“I’m sorry about the other night,” I said.
“You’re not in any trouble,” she said, finally meeting my eyes. “I am aware that you must be feeling especially -vulnerable in a new situation, which is likely to exacerbate your symptoms. I have asked Song and Teo to make themselves available for anything you might need, and I take full responsibility for the lack of support you have received during your first few days. I’ve been trying to track down the source of an anomaly in the perimeter ward, and I assumed that this Rivenholt situation would be a simple introduction for you. Obviously I misjudged the situation on a number of levels, and you have my sincerest apologies.”
“Wow,” I said, when Caryl had stopped. “You’re really upset, aren’t you?”
For a moment her eyes wandered. “So it would appear,” she said, apparently watching Elliott.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Nothing comes to mind, but I could probably draw up a list of things I would like for you not to do, at least until I can resolve some of the other issues that are currently on my plate.”
“Gotcha,” I said. “I’ll try not to be an extra slice of crazy. You’ll be happy to know, with Berenbaum’s help I got some great new info on the viscount’s movements. He’s got a ticket for a train to New Orleans that leaves this afternoon. I thought maybe Teo and I could go intercept him at the station.”
“New Orleans?” Caryl tapped a finger against her lips. Lack of sun exposure made her hands childishly smooth. “That’s where our national headquarters is located. I wonder if that is significant, or if it was just his way of trying to get from one perimeter to another without triggering the alarm. You see, train tracks—”
“Berenbaum told me.”
“Good. Either way, I’m afraid that leaving his Gate city without authorization is a very serious offense.”
“How many cities is the Project in?”
“Worldwide, I couldn’t begin to count. Here we have at least one office in every state, but Gates exist in only three US cities.”
“Here, New Orleans, and . . . ?”
“New York. Each traveler is assigned to a specific Gate, and fey are not allowed to leave the respective perimeter without an escort. On top of everything else Rivenholt has put us through, this attempt to flee may be enough to earn him permanent expulsion.”
I felt a pang for Berenbaum at the thought. “He may be running from the cops,” I said. “A plainclothes detective staked out the Residence and followed me across the street, asking me about ‘John Riven’ and some missing girl.”
Caryl made a severe shooing motion at what I could only assume was an overexcited Elliott. “Law enforcement knows to associate this address with him? That is bad.”
“I saw the same cop in Santa Barbara, too.”
“Most likely Vivian set him on the scent to make our lives more difficult.”
“Berenbaum thinks Vivian was a trap Rivenholt set for the cop, or possibly for Aaron Susman. Best theory I have right now is that Rivenholt got involved in a feud between Susman and Berenbaum and did something that’s gotten him into deep trouble. Does Susman have a daughter, or a young girlfriend?”
“Not that I know of.”
“I’ve tried calling him a couple of times, but I can’t get through, and Berenbaum was vague about what they were fighting about.”
“Aaron Susman?” came a cheery voice from the direction of the kitchen. Apparently Gloria had decided to eavesdrop. “You don’t know why he’s mad at Berenbaum? I thought you were involved in the industry.”
“I was in film school a year ago,” I said, turning to her with as pleasant an expression as I could manage. “But I’m not caught up on the latest. What do you know?”
“Oh, honey,” said Gloria. “I thought everybody knew. Beren-baum’s giving Warner Bros. the old heave-ho and starting his own studio.”
I gaped at her. “After working with Warner for thirty-odd years, and pushing seventy now, he’s starting a new studio?”
“Sure is. He and his partners started construction on the main office complex a couple of weeks ago, down where they bought all those soundstages in Manhattan Beach.”
Caryl’s brow furrowed. “But this must have been in the works for months, if not years.”
“They were trying to keep it under wraps till Black Powder was in the can, since that’s one of Susman’s, but apparently word leaked out sometime last month.” She put a hand to her mouth in an exaggerated oops!
“I still don’t understand,” said Caryl. “I assume Susman was left out of the project, but why? Whom did Berenbaum choose?”
Gloria looked at Caryl with bald astonishment. “Do you two girls honestly mean to tell me you hadn’t heard? Minnie I can understand, bless her heart, but Miss Caryl, as much as you dog Vivian Chandler’s every move, I thought sure you would know.”
“Vivian?” I blurted. “The damn vampire we’ve been talking about for two days is his business partner?”
“Uh-huh. Her and Inaya West.”
22