“I’ll give her this,” I said thoughtfully. “How impressive is it that she can balance upright?”
“Thank you,” Jesse muttered under his breath.
“You owe me. There’s going to be spit in my tea.” He smiled, and I went on. “Listen, I found something.”
“Me, too. But you go first.”
Without further preamble I said, “I found the second null.”
“Really? Excellent!” He said excitedly. “Let’s go arrest him—or her.”
My jaw dropped. “Wait, for what?”
“Accessory to murder, of course.” He sounded pleased. “Finally, the real world can be useful here. The lab picked up tons of fingerprints and DNA at the park scene. A lot of it is probably because it’s a public space, but hopefully some of it is the null’s. We can use the evidence as leverage to get us to the actual killer.”
I drummed my fingers on the table. “I know that was the plan, but...then what?” I asked. “What happens to the null in all of this?”
Jesse stared at me, but I didn’t back down. “You’re serious? The null...He has to go to jail. He helped kill somebody, remember?”
“It’s not that simple, Cruz. The null, well, had good reasons.”
“Good reasons for killing four people?” he said, outraged.
I bit my lip. How much could I tell him about Corry? Could I trust him not to arrest her when he got the full story? “Jesse, look, I need you to do something for me. For me, you understand? You can’t arrest her. The second null.”
“Why the hell not?” he demanded.
“She...Please, Jesse. I’m asking you for your trust, just for a little while. I’ll explain it all if we get through the next day.” When I had Corry’s permission to do so.
He looked at me for a long moment. I kept my face even. I’d known Corry Tanger for all of forty minutes, but I’d go to hell and back to get her out of this.
“And if I don’t?” he said quietly.
“Then I won’t tell you who she is. And since we’ve already established that, legally, you have nothing on me, the case will stop where it is, and the deadline will pass, and we’ll both die.”
Jesse went very still. “I can’t believe you,” he said, studying me. “You’re really gonna draw a line in the sand, after everything we’ve been through?”
“Not if you don’t make me,” I said, my voice cracking a little. “Jesse, she’s...She’s like me.”
He held my gaze for a long moment, thoughts flickering across his face, and then he nodded grudgingly. “Well...okay. I don’t need to know right now. But she can’t just get away with murder. This conversation will be back for part two.”
I nodded, and the moment passed.
Jesse stared at me as if looking for some kind of reassurance that I could be trusted. Then he lowered his voice. “Listen, I found something, too—maybe. My supervisor’s had me going through the reports of all the police incidents that have ever taken place at the park. I thought it was just busywork, but I actually found this one case that I think is...significant.” He pulled a folded sheath of paper from his back pocket and slid it over to me.
The top page was a Xeroxed school photo of a young girl. The second page was an adolescent boy, maybe sixteen or so. Their names were handwritten under the photos.
“Jared and Emily Hess,” Jesse continued. “Ten years ago, twelve-year-old Emily disappeared from the park. The kids were climbing trees after the park had closed for the night, and Jared fell asleep on a high branch. When he woke up, he claimed that strangers had bitten his sister to death and that a third party had taken the body away. The police came with dogs, forensics, the whole nine yards. They found a little bit of Emily’s blood, but no other trace of the girl. Eventually, the cops started looking at Jared.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah. His story was crazy, and there were a few other things—kid got into fights at school, a couple pets in the neighborhood had disappeared, that kind of stuff. Nothing solid, but the officers on the case thought Jared was the best suspect. They really gave him the runaround—interrogation, juvie, where the other kids beat the shit out of him, by the way, psychiatric care, anything our guys could think of to try to get him to change his story. Kid never did, though, and eventually, the father sued the department for pushing too hard. They settled out of court.”
“Huh.” I looked at the photo of Jared. Where Emily’s school pose was sweet and simple, this shot had been taken at the police station, and it was obvious that Jared had been badly beaten just before the photo. His face was swollen and unrecognizable, a trickle of blood at his mouth. He must not have been the toughest kid at juvenile detention. There was something familiar about his defiant expression, but I couldn’t place it.
“Where is Jared now?”
“That’s the thing—nobody knows. All his financial and tax records go up until five years ago, and then they just stop. It’s like the guy vanished into thin air. And, Scarlett, that really doesn’t happen anymore.” He tapped the date at the top of the photocopied police report. “The thing is, there are dozens of reports like this in the La Brea Park file. Other incidents, even a couple of murders. But this one...This was ten years ago today.”
The blonde marched up and plopped my mug of chai tea in front of me on the table, letting it slosh a little. Okay, now she was starting to piss me off. I dug a five out of my pocket and handed it over. “Thanks so much,” I said sweetly. “You can keep the change for your tip.” Which amounted to about fifteen cents. I hoped she would put it toward a back brace.
Ignoring her reaction, I reached over to take Jesse’s hand. “Baby, what were you saying?”
The blonde huffed away again. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he squeezed my hand gently, giving me an open look that made me wish I hadn’t restarted this charade.
“Anyway,” he said, a little awkward, “I guess it’s possible that Jared Hess really did kill his sister. But the anniversary thing...This has gotta be it, right? It was really vampires who killed Emily Hess?”
Jared. Jay. “Yes.” My voice was firm, and Jesse’s face changed with my response.
He carefully removed his hand from mine. “Scarlett...your mentor, the other null...”
Oh crap. I suddenly remembered who I was talking to, and realized what was coming. “Yeah?”
“I know you guys get rid of evidence, but she wouldn’t have taken a little girl’s body, right?”
I flinched. “Yeah, she would have,” I said soberly. “If a vampire really killed Emily Hess, and it looked obvious enough, Olivia would have taken the body to an incinerator and had it destroyed. The family would never have found out what had happened.” Plenty of bones had gone into Artie’s furnace over the years, and not all of them were from adults.
Jesse searched my face. “But you’ve never done that, right?” His voice sounded just like Corry’s had when she asked me if vampires and werewolves were evil. Like he was begging me to tell him it wasn’t true.
But I couldn’t. Oh, I could have lied, I suppose, but there was a part of me that had been eaten up by this, and that part thought I deserved what was coming to me. “Once. A teenage boy, maybe fourteen.” I cringed at the memory. The vampire hadn’t actually drained the kid’s blood, though just drinking from him was bad enough. Instead, though, the vamp had pushed too hard while he was feeding and broken the fourteen-year-old’s neck. Necks are delicate when you have enhanced strength; that’s part of why vampires don’t usually feed from them anymore.
The puncture marks were enough for Dashiell to call me in for body disposal. Then he had promised me that the vampire would die, too. I’d had nightmares about that one for months.
Jesse was leaning back in his seat, wincing as if I’d just slapped him. “Every time I think I’m getting to know you, it turns out I’m wrong,” he said, with quiet, exacting anger laced through his voice. “I’ve worked cases like that, where a child’s body was never found, and it’s excruc
iating.” He shook his head. “I just...I never would have thought you’d be capable of something like that.”
I said nothing, staring miserably into my tea.
He nodded to himself, as though that were an answer, and stood up, dropping money on the table. “I know we’re on a deadline, but I need...I need to take a walk. I’ll call you in a little while.”
“Jesse, wait—” I said feebly.
He turned and stiffly walked out. I sat there for a full minute without moving. And then I remembered that I hadn’t told him about the meeting with Jay.
Shit.
Chapter 27
Ignoring the huffy blonde, who was still glaring in my general direction, I pulled out my phone and hit Jesse’s number, but the call didn’t even go through to voice mail, which meant he was actively avoiding me. Great. Now what the hell was I supposed to do?
My phone rang in my hand, making me jump, but when I glanced at the caller ID, it wasn’t Jesse’s name that came up. It was my brother’s. Oh, great. My thumb automatically slid toward the Ignore button, but then stopped. Honestly, what did I have to lose at this point? Without Jesse, there wasn’t a hell of a lot I could do, anyway, and if this ended up being my last night on earth...I should probably talk to my brother. I flipped the phone open.
“Scarbo?”
The pet name twisted in my stomach. “Hi, Jack. What’s up?” I said with false cheer.
He coughed nervously, and I smiled despite myself, picturing him scrubbing his hand over his hair. “Uh...Wow, I guess I didn’t really expect you to answer. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, I know. Um, is everything okay?”
His voice perked up. “Oh, yeah, everything’s great. Sorry if I, you know, worried you or anything.”
There was another awkward pause, and suddenly, I felt ridiculous. Were we really having this conversation? We sounded like strangers, for crying out loud. This was my brother, who’d driven across Esperanza at three in the morning to pick me up from my first drinking party, who’d punched the first boy who’d broken my heart. This was Jack.
Do better, I told myself sternly. Be better at this. “How are things with you, Jack?”
He laughed nervously. “Good, actually. Really good. That’s kind of why I’m calling. I got a job in the city. I’m moving to LA.”
For a second there, my heart stopped beating. Jack, coming here? Having an entry point into my life, and therefore my world?
Not. Good.
“That’s really great, Jack,” I said lamely. “Um...What kind of work is it?”
“Pretty much the same thing I’m doing now, but there’s a whole research aspect, too. It’s a private company that makes medical equipment, and they want some professional lab techs to put new designs through the specs, try it out with all kinds of testing. But here’s the best part,” he continued, and his voice was suddenly bursting with excitement, “they’re going to help me pay for med school. They want me to get my MD, you know, and then keep working for them. They have a whole bunch of education incentives....” He gushed for a while about 401K benefits and med school, but I wasn’t listening anymore. This was terrible.
Unless, of course, I didn’t live through the night, in which case it was fine.
“Sorry, Scarbo, I know I’m going on and on. I’m just really excited, you know, and I was hoping maybe you and I could get together soon. It’s been too long.” I actually heard him swallow. “I know that I wasn’t the best big brother or anything after the accident—”
“Jack, you don’t—”
“No, hang on, I mean it. I should have done a better job, I know. It was my responsibility to look out for you, and I blew it. And I don’t know much about how things are for you now, but...I’d like to. I’m gonna be in the city next week, apartment hunting. Do you think we could get together for coffee?”
Guilt, guilt, guilt. I didn’t want Jack to be sorry. I wanted him to ignore me, to be the world’s shittiest sibling, because it helped balance out the fact that I’d gotten our parents killed. “I’ve kind of got a lot going on right now, Jack,” I hedged.
“Oh, okay,” he said amiably. “Well, listen, you’ve got my number. You should call me so we can get together. If I don’t hear from you in a couple weeks, I’ll try again.” He sounded so confident and relaxed, and I realized how much I’d missed him. And then, immediately after, that I might be dead really soon.
“Jackie...I love you, you know? And you didn’t do anything wrong, after Mom and Dad. I never, ever thought you did. Don’t carry that around, okay?”
“Okay, Scarb,” he said, surprise in his voice. “Thanks. I’ll, um...I’ll talk to you soon.”
We said good-bye, and I set my phone down on the little table—right next to the pictures of the Hess children, which Jesse had left behind when he’d stormed out.
And suddenly, I knew what to do. I looked at my watch: 8:45. Time to move. I hesitated for a second, considering whether I should run home for my Taser. I like carrying it when I go to big vampire events, but it would add at least forty minutes to my trip, and that was time I just didn’t have. Sighing, I headed for the van.
It was quite dark by the time I arrived at Dashiell’s house in Pasadena. I got myself buzzed in, parked the van, and performed my quick ding-dong-ditch modification before Beatrice opened the door. She was wearing a midnight-blue cocktail dress with some sort of elaborate weaving on the bodice, reminding me of medieval gowns, even as it clung to her curves. She was stunning, but seemed nervous and agitated when she ushered me in. More than anything, though, Beatrice looked worried.
“Scarlett—”
Without waiting for an invitation, I immediately headed in the direction of Dashiell’s office, with Beatrice a step behind me. She was tall, but she was also trotting along in four-inch heels without her usual vampire grace.
“I need to see him, Beatrice.”
“I am not sure this is the best time. He has had much trouble with the other vampires; they are so angry about Abraham and the others—” she rushed out, following me closely.
“That’s why I’m here, Bea. If I can find the person responsible, everything goes back to normal, right?”
She was silent for a beat too long, and I paused, skidding to a halt on the black-and-white-tiled hallway. I looked back at her. “Right?”
Beatrice shook her head. “I do not know, Scarlett. Yesterday, probably yes, but the situation is quickly growing worse. The powerful vampires in town are saying that Dashiell does not have the strength to hold the city, considering he can’t even protect his right hand. Our people say that they have been arguing among themselves about who should challenge Dashiell.” Her pale face looked even whiter in the bright hall light. “Scarlett, I know you do not always agree with Dashiell, but there are much, much worse vampires in California. Ariadne is among them.”
“She’s leading the revolution?”
“Yes.”
“And what happens to you if Dash is...overthrown?”
Her jaw tensed as she spoke. “If Ariadne takes control”—she shook her head—“my death will be bad.”
I don’t know which one of us was more surprised when I threw my arms around Beatrice, hugging her fiercely. “Don’t worry,” I said quietly.
She leaned back from me, looking shocked, and I stepped back, afraid I had hurt her. But then her hand reached slowly up to her eye, and when it came away, it shone with wetness. She stared in amazement. “I had forgotten.”
“Beatrice, listen. I have to help someone tonight, but when I’m done, I’ll come back here, and I’ll stay with Dashiell, okay? With both of you. I won’t let anyone get close enough to challenge. I know that’s not a long-term solution, but...” I trailed off. She had the oddest expression on her face. “What?”
“You know that he is ready to kill you for all of this, whether or not you were involved?”
“Yeah. I know.”
Her eyes searched mine for a long moment, and then she smi
led faintly. “He underestimates you.”
Before I could deal with that, steps echoed down the hall in front of us, and I felt Dashiell even before I could see him. He wore the same smooth black suit as always, but with no tie and the top button undone. For the first time, I caught a glimpse of something shiny at his hip, behind the suit jacket. A gun. Dashiell was carrying a gun.
Oh, God. We were all gonna die.
“You,” he said, taking that first gasping human breath. “What are you doing here? Have you come to confess? To throw yourself at my mercy?” He raised an amused eyebrow, but his all-too-human voice sounded dead serious. Emphasis on dead.
“Not just yet. But I would like to ask you some questions, if I could.” I nodded to his office door. “May I?”
He frowned at me, unmoving.
“Come on, Dashiell. You said I had a few more hours. I’m trying to use them wisely. And I have a lead.”
Dashiell glanced at his watch. “Five minutes.”
Beatrice squeezed my hand and turned away, walking back toward the front of the house. I was on my own.
I straightened my spine and followed Dash into his colossal office, which didn’t match the rest of the house at all. The mansion reflected Beatrice’s tastes, which ran toward her native Spain and the Mediterranean. This office, however, was all medieval library—huge ornately carved oak desk, antique everything, oil lamps instead of electric. There was even a pair of white gloves lying out, presumably for the reading of extremely old books. For a moment, I wondered if Dash had seen the Renaissance. He couldn’t be that old, right? I felt very small, and wished that Jesse were there with me. Or even Eli, as complicated as that was.
Focus, Scarlett.
Dashiell pointed me to the chair opposite his desk, and we both sat down.
It was my turn to open a file of photos in front of him. I took a deep breath and passed over the two shots of the Hess children. “Emily and Jared Hess,” I told him, tapping their faces, just as he’d tapped the photos of the dead vampires. “Ten years ago tonight, Emily disappeared from La Brea Park, where she’d been playing with her brother after dark. Jared told the police he saw monsters drinking her blood, but they ignored him—or were paid to ignore him.”
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