Daddy’s fault, of course.

    “SHE WAS J&J,” Daddy said.
    “What?”
    “Relax. I just pulled up the file. Turns out Fallon Jones has Eubanks under surveillance. But not because he thinks Eubanks is Nightshade.”
    “Are you sure?” Damaris propped her elbows on the desk, rested her aching head in her hand and clutched the phone to her ear. The hot and cold chills were getting worse. She wondered if she was allergic to the drug. “Maybe J&J turned up a link.”
    “No.” Daddy sounded very certain. “Trust me, if the agency had any suspicions in that regard, the Council would have been notified. Nightshade is its highest priority these days. This is a routine J&J operation.”
    “How can you call it routine?”
    “Eubanks is a registered sensitive who has killed three people,” Daddy said patiently. “The parents of the third victim were members of the Society. They asked J&J to investigate. That’s the only reason Jones is looking at him. These things happen.”
    “This is getting complicated.”
    “Calm down. I’ll know if J&J identifies the people on Maui as Nightshade. If that occurs, there are procedures in place designed to handle the problem. Meanwhile, let’s hope your sister can finish the job.”
    “Vivien wants you to identify the woman who rescued the housekeeper.”
    “Don’t worry, I intend to do just that.”
    “Then what?”
    “Then I will take care of the problem,” Daddy said.

TWENTY-SIX
    Eubanks heard the singing when he emerged from the men’s room. It emanated from somewhere in the hotel’s extensive gardens and floated upward to the long veranda. The notes were so pure and high and sweet that at first he thought someone was playing a flute.
    Some aria from an opera, he thought. He had never been a fan, but then, he’d never heard anything this thrilling. The music aroused all his senses.
    The sound was so alluring, so enthralling, that he momentarily forgot that Clayton should have been waiting for him at the entrance to the men’s room. Belatedly it dawned on him that his bodyguard was nowhere around. A short time ago Clayton had made certain that the restroom was empty and then, per standard procedure, he had gone back outside to make sure no one entered.
    Clayton was nowhere around and that was wrong. But the music could not be ignored. It