Lola took a
seat on the sofa while Rowan went to change. She came back wrapped in
a wine-coloured robe and carrying a bottle of pre-mixed Cosmopolitan.
"I know it's tacky," she said, grabbing two martini glasses
from a cabinet in the corner, "but sometimes you just need cheap
alcohol."
"I hope you don't serve this at Cocktails and Cabaret," Lola said, accepting her glass.
"My bar
manager would never allow it." Rowan curled up on the sofa and
downed her Cosmo in one noisy gulp. "Okay. Now tell me what you
think, honestly, about Jo's death."
Lola sipped
her own drink, turning over what little she knew in her mind. "If
it was Yvette, I don't know why she did it. She wasted a hell of a
lot of potential power. Even if she did cast some spell or charm
while she was there, it's hard to think of anything big or useful she
could do without leaving any signs behind."
"What
if she did it to feed Gwen Craig?" Rowan asked.
A chill hit
Lola. "I hadn't thought of that."
"It makes sense, doesn't it? Jo knew Yvette, she'd welcome her in without question – she had no reason not to. Yvette and Gwen could easily have overpowered her and Gwen could have fed uninterupped." Rowan shuddered.
Lola was
horrifed. "I have to tell Dawn. They'd already taken the body
away when we got there. If Jo rises -"
She set her
drink aside and grabbed her phone from her bag. When Dawn didn't
answer, she sent what she hoped was a coherent text message. "Shit.
Rowan, if Gwen did kill Jo..."
Rowan poured
herself another cocktail with shaking hands. "It's just one
possibilty, Lola. We haven't found any other signs of Gwen still
being in Fort Rosser, remember."
Now the idea
was in her head, Lola couldn't let go of it. She remembered checking
a body in the morgue for Dawn and Scherer, seeing the bite marks.
More clearly and horribly than that, she remembered being in Crown
Hill Cemetary with Tristesse and seeing Isaiah's freshly-risen
vampires for the first time. She wished Rowan had gone for stronger
alcohol.
No comments:
Post a Comment