Free Under Wraps by Hannah Jayne Page B

Underworld stuff.”
    I filled him in on Nina’s history with Louis, and by the time I had finished talking, Hayes’s cheeks were flushed and we were at the King Street Station, the old trains groaning down the tracks.
    “Whoa!” I said, pointing when we were lucky enough to find a nearby parking space. I grinned at Hayes. “You’ve got good parking karma. That never happens at rush hour.”
    He ignored me and stepped out of the car, scanning the hordes of Caltrain riders as they strolled out of the station, beelining for their cabs and buses. “Okay, what are we looking for?”
    “Who,” I said, coming around the car and grabbing Hayes’s elbow. “Louis is a who, not a what. And Nina says we should be able to recognize him right off.”
    “Will he be carrying his graveyard dirt with him, or is he having it sent?”
    I socked Parker in the arm and kept on walking, nodding to the janitor who was concentrating on pushing a broom across the tile floor in the train station foyer.
    “You know him?” Hayes asked.
    “I filed his papers just last week. His wife is going to be coming over from Canada early next month. I’m really excited for them.”
    Hayes swallowed and lowered his voice. “So he’s … what?”
    “Vampire,” I said. “Works the night shift.”
    “I thought vampires were all hoity-toity. You know, big-time jobs or just independently wealthy or whatever.”
    “Some are. But all of them are obsessed with cleanliness.” I smiled and beelined for the number seven train platform.
    “Okay,” I told Hayes once we were waiting on the edge of the tracks, “he should be coming off any minute now.”
    Hayes and I stood on the platform, examining the faces of all the people stepping off. I was looking for someone who bore a vague resemblance to Nina—pixie-nosed, a thick head of blue-black hair, fine-boned—when Parker sucked in a sharp breath beside me.
    “That has got to be him,” he said, his blue eyes steady.
    I followed his gaze and held my own breath, eyeing Louis as he stepped off the train. He was tall—exceptionally so—but shared Nina’s slim build and fine, elegant facial features. His marble skin was porcelain-perfect and made the inky black of his eyes, the rose-wine stain of his lips, stand out. The teenaged girls and young women exiting the train around him clamored to stay next to Louis, despite the fact that he was dressed like Bela Lugosi.
    I was just thankful that he had decided against the cape.
    “Is he wearing a tux?” Hayes asked, leaning into me.
    “No. I think that’s an ascot. Tuxes have bow ties, right?”
    Hayes furrowed his brow.
    “Well, maybe that’s what all the boys wear where he comes from.”
    “I’ll bet,” Hayes snorted.
    Indeed, Louis was dressed in carefully pressed black dress pants with a well-tailored black dinner jacket. A red jacquard vest peeked out from underneath the coat, and a silky, patterned ascot was looped tightly around his pale, elegant neck. His dark hair was slicked back, showing off the same widow’s peak that Nina routinely brushed her hair over.
    There was a thin line of black outlining his dark eyes. “He’s wearing makeup,” Hayes said. “Do you think where he comes from, all the boys wear eye makeup, too?”
    I socked Hayes in the arm again and pasted a welcoming smile on my face. “Louis!” I called, waving my hands over my head.
    Louis’s dark eyes scanned the heads of the group around him before settling on me. His expression remained blank, unfazed, but he headed in our direction.
    “Hi!” I said, smiling brightly when he reached us. “It’s so nice to meet you!” I extended a hand that Louis looked at disdainfully. “I’m Sophie, and this is my friend, Parker Hayes. He’s a detective.”
    Parker and Louis exchanged the universally male partial head bob while I chattered spastically. “I’m your aunt’s best friend. But I’m sure she’s told you that. Do you like to be called Louis or Lou