Apprentice in Death (In Death #43)(113)

The door swung open into noise, into color, into movement.

Balloons, streamers, flying . . . unicorns, fairies, and a rainbow-colored dragon.

All this lived behind the nearly seven-foot black man in a black vest over a red skin shirt. He grinned widely.

“Hey there, skinny white girl.”

“Hey back, large black man.”

She accepted the hug that had her eyeballing the long red feather that curled down from his earlobe.

How many first birthday parties had the owner/bouncer of a sex club on the guest list?

Then again, Mavis.

“Hey, Roarke.”

“Crack. Good to see you.”

“Cak, Cak, Cak,” came the call from behind him.

He turned, caught Bella on the fly. And the birthday girl, the pretty little golden-haired sprite in a frothy, sparkly pink dress and sparkly shoes that flashed with lights, nestled in the arms bulging with biceps and tattoos.

She whispered something in his ear that made him throw back his head and laugh.

When he turned around, Bella’s eyes widened with delight. “Das! Ork!”

She launched herself at Eve, who managed not to fumble the pass. “Yeah, hey, happy birthday.”

Wiggling with glee, Bella launched into one of her incomprehensible monologues, then stopped. Her eyes filled with concern, sympathy, sorrow.

“What?” Instantly, sweat pooled at the base of Eve’s spine. “What did I do?”

“Boo.” It was heartfelt, as Bella touched her fingers to the fading bruise under Eve’s eye.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Very carefully, Bella leaned in to touch her lips to the same spot, smiled, babbled.

“She says it’ll be all better.”

Eve glanced at Crack. “How the hell do you know what she’s saying?”

“I be bilingual.”

“You be full of . . . it.” Eve remembered to leave off the sh in front of the kid. And when she noted Bella had shifted her attention to Roarke with her dipped chin, angled head, flirty smile, Eve saw her chance.

“She wants you. You hold her.”

“Well, I—” But Roarke found his arms full of a flirtatious toddler, who latched on, kissed his cheeks, then batted her big blue eyes.

“You’re a charmer, aren’t you now?” Eve heard him say as she made her escape.

The floor was full of crawlers, toddlers, other little-type people with sticky fingers or drool.

She spotted Peabody and, relieved—even though her partner wore a pink dress with a line of silver frills down the right side—headed toward her.

But was intercepted by the call of her name.

Mavis, in pink (Jesus, so much pink!) skin pants—or paint?—covered with white stars and a crotch-skimming dress—or was it a top?—floating over it in summer sky blue with pink stars, dashed toward her on blue-and-pink-striped booties with dizzying heels. Her hair, fountaining on top and tumbling down the back, blended all the colors of the spectrum and bounced, just as she did.

She caught Eve in a fierce hug. “You came!”

“Sure.”

“I wasn’t sure—not with everything juggling and whacked. Two minutes,” she added, then dragged Eve through the crowd.

Good God, Summerset! He appeared to be having a conversation with some kid who barely came to his bony knees.

And the Miras. She really wanted to get a good look at Dennis Mira, just to make sure he was all right. But Mavis kept dragging her until they stood in the symphonic rainbow that was Mavis and Leonardo’s bedroom.

“We didn’t get a chance to huddle much after the Nightmare at the Garden. I knew you’d come that time. I knew you’d come, and we’d all get through. I finally fell asleep, and when . . .” With a shake of her head that sent the fairies dangling from her ears whirling, Mavis grabbed onto Eve again. “I was scared, so scared. I knew Bella was okay, home with the sitter. But I was scared if something happened to me and Leonardo . . . She wouldn’t have us.”

“She’s got you. She always will.”

“When I saw you, I stopped being scared. Today’s for happy. For really happy. My baby’s first birthday party.”

“Looks like, and sounds like, a hell of a party.”

“Wait until you see the cake. Ariel made it. It’s a fairy castle. With unicorns.”

“Naturally. Did you invite everyone you know?”

“Only the ones who count. Let’s get drinks. Lots of drinks.”

Eve got a drink, and managed to pretty much avoid Trina—especially when she noticed the hairdresser giving her hair that look. She saw Dennis Mira’s dreamy smile as he sat right on the floor to play some game with a gaggle of kids.

She watched McNab gallop around in his airboots with some other kid plastered to his back, who shrieked as if being stabbed—a sound everyone else appeared to assume meant pleasure. Garnet DeWinter was smiling down at some visually stunning midsized kid who talked earnestly to Mira.

Leonardo, a shiny, dome-shaped party hat on his long copper hair, beamed at his girls, manning the bar in a tunic the color of sapphires.

Louise and Charles—late to the party. Doctors and cops, Eve thought, and saw Roarke talking to Feeney. Doctors, cops, and criminals—reformed. Bouncers and ex-LCs. E-geeks and fashion designers.