kalinara (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kalinara) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
i_read_what2019-06-17 12:00 am
kalinara) wrote in i_read_what2019-06-17 12:00 am
Bloodlist - Chapter Seven - It's Not A Real Date If No One Gets Stabbed
So last chapter, Jack and Escott blew up a building, had a heart to heart, and Escott got stabbed, as one does.
So this chapter starts off with Dr. Clarson, a doctor who doesn't apparently mind patching up strange white guys at two in the morning. Jack doesn't elaborate on how he met Dr. Clarson, but seeing as how Shoe is also present, we can draw some conclusions.
Jack notes the blood all around and how if vampire literature were accurate, he should be feeling something "other than sick horror". We're told that both Jack and Shoe cleaned up as best as they could in the bathroom, and that, as yet, Shoe hasn't asked for explanations.
We get a flashback of sorts, showcasing what happened: basically Jack gets Escott into the car, Escott tells him to get Shoe, and Jack, not having any better ideas, books it to the nightclub, the Shoe Box. Apparently Dr. Clarson had been at the Shoe Box. Presumably, he hadn't been drinking. Clarson directs them to his office.
Jack doesn't seem to do well with waiting, and to preoccupy himself, he focuses on pretending to breathe, so Shoe won't notice the lack like Escott did. He's very very worried about Escott. Anyway, eventually Clarson comes out and Shoe finally asks what happened. Jack gives him the basic version (sans vampiric details). Clarson tells them that since Escott won't be "kicking off just yet" he doesn't mind keeping it between themselves. Clarson directs that they leave Escott with him tonight and let him rest. He'll call the club if there's trouble. Escott's popular with Shoe's people: Cal, the kid who guided them a few chapters ago, really wants to see him (but Escott is out cold, so he's denied).
Jack and Shoe chat a bit. Jack learns that Cal, and a few other boys his age, actually live at the Shoe Box. Apparently Shoe's sister looks after them. Shoe keeps them working and going to school, though he doesn't force them to do anything they don't want, and they can leave when they like.
There's a moment where Jack remembers he's a reporter, and has the thought of an article: "Bronze Belt Boys' Town", but he has bigger things on his mind. Shoe gives Jack a ride home and tries to warn him off messing with Morelli. But Jack is determined.
Anyway, back at the hotel, Jack spends the rest of the night staring at the ceiling from the bed, then takes to his trunk. The next night, he phones Shoe, who had apparently tried to call earlier in the day: Escott's weak but went home. There's a new address. Jack apologizes to Shoe for putting Escott through it, but Shoe only blames the dude with the knife. Aw. I forgot how much I liked Jack and Shoe's dynamic, even without Escott.
So Jack goes to see Escott in a respectable middle-class neighborhood. Cal is there, greets Jack, and Escott inside corrects his grammar. He's lying on a sofa in a bathrobe, looking tired, but is happy to see Jack. He offers tea (because Cal is there) and they have small talk while Jack checks out the place. It's...interesting.
"At second look, the place only seemed cramped. The high ceilings made the floor area appear smaller in proportion. The floor was highly polished, reflecting the lamplight and a few comfortable old pieces of furniture. Several pictures hung by long wires from the upper moldings. They were all large mediocre prints of naked women reclining on clouds with naked babies and doves, and were hardly consistent with Escott's character."
Jack asks if it came furnished. Basically yes. Unsurprisingly, it was a bordello. Escott just hasn't gotten around to cleaning out the old furniture and decorations. We're also told that Shoe thinks Escott should talk Jack out of pursuing his case and go to the police. I wonder how realistic advice that would have been from a black man in the 1930s. But then, it's advice he's giving to two white men, so I guess it makes sense. Both Jack and Escott know why Jack can't go to the police though. Jack tries to apologize for what happened again, but Escott isn't having it.
He's also not taking his pain pills. When Cal brings them and leaves, he spits them into a handkerchief. He's seen what morphine does to people, and he'd prefer the pain. They discuss the incident and Jack's plan to go to the Nightcrawler the next night.
Jack goes to the Stockyards and muses about feeding. He's no longer squeamish about it. Apparently the first time had been too panicked, but the second time, he was rational enough to balk. Now though, he's getting used to the idea, relating it to a practical habit like brushing his teeth. He then goes to find an all night theatre and watches the Scarlet Pimpernel three times (He's rooting for Chauvelin by the end). Then he reads the papers. His ad to Maureen is still out there, but still no response.
We see Jack get ready for his night club expedition: tuxedo (we're told Jack is one of those lucky people who can buy things off the rack), some cash (most is staying in the trunk), and a new wallet with a pasteboard with the name "Gerald Fleming" inside. Jack notes that it's useless as a real ID, of course, but better than nothing.
So now the Nightcrawler is bright and bustling with people. Jack is stopped by a doorman who he describes as an "agile mountain disguised as a man in a tuxedo". Jack plays young and innocent, and the doorman lets him in. There's a moment where Jack wishes Escott was along, because he misses his confidence. Aw.
Jack starts to get nervous, but then a "silly looking woman" who seems to be drunk or maybe high, latches onto him, and drags him inside. She deems him "tall and cute". Jack disagrees with the last part but lets her drag him in before making his escape. He notes that there are a lot of stunning blonds working there, most of them platinum. So Slick Morelli is the past incarnation of Christian Grey? Ick.
Jack pretends to drink and notices some attractive girls giving him the once over. But this, I think, betrays that a woman wrote this: Jack admits he's not that handsome, the girls are "working girls", meaning sex workers. It's a little thing, but I think even most decent male authors wouldn't be able to resist a little self-insert wish-fulfillment here. The girls might still be sex workers, but our hero would be virile enough that at least a few would be interested anyway, and we'd somehow be made aware of this.
Jack's attention is caught by the singer: another platinum blond in a long silvery gown. She's singing "something sad and shallow in a voice that was surprisingly good, filling the room and hushing even the worst drunks." Jack tells us that whenever he meets a woman, he mentally compares her to Maureen. It occurs to me that Jack really hasn't had any substantial interactions with women in this book yet, not counting the silly looking girl. That's something the book could definitely improve on (and does, if I recall correctly). Anyway, the singer is holding her own.
It's interesting: the idea that Jack constantly compares women to Maureen could easily come across as assholish, and probably would if Jack were the sort to check out women to the same level of detail as say, Harry Dresden. Here, though, we actually don't know that much about what Bobbi (that's the singer's name) looks like. We know she has long hair and is wearing something long and silvery. But we got more detail about Escott's appearance. We get more detail about Bobbi's singing than her looks.
I feel like this is another point where you can tell the book was written by a woman. It would be so easy to have Jack objectify Bobbi here (I remember similar scenes from the Dresden Files), but we hear nothing about her breast size or her hips, or any of the usual bits. It doesn't really matter. What does matter is that this is the first time Jack's seen a woman, mentally compared her to Maureen, and felt like this woman held her own. I feel like that's supposed to tell us more about Jack than Bobbi at this stage. And it does.
Anyway, a serving girl notices Jack's reaction to the performance and notes that "Bobbi always knocks 'em dead." Jack gets a bit more information from her: where Bobbi lived, where she gets off work, the time of her next number, the gambling rooms and how to get inside.
That's creepy, Jack.
However, Jack IS here for a case. And hasn't been an overtly objectifying asshole. So I'm willing to cautiously give him the benefit of the doubt here. I still don't think he needed to know where she lived though.
So Jack heads to a gambling room. It's luxurious. The kind of place he'd never been able to afford. He gets some chips and looks around. There's nothing that sparks a memory, so he starts playing Blackjack.
As it turns out vampirism is really useful when it comes to cheating at cards: especially when you can hear the heart rates. It gives Jack enough leverage to win more than he loses. (There are other players and the fall of the cards makes it impossible for Jack to keep winning). He gets a thousand dollars and a new potential career path. Then he spots Bobbi at the slots.
Bobbi is annoyed to be watched so closely, and refuses the offer of a cigarette. She also pre-emptively cuts off any flirtation Jack might offer. Jack notes that, at least, she was talking to him, even if she wasn't saying anything he liked to hear. Um.
Fortunately, though, he's not being creepy for the sake of being creepy. Even though that's how it came across at first. He really is trying to get information from her. And find out how much she knows. He asks after Slick Morelli (Bobbi asks if he thinks she's the hostess), and drops his name, as well as his "brother's". To his relief, the names mean nothing to her. She does however react when he mentions "Jack" being on the Elvira. Clearly, she knows what happens to people out there, even if she doesn't recognize the name specifically.
He presses her a bit more: mentions Sanderson and Paco, which scares her. When he says that knows Slick killed his brother, she's even more scared. He tells her that he has something Morelli wants, though he doesn't tell her what. When she gets annoyed by that, he says that he didn't think she wants her to be in the middle of things. When she asks why he cares, he says that she reminds him of someone. And "She was afraid sometimes, too."
Jack leaves after that, proving, thankfully that his initial pushiness and creep-factor behavior was about the info (and planting word in Morelli's ear) than anything else. He IS attracted to Bobbi, but because of Maureen, he's feeling guilty about it. He also notes that Bobbi is vulnerable and trying very hard to hide it.
He starts observing a poker game, where a very bald, fat man with a tangled brown beard keeps winning. Jack is invited to play, but he'd prefer to watch. He doesn't care for poker, and he doesn't think his heartbeat trick will work on veterans like this. He "mentally plays a hand" against the fat man, and loses repeatedly. Finally, Jack leaves to play more blackjack. He wins fifty-eight hundred dollars. Which as we know from before is a SHIT TON in modern day money.
And then Bobbi sits down beside him, sending the dealer away. She notes that Jack gave up on her pretty fast, and wants to know why? Jack says he thought that's what she wanted. She indicates that she doesn't know what she wants. She leads him away from the table. Though he notes again that she's very beautiful and the first woman he's wanted in a very long time. Once they're secluded, he kisses her, but quickly realizes that her mind is in a trance.
Thankfully, Jack wasn't a rapist before death and isn't about to be one now, even if his powers could make it very easy. He notes that Maureen never used this ability. She wanted a willing partner, not a slave. As Bobbi snaps out of it, Jack goes to leave, but she stops him.
Basically, she had to tell Slick what Jack said, and Slick sent her after Jack. She offers to tell him that Jack (or rather Gerald) got wise and ran. She's willing to take the risk though. Jack kisses her again, and this time she responds. She tells him that this isn't Slick's plan, and he knows. She offers to meet him tomorrow, but Jack has to talk to Slick first.
Bobbi is miserable: this isn't the first time that Slick has made her leave with a man, specifically so that he'd be seen leaving the club. He apparently told her it was a joke, but Bobbi's smart enough to realize what's really going on.
Jack says he'll oblige but that they'll leave Bobbi out of it. She tells him that she really doesn't know anything about his brother, but that two weeks ago Slick spent a few days on his yacht and came back exhausted and angry. Jack hugs her, and they exchange smiles. We're told that this is the first time Jack felt alive in years.
So we've FINALLY gotten a female presence in the book. She is the love interest, to be fair. As I recall, later books in the series are better at giving us more female characters. I like Bobbi though. My OT3 is finally all introduced!
I admit, their first interaction had me VERY nervous. I like Jack a lot and I did NOT want to see him be another pushy douchebag who can't take no for an answer. And it really did look like that at first, though thankfully, he left her alone as soon as he got the information he needed. It helped a lot that the next advance was Bobbi's.
And weirdly, that brief moment of mind control helped a lot too. To be fair, I don't think any decent hero would intentionally use mind control powers on a woman and think that was okay. But after the pushiness in the earlier scene, it helped to see him outright recoil from what he was accidentally doing and try to leave. We're establishing a baseline where Jack isn't that kind of guy, and that's good.
So in terms of the relationship dynamic here, it works for me so far. It's a very sudden thing, which probably suits the pseudo-noir tone. Jack's attraction is instant, but it seems as much about what she expresses (the sad, shallow song), and her prickly defensiveness as it is about her beauty. As I said above, it was a nice touch to spend as much time describing her singing as her appearance, because it gives the impression that Jack is attracted to more than just her looks. As I said, I think the idea that Bobbi is the only woman that holds her own against Maureen is not supposed to tell us that much about BOBBI. She's beautiful, sure, but in five years, I'm sure Jack has met other beautiful women. But Jack has just gone through a change in season, and maybe, just maybe, he's starting to be ready to get out of that holding pattern he's been in since Maureen left. (And isn't that an interesting switch to the usual. Instead of Vampirism as the eternal, static state, it represents the dynamic force pulling Jack OUT of a static state.)
Bobbi's side is the harder, I think, because she has to go from annoyance to believable attachment in only a couple of pages. I think it does work.
I think that there are three things that Jack does, that gets Bobbi's attention. 1) That he was so quick to leave her alone once he got the information he needed. Bobbi is clearly someone who's had to put up with a LOT of aggressive admirers. And while that initial scene was uncomfortable and felt long, the actual dialogue was probably only a minute or two. 2) His comment about her being afraid too. It showed he saw her but wasn't going to press an advantage against her. 3) the fact that he knew that Morelli sent her and wasn't judging her for it.
The implication I get from this is that poor Bobbi has set a reasonably low bar for men to pass, but very few men in her acquaintance actually manage to clear that bar. So Jack gets her attention a lot sooner than he might have under ordinary circumstances.
So this chapter starts off with Dr. Clarson, a doctor who doesn't apparently mind patching up strange white guys at two in the morning. Jack doesn't elaborate on how he met Dr. Clarson, but seeing as how Shoe is also present, we can draw some conclusions.
Jack notes the blood all around and how if vampire literature were accurate, he should be feeling something "other than sick horror". We're told that both Jack and Shoe cleaned up as best as they could in the bathroom, and that, as yet, Shoe hasn't asked for explanations.
We get a flashback of sorts, showcasing what happened: basically Jack gets Escott into the car, Escott tells him to get Shoe, and Jack, not having any better ideas, books it to the nightclub, the Shoe Box. Apparently Dr. Clarson had been at the Shoe Box. Presumably, he hadn't been drinking. Clarson directs them to his office.
Jack doesn't seem to do well with waiting, and to preoccupy himself, he focuses on pretending to breathe, so Shoe won't notice the lack like Escott did. He's very very worried about Escott. Anyway, eventually Clarson comes out and Shoe finally asks what happened. Jack gives him the basic version (sans vampiric details). Clarson tells them that since Escott won't be "kicking off just yet" he doesn't mind keeping it between themselves. Clarson directs that they leave Escott with him tonight and let him rest. He'll call the club if there's trouble. Escott's popular with Shoe's people: Cal, the kid who guided them a few chapters ago, really wants to see him (but Escott is out cold, so he's denied).
Jack and Shoe chat a bit. Jack learns that Cal, and a few other boys his age, actually live at the Shoe Box. Apparently Shoe's sister looks after them. Shoe keeps them working and going to school, though he doesn't force them to do anything they don't want, and they can leave when they like.
There's a moment where Jack remembers he's a reporter, and has the thought of an article: "Bronze Belt Boys' Town", but he has bigger things on his mind. Shoe gives Jack a ride home and tries to warn him off messing with Morelli. But Jack is determined.
Anyway, back at the hotel, Jack spends the rest of the night staring at the ceiling from the bed, then takes to his trunk. The next night, he phones Shoe, who had apparently tried to call earlier in the day: Escott's weak but went home. There's a new address. Jack apologizes to Shoe for putting Escott through it, but Shoe only blames the dude with the knife. Aw. I forgot how much I liked Jack and Shoe's dynamic, even without Escott.
So Jack goes to see Escott in a respectable middle-class neighborhood. Cal is there, greets Jack, and Escott inside corrects his grammar. He's lying on a sofa in a bathrobe, looking tired, but is happy to see Jack. He offers tea (because Cal is there) and they have small talk while Jack checks out the place. It's...interesting.
"At second look, the place only seemed cramped. The high ceilings made the floor area appear smaller in proportion. The floor was highly polished, reflecting the lamplight and a few comfortable old pieces of furniture. Several pictures hung by long wires from the upper moldings. They were all large mediocre prints of naked women reclining on clouds with naked babies and doves, and were hardly consistent with Escott's character."
Jack asks if it came furnished. Basically yes. Unsurprisingly, it was a bordello. Escott just hasn't gotten around to cleaning out the old furniture and decorations. We're also told that Shoe thinks Escott should talk Jack out of pursuing his case and go to the police. I wonder how realistic advice that would have been from a black man in the 1930s. But then, it's advice he's giving to two white men, so I guess it makes sense. Both Jack and Escott know why Jack can't go to the police though. Jack tries to apologize for what happened again, but Escott isn't having it.
He's also not taking his pain pills. When Cal brings them and leaves, he spits them into a handkerchief. He's seen what morphine does to people, and he'd prefer the pain. They discuss the incident and Jack's plan to go to the Nightcrawler the next night.
Jack goes to the Stockyards and muses about feeding. He's no longer squeamish about it. Apparently the first time had been too panicked, but the second time, he was rational enough to balk. Now though, he's getting used to the idea, relating it to a practical habit like brushing his teeth. He then goes to find an all night theatre and watches the Scarlet Pimpernel three times (He's rooting for Chauvelin by the end). Then he reads the papers. His ad to Maureen is still out there, but still no response.
We see Jack get ready for his night club expedition: tuxedo (we're told Jack is one of those lucky people who can buy things off the rack), some cash (most is staying in the trunk), and a new wallet with a pasteboard with the name "Gerald Fleming" inside. Jack notes that it's useless as a real ID, of course, but better than nothing.
So now the Nightcrawler is bright and bustling with people. Jack is stopped by a doorman who he describes as an "agile mountain disguised as a man in a tuxedo". Jack plays young and innocent, and the doorman lets him in. There's a moment where Jack wishes Escott was along, because he misses his confidence. Aw.
Jack starts to get nervous, but then a "silly looking woman" who seems to be drunk or maybe high, latches onto him, and drags him inside. She deems him "tall and cute". Jack disagrees with the last part but lets her drag him in before making his escape. He notes that there are a lot of stunning blonds working there, most of them platinum. So Slick Morelli is the past incarnation of Christian Grey? Ick.
Jack pretends to drink and notices some attractive girls giving him the once over. But this, I think, betrays that a woman wrote this: Jack admits he's not that handsome, the girls are "working girls", meaning sex workers. It's a little thing, but I think even most decent male authors wouldn't be able to resist a little self-insert wish-fulfillment here. The girls might still be sex workers, but our hero would be virile enough that at least a few would be interested anyway, and we'd somehow be made aware of this.
Jack's attention is caught by the singer: another platinum blond in a long silvery gown. She's singing "something sad and shallow in a voice that was surprisingly good, filling the room and hushing even the worst drunks." Jack tells us that whenever he meets a woman, he mentally compares her to Maureen. It occurs to me that Jack really hasn't had any substantial interactions with women in this book yet, not counting the silly looking girl. That's something the book could definitely improve on (and does, if I recall correctly). Anyway, the singer is holding her own.
It's interesting: the idea that Jack constantly compares women to Maureen could easily come across as assholish, and probably would if Jack were the sort to check out women to the same level of detail as say, Harry Dresden. Here, though, we actually don't know that much about what Bobbi (that's the singer's name) looks like. We know she has long hair and is wearing something long and silvery. But we got more detail about Escott's appearance. We get more detail about Bobbi's singing than her looks.
I feel like this is another point where you can tell the book was written by a woman. It would be so easy to have Jack objectify Bobbi here (I remember similar scenes from the Dresden Files), but we hear nothing about her breast size or her hips, or any of the usual bits. It doesn't really matter. What does matter is that this is the first time Jack's seen a woman, mentally compared her to Maureen, and felt like this woman held her own. I feel like that's supposed to tell us more about Jack than Bobbi at this stage. And it does.
Anyway, a serving girl notices Jack's reaction to the performance and notes that "Bobbi always knocks 'em dead." Jack gets a bit more information from her: where Bobbi lived, where she gets off work, the time of her next number, the gambling rooms and how to get inside.
That's creepy, Jack.
However, Jack IS here for a case. And hasn't been an overtly objectifying asshole. So I'm willing to cautiously give him the benefit of the doubt here. I still don't think he needed to know where she lived though.
So Jack heads to a gambling room. It's luxurious. The kind of place he'd never been able to afford. He gets some chips and looks around. There's nothing that sparks a memory, so he starts playing Blackjack.
As it turns out vampirism is really useful when it comes to cheating at cards: especially when you can hear the heart rates. It gives Jack enough leverage to win more than he loses. (There are other players and the fall of the cards makes it impossible for Jack to keep winning). He gets a thousand dollars and a new potential career path. Then he spots Bobbi at the slots.
Bobbi is annoyed to be watched so closely, and refuses the offer of a cigarette. She also pre-emptively cuts off any flirtation Jack might offer. Jack notes that, at least, she was talking to him, even if she wasn't saying anything he liked to hear. Um.
Fortunately, though, he's not being creepy for the sake of being creepy. Even though that's how it came across at first. He really is trying to get information from her. And find out how much she knows. He asks after Slick Morelli (Bobbi asks if he thinks she's the hostess), and drops his name, as well as his "brother's". To his relief, the names mean nothing to her. She does however react when he mentions "Jack" being on the Elvira. Clearly, she knows what happens to people out there, even if she doesn't recognize the name specifically.
He presses her a bit more: mentions Sanderson and Paco, which scares her. When he says that knows Slick killed his brother, she's even more scared. He tells her that he has something Morelli wants, though he doesn't tell her what. When she gets annoyed by that, he says that he didn't think she wants her to be in the middle of things. When she asks why he cares, he says that she reminds him of someone. And "She was afraid sometimes, too."
Jack leaves after that, proving, thankfully that his initial pushiness and creep-factor behavior was about the info (and planting word in Morelli's ear) than anything else. He IS attracted to Bobbi, but because of Maureen, he's feeling guilty about it. He also notes that Bobbi is vulnerable and trying very hard to hide it.
He starts observing a poker game, where a very bald, fat man with a tangled brown beard keeps winning. Jack is invited to play, but he'd prefer to watch. He doesn't care for poker, and he doesn't think his heartbeat trick will work on veterans like this. He "mentally plays a hand" against the fat man, and loses repeatedly. Finally, Jack leaves to play more blackjack. He wins fifty-eight hundred dollars. Which as we know from before is a SHIT TON in modern day money.
And then Bobbi sits down beside him, sending the dealer away. She notes that Jack gave up on her pretty fast, and wants to know why? Jack says he thought that's what she wanted. She indicates that she doesn't know what she wants. She leads him away from the table. Though he notes again that she's very beautiful and the first woman he's wanted in a very long time. Once they're secluded, he kisses her, but quickly realizes that her mind is in a trance.
Thankfully, Jack wasn't a rapist before death and isn't about to be one now, even if his powers could make it very easy. He notes that Maureen never used this ability. She wanted a willing partner, not a slave. As Bobbi snaps out of it, Jack goes to leave, but she stops him.
Basically, she had to tell Slick what Jack said, and Slick sent her after Jack. She offers to tell him that Jack (or rather Gerald) got wise and ran. She's willing to take the risk though. Jack kisses her again, and this time she responds. She tells him that this isn't Slick's plan, and he knows. She offers to meet him tomorrow, but Jack has to talk to Slick first.
Bobbi is miserable: this isn't the first time that Slick has made her leave with a man, specifically so that he'd be seen leaving the club. He apparently told her it was a joke, but Bobbi's smart enough to realize what's really going on.
Jack says he'll oblige but that they'll leave Bobbi out of it. She tells him that she really doesn't know anything about his brother, but that two weeks ago Slick spent a few days on his yacht and came back exhausted and angry. Jack hugs her, and they exchange smiles. We're told that this is the first time Jack felt alive in years.
So we've FINALLY gotten a female presence in the book. She is the love interest, to be fair. As I recall, later books in the series are better at giving us more female characters. I like Bobbi though. My OT3 is finally all introduced!
I admit, their first interaction had me VERY nervous. I like Jack a lot and I did NOT want to see him be another pushy douchebag who can't take no for an answer. And it really did look like that at first, though thankfully, he left her alone as soon as he got the information he needed. It helped a lot that the next advance was Bobbi's.
And weirdly, that brief moment of mind control helped a lot too. To be fair, I don't think any decent hero would intentionally use mind control powers on a woman and think that was okay. But after the pushiness in the earlier scene, it helped to see him outright recoil from what he was accidentally doing and try to leave. We're establishing a baseline where Jack isn't that kind of guy, and that's good.
So in terms of the relationship dynamic here, it works for me so far. It's a very sudden thing, which probably suits the pseudo-noir tone. Jack's attraction is instant, but it seems as much about what she expresses (the sad, shallow song), and her prickly defensiveness as it is about her beauty. As I said above, it was a nice touch to spend as much time describing her singing as her appearance, because it gives the impression that Jack is attracted to more than just her looks. As I said, I think the idea that Bobbi is the only woman that holds her own against Maureen is not supposed to tell us that much about BOBBI. She's beautiful, sure, but in five years, I'm sure Jack has met other beautiful women. But Jack has just gone through a change in season, and maybe, just maybe, he's starting to be ready to get out of that holding pattern he's been in since Maureen left. (And isn't that an interesting switch to the usual. Instead of Vampirism as the eternal, static state, it represents the dynamic force pulling Jack OUT of a static state.)
Bobbi's side is the harder, I think, because she has to go from annoyance to believable attachment in only a couple of pages. I think it does work.
I think that there are three things that Jack does, that gets Bobbi's attention. 1) That he was so quick to leave her alone once he got the information he needed. Bobbi is clearly someone who's had to put up with a LOT of aggressive admirers. And while that initial scene was uncomfortable and felt long, the actual dialogue was probably only a minute or two. 2) His comment about her being afraid too. It showed he saw her but wasn't going to press an advantage against her. 3) the fact that he knew that Morelli sent her and wasn't judging her for it.
The implication I get from this is that poor Bobbi has set a reasonably low bar for men to pass, but very few men in her acquaintance actually manage to clear that bar. So Jack gets her attention a lot sooner than he might have under ordinary circumstances.