Billie muttered something in Gaelic beneath his breath. They all grinned.
Just then Blake, Gus and Shamus strolled over to say hi and thank Father Ryan and Natasha for being there. Danni studied the three of them while they chatted. The more she worked with them, the more she liked them. She didn’t want to believe any of them could be the killer. Shamus was fun and flirty, not to mention very good-looking. Gus was more of an academic. Blake, like Tyler, was even-keeled. They all loved their music and couldn’t help grinning while they played. She was so comfortable with them that sometimes she forgot why she was there and actually had fun.
She left them at the table and headed to the bar; she wanted water again. She couldn’t decide whether to try to sleep a few hours at the house or just stay up until it was time to head to the airport. She wouldn’t even have a carry-on, but Quinn wouldn’t leave unarmed, she knew. He would have to check a suitcase.
If Billie was right and he was going with her. She had texted him the flight numbers before she’d left the house. All he’d texted back was Thanks.
Danni didn’t make it all the way to the bar. Jessica swooped in front of her, offering her a large glass of water with lime.
“Hey, did you have a chance to look at those duets yet?” Jessica asked.
“Oh, no. I’m so sorry. I’ll get to it, I promise,” Danni told her. “Hey, when they go back up, why don’t you go sing something? It’s slow tonight. I can serve drinks for a few minutes.”
“No, no, that’s all right.”
“Please?”
Jessica seemed flustered. “Okay. Thank you.”
When the band went up, Jessica joined them and did a Carole King number. The woman had a voice like silk, Danni thought. She should have been singing full-time.
“Wow,” one of the men at the bachelor table said as Danni went by. He looked at her and flushed. “I mean, you’re wow, too, of course.”
She laughed. “Not to worry. She is wow.”
It was after two when Tyler announced the last number. After that people said their good-nights. Danni assured Tyler quietly that someone would be waiting up for him.
She, Billie, Father Ryan and Natasha began the short walk back to her place. Natasha was tired, so they said good-night outside, and then Father Ryan and Natasha headed toward her house.
When Billie and Danni headed into the kitchen, they found that Woodrow had waited up for them. He was sitting at the kitchen table, Wolf at his side—along with his shotgun.
“Ready for anything, you know?” he said.
Danni smiled. “Thank you.”
“I let Bo Ray and Amy go up to sleep. The dog hasn’t barked, so I figure no unsavory characters have come around the place,” Woodrow said.
“That’s good. Thank you. I’m going to head up, too, if you don’t mind waiting a bit longer for Tyler to get in,” she said.
“I can wait, if you want to get some sleep,” Billie told Woodrow.
“No, sir, you go on up. I can rest by day. I don’t mind being on guard—not with a dog like this one at my feet,” Woodrow said.
“Thank you again,” Danni said. “Quinn should be along soon, too.”
“Then we’ll batten down once everyone’s in and accounted for,” Woodrow told her.
“Oh!” she said. “I’ll be gone during the day tomorrow. Quinn, too, I think. But please, the two of you need to stay in the house or the shop while we’re gone. Larue will have an officer watching, especially if Quinn goes with me. But for your own safety, stay inside, all right?”
“If that’s what you want,” he said.
“It is. I worry, you know?”
Billie set a hand on her shoulder. “Everything will be fine,” he said.
With Billie behind her, Danni started up the stairs. “I have to be awake by six. The plane is at eight, but I can be ready in fifteen minutes and there’s not much traffic that time of day. But you should get some sleep. You’re not—”
“If you’re about to say I’m not a young man anymore, don’t!” Billie told her. “I’ll see to it that you’re up and out on time.”
“You don’t have to.”
“It’s what I do,” Billie said. “I looked after your father. Now I look after you.”
Danni smiled at that and kissed him on the cheek. “Good night, Billie.”
She went into the bedroom that had always been hers. She’d grown up thinking life was a lark. She’d never had any idea that her father collected evil objects, or objects that at the very least made men behave in evil ways. He’d been involved in dangerous situation after dangerous situation, and she’d never even known.
Her bedroom was comfortable. It was filled with old oak furniture and lots of art, a few pieces of her own, and many more paintings, large and small, by artists she admired.
She’d always loved this room...
Now, though, it seemed empty and cold. Just because she was at odds with Quinn.