Dust to Dust by Heather Graham Page B

end, and she hadn’t really seen a minute of it, Melanie realized.
    She looked around. Lucien was already gone. She looked over at Maggie and Sean.
    â€œHe’s gone off to meet your new buddy, Scott,” Maggie said.
    â€œOh.”
    It should have made her happy. Lucien would find out who—or what—he was.
    Instead, she felt a growing sense of unease. Something had begun that she couldn’t stop. She was on a roller coaster, and there was no getting off.
    Why me? she wondered. Why not Lucien, who’s so capable, so wise, who’s learned so much through the years? Why not Lucien, who already knows the nun in Rome who might have the answers?
    â€œThat was wonderful, and it was so delightful that you all joined us,” Judy said.
    â€œOur pleasure,” Sean assured her.
    â€œBut we’d best be getting on home now,” Maggie said.
    â€œSo, Blake, you know those guys we met this evening from a police case?” Sean asked, ignoring her hint.
    â€œYup. Strangest damned thing, and sad,” Blake said. “An old couple was attacked by a group of thugs. Scott and two friends of his—Zach, who was here tonight and another guy—were visiting L.A. and saw what was happening, so they tried to help. They got beat up, too—plenty good. But they didn’t run. They really wanted to save that old couple. We caught the killers, though, and the trial’s coming up in a few months. We’ll need all three of them to put those bastards away for murder. He’s quite a guy—I hadn’t realized he’d moved out here. He’s one of the good ones, you know?”
    One of the good ones. Blake thought so, and she believed in Blake.
    But he’d been in Lucien’s dream, a dream of darkness and death.
    She felt Maggie’s hand on her shoulder. “Time to be getting on home,” she said.
    â€œWhere’d Lucien get to?” Blake asked.
    â€œOh, don’t worry about him,” Sean said. “He’ll find his way.”
    They’d been packing up as they talked. Now they picked up the ice chest and the rest of their supplies and headed out of Hollywood Forever, along with the throng. People were chatting about the movie, the quake, work, meeting for dinner or drinks, and Melanie loved it, loved to feel herself a part of it.
    But after they left Judy and Blake and were sitting in Melanie’s car, with Sean driving, the silence between them suddenly seemed heavy with doom.
    â€œYou’re going to be fine,” Maggie said suddenly.
    â€œYou know, I can always take some time off from work and go to Rome,” Sean said. “I mean, we could go to Rome with Melanie,” he amended.
    â€œNo,” Maggie said. “I think this is something Melanie has to do alone. We’ll see what Lucien says when he gets back.” She hesitated. “I think that maybe…well, we may be needed here.”
    â€œMaggie, stop,” Melanie groaned.
    â€œI wish I could,” Maggie said.
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    Despite the fact that around a thousand people were leaving the cemetery all at once, Scott wasn’t surprised that Lucien found him. Zach was preoccupied with Suki and her friends, and he didn’t even seem to notice when Scott said that he was going to take Lucien down Sunset for a drink.
    He knew a hole-in-the-wall place where the music was live but low-key. Loud enough to keep others from overhearing their conversation, soft enough that they could actually hear each other. Once they were settled in a corner booth, the man finally asked the question he’d been waiting for.
    â€œSo, what’s your story?”
    â€œWhy don’t we start with you?” Scott suggested, taking a swig of the long-neck he had ordered.
    â€œWhat’s your role in all this?” Hell, the man had to be wrapped up in it somehow—Scott had seen himlong before they had met. In a dream. A dream about catacombs and