Sacrifice (10 page)

I spun around and angrily glared at him. He could always decipher my every mood or predict my every whim. He knew me, sometimes better than I knew myself, and it frustrated the hell out of me.

He smiled happily. “That’s it, isn’t it, sweet cheeks?”

“
Go back to Connecticut, Dallas. Go back to building your stupid boats! And don’t call me sweet cheeks!”

He started laughing at me. “You can’t seriously expect me to walk away now. To leave you in New Orleans alone, and mixed up with Simon La Roy, while seeing dead people walking around. Really, Nicci, what kind of fiancé would I be if I just left you to your own devices.”

“
I don’t need your approval and I never said I was—”

“
But you do need my protection,” he stated, cutting me off. “You need to stay one step ahead of Simon and Greg Caston. Both men are extremely good at what they do and you don’t stand a chance against them.” He leaned in closer to me, his lips inches from mine. “You need me, Nicci. And if hanging around and letting you get this out of your system is what has to happen to make you wake up and come back to Connecticut with me, then so be it.”

“
You can’t possibly think…”

“
From now on, Nicci, I’m going to be your Goddamn shadow.” He paused and leaned back from me. “Now tell me everything Simon said. Repeat the entire meeting word for word. And this time don’t leave anything out,” he taunted as he gave me his best knowing grin.

***

Thirty minutes later, Dallas sat across from me in one of the old black leather chairs in front of my father’s desk, nodding his head at me. His dark blue eyes were filled with more excitement than I had ever seen in him during the past few months.

“
I have to agree with Simon,” Dallas said when he eventually spoke up. “First thing we need to do is get out of your father’s house. I don’t want him involved and he will ask too many questions.”

“
That’s exactly what Simon said about you. He wanted me to send you back to Connecticut without me,” I admitted.

“
Then I will have to make Simon believe I have left.” Dallas glanced over at me. His cool blue eyes seemingly lit from within. “We’ll need a place to stay in the city that’s closer to the target,” he asserted.

“
I, ah, was thinking of Val’s place in the Quarter. She’s out of town for over three weeks. Should be long enough to find out what we need to learn about Gregory Caston.”

He scowled. “That’s very good, Nicci. I must be getting rusty. I should have thought of that.”

“
I can call Uncle Lance and offer to take over the house sitting duties. I’ll tell him we want to be alone to work out our issues.”

Dallas nodded in agreement. “Give your father the same story. Keep everything consistent.” He looked me up and down. “I know Caston. Simon was very cunning in choosing you. Caston would never suspect you and he has a major obsession with David Alexander’s Jenny. You’ll need to take some of the clothes you wore in David’s paintings with you. That black beaded gown for starters. He’ll need to see you in that.”

I inwardly cringed at the idea of pulling out the gown that had become an iconic symbol of my relationship with David. I had worn the off the shoulder black gown over three years ago to Val’s annual Celebration at the Botanical Gardens in City Park. David and I had run into each other at the event, danced in each other’s arms, and eventually had returned to his cottage in Lakeview. There, he had painted me in that black dress as I reclined on a couch with a bottle of champagne on the floor beside me. It had been the beginning of a wonderful collaboration.

I pried myself away from the past. “I still have a few formal dresses I left here in New Orleans. I can pack those and bring them with me.”

“
Make sure they are all low cut and fit snuggly. Caston needs to become quickly interested. Go shopping for more tomorrow in case you need them. I’ll return the rental car to the airport and make it look like I caught my flight back to Connecticut. That should convince Simon I’m out of the picture. When is Simon going to contact you again?”

“
Tomorrow.” I paused, remembering something Simon had told me. “There’s a benefit for Hurricane Katrina Relief at a gallery in the French Quarter. Simon wants to take me. He said Gregory Caston would be there.”

“
When is it?”

“
Day after tomorrow.”

Dallas took in a breath and let it out slowly between his lips. “Then we better get moving.”

Chapter
Seven

The next morning Dallas and I packed up and left my father’s house.

“
You can be alone together here or back in Connecticut,” my father protested as Dallas carried our luggage down the stairs. “No need to go to Val’s,” he implored.

“
Dallas and I want to talk this out and he thinks we would be better off someplace where there are no distractions for either of us,” I explained while repositioning the overnight bag on my shoulder.

“
Is this what you want Nicci?” he asked, his green eyes keen with curiosity.

“
Yes. I want to give us every chance. And a few days in the French Quarter will be like a vacation for us. No boat business, no publishers calling, no hassles, and no worries.”

“
I guess I see your point, but don’t be a stranger. And don’t forget your appointment with Dr. Appell on Monday.”

“
Nicci, Lance is waiting,” Dallas hollered from downstairs.

“
I’ve got to go, Dad.” I leaned over and kissed his cheek.

My father laughed. “At least I know Val is overjoyed you’re taking over the house sitting duties from Lance.” He shook his head. “God knows what kind of mess she would have come home to with him looking after the place.”

I gave him one last smile as a car horn blew from outside. He waved me away and I turned and headed down the stairs. I stepped onto the porch and a sudden chill overtook me. I had a horrible feeling that I was never going to see my childhood home again.

“
You OK, kid?” Uncle Lance asked as he came up behind me. He took the overnight bag from my shoulder. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost,” he commented.

I shook off my morose feelings and smiled at him. “I’m fine, Uncle Lance. No more ghosts,” I affirmed and then turned away from the front door. I quickly headed down the steps and across the shell drive to Dallas, who was waiting by my uncle’s red Jaguar.

“
You all right?” he asked as he held the passenger door open for me.

“
I guess I’m a little nervous,” I told him.

“
You haven’t even started the job yet, Nicci. Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

I nodded my head and took in a deep breath. “I have to go through with this, Dallas.”

Dallas leaned in closer to my ear. “Then stop revealing your emotions to the world. Put a wall up and keep it up until this job is over. And don’t ever let Greg Caston see you as anything other than cool and collected. If you show him any weakness, he will eat you alive.” He leaned back from me and grinned.

“
You two ready to hit the road?” Uncle Lance called out as he walked around to the driver’s side of his red Jaguar.

“
We’re ready, Lance,” Dallas replied, keeping his piercing gaze on me. “Let the fun begin.”

***

Val Easterling’s home was a two story gray Creole cottage built around an oversized courtyard with long shady balconies and a carriage house converted into a two-car garage located in the rear of the property. The residence was fairly large, considering that many of the grander mansions in the French Quarter had been divided up into smaller apartments. Since most of the inhabitants in the Quarter these days came to the Big Easy to pursue dreams of music, art, or to search for vampires, it made little sense to keep the bigger, more expensive, homes in their original condition. Many had suffered the indignity of being sectioned off into efficiency apartments for young renters with little income or furniture.

Uncle Lance helped Dallas carry our luggage into Val’s spacious guest bedroom. The room was decorated in a creamy peach color with a king size four-poster bed set in the center of an oak hardwood floor. A wood-burning fireplace with an engraved oak mantle stood along the wall to the right, while an antique armoire with a plasma screen TV and DVD player was set against the wall to the left.

“
When Valie called from Rome, she told me she wasn’t crazy about leaving you two alone here,” Uncle Lance declared as he placed my suitcase on the bed. “She thinks you guys need to be around someone who can referee.”

“
We promise not to leave any blood spatters on the carpet or bullet holes in the walls,” Dallas assured him as he placed my garment bag filled with my gowns on the bed.

“
And why do you need all those extra clothes, Nicci?” Uncle Lance asked as he pointed at the long garment bag, “I thought you two came here to work things out, but this makes it look like you plan on hitting the town.”

“
I told her to bring them. I want to take Nicci out a little. We’re going to have some fun while we are here,” Dallas pronounced as he gave me a sly grin.

I took my uncle’s elbow. “So tell Dad and Val not to worry,” I stated and ushered him out of the bedroom.

We headed down the long second floor balcony to back stairs that lead to the kitchen on the first floor.

“
You sure about this, kid?” he asked as we walked into the kitchen.

I looked over at my uncle. “Sure about what Uncle Lance? Staying at Val’s?”

He shook his head. “No, staying with Dallas.”

“
Of course I’m sure about staying with him. Why would you say something like that?”

“
Because you don’t look sure. I know you, Nic. For years I have watched you buck the system, but something has changed in you lately. It’s like you’re going through the motions, but your heart isn’t in it. The old Nicci would have sent Dallas back to Connecticut without a second thought. Now you’re working things out? This is beginning to remind me of when you were engaged to the moron.”

I paused as I thought of something believable to say. “You’re exaggerating, Uncle Lance. Dallas is not Michael. I want to work things out between us. I’m not ready to toss what we have aside and move on. And I think some time alone will be good for Dallas and me. Kind of like a little vacation.”

“
Now you’re crawfishin’,” he countered. “Back peddling just like a crawfish does to try and cover your ass. You’re not trying to save this relationship, because if you wanted to do that, you would have married the guy already.” He paused and folded his arms over his chest. “All right, lie to me for now. But don’t think I won’t find out what is going on sooner or later between you two.”

“
Stop looking for intrigue at every corner, Uncle Lance,” I said sharply. “Those days are far behind me.”

“
With you, kid, intrigue seems to be par for the course.” He shook his head. “Whatever you’re up to, be careful, and call me if you need my help. In the meantime, I’m still waiting on those hospital records on all the gunshot victims admitted to Tangipahoa Parish hospitals on August 27.”

“
Fine, Uncle Lance. Just call me when you’ve got something.”

With one last worried glance, Uncle Lance reluctantly walked out the back door and made his way across the patio to the gate entrance that led to Royal Street. When I made it back upstairs to the bedroom, I found Dallas unpacking his clothes.

“
Lance say anything else?” he asked me as he put his tuxedo up in the closet next to the bathroom door.

“
Just that he suspects I’m up to something and that I’m not the same girl he used to know. Would you like me to put the rest in a typed report for you?” I went over to my garment bag draped across the bed.

“
No need to be flippant, sweet cheeks. I was just asking.”

“
That’s the second time you have called me sweet cheeks. You haven’t called me that since we moved to Connecticut,” I stated.

“
You haven’t acted like this since we moved to Connecticut.”

I unzipped the garment bag. “And how am I acting?”

“
Just as Lance said. Like you are up to something. You remind me of the Nicci I met in New York last December.” He shook his head, smirking at me. “I’m glad to see someone else thinks that you’ve changed. I doubt even David would recognize you these days.”

I looked over at him. “What makes you say that?”

“
When David returned to New York, after being with you in New Orleans, he told me all about you. But the woman he described is not the woman you are now. You’re harder. I guess all the grief, espionage, murder, and bloodshed did change you in a way. It eventually changes everyone.”

I studied his features as I reflected on his words. “And how did it change you? After all the years of working with Simon, how different were you from the person you are now?” I eventually asked.

“
I don’t know,” he admitted with a shrug. “I guess I trusted people more. Instead of looking for the bad in everyone, I tried looking for the good in them. But sooner or later I think everybody begins to see the world the way we do.”

Dallas unpacked some shirts, walked back to the closet, and hung them up. I noted the way he meticulously made sure each and every shirt hung freely from the next. His methodical nature seemed to seep into every aspect of our relationship. From the way he drove a car, to the way he made love, each action had been well rehearsed to appear effortless and graceful. But beneath the surface, there was always much more going on with him. Despite our time together, and the intimacy that we had shared, there was still so little I knew about the man.