Page 115 of Sinful Crimes for the Artistically Inclined
“Percy!” Joe snapped.
“Depends who it is,” Althea replied archly.
“No!” Joe reiterated, a little louder.
Percy put his champagne down and leaned forward, eyes meeting Althea’s with a searching darkness, voice low. “How much would it take for you to kill Cleo?”
They all fell silent. Not only because a waiter chose that moment to top up their glasses, but because both Leo and Joe were surprised at the indelicacy of the question, even for Percy. Althea didn’t flinch, despite the casual mention of the woman who had kidnapped, tortured and almost killed her. And that impressed Percy. He held out a hand to cover Leo’s empty wine glass until the bottle was taken away.
Althea leaned in just as close across the table. “I would gut her like a pig for free.”
The smile that spread across Percy’s face sent Joe into near panic. “Althea, you need to get back to your life. You’re a missing person, aren’t you? Don’t you have family you want to get in touch with? Friends? Your old life?”
She relaxed back into her chair and sipped her wine with a slight shrug. “Not really. I called my parents, so they know I’m not dead. I’ll need to go back for a visit, eventually, when I save up.”
“Would you rather fly there than London tomorrow?” asked Joe.
“No. There’s nothing in Surabaya for me. Not really. Or London either.”
Althea had delivered the words sadly, so it was with doubled enthusiasm that Leo suggested, “Come to Paris.”
Percy shut it down. “If you worked for me, you wouldn’t be in Paris with Leo.”
“She’s not going to work for you,” Joe urgently reminded them all.
“I wasn’t suggesting Paris,” said Althea, even if she was. “But I just…” She twirled the stem of her champagne glass back and forth absentmindedly, watching the bubbles dissipate into nowhere. “I just feel a bit lost, I guess. I don’t really know where to start, you know, rebuilding, or whatever.”
Percy passed a strategic hand to his stomach, confusing Joe temporarily as to where best to send his sympathy. Percy gave him a reassuring smile, so Joe turned it on Althea. “We’ll help you however we can. But working for Percy… Well, his work is?—”
“It’s so much fun,” Leo cut him off. “You don’t get dinners like this working for anyone else.”
“That’s just not true,” said Joe.
“Or hotel rooms,” Leo continued. “Frequent international travel. A generous pension contribution…” Joe’s eyes ran across to Percy, but only for a second because Leo stupidly added, “Plus, I occasionally get to smuggle pretty girls.”
The comment got a sardonic smile from Althea, but wiped Percy’s off his face. “Leo, I need you back in Paris. Soon. By yourself. Althea, it’s up to you what you want to do next. Joe disapproves of me hiring you, but if it would help get you back on your feet?—”
“No!” Joe repeated for perhaps the tenth time.
“—then I do have some very low-key tasks I could pay you for. Could you come to an art show in London next month?”
“Yes!” cried Althea.
“Percy, seriously,” Joe warned.
So Percy grunted softly, clenching his stomach again. “We don’t need to worry about any of this right now. I’m taking a hotel room for you in London for two weeks. I think it might begood for you to take some time to yourself, alone,” and here he glared at Leo, “to figure out what it is you want. You don’t have to go to London. Choose wherever you like. Anywhere but Paris or Bruges or Lerwick, because that’s where we’re going.”
This latest plan, two weeks in a hotel in London, was news to them all, but especially to Althea. This on top of the fake passport, on top of the flight, on top of this dinner, and Sicily, and what had been a nagging feeling of unease settled repeatedly by Leo, sparked. She put her glass down. “Percy, why are you doing this? You don’t know me at all.”
“No,” he said, holding her gaze steadily. “I don't know you. But I know Cleo. And what she did to you, and all those other girls, was unforgivable.” He leaned back with a sigh, tapping his ring finger on the table, uncomfortable with the admission that was coming. “She was my friend. Or so I thought. And I don’t know how I could have missed it, but I should have seen something. You don’t let the blood of a bunch of teenagers and raise an army of zombies without anyone noticing anything. Especially me.”
“I’m not sure it was an army,” Joe put in sympathetically.
“We just don’t know yet,” Percy replied, before turning his attention back to Althea. “I don’t understand how she could have been that person all along. I really thought…” Whether it was Joe’s presence, Althea’s, or just the memory, Percy stopped there with a frown. Instead, he said, “Doing these little things for you helps to alleviate some of my guilt that I somehow let this happen. It’s that simple.”
“Oh.” It was about all Althea could say to such a frank and unexpected admission.
Percy continued, “If I’m making you uncomfortable, then tell me. You don’t have to accept any of it, but you also don’t owe me a thing if you do. Not now or ever. It’s really the least I can do.” He took a sip of champagne, and so did Althea, then he added, “Or not quite. The other thing I can do, and will do,is figure out why she’s taking people’s blood, and stop her from doing it ever again. Then I’m going to steal her nicest belongings and sell them, so you’re costing me nothing.”
