Like a sign, her phone beeped with the address of the Chinese restaurant.
Back at his place, Ivan was too busy getting Crim and the girls set up to give his warped relationship with Alice further thought. He’d converted his dining room into a workspace, placing the girls around the table with phones and computers. Booking them into the same hotel to save traveling time, he’d let them sleep in before going over what he expected. Kate was there on his invitation. He wanted her to see he had no intention of having a group bang. He called it his charity project, but didn’t say where the requests were coming from. As long as he could satisfy the spirits haunting him, maybe they’d eventually grow quiet. As for finding a solution to the portal problem, he still had no clue how he was going to solve that.
“You can’t do it from here,” Kate said. “The hotel management is going to complain.”
“It’s more convenient this way, but if they have a problem, I’ll find office space somewhere.”
“I don’t get you,” Kate complained. “What’s with this sudden attack of conscience?”
Crim leaned her elbows on the table. “The one about the dog is interesting.” Her brown eyes glittered. “We should open an animal charity folder to separate them from the others.”
“Good idea.” Ivan gave her an encouraging smile.
She got up and walked to the bar fridge, bending low for a can of soda. From under the short denim skirt her underwear was visible, a flimsy thong at that.
Looking at him from over her shoulder, she said in a seductive voice, “Want one?”
“Excuse me a minute,” he said to Kate, making his way over to Crim. He leaned with one arm on the wall and lowered his voice. “You know this is business, right?”
She popped the can and gave him a saucy smile. “Yeah.”
“About what happened in New York…”
“You don’t have to explain.”
“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, and I certainly don’t want you to harbor false expectations.”
“I get it. You met someone.”
“What?” he said, the wind taken from his sails.
“I know men.” She flicked his chest with her blue-painted nails. “I know when a guy’s hooked on a woman. Believe me, you’re hooked.”
“As long as we’re clear.”
“Crystal.” She swung her hips as she made her way back to her seat.
He caught Kate’s gaze on him from across the room as she picked up her handbag.
“I’ll walk you,” he said.
At the elevator, she slapped him on the arm. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
He laughed. “Don’t I always?”
“That’s what scares me.”
“Any news from Johnny about the performance dates?”
“The performance stays as scheduled. I think I can push out the premiere with a week.”
“Good. That’ll give me time to take care of business.”
“Do me a favor, Ivan. Call the hotel management and tell them you’re running a charity from their suite before they sue you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He turned back for his apartment with a wave over his shoulder.
For a change, things were on track. At the door, he stopped dead. A cold wind blasted down the hallway like someone had left a window open, only, there weren’t any windows on this side of the building. The darkness and smell that infiltrated his senses had death written all over it.
Boris leaned on the wall with a shoulder, one ankle casually crossed over the other.
“Helping the dead?” he asked in his sickening voice.
Ivan gave him a wry smile. “What took you so long?”
Boris placed a hand over his heart. “Don’t tell me you missed me. That’ll drive me to tears.”
“You’re wasting your time. My answer is still no.”
“Now that you’ve invited Cain Jones to the party, our time is running out.”
“Your time might be running out. I owe you nothing.”
“I’m going to see someone, tonight, someone you don’t want to see hurt.”
His blood ran cold. He couldn’t control Boris as long as the medium hadn’t set him free, and he couldn’t manipulate Godfrey unless the man was in his geographical proximity.
“Don’t you dare threaten me, not with her, do you hear me?”
Boris laughed. “What are you going to do? Kill me?”
“I’m going to find a way to close that portal through which you slithered, and when I do, I’m sending you straight back to isolation.”
Boris shook his head. “It’s not going to work that way. I’ll be going back, but not alone.”
Suddenly, Ivan understood the price Godfrey had offered to pay. “He’s going to kill someone to take with you.”
Boris clicked his tongue. “You’re slow to catch on.”
“I won’t let you do it.”
“You can’t stop Godfrey’s whole army.” He licked his lips. “I’ve already found the one I want to spend my afterlife with.”
Another victim? Over his dead body.
“No,” Boris said, “you can’t die. How will I get my prize if you don’t live up to your end of the bargain?”