The mayor was hoping Bennett would see something there tonight that would help him. And maybe…with Ivy at his side, he just might.
“I’ll go join Hugh for that drink,” Cameron muttered. “When you need me, Ivy, come find me at the ice sculpture. The one of the giant Sphinx.”
Bennett knew that sculpture—he’d seen it a few minutes before. It was the one next to the whiskey table…the free booze rolled nearly all night long at the balls.
Mardi Gras balls were always popular—too popular. This particular event was one of the biggest, with over four thousand tickets sold. The mayor had been the one to glumly tell Bennett that news. And since no names were taken down when the tickets were sold, he was looking at a pretty giant suspect pool.
Cameron inclined his head to Ivy then vanished into the crowd.
She stared at Bennett.
He tried to yank his gaze from her.
“We’re not together,” she blurted. “Cameron and I aren’t an item or anything like that.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t ask.” But he’d sure wanted to.
“Cameron and I are friends, nothing more. He needed a date, and in a weak moment, I agreed. Then when he showed up at my door tonight, wearing that tux and mask…” For an instant, fear flickered in her gaze. “I was scared of him. I thought—”
That the killer had found her.
His fingers slid down and curled around hers. Not keeping her hand captive any longer, but now, almost caressing her.
“You kind of stick out,” Ivy told him, her mouth hitching into a half-smile. “You’re the only man here not wearing a tux.”
No, he didn’t have on a tux. He was wearing his jeans and loose shirt—he’d been off-duty when he first saw her getting pushed toward the back of the patrol car. Hell, how long ago had that been? The night was moving at super speed, and he was struggling to catch up. His left hand tapped against the badge he’d clipped to his belt. “This is the only thing I needed to wear in order to get inside.” Besides, his men were there, too. In police uniform, not tuxes.
“Let’s start searching,” she said briskly.
He nodded, but he wasn’t holding out much hope. The mayor had ordered him there, all right, but it wasn’t as if a bright shining light would just fall on their perp.
In that crush…finding him would be a miracle. Too bad he’d stopped believing in those long ago.
Back when he’d lost Ivy.
***
They were fools. Drunk, stupid prey. The women swayed in their ridiculously high heels and barely breathed in their skin-tight dresses. His gaze swept over them all, hating them. The men were no better. Too loud. Too drunk.
Too easy to kill.
He took a drink of the whiskey and let it slide down his throat, barely feeling that burn as his fingers lifted to touch the ice sculpture right next to him. His hand trailed along the Sphinx, and he smiled.
“Cameron,” he murmured to the man who’d just appeared next to him. “Buddy, it’s been too long…”
Cameron, still wearing his mask, turned toward him and smiled.
Too easy.
“You’ve got to tell me…just who is that gorgeous woman I saw on your arm a few moments ago?”
Cameron’s smile stretched even more. “Ah, you’ve got to be talking about Ivy…”
Ivy. He liked that name.
“Ivy DuLane.” Cameron downed his whiskey in a quick gulp and motioned for another glass. The whiskey was poured into the ice sculpture—it slid around the tube inside and then fell into Cameron’s glass, coming right out of the Sphinx’s mouth. “I’ll be sure to introduce you later.”
Oh, I’d like that. “But it looked as if you lost her…” He gave the other man a commiserating glance. “She ran off…?”
With the cop. He’d seen the badge and he’d realized that trouble had come his way.
Cameron laughed, not seeming even a little offended. The guy was talking way too freely. Maybe because of the drinks. Maybe because he was just an overconfident fool.
“Ivy’s just—” Cameron stopped. “She’s chatting with an old friend. No harm, no foul.”
An old friend who happened to be a cop.
He lifted his whiskey. Downed it fast. And kept his eyes on Ivy.
Hello, lovely. We’re going to have so much fun together.
Because she wasn’t like the others. He didn’t think there would be anything easy about her. About time.
***
“It’s not like I’m a civilian, you know,” Ivy muttered as she pushed her way through the crush of bodies at the ball. Her gaze slid to the left and to the right. There were more men in white masks all around her. But that one was too thin…that one was too short… “Or did you forget that I obtained my PI’s license when I was twenty-one?” That whole Nancy Drew line of his had seriously grated. Her grandfather had run DuLane Investigations for over fifty years, and she’d been eager to take up her place at his side.
Then the whole world had come crashing down on her.
But she’d built that world back, piece by piece. Without Bennett.