Vigil Read Online Free PDF Page B

climbed into my window to finish the job, but Airenne had scared him off. That might explain his sexual advances towards me. The fact that the killer kept parts of the women’s bodies suggested a sexual motivation.
    “Seriously?” said Airenne.
    “I’m going to try to find Vigil again. Last night, he rescued some trashy girl from the docks. So I’m going to be a trashy girl on the docks and hope he finds me.”
    She made a concerned face. “What if he doesn’t? What if something bad happens to you? That neighborhood isn’t safe, you know. Especially not dressed like that.”
    I looked down at my tight jeans and halter top. I thought I looked pretty hot. But I was showing a little bit more skin than I usually did. And the shirt required that I not wear a bra, which was kind of pushing it for my 36Cs. I had bandaids over my nipples, and that was it. I was kind of… floppy, I guessed. But the bandaids seemed to be keeping me from having cone-boob. “I’ll be fine.”
    “I don’t know. If you’re not back by midnight, I’m going to start worrying,” she said.
    “Two o’clock,” I said.
    “One,” she countered. “If you’re not back by two, I’m calling the police.”
    I laughed. “Thanks.” Airenne wasn’t bad. I didn’t have anything in common with her, but she was a decent person, and I appreciated that about her.
    “Seriously, check in with me,” she said. “If something happened to you, I could not handle the rent alone.”
    I laughed again.
    “For real,” she said, but she was grinning too.
    I dug around in my makeup bag for my eye pencil. “What are you getting into tonight?”
    “I’m doing a piece on Veronica Waite,” she told me. “It’s kind of a tribute thing. There’s going to be a big benefit that will raise money for her trust. Anyway, I’m just doing research on her youth and stuff, because no one talks about that.”
    “Veronica Waite. I know I’ve heard that name before,” I said.
    “She was a Broadway star,” said Airenne. “They called her Veronica Legs, because she had long, long legs, and she always wore short skirts.”
    “Oh, right,” I said. “She was Christine in The Phantom of the Opera . For like years and years, right?” I probably only remembered that because this mysterious Phantom guy meant that I had Phantom of the Opera on the brain.
    “That’s her.” She grinned. “She was also Callum Rutherford’s mother.”
    I groaned. “That’s why you’re so into this.”
    “I’m going to meet him,” she said. “Maybe even at the benefit. He’ll want to give me a quote for a story about his mother, don’t you think?”
    I shrugged. “I guess.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure if he’d want to talk about his mother at all. The woman had been killed violently, and they’d never caught her killer. Callum’s father had been killed at the same time, if I remembered correctly. Of course, he’d been so young at the time that he probably didn’t even remember them.
    Still. I didn’t like talking about my dead grandparents. It hurt too much.
    Airenne wandered into the bathroom and began rummaging through my makeup bag. “I didn’t even know you owned this much makeup.”
    “I used to have to wear it for work,” I said.
    “Where did you work?”
    I shrugged again. “Nowhere special.”
    “I’ve never heard of a job requiring makeup.”
    “They didn’t require it exactly. It was definitely expected, though.” I snatched the bag back. “I gotta get going.” Why had I brought that up? I didn’t want to talk about my past. Especially not with Airenne. She’d never understand.
    * * *
    I stuck to the back of the smoky room, hugging the corners. Technically, no one was supposed to smoke cigarettes inside any bar or restaurant anymore, but some of the dives out by the docks didn’t pay much attention to any of the laws. It burned my eyes and invaded my lungs, and I knew the smell would cling to me until I took a shower and washed it out.
    In