Min's Vampire (41 page)

The office reeked of cigarette smoke
and vinyl office furniture. Luvici’s desk was big, clunky, and made
of painted green aluminum. Tacky, much like Luvici himself. Dust
motes fluttered through the streams of sunlight coming through the
window.

He came around to his side of the desk
and watched as Lucy crossed her legs again. His grimy tongue
slithered out from his mouth and licked his cracked
lips.

“
So, little Lucy Hart...
whatever can I do for you?”

First, never say my name
again.

“
I so totally need your
help... the teensiest little favor.” She batted her eyelashes at
him.

“
And what would that be?” He
leaned back in his leather chair, and was, as usual, undressing
Lucy with his eyes.

Lucy quelled a shiver of revulsion and
instead met his lecherous eyes with a cool gaze. “I need some of
Daddy’s money.”

Luvici just sat there, his expression
never changing. “Money?”

“
Yes, I need some of the
money you hid for Daddy. I’ve got lots of stuff to get before I go
to college. And then there’s tuition money, new clothes... and a
car.”

Luvici raised his hand to stop her.
“I’m sorry, Lucy, but what money are you talking about?”

She leaned forward conspiratorially.
“You know. The money you saved from the IRS. The money you hid...
somewhere for Daddy... for when he gets out.”

She didn’t know how to tell if he was
lying. He was a professional liar, with a college education in
advanced treachery, and had probably interned a few summers in
double dealing. But as he shook his head and looked at her, she
knew all too well what was etched on his face: pity.

Lucy bit her lip. In the last six
months she’d seen enough pity in people’s eyes to last her ten life
times.

“
He doesn’t have any hidden
money, does he?”

“
No,” Luvici said, smiling
with the most infuriating empathy. “
They
were thorough. Seized everything
he had before they even arrested him.”

“
I see.” Lucy felt like her
chest was about to collapse. All her renewed hopes and dreams were
starting to fall apart around her like little black snowflakes,
making her vision cloud up. She shook her head, refusing to tear up
again. She was done crying.

If there isn’t any of
Daddy’s money, then there’s always his...

She looked Luvici straight in the eye.
“Blackmail is such an ugly word.”

This got his eyebrows to furrow. “I
didn’t say anything about blackmail.”

“
I know,” Lucy said, “but
since I’m about to blackmail you, I thought I’d bring it
up.”

“
You’re going to blackmail
me?” Luvici practically chuckled.

“
Scarlet Jones would
probably love to learn how you skimmed an extra thirty percent off
every contract you drew up for her construction
consortium.”

Luvici smiled. It wasn’t a friendly or
generous smile. It made him look like a hungry, feral animal. She
felt her flesh crawl, yet she pushed herself on.

“
I remember Daddy saying Ms.
Jones had a nasty reputation for reeking bloody vengeance on people
that cross her.”

Luvici raised both hands, mimicking
the gesture Lucy had used on Darla. But he did it
better.

“
Yes. If I had it to do over
again, I would’ve heeded the rumors about Scarlet.” He sighed
sadly. “Beautiful creature, but so bloodthirsty.”

“
Then you can
see—”

“
That’s why I’ve already
made restitution—and then some—to Ms. Jones.”

Lucy sat there in a moment of shocked
silence. “What?”

“
You see, your father
already used that one on me. That’s the only reason I defended him.
Friendship doesn’t go far in the real world. Just—”

“
Cash and good PR,” Lucy
finished for him absently.

“
You sound just like your
father, sweet-meats. Too bad you think just like him too. But
slower.” He reached into a drawer and Lucy jumped as he pulled
something out. She was sure it would be a gun, or a knife, or a
really big gun. But it turned out to be a pack of cigarettes and a
lighter. He leaned back as he tapped out a smoke and then lit it up
and drew in one, two, three deep drags from it.

“
Would you like one?” He
held out the pack to Lucy.

Lucy grimaced. “A world of
no.”

“
So, you see, I made sure no
one else could use that one against me again. And in the process,
now I’m tapped out. I couldn’t pay you anything even if I wanted
to.” He looked Lucy squarely in the eyes, and then winked. “Not
that I want to.”

Lucy reached into the folds of silk
that clung about her breasts. This got Luvici’s undivided
attention. The smile fell right off his face, replaced by a sudden
rush of ruddy lust. Even his ears were turning red. Her fingers
brushed across the cheap vanilla paper, and she caught it between
her fingers, extricating Luvici’s business card from her
cleavage.

She held it up, turning it so he could
see the back of the card. “Has your home number on here. Wonder
what the wife would think if I told her about hot little Darla out
there?”

If anything, Luvici seemed to enjoy
what she’d just threatened him with. His smile turned down right
grotesque.

“
Knock yourself out.” He
said, “My wife doesn’t care if I screw every woman in California,
as long as it’s not her.”

Lucy gasped a convincing “Oh...”
Though, truthfully, she hadn’t expected him to care. The bit about
Darla was just the set up. The real hook was just around the
corner.

“
So, if you’re quite
finished with this little extortion scheme, I’ve got work to do.”
He was just starting to stand up, his big, gnarled paws on his desk
as his arms labored to pry him out of the leather chair.

“
Think she’ll care about
Kenny Fry?”

Luvici froze. His expression didn’t
change, but Lucy could see something pass behind his eyes. “Kenny
who?”

Okay, Lucy. Nice and
steady.

“
You know, Kenny Fry. He’s
in my class, well... what used to be my class. He was some kind of
football hero. Had a full ride to UCLA before he was even a junior,
took the team to state two years in a row before he got injured.
Tore his knee right up.”

“
I’m sorry, Lucy. I really
don’t—”

“
You represented his family
when they sued the hospital and doctors that couldn’t fix his
knee.” It was Lucy’s turn to wink at Luvici. “Daddy said you tried
every dirty trick you knew to get that family some
money.”

“
Well... yes, I remember
now. I tried my best. But we lost.”

She leaned back into her chair and
sighed. “Yet somehow Kenny’s been riding around in a spanking new,
candy-apple red Camaro all year long.”

“
I have no idea how he’s
paid for all that. I just hope he isn’t doing anything illegal.”
Luvici tried to sound disapproving.

“
I don’t think he’s the one
doing something illegal.”

Luvici stood, his face red again, this
time with rage. “If you think you can just come in here and accuse
me of... of...”

“
You know,” Lucy chirped
conversationally, “Kenny turns seventeen next month.”

Luvici’s skin turned pale and sweat
broke out instantly on his forehead and upper lip. He mopped a hand
over his forehead as he sat back down, and he stammered repeatedly
before he finally got out, “But he’s your age. He’s a senior.
Seniors in high school are eighteen.”

Lucy shrugged. She had
him...

“
I’m eighteen, sure. But
that’s the funny thing about the United States Educational System.
I was born a month too late, so I couldn’t start Kindergarten until
the next year. Where Kenny, he was born a month earlier, the next
year. So he started a whole year before he should’ve.

Luvici was practically the color of
chalk, and his hand shook as he rubbed the back of his neck over
and over again.

“
He’s really...”

“
Sixteen? Yeah.” Lucy pursed
her lips and nodded her head helpfully. “Jailbait.”

Luvici shook his head.

“
I mean, your wife might be
tolerant of... you know, things like Darla. But if you were ever
implicated in a child molestation case…”

“
Wait just a goddamn
minute!”

“
Well, I’m sure she could
handle the shame, the scandal. I’m sure she’d be just fine with her
friends at the country club whispering behind her back.”

Luvici was turning green, and he was
holding his head in his hands.

Time for the
kill.

“
And I’m sure Caroline’s
father would be thrilled to hear about this.”

Luvici’s head shot up, his blood-shot
eyes boring into Lucy.

“
Caroline’s father is Ramon
Castelli, right?
The
Ramon Castelli?”

Ramon Castelli wasn’t just Luvici’s
father-in-law, he was a real live, fit you with cement shoes
gangster.

Lucy was about to suggest ways Ramon
might “thank” Luvici when the greasy lawyer said: “Okay, you
win.”

Lucy leaned back in her chair. “I
win?”

“
You win, Miss Hart.
Anything...” His hands were shaking. “I’ll do anything at all. Just
don’t...”

Cool.
“Okay, then. What I want is enough money to go to a good
school, purchase a great new wardrobe—fall, summer, and spring—and
a car. I was thinking something flashy yet economical on gas… maybe
a hybrid.”

Luvici started chuckling mirthlessly.
He chuckled long enough to peeve Lucy off again.

“
What’s so
funny?”

“
You.”

Lucy squared her shoulders. “Why am I
so funny to you?”

“
Well shit!” He slammed his
fist down on his desk, making Lucy jump. “I told you before, I’m
tapped out.
Broke.
It took everything I had to pay back that psycho
Scarlet.”

“
Oh...” Lucy genuinely felt
confused. “But you said anything at all.”

“
I meant as in legal
representation. I thought—
maybe
—you’d want to try to get your
precious Daddy out of jail. Maybe sue someone over
something.”

Does that mean you didn’t do
everything you could for him?
The thought
was like holding a red hot, double edged sword. On one hand, she
was instantly angry he hadn’t done right by her father. On the
other hand, her father didn’t give a damn about her... not anymore.
So why was she letting herself get upset over him?

Lucy closed her eyes, shook
her head and took in a long, slow breath.
Get this crap out of your head!
You
can’t give up this easy...

Sure you can,
the mean little voice chimed in.
I’m sure you can just go back to McDonald’s
tomorrow. Things will be just like they were, like nothing ever
happened.

Lucy wished the mean little voice was
real, as in something or someone she could reach out and
strangle.

That wonderful heat bloomed in her
head again, the heat that ignited whenever she got really annoyed.
It made everything sharper, more focused—and it made her feel
strong.

“
Fine. No cash, no
problem.”

Luvici’s eyes got round with surprise.
“No problem?”

“
Nope. None at
all.”

Luvici let out a breath and slumped in
his chair with relief. That lasted three seconds.

“
But since you’re offering
me your legal services in more of a barter/blackmail scenario, then
you’ll need to find me some sort of deal.”

“
A deal?” His eyes darkened
as he started to understand he wasn’t out of the woods
yet.

“
Yeah, a nice fat deal.
Maybe... I don’t know...” Lucy really didn’t know. She’d planned
out the whole blackmail the shyster lawyer routine, but she wasn’t
a legal eagle. What kind of deal would get her the money she
needed, but didn’t involve actual work, or something unimaginably
dangerous?

Then she thought of something she’d
read about online. Something she’d thought was not only a tacky
piece of petty crime, but that seemed to involve no actual work at
all.

Perfect.

“
I’d like you to set me up
one of those arranged marriages. You know, where I marry a rich,
illegal alien for a big-fat-hefty sum of money... and then six
months later we get divorced.”

She could literally see the
gears twirling around in Luvici’s head.
There might just be more than a hamster on an exercise wheel
in there...

“
That’s something I don’t
usually delve into.”

“
But you have some
experience in the matter?” Lucy was suddenly sitting on the edge of
her seat. She could just make out the sparkling diamond at the end
of the tunnel. “That’s something you could set up for
me?”