Jimmy gave a secretive smile, shrugging one shoulder. “I don’t think there’s any harm in her getting out to enjoy herself. But a girl like herin a place like that could find trouble just as easy as she might find fun. And I can’t spend my whole night keeping an eye on her.”
“Well, we’ll be able to do that,” Leo said, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee and leaning back in his chair. “Or, more likely, I will. Viv’s got her own business to take care of.”
“So I heard. Corny Rokesby, is it?” Jimmy said, giving Vivian an assessing glance. “Never tell me you’ve got a sweet spot for an odd duck like him?”
“Not likely,” Vivian said. Even though she wasn’t going to drink it, she was glad the glass of liquor gave her something to do with her hands. “Do double exes mean anything to you?”
“Exes like the letter?” Jimmy frowned, then shook his head. “Should they?”
“No reason they should. But they mean something to Rokesby, and I’m hoping to find out what.”
“Viv…” Jimmy hesitated, glancing down at his own glass. When he looked up, his normal, easygoing expression was gone. “What do you know about the lodge balls?”
“You mean the masquerade portion of it?” Vivian asked, as carefully as he had.
Jimmy nodded. “That. And…” He glanced hesitantly at Leo, as though not sure how to phrase what he wanted to say.
Vivian could guess, though. “And from what I’ve heard, seems like there’s plenty of men and women taking the opportunity for what you might call personal business, right? Business of the romantic kind that maybe they can’t pursue in other places?”
Jimmy nodded again, still looking wary. “And I know thatyou,Viv… well, I’ve seen the way certain dance hall owners look at you. Or looked at you, in the past,” he added quickly, nodding politely at Leo. “So I know you’re not… we’ve got a few things in common, yeah? You get it.”
She did. And she knew why Jimmy didn’t want to just say that hewas a fella who liked other fellas, and that Corny Rokesby might be too. People like him—like her—had to be careful what they said, and who they said it to. And Jimmy didn’t know Leo.
“He gets it too,” Vivian said quietly, nodding toward Leo. “We’re not looking to spoil anyone’s fun, Jimmy. Or tell anyone who might care what that fun is. We just want to know…” She paused, considering how much to share. “You heard his stepdad died?”
A different sort of wariness crept over Jimmy’s face. “I heard. I heard it wasn’t exactly what you’d call natural causes. But what has that got to do with you?”
“I wish it had nothing to do with me,” Vivian said, the words coming out brittle. “It does, but it’s a whole mess to explain. Rokesby had something going on the day Buchanan died, and he has that same something going on tonight. I need to know what it is.”
“Okay.” Jimmy let out a huff of air. “That sounds… I can live with that, if that’s all it is. Otherwise the night ends here and now, pal. I’m not on board with prying into that part of anyone’s personal life.”
“Me neither,” Vivian said, her face feeling hot. Preferences like theirs weren’t the sort of thing people discussed openly—it was too uncertain, too much potential for danger if the wrong person overheard. The fact that Jimmy had brought it up, even if they were both still mostly talking around it, showed how serious he was.
“And I’m not saying that’s what Rokesby’s there for,” Jimmy said quickly. “I’ve got no idea what the fella gets up to, or what those, what did you call ’ems? Double exes might be. But I had to lay out some ground rules.”
“Sure thing,” Vivian said, taking a large gulp of her cocktail before she remembered that she hadn’t meant to drink more of it. Clearing her throat, she asked, to change the subject, “Why did Mags run off when we got here?”
“Oh that.” Jimmy stood, smiling once more. “She wanted to change for the party. Which I need to do, too. So. Make yourselves athome.” He gestured broadly around the room. “We’ll be back down soon.”
Vivian watched the door close behind him, then took a deep breath. Setting her glass down, she moved to the sofa where Leo was sitting, sliding across it until she could bump her shoulder up against his. “You okay, tall-dark-and-handsome?” she asked playfully. He had started looking serious before Jimmy left the room, and it worried her.
It took a moment for him to answer. “She still looks at you that way, you know.”
Vivian didn’t have to ask who he meant. But when she pictured Honor looking at her, she didn’t see the heat or the yearning that used to spark between them. She saw the almost guilty look that Honor had tried to hide from her. “No, she doesn’t.”
“Viv, I’m not an idiot,” Leo said, standing so he could turn and look at her. Vivian felt cold without the warmth of him pressed against her, and she wrapped her arms around herself protectively. “I know—I know the two of you were close. I asked you about it almost the first day we met, remember?”
Vivian wanted to argue that they had never been close. Honor had always put up walls between them, and Vivian hadn’t been much better herself. But she had a feeling that saying as much to Leo wouldn’t help just then. “You did,” she said cautiously. “But you’re the one I’m here with, right?”
“Right, sure, but…” Leo let out a frustrated sigh. “But do you want to be?”
Vivian stared at him. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I saw you two last night, Viv,” he growled. “When I finished handing off that letter to Bruiser George. You two were looking pretty cozy. Like you were in a world of your own.”
“We weren’t… what?” Vivian stared at him. There had been nothing cozy about her chat with Honor last night. “Why are you starting a fight now?”
“I’m just telling you what I saw.”
