Page 117 of Concealed in Death

“Now. Let’s move.”

The bar at the purple moon glittered with stars. More stars twinkled in the ceiling and would, Eve imagined, sprinkle light on dancers who took to the floor when the place was open.

For now its purple booths and silver tables stood empty.

The couple who stood in front of the glittery bar turned when Eve came in.

The man, rangy in good jeans and a white shirt, held both hands of the woman with him. He had an excellent face of strong bones, hard chin, framed by an artful tangle of dreads. Eyes green and hard as the chin watched Eve resentfully as she crossed the room with Peabody.

The woman looked up at the man who said something in an urgent undertone. She only shook her head.

“It’s important, baby,” she said, gave his hands a squeeze, then pulled hers away to stand on her own.

Eve doubted she’d have recognized the skinny, not quite formed DeLonna in the curvy, exotic beauty.

She’d grown into herself, Eve thought, and knew how to make the most of what she had. The short, spiky cap of hair gave her face a lift, made the most of big, slanted eyes of rich chocolate.

She’d painted her lips stoplight red, and wore the same color in a short, snug dress.

“Lieutenant Dallas.” Her voice was smoke.

“That’s right.” To keep it smooth, Eve held up her badge. “Detective Peabody. DeLonna Jackson?”

“It’s Lonna. Just Lonna. Lonna Moon. This is my man, Derrick Stevens. This is our place.”

“It’s a nice place.”

Derrick angled himself between Lonna and Eve. “She doesn’t have to talk to you.”

“Derrick.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“Oh, baby, you know I do. We’ve got a life, Derrick and me,” she said to Eve, stepping to the side to stand unshielded. “We’ve got a place, and a life that’s a long way from what was. He worries about me going back there.”

“We’re not here to bring you trouble.”

“The trouble was already there,” Lonna said to Derrick before he could speak. “It’s hard to know it, but now I do. We should sit down. We can get you a drink. Derrick, I could use a fizzy water. How about some fizzy water all around?”

“That’d be great,” Eve told her, and went with her to a booth. Eve and Peabody slid into one side. “You were friends with Shelby Stubacker.”

“Best friends ever. Shelby, Mikki, T-Bone. I think I’d have faded away like air without them. Shelby and Mikki, they’re dead, aren’t they? Sebastian didn’t say, not right out, but I knew when we heard about... about what they found in The Sanctuary, I knew. I thought they just left me, and it broke my heart.”

“They didn’t just leave you.”

“It’s worse. So much worse knowing that. But it helps, the knowing.”

“You were going to have your own place, your own club—like Sebastian’s—in The Sanctuary.”

“How’d you know that?” Surprised, she stared at Eve when Derrick brought over a tray with tall glasses of water sparkling like the ceiling stars. “It’s all we talked about for days and days when we found out we were moving out. I was so scared, but I couldn’t admit it. Scared at the thought of being on our own, but excited, too. Best friends ever,” she murmured, and sipped her water when Derrick sat beside her.

“Who helped her get the forged documents, the paperwork to get out?”

“You know about that, too? I don’t know, not for certain. Shelby didn’t always tell us everything. She was the captain. She had power, but she had responsibilities. She said things like that.”

“She developed a relationship with Montclair Jones. The younger brother. Sexual?”

On a sigh, Lonna tipped her head to Derrick’s shoulder. “She didn’t see it as sex. She saw it as bartering, as currency. It took me a while to see it as different.” She smiled over at Derrick. “It took some doing for Shelby to draw Monty out. He was a little scared of her, and awful shy, but he was fascinated, too. And he wasn’t smart and straight like Mr. Jones or Ms. Jones. He didn’t seem all that much older than us, though I guess he was. Shelby gave him his first blow job, and was proud of that.”

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