Never Forget The Importance of Style

10. Out of sight, out of mind?

The young man looked around himself in just visible consternation. He was not at all pleased with the sight that met his eyes.

True, the place was a whirl of people, all trying their best to outdo each other in the flashiness of jewelry and gaiety of colors. True, the tables were practically sagging with the weight of the food and drinks loaded on them and arranged in attractive groups that seemed nearly too beautiful to touch. True, the wonderful garlands of greenery and wreaths of flowers spread a delightful mixture of scents in the air that was every now and then stirred by a light breeze entering through the partly open windows. True, the fanficul light of enormous chandeliers illuminated the fantastic scene, the smartly dressed orchestra, the smiles and flirting and pomp. And yet there was something that drew a slight frown between those dark eyebrows and made the gray eyes narrow in displeasure.

Or rather, that something was not there. Among all those tall, elegantly dressed gentlemen one particularly elegant specimen was nowhere in sight, look as one might. The young man slowly picked a glass of Timaschel from a serving table and lifted it to his lips. He took a slow sip, trying to decide on a course of action.

The Inspector was indeed nowhere in sight. That was definitely not a good thing. What did it mean? Perhaps he was merely not attending the party and was instead having a night off? Oh yes indeed, Leone smiled dryly to himself, that was just about as likely as a bloodhound being put off a trail by an offered biscuit. Or perhaps he had been called back from his tedious task to work on something else instead? Again, fat chance. Certainly the man wouldn’t have let himself be distracted so easily. It was only a couple of days since Leone had last exchanged a few words with him and heard nothing, not a hint at anything of the sort. So that was ruled out, nothing so sudden could possibly come up and besides, his superiors would have had to send a couple of exceptionally impressive thugs to bodily haul the Inspector away if they wanted to get him off his chase before the had his quarry.

Which left a third, and the likeliest, possibility. The Inspector had made himself scarce in order to lull his prey into a false sense of security. To lure him indo doing something silly.

Leone snorted quietly. If the man believed his memory so short, he would indeed teach the insolent prig a lesson. Oh, he would succeed — it would just take some more planning, some more cunning, and some taking of risks too.

He nearly chuckled to himself and his spirits soared again. Actually, this only made life more interesting. Everything had been a little too bland, a little too easy of late. A bit of a challenge would, after all, spice life up rather nicely.

He leaned on the low balustrade and surveyed the sight with renewed enthusiasm. There was no denying: it offered a host of fascinating opportunities, if one only knew where to look.