Nightwalker. Part 22

She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I just...swallowed the wrong way."

"So, Jessy, what would you like?" Dillon asked, defusing the tension. "The salmon here is delicious."

"Salmon it is, then," she agreed, trying not to stare at Ringo.

"And would you like the rice or the scalloped potatoes?" the waiter inquired.

"Rice," Jessy managed to say.

"I'll have the same, please," Dillon said.

The waiter left at last.

"You're a real jerk!" Dillon said.

Jessy stiffened. "Excuse me?"

"Not you. I'm talking to Ringo. He shouldn't have scared you that way."

"Sorry," Ringo told Jessy. "I didn't mean to upset you, and I'm delighted to make your acquaintance. At-last," he added pointedly, staring at Dillon.

"At last?" she whispered.

"I've been suggesting a formal introduction for a while now. I think I could have been helpful before now," Ringo said.

Jessy tried not to look in his direction. Ringo reached for one of the menus, which the waiter had forgotten to pick up. Dillon s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of his hand before someone noticed that a menu was floating in thin air.

"Salmon," Ringo said in disgust. "You're a wuss. This is Nevada. You should have ordered a nice rare steak."

"He enjoys being aggravating," Dillon said, his eyes on Jessy.

She stared back at him, her own eyes wide. She might have adjusted to seeing Tanner Green and Rudy Yorba materialize right in front of her, but she clearly hadn't been ready for this.

"I'm wounded," Ringo said. "I was just anxious to meet you, Jessy."

"Did you let Clancy out?" Dillon asked.

"You're asking a ghost if he let your dog out?" Jessy said, and took another long drink of water. She noticed that her hand was trembling. "But you said ghosts couldn't hurt people, so how could he-"

"I said I didn't know of any ghosts who hurt people," he said. "I didn't say they couldn't touch objects or move them. Ringo here has been around a very long time, and he's mastered the art of using his energy to affect the physical world. And, despite your first impression, he's actually a nice guy."

"Thanks, partner," Ringo said.

"He's your partner? partner?" Jessy asked.

"No, that was just an expression of speech," Dillon a.s.sured her.

She played with her napkin, not looking at Ringo even though she was addressing him. "So, Mr. Ringo-"

"It's not Mr. Ringo," Ringo corrected. "Name is Ringo Murphy, just Ringo to my friends, and I'm hoping you'll be one of them."

She looked at Dillon. "He's around-all the time?" she asked faintly.

"No, not all the time," Dillon said firmly, staring at Ringo.

"Trust me, ma'am. I am a perfect gentleman," Ringo promised her, then turned to Dillon. "I just want to help. I want this solved."

Jessy was about to answer him, but their salads arrived, so she kept quiet.

"Ringo died at Indigo," Dillon explained once the waiter was gone.

Jessy, blue eyes narrowing, stared at him. "So 'Indigo' did did mean something to you. It meant a mean something to you. It meant a lot lot to you." to you."

"I don't know what it means, not yet," he told her.

"You know, your grandfather isn't so crazy," Ringo told Jessy. "Maybe he's somehow seeing Indigo in his visions, or whatever you want to call them."

She turned to stare at him indignantly. "I never said my grandfather is crazy. crazy. And no one really knows And no one really knows what what he sees." he sees."

"I'm sorry, no offense meant," Ringo said. "I just meant...well...maybe he does see those ghost dancers he says he talks to."

"Don't look at him when you talk to him," Dillon cautioned her. "It unnerves people, and Ringo always gets a kick out of that."

"Just how often is he around?" she asked.

"When he's needed, usually," Dillon told her.

She spoke to Ringo again, this time without turning to look at him. "What do you know about my grandfather?"

"I know he's a nice old man," Ringo said. "And that he may be very important to figuring this out."

Jessy frowned at Dillon. "What is he talking about? What's 'this'?"

"Jessy, I honestly don't have all the pieces yet."

"But you do know something, something, and you've chosen not to share that with me," she said, trying to keep her growing anger under control. and you've chosen not to share that with me," she said, trying to keep her growing anger under control.

"Jessy, I know that Emil Landon called Adam for help, afraid that his life was in danger. I met with him, met Tanner Green and Landon's other bodyguard, Hugo Blythe, and then Tanner Green was killed, but not before saying something to you."

"So you hounded me," she said.

"I didn't mean to hound you, but I needed to know what he said. And I was afraid for you," he said softly.

"What else do you know?" Jessy demanded.

"Jessy, if I had all the answers, Green's killer would be awaiting trial right now," Dillon a.s.sured her. "But I don't don't have all the answers. I know that-somehow-your grandfather's ghost dancers seem to know that you'd have a link with-a link with the dead. And that, because of it, you'd be in danger. They knew that I'd be drawn into the mystery, too. That I'd be here to help you." have all the answers. I know that-somehow-your grandfather's ghost dancers seem to know that you'd have a link with-a link with the dead. And that, because of it, you'd be in danger. They knew that I'd be drawn into the mystery, too. That I'd be here to help you."

He met her eyes across the table, and it was all she could do to stop herself from leaning in for a kiss.

Ringo groaned. "Get a room, would you?" he said. "h.e.l.l, I'm out of here," he said, and rose, but then he lingered.

"Jessy?"

She looked over at him then, deciding she didn't care if the other diners thought she was crazy.

"I really will do my very best to protect you," Ringo swore.

"You can protect me?" she asked skeptically. can protect me?" she asked skeptically.

"Well, I can watch out for you," he said.

"Then stop scaring me," she ordered him. "The noise of your spurs has been driving me crazy."

"Excuse me, but I died with my boots on," Ringo said indignantly, then walked away.

Someone cleared his throat, and Dillon looked up, cursing himself for not paying attention.

"Is everything all right?" the waiter asked.

"Fine," Dillon said, as the waiter served their salmon, then left.

"The other day, at your house...I heard his spurs. When we...did he...?" Jessy asked, and she could feel herself blus.h.i.+ng.

"He left, I swear," he told her. "I promise you, Ringo isn't a voyeur."

She flushed even deeper and said, "The other night, before you came to my room..." Her words trailed off, but then she forced herself to go on. "I'd been dreaming about you-rather erotically. I mean...then...we weren't being watched, were we?"

He lowered his head, trying quickly to hide his smile.

"Jessy, you were dreaming, nothing more. I swear. Ringo had already left to look into some things on his own."

"Like...?"

"He went back to hang around the casino, see if he could pick up any new info."

She still looked unhappy, he thought. He wondered how she was going to react later tonight, at the arrival of the reinforcements he'd called for.

"Jessy, he may be able to get Tanner Green to talk. And if Green talks, maybe we can find out how Indigo is involved in all this."

She shook her head. "What is it with that place?"

"I'm still not sure, but the pieces are starting to fit. An ancestor of mine was killed there, and so was Ringoboth of them in the same shoot-out. This morning, your grandfather told me that you two had an ancestor who was there at the same time."

"Oh?" she said coolly. "Was he a bad guy or a good guy?"

"He was a piano player."

"A piano player?"

"Yeah. And no, I don't know how he fits in. I just know that you're in danger, and that whoever killed Tanner Green is probably the same person who ran down Rudy Yorba, and somehow, everything is tied to Indigo."

She eased back in her chair, staring at him. "I think..."

"What?"

She shook her head. "I think I've lost my mind."

"You haven't."

She poked at her salmon with a vengeance. "Where the h.e.l.l does Emil Landon fit into all this?"

"I don't know."

"So where do we go from here?" she demanded.

"I'll keep investigating until I find out what's going on."

She shook her head. "No way am I letting you push me out of this investigation. Thanks to you, I've had to face the fact that I see ghosts. I may even be making friends with a dead man in a ten-gallon hat and spurs. Don't think that you're not going to inform me of every move you make."

"All right, here's what's happening next," he told her, pus.h.i.+ng his own food around on the plate. "We're going to the Big Easy, where we're going to go to the stage manager and find out what happened yesterday. Then I'm going to leave Ringo to watch over you, and I'm going to have a discussion with Emil Landon. Next I'm going to head over to the Sun to chase down your friend the pit boss, Darrell Frye, and find out why he conveniently managed to go on break just when a murdered man came stumbling into the building. Then, if there's time, I'll call Jerry Cheever and find out if he's got any new info. And maybe I'll drop in on Doug Tarleton-he's the medical examiner. Also, there's a young woman in the crime lab who has been very helpful, so I can take the opportunity to catch up with her." going to the Big Easy, where we're going to go to the stage manager and find out what happened yesterday. Then I'm going to leave Ringo to watch over you, and I'm going to have a discussion with Emil Landon. Next I'm going to head over to the Sun to chase down your friend the pit boss, Darrell Frye, and find out why he conveniently managed to go on break just when a murdered man came stumbling into the building. Then, if there's time, I'll call Jerry Cheever and find out if he's got any new info. And maybe I'll drop in on Doug Tarleton-he's the medical examiner. Also, there's a young woman in the crime lab who has been very helpful, so I can take the opportunity to catch up with her."

"Wait a minute. I never said Darrell was my friend. And I think you're way off base if you really do suspect him. He just wants to lure me over to the Sun so he can climb the corporate ladder."

"And I hope you're right. Anyway, while I'm doing all that, Ringo can hang out with you, and maybe see something, hear something..."

So much for a nice lunch, he thought.

"We should go," she told him. "You do know that I'm not entirely incapable, right? I'm smart, and I know how to be careful."

"I do know that. But, Jessy, everyone is vulnerable, and you haven't been trained in self-defense nor do you carry a gun. It won't hurt to have someone-even a ghost-there to help if help should be needed."

She digested that, then nodded stiffly. "All right. Point taken. But I will will be going with you to talk to be going with you to talk to my my stage manager." stage manager."

"Not a problem," he told her, and signaled the waiter for the check.

"Here's the thing," she told him. "I've already been crushed by a dying man who bled all over me. I've seen ghosts. And maybe I am am in danger. So I don't want you keeping in danger. So I don't want you keeping anything anything from me, anything at all. And from me, anything at all. And you you don't have a plan, don't have a plan, we'll we'll have a plan. I'm not a delicate flower. This is have a plan. I'm not a delicate flower. This is my my life, and I intend to be just as involved in saving it as anyone else." life, and I intend to be just as involved in saving it as anyone else."

He stared back at her, trying not to smile, glad to see her anger and her courage.

He just didn't want her so courageous that she forgot to respect her fear-not to mention logic and self-preservation.

"Well?"

He let himself smile then. "It's a plan," he told her.

They rose, and he rested his hand on her back as they left the restaurant. He heard the jingling of Ringo's spurs as they neared the car.

"Shotgun, if you don't mind," Jessy said to Ringo.