by Kait Nolan
She plucked a menu out from between the napkin holder and a ketchup bottle and spun around on the stool to survey the bar’s patrons, still trying to find her sister. Instinctively she started categorizing people, pausing on each of the Mirus to identify their race. Felis. Witch. A couple of vampires. Was that a selkie? Damn, he was way far south. They tended to prefer colder climates.
The band had moved on to something more upbeat. Sophie observed, assessed, and paused when she saw a small plastic packet of bright yellow powder and a wad of cash changing hands.
Oh come on. Seriously? You’re going to sell drugs right under the nose of the IED?
Not that they were aware she was part of the Investigation and Enforcement Division since she was in plainclothes and wasn’t flashing her badge. And she wouldn’t unless it became absolutely necessary. Getting recognized as an agent while she extricated Liza from her latest harebrained adventure was the last thing she needed. It’d be just her luck that somebody would report back to headquarters and get her ass canned for her sister’s actions, what with the Council’s whole thou shalt not let humans know we exist edict.
“What else can I get you?”
The bartender was back, and Sophie realized she hadn’t even looked at the menu. She turned back around and studiously pretended she hadn’t been ogling him a minute ago. “I’m looking for someone.”
“Ain’t we all, chère?” His mouth curved into a smile with enough kilowatts to fry an alligator.
Put that away, Cajun, Sophie thought as her blood heated with something other than temper. “One of your staff members, actually. Liza Cunningham?”
The smile didn’t fade, but his eyes chilled. “What you be wantin’ with Liza?” Suspicion snaked around the easy tone, but Sophie couldn’t tell whether it was in the name of saving his own ass or something else.
What are you hiding?
While she debated for a long moment about whether to reveal their family connection, another of the waitresses leaned over. “I tried Liza again from my cell, Mick. Still no answer. Looks like we’ll be doing without her tonight. I need a long neck Michelob . . . ”
Sophie tuned out the order. Her brain was too busy focusing on what the girl had just said. Liza wasn’t here. She wasn’t answering her cell or her house phone. Sophie had tried both, of course, several times since she’d left Atlanta, but she’d assumed Liza was screening her calls and knew perfectly well that her ass was gonna wind up in a sling. But if she wasn’t answering for work and hadn’t called in . . . Well, that wasn’t like her. She might have a wild hair, as their mother was liable to say, but she always met her responsibilities.
When Mick finished handing over the latest order of drinks to the waitress, Sophie pulled out her badge. “Is there somewhere we can talk in private?”
Excerpt
Club Blood
By Lauralynn Elliott
Kerry walked into the captain’s office the next morning dreading the meeting with her new partner. She didn’t want a new partner. She wanted Roger back. It was an unrealistic and childish thought, but that’s the way she felt. She sighed and pushed open the door, trying to put a blank expression on her face. She didn’t want to show any emotion to the new guy…she didn’t want to let him into her life at all if the truth was known.
She entered the office slowly and glanced at the man standing in front of the captain’s desk.
“Oh, there you are,” said Captain Bruce. “I want you to meet your new partner, Ethan James. Detective James, this is Detective Kerry Harrison.”
Detective James smiled at her and held out his hand. She reluctantly took it, gave it a quick shake, and let go. She couldn’t believe her bad luck. This guy was a real hottie. He was probably so stuck on himself that he thought every woman wanted him. He had black hair, sapphire blue eyes, and unusually pale skin that was so flawless that it made him look as if he was chiseled from marble. He was wearing a charcoal gray suit that fit him like it was sewn directly onto him, and he carried himself with an air of self assurance that made Kerry dislike him immediately. He made her feel sloppy in her jeans and black silk t-shirt.
“It’s nice to meet you, Detective,” he said to her. “I’m glad we’ll be working together.”
“How do you know you’ll be glad? You don’t even know me. I may be a real….”
“Detective Harrison!” admonished Captain Bruce.
Kerry sighed and managed to look sheepish. “I’m sorry. I was out of line. I just lost my partner and I’m still pretty messed up about it.”
“I understand, Detective. No offense taken.”
“Please, if we’re going to be working together, you probably should call me Kerry.”
“And I’m Ethan.”
Captain Bruce cleared his throat. “Now that the niceties have been taken care of, we need to get down to business. Here’s the file on the case I want you two working on. As you can see, there was a girl found murdered in the home of Gerard Stokes, one of the wealthiest men in this area.”
“You mean the Stokes that owns all those old fancy hotels all over the country?”
“That’s the one. Mr. Stokes says that he was asleep when the murder was committed. He tends to be a night owl so he was sleeping late. When he woke up and went down to the living room, she was there on the floor with her throat cut. So here’s the strange part. There was almost no blood left in her body. It was like when whoever did it cut her throat, they drained all the blood and took it with them. I want you two to go over there and talk to Mr. Stokes. He hasn’t been arrested yet, but it’s probably inevitable. We’re just waiting for the two of you to question him. There in the folder is all the evidence collected at the scene, which isn’t much. I know this is going to be a tough one to start new partners out on, but Kerry is one of my best detectives, and you, Ethan, have been highly praised by your superiors from where you were transferred. I need the best team on this one and I believe you’re the best.
“Thank you, Captain,” said Ethan. “I appreciate your vote of confidence and we’ll do everything we can to solve this case.”
As Kerry and Ethan walked out to the car, she glanced sideways at him and studied him while he wasn’t paying attention. This guy was just too good-looking. He was the kind of guy that was impossible to work with because he would be too busy thinking of himself instead of watching her back. She was sure this partnership was going to be trouble. No good could come of this, and she wasn’t going to try to be friends with him. And she certainly wasn’t going to trust him.
As they approached the car, she noticed he was getting in on the passenger’s side. She raised her eyebrows at him and walked over to the driver’s side and started the engine.
Before she pulled out, she looked over at him and said, “You don’t want to drive? That’s a little unusual for a guy.”
He said, “The way I figure it is that you’re the senior partner. I should defer to your judgment on things and I figured you should be the one to drive, too.”
She looked at him in astonishment. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Men just don’t do that. Not cops.”
“Well, I guess I must be a little different, then. I don’t care if you’re a woman or not, you’ve been in this department longer than I have and that means you’re my superior. I hope I can earn your respect soon so that we can really be partners.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Had she misjudged this guy? She doubted it. He was way too attractive not to be stuck on himself. Maybe he was just trying to throw her off balance so she would trust him. She had to be very careful with this one.
She pulled out into the street and started toward the home of Gerard Stokes. He lived in the rich part of town with all the other cream of society around here. She dreaded even going up there to his big house on the hill. It made her sick to think of all that money.
“So,” she said, “is there anything in that case file we ought to know before we get there?”
“The gir
l that was found murdered there was Patty Ryan, a local dancer in one of the strip clubs in town. It says here that she is also suspected of prostitution, but no one was ever able to prove that.”
“A local stripper is found dead in a wealthy man’s house and he claims that he has no knowledge of it whatsoever? That sounds really lame. How did the killer get the body in there without his knowledge?”
“Good questions. But it could be possible. There could be a dozen explanations for what happened that doesn’t involve Mr. Stokes. Maybe something will come out in the questioning.”
“It just looks pretty cut and dried to me. Mr. Stokes did it. He is obviously the most likely suspect.”
“Don’t be so quick to jump to that conclusion, Kerry. Sometimes things aren’t always as they seem. Let’s wait until we talk to him before making a rash decision,” he suggested.
She glanced over at him. “I thought you said you were going to defer to my judgment.”
“Well, neither of us has enough information to make a judgment yet.”
Aha. That’s how he was going to do it. Subtle.
They arrived at the Stokes estate and buzzed the intercom at the gate. They indentified themselves to the disembodied voice that came out of the speaker and the gate rolled open for them. They drove slowly onto the property and it looked like the tree lined driveway went on forever. They finally arrived at a cobblestone area where they assumed they were to park. They went up to ring the doorbell, but the door was opened at once by a pale, dark haired girl who gestured for them to come in. She led them into a large sitting room and they both sat down on a sofa across from an attractive man about sixty years old. He looked in very good health for his age, even though his skin, like the girl who had answered the door, was very pale. She looked over at her partner. Didn’t anyone get any sun around here?
“I’m Gerard Stokes,” said the older man as he shook hands with both detectives.
“I’m Detective Kerry Harrison and this is my partner, Detective Ethan James.”
“May I get either of you something to drink?”
“Nothing for me,” said Kerry.
Ethan said, “I don’t care for anything right now either.”
Ethan was looking at Mr. Stokes strangely, as if he might have met him somewhere before. Kerry wondered if they had run in the same circles. Somehow she could picture Ethan, although he was just a cop, hanging around with the wealthy crowd. He just looked the part. He actually could pass as a spoiled rich boy.
“Mr. Stokes, let’s just get right down to the reason we’re here. I’m sure you know that we came to question you about the murder of Patty Ryan. I want you to go over that day, telling us everything that you remember. Why don’t we start with the morning before her murder?”
“I had been out late at a dinner party with some friends. I came home early in the morning, and I immediately checked all the doors, set the alarm, and then I went to bed. I slept until about three o’clock that afternoon. I got up, took a shower, and then I went downstairs. When I walked into the living room, I saw that young girl lying there. I went over and checked for a pulse, just in case I could help her, but she was already cold. I immediately called the police and you know the rest. I didn’t hear anything. I slept from the time I went to bed until I got up in the afternoon.”
“Mr. Stokes, how do you explain the fact that two people, the murderer and the victim, got into your house without setting off your alarm?” Kerry asked. “You mentioned that you set the alarm when you went to bed. Our report shows that the alarm was still set when the police got here and you had to turn it off.”
Gerard Stokes sighed. “I can’t explain it. I don’t know how that happened, but the fact is that it did. Maybe someone disarmed it somehow, and then turned it back on.”
“You do understand how unlikely that sounds.”
“Yes, Detective, I do. But that’s the way it happened. Maybe someone is trying to frame me.”
“Do you have any enemies that might want to do something like that?” asked Ethan.
“Detective James, when you are in the position I am in, many enemies are made. There could be any number of people who might want to frame me. But in this case, someone had to have the expertise to do it.”
They asked Mr. Stokes several more questions, and then they got up to leave.
“We’ll be in touch, Mr. Stokes. I don’t have to tell you how this looks. You may be arrested. I suggest, if that happens, that you cooperate fully and things will be easier for you,” said Kerry.
Gerard Stokes fixed her with a stare that made her feel uncomfortable and odd. Then he nodded his head and gestured for them to precede him out the sitting room door. They were shown out by the dark haired girl and they got into their squad car and drove off.
“Something is off about this,” said Ethan.
“Yeah, something is off. It’s Gerard Stokes.”
“No, Kerry, I think he’s telling the truth.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” she asked incredulously.
“No, I’m serious. I really do think someone is trying to frame him.”
“That just shows how naïve you are. It looks pretty clear to me. He lured the girl to his house, killed her, set the alarm, and then he called us. Case closed.”
“I’m just asking you to keep on open mind.”
Kerry pulled over to the side of the road and turned around to look at Ethan. He averted his eyes, as if he were uncomfortable with her scrutiny.
“You know him, don’t you?” she asked.
“Why would you say that?”
“You keep defending him, and when we were back at his house, you looked as if you knew him from somewhere.”
Ethan sighed. “Okay, I do know him.”
“I knew it! You need to be taken off this case. You could mess up this whole investigation!”
“Kerry, I won’t mess up the investigation. I can be objective about this; I promise.”
“You’re already trying to defend him and trying to prove he didn’t do it,” she accused.
“I don’t think he did. Since I do know him, I should be a better judge as to whether or not he was capable of murder.”
Kerry glared at him. “If you know him and like him, then you’re not going to want to believe he did it. You’re biased.”
“I’m just looking at it from a different angle than you are. We have to look at every possibility.”
“Look, the alarm was on. There was a dead body in the house. He was the only one in the house with the body and the only one with the alarm code. He had to have done it.”
“How do you know someone else didn’t get the alarm code? How do you know someone didn’t plant that girl there to frame him? It could have happened that way.”
Frustrated, Kerry pulled the car back out into traffic and drove on toward the station. She was tired of arguing with him. This partnership wasn’t going very well if they strongly disagreed on the first case they worked together. This just wasn’t going to work. She would ask the captain to partner her with someone else.
After a few minutes, Ethan said, “Kerry, I don’t want to quarrel with you. I’m only asking you to look at all the angles. I’m not asking you to completely throw out your theory. I just want you to consider mine. Will you please try to be a little more open minded about this? If we look at all the evidence and consider everything, and you still think he’s guilty, then we can go back and arrest him later. It doesn’t have to be done right away.”
Kerry took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Alright. I’ll consider what you’re saying. I don’t see any way it could happen like you’re saying, but I’ll give it some thought. But you have to think about my theory as well. Okay?”