Page 9 of Born for Starlight

Zoe was a good hostess and talked to me for a few minutes until her sister came and got her to check on something in the kitchen. Then I wandered. The party was the type I appreciated. People who genuinely liked one another. Then I found a spot near the drinks table with a good sightline to where Bruno and Angelica were standing, talking to their brother.

She finally left her brothers and got caught up with a couple of women. I needed to get closer to her. Needed to talk to her. She didn’t know that the interview she’d given had turned over a hornet’s nest. Thirty years later, that kind of operation didn’t shut down. It just got quieter, and they didn’t like having spotlights shined on them. The orphanage she’d been in might not be there anymore, but that didn’t mean the system wasn’t still in place.

Fuck, I knew first hand, it was in place. I’d known for the last three years. But one interview wouldn’t have seen like much to me, if it hadn’t had been followed by a plane crash three weeks later. Sixteen years in this business told me this wasn’t a coincidence, especially when the problem with the plane was a faulty fuel line. That had all the earmarks of sabotage.

My gut had been right before. Enough times I’d stopped arguing with it. So, who wanted to silence Angelica Drakos?

So here I was in Jasper Creek, Tennessee, using up a chip with one of the few friends I had in this world to get close to his sister so I could what? Use her to stop the bastards? If I were a better person my number one priority would be to protect her, but these people needed to be stopped. Maybe there was a way to do both.

The first thing I needed to do was get to know her and then I’d figure out my next steps. If the network was really still after her, then I could work that string backward. If I was wrong, then I would get to spend a little bit of time with a movie star.

Zoe introduced me to a few more people. Then the party began to thin out and I watched as people began to leave. I saw my opportunity and took it.

“Angelica.”

She looked up. “Matthew, right? Bruno’s friend?”

“That’s the one.”

“You’ve been very mysterious all night.” She tilted her head. “Bruno gets cagey when people ask about you. It’s very suspicious.”

“Bruno’s cagey about everything. Ask him what he had for lunch sometime.”

That got a real laugh out of her, short and surprised.

“Can I get your number?” It’d be interesting to see how she’d respond. Something told me this was a new approach.

Her eyebrows went up before she smoothed them flat.

“Wow.” Half laugh, half something else. “Points for directness.”

“Was that a yes?”

“That was me buying time.” She turned her wine glass by the stem, not quite meeting my eyes. “It’s been a while since anybody’s just asked, that’s all. Usually there’s more of a production.”

“I don’t have a production assistant,” I said trying for the little bit of humor I possessed.

“Clearly.” Her mouth curved up. “I’m flattered. Truly. But I’m going to have to pass.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

She blinked. “Okay?”

“Okay.” I shrugged one shoulder, my lip twitching. “I’ll see you around, Angelica.” But I didn’t turn to leave.

She frowned. A little bit fierce.

I laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

I shrugged again. “Like I said, I’ll see you around. I might even ask again.”

This time her lip twitched. “How long are you even going to be in Jasper Creek?”

“A while.”

“That’s not an answer.”