Page 19 of Choosing Stella

I answered immediately.

“What did he say?”

“Bancroft has someone available. His name is Geo DiNero.”

I’d never heard the name before.

“And he trusts Geo?”

“He called Geo his best operative for this kind of assignment.”

That was about as strong an endorsement as I was likely to get from a man I’d never met.

“When will he be here?”

“Soon. Thomas is sending him directly to you.”

I checked the deadbolt again from the couch.

“Fine.”

“I’ll stay reachable. Call me if anything changes.”

“I will.”

“Stella?”

“Yes?”

“You did the right thing calling me.”

My throat tightened.

“Thanks, Locke.”

We hung up.

I lowered the phone.

A few hours ago, Antonio Bellacorte had been alive and smiling when I walked out of his penthouse.

Now he was dead, my tarot card was evidence in his murder, and a man named Geo DiNero was on his way to keep me alive.

Chapter Two

A plastic skeleton spun from a lamppost beside the river, one bony hand knocking against the pole every time the wind caught it.

Two blocks later, somebody had hung a witch from a balcony.

Halloween was two days away.

People paid good money to scare themselves this time of year. Fake corpses. Fake blood. Masks designed to make strangers look dangerous.

I’d seen enough of the real thing that none of it did much for me.

Cold mist streaked the windshield as I drove toward Riverside. Wet leaves shone under the streetlights, and most of the city was still asleep. The only people out this early were bakers, delivery drivers, cops, and men like me who got called when somebody else’s night had gone very wrong.

Bancroft had called before dawn.