About to open the door, Henry paused. He could feel a life in the hallway; he’d wait until the way was clear. If Tony was all right, if it turned out he was only working late, the fewer people who saw him here the better. Less embarrassing for them both.

Then the life paused outside the door.

And knocked.

Lee Nicholas’ familiar face filled the peephole. The distortion made it difficult to read his expression.

As Henry understood it, Tony and the actor were barely considered coworkers given their respective positions on Darkest Night. While they might be friendly, they were certainly not friends, and no matter how much Tony might want it to be otherwise, it was highly unlikely that anything more than friendship would ever develop between them.

So, what was Lee Nicholas doing at Tony’s door on a Friday night?

Henry smiled. He opened the door, the Hunger held carefully in check. There was always the chance that the actor was controlled by shadow once again and he had no intention of giving away more than he had to.

“Yes?”

The flash of a photogenic smile. “I was looking for Tony Foster.” He was nervous. He hid it well, but Henry could smell it. That, and expensive cologne, was all he could smell—there was no taint of another world.

“Tony’s not home from work yet.”

“That’s strange.” One hand swept up through dark hair. “I heard they quit early today.”

“Early?” Not good.

“Yeah.”

“How early?”

“About . . .” The green eyes narrowed slightly as he looked past Henry’s shoulder. “Who are you?”

And Henry realized that he’d never bothered to turn on the apartment lights. About to explain that he was on his way out, he watched Lee’s gaze track back to the damp patches on the shoulders of his trench coat and decided the truth would serve better than a lie. “I’m looking for him, too.” He held up his own key ring. “I have a key.” Well, most of the truth.

“Oh.” And a visible jump to the wrong conclusion. “Right.”

“Did you want to leave a message?”

“What? No, that’s okay. I, uh . . . I have to . . . um . . . I left my date waiting in the car. I’ll see Tony at the studio on Monday.”

Interesting emphasis; although the date in the car meant this next part had to be quick. He allowed the Hunger to rise to the border of terrifying where coercion waited then caught Lee’s gaze with his and held it. “What do you remember of your time under the control of shadow?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”