Xo (Kathryn Dance 3)

He turned around and glanced down at the girl with a smile. "You know, you're cute as a button."

Mary-Gordon asked, "What does that mean?"

The young man looked at Suellyn and they both laughed. He said, "I don't have any idea."

They waited for traffic then crossed into the lot. He whispered, "It's good you're here. Kayleigh's pretty upset about Bobby."

"I can imagine. Do they know what happened?"

"Not yet. It's been terrible for everybody." He lifted his voice and said to Mary-Gordon, "Hey, before we go to your aunt's, you want to see something fun?"

"Yeah!"

"It's really neat and you'll like it." He glanced at Suellyn. "Little detour? There's this park practically on the way."

"Please, Mommy!"

"All right. But we don't want to be too late, Ritchie."

He blinked. "Oh, I'm not Ritchie. I came to fetch you instead." They arrived at his car. He took the suitcases and her computer bag and stashed them in the trunk of the big old Buick. It was bright red--a color you didn't see much nowadays.

Chapter 24

AT KAYLEIGH'S HOUSE Kathryn Dance was talking to Darthur Morgan, who was holding but, being on duty, not reading, one of his old books.

"You've got an unusual name," she said.

"Means 'morning' in German. Spelled different." The huge man's still face

didn't break character.

"That's funny," Dance told him. She'd been referring to his given name.

"Used it before."

They were sitting in the living room, all the shades drawn, while Kayleigh was upstairs, changing clothes, as if being in the place where Bobby Prescott had died had somehow tainted what she'd worn.

The security man continued, "You know people think, being black, I was named Darthur because my parents didn't know how to spell Arthur, or got confused. You hear that sometimes."

"You do, true."

"Fact is, they were both teachers and they like the classics." He lifted his leather-bound book. Dickens. He added, "Malory's Morte d'Arthur was one of their favorites."

"The King Arthur stories."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Not a lot of cops know that. But then, you're not just a cop."

"Not any more than you're just a bodyguard." She didn't add that she was also a mother who helped her children with their homework. She eyed the book in his hand.

"Great Expectations."

She asked, "Is Kayleigh handling this okay?"

"Borderline, I'd say. I don't go way back with her. Her lawyers and her father hired me when that fellow started popping up. She's the best of the celebrities I've ever worked with. Nicest. Polite. I could tell you some stories about clients I've had."

Though he wouldn't. He was a pro through and through. When this assignment was over, Darthur Morgan would instantly forget everything he knew about Kayleigh Towne, even the fact that he'd worked for her.

"You're armed?"