"Laurell K. Hamilton - Anita Blake 15 - The Harlequin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Laurell K)

"She can't admit she saw you without admitting she was there, and why," he said.

"Cops go to strip clubs all the time," I said.

"But she didn't go to see strippers, she went to see me."

That stopped me. Made me turn and stare at him. "What do you mean?"

"She came to the club on a night you weren't there. Since you've avoided the club as much as possible,
that's a lot of the time. Can we have this conversation in the car?"
He had a point. I unlocked the car, and we climbed in. "Where's the other car?"

"I had Micah drop me off, so he'll have the car if he needs it. I knew you'd drive me home."

It made sense. I turned on the car so the heater would start working. I finally realized it was a little chilly.
My anger had kept me warm even with my coat flapping open. "What do you mean, Arnet came to the
club?"

"She paid to have a private dance."

I stared at him. "She did what?"

Detective Jessica Arnet worked on the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team, RPIT for short. It was
the branch of local police that I worked with the most. I'd known she had a crush on Nathaniel, but I'd
been so busy trying not to admit that I was living with a stripper that I'd kept him too much a secret. Until
I brought him as a date to a wedding that Arnet was at. Then the secret was out, and she was mad at me
for not telling her we were an item sooner. She seemed to feel like I'd let her make a fool of herself. She
hadn't made a fool of herself, but she had come to Guilty Pleasures for the first time that one night that
Nathaniel got me on stage. She was now convinced that I was abusing Nathaniel. Chain someone up on
stage and hit them with a flogger a few times, and people think you're abusing them. Of course, the
flogger had been Nathaniel and Jean-Claude's idea. A part of Nathaniel's regular show, apparently. What
I'd done next had been all me, and Nathaniel. I had marked him, bitten him hard enough to bleed him, on
stage. It had been the first time I'd voluntarily marked him like that, not just because the ardeur got out of
control, but because he liked it, and I liked it, and I'd promised.

Arnet was convinced that I was Madame de Sade and Nathaniel was my victim. I'd tried explaining that
Nathaniel was only a victim when he wanted to be, but she hadn't bought it. I'd been convinced she
would tell the other cops and out me, badly. Living with a twenty-year-old stripper with juvenile arrests
for prostitution was bad enough, but getting on stage myself, well, that would have beenтАж oh, hell, bad.

"How private a dance did she get?"

He grinned. "Are you jealous?"

I thought about it for a second, then had to say, "Yeah, I guess so."

"That's so sweet," he said.

"Just tell me about Arnet."