"Charles Carlyle. Calls himself-" "Chuckie C. ," Roslyn finished in a flat voice. "I know him. "
Roslyn didn't ask Finn any of the obvious questions, like why we were interested in Carlyle, what he'd done, or more importantly, what we were going to do to him. The vampire had been a Southtown hooker for a long time before she'd moved up into management. She knew asking questions was a quick way to get dead.
Donovan Caine leaned forward. "What can you tell us about him?"
Roslyn took a delicate sip of her blood and smiled. Her fangs were a crimson stain in her mouth. "My clients like their anonymity. My club wouldn't last long if I squealed to everybody who came knocking on my front door. Especially a cop like you. I know you used to work vice. I remember seeing you at Northern Aggression more than once. "
Caine frowned and opened his mouth, but I cut in.
"He's with us," I said. "Detective Caine isn't going to bust you for anything. And if he ever dares to hassle you, I'll deal with him myself. Finn takes good care of his friends, Roslyn. You know that. "
Roslyn took another sip of blood, then pushed her glass aside. "Fine, I'll play along, but only because it's Finn. What do you want to know about Carlyle?"
"Everything," Finn said. "What he likes, who he hangs out with, what the girls say about him. "
Roslyn shrugged. "Not much to tell. He's a vamp who fancies himself to be a player and a great fuck, despite his tiny dick. Comes in almost every night and gets a private room in the back. Likes girls that look like they're twelve. Occasionally gets rougher than what we allow at the club. And he's always bragging to the girls about what a hotshot he is. How he's putting together his own crew and making his move in the underworld. Macho bullshit like that. A small fish, although he's been flashing a lot of cash lately. More drinks, more girls, a party for anybody he's friends with. " So Chuckie C. had cash to burn. More proof he was working for the Air elemental.
She'd ponied up half my fee up front. Made sense she'd spread the embezzled wealth around to her underlings, too.
Finn reached into his jacket and fished out the headshot of Gordon Giles from Fletcher's file. "What about this guy? Was he one of Carlyle's friends?" Roslyn tapped a manicured nail on Giles's nose. "Gordon? Yeah, the two of them used to hang out a lot and party with the girls. Not so much recently. " Hmm. Sounded like Gordon Giles had dumped Carlyle around the same time he'd approached Donovan Caine about the embezzlement at Halo Industries. Maybe Giles had realized he was in over his head-or maybe he'd grown a conscience.
r /> "So what do you really need?" Roslyn asked. "You said you wanted to talk to Carlyle at the club. "
"Yeah," Finn said. "The private room he reserves . . . any way we could see and hear what's going on inside?" Roslyn sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "Perhaps. But like I said before, my clients enjoy their anonymity. They trust me with their secrets-all their secrets. I wouldn't last long if word got out I'd breached that trust. "
Finn put on his most charming smile. "Surely you could make an exception just this once. For me. "
Roslyn laughed, a light, pealing sound at odds with the hard set of her features.
"You're a charmer, Finn, and I enjoy your company. You make me laugh, which is hard to do. But I'm not risking my business, my livelihood, so you can settle some vendetta with Carlyle. "
Fletcher's ruined face flashed before my eyes. Vendetta? Oh no, this was much more than that. Since the vampire was going to be difficult about things, I decided to remind her exactly how good a friend Finn had been to her.
"Catherine's gotten so big since the last time I saw her," I said in a soft voice. "When you brought her home from the hospital after her surgery. "
Roslyn's dark eyes went to the little girl playing in the castle, then snapped up to meet mine. Her gaze hardened, and her fangs poked out through her lips. Warning me to back the fuck off. Donovan Caine gave me a hard look, wondering what the hell I was doing. Finn just sighed.
"Looks like she's really enjoying that princess castle Finn gave her as a welcome home gift," I continued. "Tell me, how's Lisa, your sister? I haven't seen her in a while. "
Vroom-vroom . Vroom-vroom. Catherine pushed her dump truck back and forth on the grass.
"She's fine," Roslyn said in a tight voice. "I keep Catherine during the day while Lisa goes to school. She's finishing up her business degree at Ashland Community College. "
I gave her a soft, easy smile, like we were just two gals shooting the breeze. "Nice to hear they're doing so well-now. "
Roslyn's mouth flattened into a thin line as she considered the meaning behind my casual words. Her fingers tapped on the table. After a few seconds, her hand stilled.
"Yeah, they're doing much better-now. "
The vampire stared at me. "There's a passageway that runs through the back of the club. Has eyes and ears in all the private rooms. We use it to look out for the girls and make sure they're being treated right. You could watch Carlyle from there. But he leaves the club in one piece-understand? I can't have people disappearing from the private rooms. "
We could always grab Carlyle outside after we saw who he liked to party with. Easier that way anyhow. I nodded my acceptance to her terms. She relaxed the slightest bit.
"You're a peach, Roslyn. " Finn leaned over and kissed her cheek. "A real peach. " Her face softened, and a genuine smile curved her lips. "You say that to all the girls. "
"Maybe, but with you, I really mean it. "
Roslyn patted Finn's cheek. He caught her hand and pressed a kiss to the inside of her palm. I cleared my throat before they could move on to other things.