Drawing my lower lip between my teeth and biting down, I leaned forward to press on the screen and answer the call.
Fairfield's voice came from Cass' computer.
"Hello?"
"I missed you at the little soirée at the gallery." It was the same voice that responded. Eros.
Or was it? Something about it was off. I leaned forward so I could listen better.
Cass typed quickly.
"Sorry, I got caught up in a situation. You know how it is." The similarity to the real Fairfield made my skin crawl.Yet, sitting here, listening the differences were subtle. A slightly stilted word here or there, lacking inflection. The word 'sorry' lacked any sincerity.
Although, if anyone was expecting sincerity from Fairfield, they might be looking in the wrong place.
"Indeed I do," Eros replied. "The party was interesting. It's a shame you missed it."
"Oh, interesting how?" the laptop asked. "Did I miss some good champagne?"
Boner mouthed, "Priorities."
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. Cass was right to ask that though; Fairfield was the kind of man who'd care.
"You missed superb hors d'oeuvres," Eros replied. "I understand they came from that pleasant little Italian restaurant a couple of blocks away."
I stared at the phone. Of course he knew my restaurant. What else did he know?
When Cass glanced at me I nodded. His fingers flew over the keyboard.
"Such a shame they had to close the place for a while," the laptop said.
"You heard about that?" Eros said.
"Did you think one of her staff would be brutally murdered and I wouldn't know?" Fairfield would have sounded more offended, but it was the best we could do. "Of course I heard."
"It was necessary," Eros said. "Miss St. James is getting suspicious of me. Or so I was told."
I curled my hands into fists. I wanted to ask who told him, but that would give all of us away immediately.
"I'm sure she won't be poking around anymore," the laptop said. "If I was her, I'd be running scared."
Cass gave me an apologetic look, which I respond to with a shrug. He had to answer like Fairfield would, regardless of my feelings.
"She's a nuisance and needs to be taken care of," Eros said. "I don't want Hypnos and Zeus to think we're incompetent."
Cass hesitated, his hands hovering over the keyboard before he started to type out another message.
"We should take care of the matter before they have any reason to believe that."
"I agree completely," Eros said. "Which is why I have a plan in place. In fact, that's the reason for this call. We should meet to discuss the details."
Cass grimaced.
Boner pulled the keyboard over to him and typed.
"I'd love to, but that business situation took me to the Caribbean. Looks like I'm going to be stuck here for at least another week. My resort down here is a mess."
Jules spread his hands in a 'what the hell, dude?' gesture.
