She dragged herself away from her memories to see Tobias and Dante staring at her. She cleared her throat. “Yeah. Sorry. Are we ready?”
Thankfully both men kept their thoughts to themselves.
“Let’s go.” Tobias started up the walk.
When Dante raised a brow but dutifully followed, Nix fell into step beside him. “Of this team, Tobias is lead, you know that.”
“Because all the vics are vamps. Yeah, I know,” Dante said. They stopped in front of the stoop and watched Tobias knock on the door.
Nix looked around. Fuchsia bougainvilleas rode up a trellis on one side of the house while white oleanders, kept short in bush formations, squatted beneath the windows. Various potted plants sat on either side of the small porch. The clean floral scent of the flowers helped mask vampire pheromones that Nix still fought so hard to ignore.
Dante leaned sideways. “It wouldn’t hurt him to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ every now and again.”
Tobias shot a sharp glance over his shoulder.
Dante grinned. “No need to get your shorts in a twist, Tobemeister.”
Oh, boy. Nix watched as Tobias stiffened and began to turn around. “Tobemeister. Seriously?” Nix elbowed Dante.
Before Tobias could say anything, the front door opened. A middle-aged woman stood there, a polite smile on her face. “Yes?”
Tobias pulled out his ID and showed it to her. “I’m Tobias Caine of the Council of Preternaturals. These are my colleagues, Nix de la Fuente and Detective Dante MacMillan.” He slipped his ID back into his pocket. “We’d like to speak with Samantha.”
The woman stared at him for a few seconds. Then she asked, “Does this have to do with her friend who was killed?”
“Yes.” Tobias took off his sunglasses and tucked them into the front pocket of his white button-down shirt. “Samantha may know something that can help us find out who murdered Amarinda.”
She nodded and stepped back, opening the door wider. “Please, come in.”
As she walked into the house, Nix took in her surroundings, assessing any potential threat, and she knew both men were doing the same thing. It only took a few seconds. The decor was typical Southwest style. A large fireplace took central stage in the outside wall of the living room. A hallway leading presumably to the bedrooms ran along the wall to the left of the foyer.
Nix took a breath and held it a moment, then slowly exhaled. Other than her and Tobias, she couldn’t smell anything here except humans. It appeared that it was as normal on the inside as it looked on the outside.
“I’ll just go get my daughter.” Mrs. Smith closed the door and motioned toward the living room. “Please, make yourselves comfortable.” She gave them a slight smile and went down the hallway.
Both men sat down, Tobias on the sofa and Dante in one of the two armchairs facing it. Nix wandered around the room, hearing the murmur of female voices from down the hallway. She looked at the knickknacks, pictures on the wall, trying to get a sense of the people who lived there. A framed photo of Samantha and Amarinda rested next to a glass prism on a bookshelf. Both women wore wide smiles as they stood in front of a large telescope.
“That was taken about six months ago,” a soft voice said from behind her.
Nix turned to see the same young woman from the photo. “Hello, Samantha. Thank you for seeing us. I’m Nix, this is Tobias Caine and Detective MacMillan.”
The young woman nodded, her lips trembling in a brief smile. “Hi.” She motioned toward the picture. “We had so much fun that day, riding the ski lift on Mt. Lemmon, eating fudge.” She paused and gave a little shrug. “Well, I ate fudge. Rinda watched me eat it.”
With her mother right behind her, she went over and sat down in the remaining armchair, leaving the only available seating on the couch next to Tobias. Nix drew in a slow breath and sat on the edge, keeping as much space between her and her ex-lover as she could.
Even so, she was acutely aware of him. She cleared her throat and kept her gaze on the young woman sitting across from her, and not on the strong thigh showcased by taut denim next to her.
“How can I help?” Samantha clasped her fingers together in her lap. Her mother placed one hand on her shoulder, her face wearing an expression of concern.
Nix bit back sharp regret that she’d never had that, the loving support of a mother, someone watching out for her. Being there through joy and sorrow. When neither Tobias nor Dante spoke, Nix cleared her throat and asked, “How long had you known Amarinda?”
“Almost two years.” Samantha’s quick smile brightened her face. “She came into class and sat beside me, and immediately started talking about NEOs and how she wanted to work with the Catalina Sky Survey. Her enthusiasm was contagious. We made an immediate connection, you know? Best friends in a second.” Her smile faded. “I miss her.”
Nix didn’t understand making an instant connection like that, but she did understand loss. She pushed aside her own sadness. Time enough later to deal with that, once they’d caught the bastards who’d killed her friend. There was one thing Samantha had said that Nix didn’t understand, though. “Uh, NEOs?” she asked. “You lost me there.”
“Near-Earth Objects. Basically the scientists keep an eye on anything that comes within an AU of the planet, give or take a few million miles. Asteroids mostly, some comets.” Samantha smiled again, this time a little self-consciously. “Sorry, I forget sometimes that most people don’t know the terminology.” She rested her head against the back of the chair. “An AU is ‘astronomical unit,’ equal to roughly ninety-three million miles.”
Nix frowned. “And that’s considered near?”
“When you consider the vastness of space, yeah, that’s pretty near.” Samantha sighed. “When she finished her thesis, Rinda wanted to get a job at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory—where the Catalina Sky Survey project is based—and be part of the team watching the skies.” She reached up and wiped the outer corner of one eye. “She loved everything about space. I can’t believe…” She broke off and bowed her head.
Tobias leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Do you know of anyone who might want to hurt her? Or did she ever talk about someone in a way that would lead you to believe she was in danger?” His husky baritone held compassion.
His ability for empathy, to care about the people around him, was one of the things that had surprised Nix about him when they’d first met. A lot of prets, especially vampires, didn’t have that ability. Didn’t want that ability. But Tobias had always seemed to want to hold on to whatever bits of humanity he still had.
Just like Nix did. Yet he hadn’t been able to accept that he could have helped her even if only by his example. That they could have helped each other. Remembering how mad he sometimes made her, she figured now that maybe he’d been right. Maybe as good as they’d been together they weren’t all that good for each other. They just hadn’t been meant to be.
It had broken her heart once, and it wasn’t much better five years later.
Now she watched Samantha try to get past her tears. The young woman shook her head. “Everybody liked Rinda, even if most of them were a little scared of her because, well, you know.”
“Because she was a vampire,” Tobias said, his voice soft and gentle.
The young woman nodded. She swiped beneath her eyes and stared down at her hands, fingers twisting. “She’d been spending a lot of free time down at Mt. Bigelow, at the Steward Observatory. I…I’m pretty sure she was involved with one of the scientists there. Plus it’s a great location to watch the part of space where the rift occurs.” She looked up, her expression stark with regret. “But she never said anything about someone trying to hurt her. I swear!” She pressed her fingertips to her brow bone. “Oh, God. I should’ve done something. Asked questions…”
“Why do you say that?” Tobias’s gaze remained steady on her. “Did Rinda hint at something? Something you didn’t push?”
She s
hook her head. “No, nothing like that. I just…I think the scientist she was involved with was getting ready to break things off. It was something she said about him being distant with her all of a sudden.” She looked at them, her eyes sad and confused. “I assumed it was because he was married. I mean, she never really came out and said he was. It was just a hunch I had. I think he was going to stop the affair.” She sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe his wife found out.”
“Did she ever give you his name?” Dante asked.
Samantha shook her head. “No. She just said he was really cute and mega smart. And he made her laugh.”
An irresistible combination for just about any woman.
“Was he human or pret?” Nix asked.
Samantha shook her head. “I don’t know,” she whispered, and raked her fingers through her hair. “It didn’t matter to me, so I never asked.” She pressed her lips together. When she looked up at them, her bewildered eyes swam with tears. “What kind of horrible friend was I?”
Nix stood and went over to her, going down on her haunches. She clasped Samantha’s hands in hers. “Rinda was a private person, even with her friends. If she didn’t tell you, it’s because she didn’t want you to know. She didn’t want anyone to know.” She squeezed the young woman’s fingers gently. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
A tear dropped off Samantha’s lashes and splashed on the back of Nix’s hand. The young woman nodded and pulled one hand free to swipe at her tears.
Tobias leaned forward. “Ms. Smith, I have to ask… Where were you yesterday between two thirty and five thirty?”
Her eyes widened. The fingers clasping Nix’s went slack. “You think…you think I killed her?”
“No. I don’t.” His eyes were as kind as Nix had ever seen them. “But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask.”
The young woman sucked her lower lip between her teeth a moment. “I understand,” she whispered. Letting go of Nix’s other hand, she wiped her cheeks and then pressed her fingers to her temple. “I got together with some friends for a study session—we have a project due next week.” She looked up at Tobias. “We were at the library from about one o’clock until almost seven. I can give you their names.”
Tobias stood and walked toward her.
Nix got out of the way and watched as he handed Samantha his small notebook and pen. “Just write them down, and their phone numbers,” he said. Once that was done and she gave them back, his lips curved in a gentle smile. He handed the young woman his card. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Smith. If you think of anything else, anything at all, no matter how immaterial you might think it is, please call me.”
Samantha nodded.
Tobias looked at her mother. “Thank you for your hospitality, ma’am.”
A few minutes later they were back at the SUV. “I highly doubt the wife had anything to do with Rinda’s murder,” Nix said.
“You don’t say.” Tobias’s voice held snarky sarcasm.
She grimaced. “You know what I mean. If my husband had an affair and I was the kind of person to go after the other woman, I’d do it with a gun, or a knife. But I wouldn’t gut her. And if I’m human, I wouldn’t have a chance in hell of doing that to a vampire.” She huffed out a sigh. “Plus that doesn’t explain the other murder, does it?”
“Well, we don’t know if the wife’s human or not, do we? We don’t know anything about her. We don’t even know if there is a wife.” Tobias jerked open the driver’s door of the Porsche. “Damn it.” He got in the SUV and slammed the door shut.
Dante looked at Nix as they walked around to the other side of the vehicle. “He’s, ah, passionate about this, isn’t he?”
She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “He and Rinda were friends for a long time. So he’s taking it personally.”
“Not a good idea.” Dante stopped beside the rear passenger door. “Letting your emotions in will cloud your judgment every time.”
“Yeah, well, keeping your emotions out of it when you know the victim is easier said than done.” Nix reached toward the handle.
Dante put his hand on hers and leaned in. “Wait.” When she looked up at him, he curled his fingers over her hand. His dark eyes held concern. “I’m sorry, Nix. I forgot she was a friend of yours, too.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “It’s okay.” The heat from his palm seeped into her hand, warming skin she hadn’t realized was cold. She met his gaze. “I deliberately cut her out of my life after Tobias and I split up. What kind of horrible friend does that make me?”
He put his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, honey.”
Nix gave a short nod. “I know you’re right. Like I said, easier said than done.” She moved away from Dante and opened the back door. “We need to get going.” Doing something was better than talking. She wasn’t ready to talk. She climbed into the backseat and pulled the door closed behind her. She could feel Tobias’s stare and busied herself with arranging her bag at her feet and fastening her seat belt.
Dante opened his door and got in.
“Glad you two could finally join me.” Tobias started the vehicle and put it in gear but didn’t take his foot off the brake. “You get all caught up? Or do you need more time for a heart-to-heart?”
“We’re just fine, chief.” Dante shot him a frown. “Shouldn’t we get going?”
She could see in the rearview mirror the way Tobias’s lips thinned, but he said nothing.
He seemed…irritated. Maybe even a little jealous. A jolt of excitement shot through her at the thought, but she was careful to not let it show. With a glance at her watch, she said, “We should head down to the observatory. It’s early yet. If we leave now we’d get there right around lunchtime.”
“I agree.” Without waiting for Dante’s input, Tobias pulled away from the curb and within minutes they were on the freeway headed south toward Tucson. Nix could tell from Tobias’s expression that his mind was hard at work, probably going back over what Samantha had told them, sifting through the bits and pieces to hopefully come up with something since they still pretty much had nothing.
Tobias tightened his hands on the wheel. He wanted to reach across the seat and thrash MacMillan for… For what? Caring about Nix? Being there for her when he hadn’t been?
She’d barely been able to sit on the sofa next to him. He couldn’t blame her, but he didn’t like feeling like the bad guy. What he’d done he’d done for her. Yet she treated him like she hated him.
He tightened his jaw. Her hatred was a small price to pay for her sanity. For now, they had about a three-hour drive ahead of them. Three hours for him to collect his thoughts and steel his resolve to be around Nix as little as he needed to be.
For both their sakes.
Chapter Six
So, what’s the plan?” MacMillan got out of the SUV and stared at the observatory. Car door still open, he leaned one forearm on the roof of the vehicle and the other along the rim of the door. “Go in and start asking who was having an affair with Amarinda?”
“Yeah, why don’t we do that?” Tobias slammed his door shut. “And here I thought you were supposed to be some hotshot detective.”
“Oh, I am, Tobester. I am.” MacMillan shut his door and started around the front of the Porsche.
Tobias curled his fingers into his palms. This flippant attitude the detective kept sending his way had to stop. And he was just the vampire to take care of it. MacMillan wouldn’t even see him coming.
Nix squeezed around MacMillan’s left, getting between him and Tobias. She shot the human detective a dark look. “Stop baiting him. We’ve got a job to do.”
As they walked toward the main observatory—a large, round domed building with a catwalk running the circumference about halfway up—Tobias said, “Let’s get one thing straight, detective. Don’t call me Tobemeister or Tobester or chief, and there won’t be trouble between us. Got it?”
“Sure thing.” MacMillan’s grin was lopsi
ded. “But you need to loosen up, slick. Being so uptight isn’t good for you.”
“What? It’s going to give me a heart attack or something?” Tobias gave him a dry look. The other man was a pain in the ass, but there was something about him that made Tobias want to laugh.
“Would you two just stop it?” Nix walked ahead of them and yanked open the door. “You’re exhausting me.” She went into the building with a heavy sigh.
MacMillan grinned, making Tobias unsure whether the detective had been baiting him or Nix. She did bait so easily. And it irritated him that Dante knew her well enough to be aware of that.
They caught up to her just as she stopped a man walking by. “Excuse me,” she said, briefly placing her hand on the man’s arm. She showed him her ID. “We need to speak to whoever’s in charge.”
The young man looked startled. “What’s this about?”
“Who’s in charge?” Tobias asked pointedly as he took off his sunglasses and tucked them into his shirt pocket.
“Ah, Dr. Sahir. Ravi Sahir.” The man pointed toward a door. “He’s in his office.”
“Thank you.” Tobias headed that way. Nix and MacMillan followed behind him.
“Guess it takes a vampire to get questions answered around here,” Dante muttered. “Your little half-demon ass would’ve gotten kicked to the curb.”
“Shut up, Dante.” Nix’s voice was tense. Finally her voice held the same note as when she spoke to Tobias.
Tobias felt ridiculously pleased by that. He gave a perfunctory knock on the office door and opened it without waiting for a response. A middle-aged Indian man, a human, looked up from the computer console. His features were symmetrical, his hair ink black and shining in the artificial light. Dark brown eyes framed by thick lashes held curiosity and a slight wariness in their depths. Perhaps this was Amarinda’s very good-looking lover?
The man’s brow furrowed. “Yes? Can I help you?”
“Dr. Ravi Sahir?” Tobias flashed his ID again.
“Yes. What is this about?”
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