[b][color=ed1c24][h1][center]Danielle[/center][/h1][/color][/b][color=ed1c24][h2][center]234 Maiden Lane[/center][/h2][/color][color=ed1c24][h2][center]The Wee Small Hours of the Morning[/center][/h2][/color]

Dani shivered as the wind pierced her peacoat. She sat alone in the courtyard of a high-rise apartment that was quite beautiful to behold, though it paled in comparison to hers. She shakily opened her purse and retrieved her gold-plated lipstick. She needed to look immaculate. She was meeting someone tonight and could not make any mistakes.

“There she is,” remarked a voice from the shadows.

“You made sit in the cold for thirty minutes when I could be warm in your apartment,” muttered Danielle as she began applying the deep red to her lips.

“And what, meet my wife? Don’t make me laugh, Dani,” said the man, who was now visible in the moonlight.

Danielle huffed and folded her arms but did nothing.

“If you don’t like how I play, you can find yourself another agent,” said the rather ordinary looking man. “…though you know what He will do if you break the rules.”

“What do you want?”

“Relax, my dear. I am not here to tell you that this is your last night on Earth. But I am here to warn you.” The man took a seat on the gilded steel chair across the outdoor table from Dani. 

“I get to live another day looking over my shoulder at every turn. What more could I be thankful for?” retorted Danielle.

“You are going to behave, and you are going to treat Him with respect,” said the agent.

Danielle repeated herself. “What do you want?”

“I want to know what you told the two NYPD detectives that paid you a visit.” The agent lit his cigarette and cast a puff of smoke into Dani’s face. “And I want your word that you will never again be stupid enough to use your real name on a ledger in His hunting ground.”

“Word travels fast in Manhattan.”

“It does when you’ve bought the souls of half the NYPD.”

“Yet, for all of your money, your people couldn’t afford Calvin Lovegrove,” said Dani with a smirk now residing on her face.

“Lovegrove… What a joke. If He wasn’t having so much with him, he’d be dead already.”

“...Yet he isn’t.”

The embers of anger began to stir behind the agent’s eyes. “What did you tell them?”

“Nothing. I gave them a dead lead. It will take them weeks to realize that it is a dud.”

“Good. It is fortunate that you made this choice. He was not happy to hear that you were named a person of interest in this case. Another mistake and it will be your last.”

A shiver ran up Danielle’s spine. She’d used up all the goodwill she’d earned with Him, and now she would spend her days obsessing over every tiny detail as if it could be the one that kills her. “Okay.”

“Do these detectives seem competent? Do we have something to worry about?”

“Yes. And no.”

“Explain.”

“Detective Lovegrove is the only cop in the NYPD with the imagination to catch him.” Danielle gestured vaguely at everything around her. “He’s the only one who knows how all of this works.” 

“But?”

“But…like I said, he knows how to play the game. Once he learns the truth—the entire truth—he won’t want to make an arrest.”

The agent chuckled under his breath and took another drag from his cigarette. “Sweetie, even -you- don’t know the entire truth.”

“No. But I know enough.”

“What about the other?”

“Detective Gallagher?” Danielle laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“He’s a stubborn cow of a man. Incorruptible. He'll see it through. Lovegrove may fall into line upon discovering the truth, but Gallagher?” She shook her head. “If they find a way to work together—and that prospect is looking bleak—it will be the closest thing He has to a real adversary.”

“What do you suggest?”

“It’s simple. If you want insurance, kill Gallagher,” said Danielle.

“That simple?”

“Yes. Then He can have all the fun he wants. Calvin may crack the case, but when he truly understands, he will slither back into his hole, and you will have nothing to worry about.”

“You know about his wife, right?”

“I do. How do you?”

“He sent an actor to Ossining General Hospital to pay the detective’s wife a visit. I am sure that wherever Lovegrove is, his mind is not having the best possible time.”

It worried Danielle to hear this. She had used every possible bluff to deflect His interest in removing Calvin Lovegrove, yet what she was hearing was even worse. Evelyn was no adversary of hers. Cal’s wife was the only bit of humanity that he had left, and it wasn’t long for this world. “If you knew enough to pay her a visit, then you know that she is sick. Leave her alone.”

The agent laughed. “Noted, and respectfully declined.”

Furious tears began to well up in Danielle’s eyes. “Fine.”

“We’ll be in touch, my dear. After all, you need a new movie to occupy your time. This work drought has given you too much time to [i]think[/i].” With that, the agent disappeared into the high-rise to his family, one that was blissfully unaware of what was being built here.