Incubus by L J Greene

Author:L J Greene [Greene, L J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781077094413
Google: LkhXxwEACAAJ
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2019-06-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

I let the Magnolia Girl push me back out to the club. Cresswickham was nowhere to be seen, but Leo was at the bar, talking to the barman. I dragged my feet when I saw the way the kid was stuck on him. Leo was looking at him from under the sweep of his eyelashes, and I knew the power of that look all too well.

“Come on,” the Magnolia Girl hissed at me, and pulled me onward.

Alice was waiting for us at the table, and it was only as we reached her that I realized I had no idea about English formalities.

“Uh,” I said eloquently, and gestured towards Alice. “This is…Lady Alice Cresswickham?” Alice, thankfully, smiled. I continued, “And, uh—”

“Bella,” the Magnolia Girl said. “Just Bella. Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

She curtsied.

“Oh,” Alice said, and I’d bet my hat that if not for her finishing schools and her English cool, she would have cringed. Instead, she jumped up and took the Magnolia Girl’s hands in her own. “Call me Alice, please. How lovely to make your acquaintance. I was so moved by your performance. Won’t you join us for a drink? Leo is ordering champagne. I always think champagne tastes best with jazz, don’t you?”

I started to think that maybe the Magnolia Girl had been right: maybe girls like her did know what they were up against, and how to handle it, if she could reduce Alice to babbling.

“Gee, thanks, honey. I will,” Bella said, and parked herself in the chair Cresswickham had left vacant. She shook up her mink like a bird settling to roost. “My, it’s cooler out here front of house. Those hot lights on stage make it feel deep summer.” She fluffed a second time.

“What a darling mink that is,” Alice said hurriedly, and we sat as well.

“Why, thank you. A friend gave it to me.”

“She has exquisite taste.”

“Oh, she did, yes. But she’s dead now. I guess you could say I inherited her taste.”

“My goodness. I’m so sorry,” Alice murmured, and lit another cigarette. “Was it recent?” She had a bewildered air about her. How odd Americans are, she seemed to be thinking.

The Magnolia Girl leaned in close, like she was whispering secrets. “Yes, quite recent. It was a terrible shock, her murder.”

Yes. Girls like her really did know what they were up against. She could play Alice alright, with her English aversion to intimacy with strangers. Alice looked away as though the very mention of death was shameful.

“Murder, you say?” I broke in boldly, and lit Alice’s cigarette for her.

“That’s right.”

“You never mentioned it before.”

“You never asked.”

“I’m sorry I’ve been so long,” Leo interrupted, sweeping back to the table and followed by a waiter carrying champagne and a tray of glasses. “I had a devil of a time finding the right vintage. Hullo, there. I’m Leo.” He stood again to lean over and proffer his hand to the Magnolia Girl.

She shook it. “Bella.”

“Gorgeous mink.”

Bella opened her mouth to trot out the dead friend

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