Part 22 (2/2)
Later, as they were carving out their pumpkins, Jade asked her, ”Would you really have been that rude and brazen-to tell her she should have slept with Matt.”
”Rude and brazen? How can you be more rude and brazen than Renate?” she said; then she laughed. ”I don't know. Thank G.o.d you stopped me.”
They talked about their Halloween plans, since the holiday was coming up quickly. ”We need to have a party,” Shanna said.
”New Orleans is a party. Every restaurant and every jazz club will have a party. And we have little half brothers, remember? We have to head out to the Garden District and see Dad and Liz and the boys.
They'll be so cute- Liz always does such a great job with costumes.”
”We could have a party at their house,” Shanna said. ”I mean, it was our house for years and years. When Mom was alive. Remember?”
Jade was quiet for a minute. ”It's not our house anymore.”
”Of course it is.”
”No, something is different. But did you have a bad time with Liz this morning?”
”No. In fact, I felt pretty close to her.”
”Then ... ?” Jade said, puzzled.
”I don't know. Something just didn't seem right about the house.”
”Well, still ... let's think about it, huh?” Jade said. ”It might be more fun just to ride out, see the kids, and come back and club hop.”
”Yeah, maybe-ugh! I just cut the stupidest pumpkin teeth you've ever seen.”
Jade looked at her sister's pumpkin. ”They're pointed.”
”I was trying to cut squares ... oh, well. Thank G.o.d I never wanted to grow up to be a pumpkin artist. I've had it; I'm done. I've got to get going. I want to wash my hair ... bathe in exquisite body salts, powder and perfume, and try on half a dozen outfits. Some of us know how to do this s.e.x thing properly.”
”You're going to have s.e.x with a total stranger?” Jade asked, appalled.
Shanna grinned. ”No-I'm going on a first date. You have to be beautiful, charming, devastating, and smell divine for just such an occasion. That way he'll probably ask you back out, and it will be your choice if you see him again or not. Understand?”
”I thought you said it wasn't really a date.”
”It's not-it's still a 'first' kind of a thing. And you are so, so far from a first date with that cop! Do the bubble-bath thing tonight-”
”I did it last night.”
”And you think it will last forever?”
”No, I just-”
”You asked him last night. You know he'll make it tonight.”
”Probably,” Jade agreed.
Shanna pushed her pumpkin back, stood, headed for the sink, and washed her hands. ”I'm outta here.”
She started straight for the door.
”Your pumpkin!” Jade said.
”Keep it. I think I have to start over. I messed up the teeth.”
Shanna exited. The door closed, then opened again. ”Don't mess it up with that cop!”
”I won't,” Jade said. ”And don't go accepting any more dates with this guy until we know more about him, until you let me check him out for you.”
”Yes'm, big sister. Sure. And you lock this door when I'm out!”
”All right!”
Shanna had barely departed when the phone started to ring. It was Rick, and Jade knew immediately from the sound of his voice that something was wrong. ”I'm not going to be able to do anything tonight,”
he old her regretfully. ”We should be going somewhere great for dinner.”
”Hey, I eat all the time,” she said lightly.
”I've been sick as a dog all day.”
”I'm sorry.”
”I sure don't know what I picked up, but it's awful. I've been burning up, having chills, delusions, even. Slept all morning, and now I've got to head back to work. The kid who was killed in the awful accident-”
”What?”
”I have to go back to the morgue again. Terry Broom was the M.E.
on the case, and he's a stickler. Seems he thinks there was some foul play.”
She suddenly remembered Al asking Sean Canady if he had been a.s.signed to the kid. There was going to be a task force on it, Canady had said.
”It is the kid from the accident, then,” she murmured.
”Wait a minute-what do you know about this?”
She hesitated. ”Shanna and I went down to talk with Gavin today.”
”Jade,” he said, sounding worried. ”I told you I'd go with you.”
”I'm all right with all this, really,” she said. ”I'm not going to lose my mind or go off the deep end or anything.” She hesitated and added jokingly, ”I even met a cop who told me there might be people who believed they were vampires, and if they believed it, well-”
”Sean,” he said flatly, interrupting her. ”Lieutenant Canady.”
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