Page 6 of Kill Your Darlings

But, I mean, how did I know if it was his favorite jacket?He wore it at the conferences we’d attended together, and that amounted to less than a fraction of both our lives.The truth was, I knew as little about Finn as he knew about me.So, let’s not pretend this had ever been anything more than a semi-regular hookup.

Finn glanced away from Kyle, spotted me and just for a second his expression was unreadable.He was still smiling, though, so maybe I was looking for subtext where there was none.

I lifted the corners of my mouth, crinkled the corners of my eyes as I joined their little circle.

The blond, who was indeed male and older than he’d looked from afar (which was about thirteen) nodded coolly.He had fierce blue eyes behind wood square glasses.His thick hair was platinum blond, cut in a trendy men’s fringe haircut that I couldn’t help thinking made him look a bit like Howl Jenkins Pendragon.

Finn was saying, “Keiran, do you know Hayes?”

I was pretty sure I’d seen Hayes’s photo inPublisher’s Weekly, but I couldn’t quite place him.Edgy-crime-writer-wunderkind-prone-to-violent-excess would have been my first guess.

I said, “I’m not sure…”

“No.”Hayes cut across the polite tergiversating.His voice was flat.

Kyle, who I suspected lived a sheltered life, looked taken aback.

I quirked a brow at Finn, said lightly, “No.”

There was a flicker of amusement in Finn’s gaze.He made the introductions—he was a social and civil guy—which you don’t really expect from cops or even ex-cops.Although, Joseph Wambaugh was about as nice a guy as you could hope to meet.

“Keir, this is Hayes Hartman.Hayes, Keiran Chandler is senior editor at Millbrook House.”

“I know,” Hayes said, still cool, still flat.“He’s your editor.”

I almost said,out of curiosity,which of your manuscripts did I turn down?But that would have been bitchy, and there were plenty of other reasons Hartman might have taken a dislike to me.Like the one he was currently brushing shoulders with.

Well, in the interests of accuracy, his head only reached Finn’s shoulder.

I shifted my gaze from them.We were positioned right across from the lobby bar, and I spotted Rachel.She’d successfully tracked down Adrien English, but instead of hauling him off to dinner, she’d joined the group that now included Christopher Holmes, J.X.Moriarity, and Mindy Newburgh.Their laughter floated across the lobby.

Finn said, “Hayes is up for an Edgar.Best First Novel by An American Author.”

“Excellent!”I said.

Hartman curled his lip.

What was with this kid?Was he teething?

I said, “Kyle’s up for Best Paperback Original.”

There was a little twinkle in Finn’s eyes.“I know.”Finn was also up for Best Paperback Original.He added to Kyle, “My money’s on you.”

Kyle spluttered a laugh of protest.

“Are you attending the banquet?”Hartman asked him.

“No.”Kyle said, and I sighed, which brought that humorous glint to Finn’s eyes again.That easy sense of humor was one of the things that had had attracted me to Finn’s writing.It was one of the things that had attracted me to Finn.

“Me neither,” Hartman said.“I can’t stand the whole obsession with bullshit celebrity PR.If I win, I’m going to return the statue with a rejection letter.”

“Who’s your publisher?”I couldn’t help asking.

“Black Fig Editions.”

Ah, yes.I knew the name if not the catalog.Their advertising tagline was:Decadent.Disruptive.Noir.

Because, ofcourseit was.

---