“About what?”

“About Amber.” He took a shot. “Are you worried, too?”

Lucille slowly crossed the room, sat on the edge of her high-stacked bed, and crossed her legs, revealing a hint of hosiery. “Yeah. I’m real worried. I told the cops I was worried. But since no one’s found a body, no one seems to care.”

“I care,” Loving said, seizing his opportunity. “And if you’ll tell me what you know, I’ll do my best to find Amber. That’s a promise.”

Lucille nodded. “Fair enough. Where do we start?”

“How do you know Amber?”

“Amber works here. Used to, anyway.”

Loving felt his heart skip a beat. No wonder the dragon lady downstairs let him in. “Amber-worked for the escort service?”

“Is that so surprising?”

“Well-if she was runnin’ with a congressional intern…”

“They were kids. Very nonjudgmental. Too stupid to be judgmental, really. I don’t know how they all hooked up, that whole gang, but they had fun together, and that was what mattered to them. They didn’t care what anyone did to earn their bread. In fact, I suspect some of Amber’s friends had the misguided notion that this was a glamorous and exotic line of work.”

“And it ain’t?” Loving said, unable to resist scrutinizing the line of her figure beneath the robe.

“No, it ain’t. What, were you expecting to see Julia Roberts when you walked through the door? You can forget all that Pretty Woman BS. I’ll grant you, this is not the worst way to make a living. We’re in the service industry, that’s how I see it. We provide a service that is apparently much needed. Facilitating a valuable social exchange between two consenting adults.” She paused. “But it isn’t glamorous. And you’re not going to end up with Richard Gere.”

Loving drew her back to the main subject. “So you knew Amber well?”

“We had adjoining rooms. I was like her mother. I’m-a little older than she is.”

“You don’t look older.”

“You flatterer.” She slapped his knee with well-lacquered fingernails. “I knew we’d get along. I can make people, you know? And I liked you from the moment you walked into the room. Trusted you. I can’t say I get that feeling very often. But in my line of work, you get to know what people are like. Develop an instinct for it. You have to, if you’re going to survive long.”

“I’ll bet. So you knew Amber. And she knew Veronica?”

“They were friends. There were four of them, most nights-Veronica, Amber, Colleen, and… oh, what was her name? The mousy one.”

“Beatrice?”

“Yeah, that was it. Anyway, they liked to do the nightlife thing. But toward the end… I don’t know. I think maybe they were getting into something weird. Kinky, maybe.”

And this coming from a woman who worked at an escort service. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. And I asked, more than once. But Amber never gave me any details. Redecorated her room, though.”

“Can I take a look?”

“Sorry. Boss lady had it all cleared out after Amber was AWOL for two weeks. But it was lots of candles and stars and weird symbols. Used a lot of red paint. Wasn’t good for business-creeped the customers out, at least the ones who were sober.”

“What kinda symbols?”

“Oh, I don’t know. The main one was like this.” Using her index finger, she drew a small loop in the air, then crossed the bottom of the loop with two short lines. “I don’t know what that was supposed to mean. And she had this weird statue that she kept over her bed. Told me it was an incubus. You know what that is?”

“Can’t say that I do.”

“Neither did I, till she explained it. An incubus is a demon. Supposedly sneaks up on girls while they’re sleeping and has sex with them.”

“And she wanted this in her room?”

Lucille shrugged. “What can I tell you? Weird. I don’t know what it all meant. She started wearing lots of silver, jewelry and stuff. Dark lipstick. Big hoop earrings with an upside-down cross dangling in the center. And she started dressing in black-nothing but black.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Wish I did. The worst was when-when she told me she didn’t want to be Amber anymore.”

“She was gonna kill herself?”

“No. She was going to change her name. Said from now on I was supposed to call her Lilith. Lady Lilith, actually.”

“Why?”

“She didn’t say. I didn’t ask. And I never followed her when she went out partying with those girls, though now I wish to God I had. I’d go get her myself if I knew where to look. Amber was such a good girl-so bubbly, happy, concerned about others. So full of life. But something happened to her. It’s like someone-or something-sucked all the energy out of her. The light in her eyes faded. She became dull, listless. She didn’t seem to care about anything anymore-including herself. She’d turned into a whole different kind of person.” She brushed her hand across her eyes. “May sound stupid but-I loved that girl. She reminded me of myself when I was a little younger and-you know. A little smaller.”

“Doesn’t sound stupid to me at all.” He reached forward and laid his hand gently on Lucille’s shoulder. To his surprise, she pressed her hand down on his.

“You’re good people.” She looked up, and Loving saw tears in her eyes. “Do you really think you can find my Amber?”

“I can’t promise nothin’. But I’ll do my best. And I’m not too shabby at findin’ things. Do you know the names of any of these clubs they frequented?” Lucille was still holding his hand.

“I know one. Found a matchbook in Amber’s room when I helped clean it out. Place called Stigmata. I think I heard her party girls mention it once or twice. I don’t know where it is.”

“I’ll find it.”

“If there’s anything I can do to help, you just let me know, understand? And if you do find her-” Loving felt her hand press even tighter. “Would you bring her back here? Or have her call? Even if she’s moved on to some other life, which I wouldn’t blame her if she did. She had so much talent. Not like me. She could do better.”

“I think you’re sellin’ yourself short.”

“And I think you’re way too sweet. So would you do that for me? Make sure I know she’s okay?”

“It’s a promise.”

“Thank you.”

She wasn’t releasing his hand, and just standing there was getting somewhat awkward, so Loving sat beside her on the bed. “Mind if I ask you a question?”

“Depends on what the question is.”

“What happened tonight? Why did you decide… not to work?”

“Oh. It’s nothing that big. Par for the course, really. Tonight’s a big Georgetown party night.”

“Meaning…?”

“You know. Frats. Alumni. Lots of politicos. Come down here for a big whoop-de-do.”

“Sounds awful.”

“Usually it’s okay. And profitable. Lotta the time guys’ll pay for the whole night then fall asleep. They’ll be so drunk or drugged they won’t be able to… you know. Get what they came for. Which is always a pleasant development.”

“I see why you insist on being paid up front.”

“Yeah. But tonight I got some jerk who’d been freebasing. Cocaine. Usually the boss lady spots the druggies and won’t let them through the door. But in all the turmoil and excitement, this guy slipped through the cracks. Started running around the room, screaming that the devil was out to get him. He was gonna die and go to hell. Started breaking things. Hitting me. Nothing serious, but it shook me up pretty bad. Security boys got him out before he did any major damage, but still-”

“Musta scared the bejezus outta you.”

“Well, enough to call it a night.” She smiled. “How come I never get guys like you?”

Loving felt his face turning bright red. “I’m not really a party kinda guy.”

“You’ve got a nice wife at home, don’t you?”

“No. Not anymore.”

“Someone let you go? Big mistake.”

“That was how I saw it, but I guess she disagreed.”

Lucille laughed. She brought a finger to the side of Loving’s face, then slowly traced a line down his neck. “You know, if you really don’t have a girl back home…”