Chapter 60

T amilla and I met up at the Dauphine Hotel that night. She was | decked out in a black leather jacket, blue jeans, a white pocket-T. She looked rested and ready for anything; I didn’t feel so bad myself.
We had supper together, steak and eggs and beer, in the dining room. As always I enjoyed her company. We made each other laugh.  At ten-thirty we drove over to Howl. Daniel and Charles had shows scheduled at eleven and one. And then? Maybe they had planned another clever disappearing act.
We were pumped to take them down. Unfortunately, we still needed concrete evidence that they were our killers¹. There were more than two hundred agents and New Orleans police involved in the case. Something had to break. Presumably, Daniel and Charles would have to feed soon.
It was a Friday night and Howl was almost full when we got there.  Loud music played from speakers that seemed to be everywhere in the ceiling and walls. The crowd was mostly young and restless, drinking beer, smoking, dirty dancing. Several Goths were mixed in with the more clean-cut college kids. The two groups leered at one another and the atmosphere was charged. A photographer from Offbeat³ magazine crouched⁴ in front of the stage, waiting for the show to begin.
Jamilla and I sat down at one of the small tables and ordered Jax beers. There were at least a dozen FBI agents in the club. Kyle was outside in a surveillance car. He had been inside the night before, but it was hard for Kyle to blend in with a mostly young, hip⁵ crowd. He looked too much like a cop.
The back of my throat was already beginning to burn from the smoke and the heavy perfume in the air. A gulp⁶ of beer soothed⁷ the gullet somewhat. My arm and hand still ached some from the bites.  My head was clear, though; I definitely felt a lot better than I had.
I liked having Jamilla around again. She gave good counsel.  ‘Kyle has a six-team surveillance on the magicians around the clock/I told her.’They won’t lose them again. Kyle guarantees it.’ ‘The FBI thinks they’re definitely the killers?’she asked.’No doubt about it? Lock ‘em up, throw away the key?’
‘Some doubt I suppose, but not much. You never know exactly what Kyle is thinking,’! told her.’But yes, I think he believes they are.  The techies at Quantico do. So do I.’
She studied me over the lip of her bottle of Jax. ‘Sounds like the two of you are pretty tight, huh?’
I nodded. ‘We’ve worked a lot of cases together in the past few years. Our success rate is good. I can’t say that I really know him.’ ‘I’ve never had much luck working with the FBI,’ she said. ‘That’s just me though.’
‘Part of my job is to make sure police relations with the Bureau run smoothly⁸ in DC. Kyle is definitely smart. He’s just hard to read at times.’
She sipped⁹ her beer slowly. ‘Unlike somebody else at this table.’ ‘Unlike two somebodies at this table,’! corrected her, and we both laughed.
Jamilla glanced toward the stage. ‘What’s the hold-up? Where are they? Should we start stamping our feet for them to come out and show us some magic? Show us what they’ve got?’ We didn’t have to - a moment later one of the magicians walked out onto the stage.
It was Charles, and he looked like a killer².

1 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 offbeat   

adj.不平常的，离奇的

参考例句：

• She adores old,offbeat antiques.她非常喜欢那些稀奇古怪的老古董。
• His style is offbeat but highly creative.他的风格很不寻常但非常有创造力。

4 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

5 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

6 gulp   

vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽

参考例句：

• She took down the tablets in one gulp.她把那些药片一口吞了下去。
• Don't gulp your food,chew it before you swallow it.吃东西不要狼吞虎咽，要嚼碎了再咽下去。

7 soothed   

v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦

参考例句：

• The music soothed her for a while. 音乐让她稍微安静了一会儿。
• The soft modulation of her voice soothed the infant. 她柔和的声调使婴儿安静了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

9 sipped   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
• I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句