I knelt in-between the debris in the living room and evaluated the sliced cushion’s fabric. Glancing over my shoulder to the entertainment center, I searched the room. All of the electronics were still there, the Blu-ray, the giant flatscreen TV, and her iPod were all still plugged in and ready to go. Soraida hadn’t been robbed. So, what were they looking for?
Enza dropped the phone, her heavy exhale of breath filled my sensitive ears as she waited outside. Slumping on the front stoop, she cradled her head in her hands with her elbows resting on her knees. Her slim shoulders shook as she cried silent tears.
I strode out of the house into the sunshine and sat down beside her. Slipping my arm around her, I pulled her into my arms and hugged her. I understood what she felt, the dread of not knowing and I didn’t want to tell her that sometimes knowing was worse.
She turned into my embrace and wrapped her arms around my middle. She squeezed me tight as if I was the last thing she had to hold on to. I almost laughed to myself as she clung to me.
Once I’d been uncomfortable with physical contact. Jade had even made a point to sneak up behind me and hug me just because she knew it bothered me. Jade wasn’t able to sneak up on me anymore which had taken all the fun out of it for her. But since Amblan’s and Danny’s deaths, I’d give anything to have both of them back, even if for only a moment, to hug them and tell them how much I loved and missed them. I wasn’t uncomfortable with a hug anymore.
“Shh,” I said.
“What happened to her?” Enza asked, blubbering into my shoulder.
“We don’t know that anything happened to her yet,” I said in a soft, placating tone. “She could have hurt herself and may already be at the hospital.”
Enza stopped crying and was quiet for a moment. She turned red, grief-stricken eyes up to me.
“You don’t believe that, do you?” she asked.
I wanted to tell her that I did believe it, that Soraida was probably fine and we were both over reacting. I didn’t, however, want to tell her that the blood was fresh and if Soraida had already called for help, there would be police tape everywhere. I also couldn’t tell her about the faint smell of death and the strong smell of vampire that lingered in the stale air of the house. I had the very distinct feeling that Soraida was beyond Enza’s reach. Soraida, however, was most definitely not out of mine.
I tucked her head back against my shoulder and stroked her hair as Patrick had once done to me. I whispered the only reassurance I could give her, “We’ll find her.” I hugged Enza just a little tighter as I heard the sirens in the distance. “I promise. We’ll find her.”
The uniformed police officers had called in the crime scene techs once they’d seen the blood. They ushered Enza and I to the curb and taped off the house. At first, the questions were easy and no pressure. After a while, the tone changed and it was clear to me that they were wasting time with us.
“How do you know Ms. Ramirez?” the uniform asked.
“She’s my best friend,” Enza answered, her voice just a hair higher than normal and quaking with each syllable.
“When was the last time you saw Ms. Ramirez?” the uniformed officer followed, jotting down something in his notepad.
“Last night at the Voodoo Lounge,” Enza said. Another tear trailed down her bronze cheek.
“What time was that?”
“Around 2 a.m., I think,” Enza answered. This was the second uniform we’d spoken to since they’d arrived in a blaze of flashing lights and blaring sirens like cowboys on the range, riding to the rescue. Enza had lost her patience an hour ago. I had definitely lost mine. “We’ve been through all of this already,” she snapped.
“Why did you arrive at the scene this morning?” he continued, ignoring Enza’s frustration.
I’d, however, had plenty of experience with cops. I took Enza’s hand in mine, squeezing just a bit in reassurance as she answered, again.
“Soraida never called me to tell me she got home. I was worried.”
“Is that something she does often?” he asked.
“Yes,” she snapped, belligerent.
He raised his eyes from the notebook and glared at her over the rim of his pretentious aviator sunglasses.
Asshole, I thought as I rolled my eyes.
“Ma’am, I would hate to think that you were being uncooperative,” he warned, pushing the sunglasses back up his nose with his middle finger.
Enza’s posture tightened beside me. Digging her fingernails into my hand, she opened her mouth to speak. I jerked her hand closer to me and placed my other hand on her shoulder. Whatever she was going to say, she stopped.
She glanced over at my hand resting on her shoulder and knew to keep her mouth shut. Smart girl. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath, turning pain-filled eyes up to me.
Ahh hell.
I smiled at the uniformed officer and took a deep breath.
“Officer,” I said sweetly, a pleading smile on my face. He didn’t notice that my eyes were hard and empty. “We have been more than cooperative. We’re the ones who called you in to begin with. We answered the same questions going on four times now so unless you are going to press charges,” I said with a warning in my tone and stopped. I was caught off guard by the smell of leather mixed with pheromone rich cologne. Under all that was the thick, enticing scent of male.
I shifted, turning my face into the wind carrying the scent. He approached, still yards away. Tall, almost Dean’s height and Dean pushed 6’4”, the man was Hispanic, with dark skin, bronzed in the shade that Enza worked so hard to mimic with tanning. His hair was jet black and slicked away from his face like it was 1940.
“That won’t be necessary,” he said in a rich, accented voice that purred in my ear. Meeting my eyes, something very few did any more, his eyes twinkled in the morning light, filled with confidence.
I’d intimidated people before. Now I just scared them and he met my eyes as if he was just a man and I was just a woman.
His eyes were a soft brown with gold flecks around the edges that reminded me of a sunburst as he gazed at me. He stood almost six inches taller than me with a quiet intensity, making him an imposing figure. The warmth of his gaze and his smile set me at ease and made my heart thump a half-beat faster.
“Ms. . . .?” he asked, waiting for me to fill in the blank.
“Dahila,” I answered.
He held out his hand to me and I took it in a firm handshake. I glanced down at the difference in our skin tones, watching the muscles of his hand and wrist jump. I noticed the edge of a tattoo peeking out from under the cuff of his dress shirt, probably going all the way up his arm, his very muscular and attractive arm. My pulse raced at the thought of his muscular body bare before me.
Jesus. What is wrong with me?
“Well, Dahlia,” he said with a bright, winning smile.
This guy definitely didn’t have to work hard to get laid.
Focus!
“Do you have a last name?” he asked, a devilish grin making the gold flecks in his eyes brighten.
If I gave him my name, it would end up in the police report, becoming public record.
SHIT! Jade would be able to find me before the day was out with a simple computer search, if she was still looking. I didn’t want to tell him but I couldn’t lie with Enza right there either.
“Sabin. Her name is Dahlia Sabin,” Enza answered before I could stop her.
She sure took care of that.
“She’s my cousin from Ohio,” she added.
God damn it! They would probably run my name for warrants which would flag Derek. This was getting better and better by the minute.
“Well, Ms. Sabin, you are a long way from home,” he said with that same devilish grin, his thick long eyelashes framing deli
cious, dark eyes.
“You’re telling me,” I replied under my breath.
“I’m sorry?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I clipped, jerking back up to meet his gaze with a smile that never quite reached my eyes.
“She’s visiting me. She’s been here for almost a month,” Enza finished.
“Stop helping me,” I hissed through clenched teeth as I turned my smile back to him. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe I caught your name.” I took a step back from him, putting some distance between us.
“Detective Cordero Salazan, the lead investigator on this case.” He glanced down at a notebook of his own. “I realize you have been asked several questions already,” he said, raising his soft brown eyes to me in apology. “But I have just a few more.”
I nodded, taking Enza’s hand again.
“For you, Ms. Sabin,” he added, ushering the uniform policeman away.
My gaze shot up in surprise. I then schooled my features and shoved my surprise back down before he noticed, showing him only my willingness to cooperate. I couldn’t call Derek to bail me out if I was arrested.
I was on my own.
“I’ll help in any way I can.” I forced the corners of my mouth to turn up in a smile. I felt like my face might crack from all this pleasant smiling. How do people do this?
“You were the first to enter the house?” he asked, and his voice shifted to an all-business tone that I knew all too well. I reacted much better to this type of interaction than the pleasant chitchat. I understood this.
“Of the two of us, Enza and I,” I answered with confidence, “I was the only person to enter the house.”
“That’s an interesting way to word your answer.” He trained those warm brown eyes on me again.
“I just want to clarify what we’re talking about,” I said and let go of Enza’s hand. I couldn’t focus with her warmth soaking into my skin. Tucking my hands behind my back like I’d seen Dean do so many times, I stood at ease.
“Understood.” Amusement made that one word light. Clearing his throat, he continued what I now understood to be an interrogation. “Why would you go into a house of a woman you barely knew? Alone?”
“Cadenza was distraught and worried. If there was something in that house to find, I didn’t want her to find it,” I said, leaving out the part about keeping her safe in the sunshine and away from the definite smell of vampire lingering in that house. He didn’t need to know that.
“Are we going to find your fingerprints in the house, Ms. Sabin?”
“No.”
“Why not?” he asked, curious.
“I didn’t touch anything.”
“Not even the door?”
“I opened the door,” Enza said as her eyes shifted from me to Detective Salazan and back again.
“Now, why would that be?” he asked in a skeptical tone.
“I had the key,” she snapped, finally understanding I was Detective Salazan’s perfect idea of a suspect. “You don’t seriously think—” Enza started but was cut off by the detective.
“I’m not sure what to think,” he said, focusing on me. “How well did you know Soraida Ramirez?”
“Not well at all,” I said with a satisfied smile.
“Did you notice anything unusual about the scene?” he asked, flipping his notebook shut and shoving it into his jacket pocket.
That was an odd question to ask and seemed out of place for a possible suspect. I took a harder look at Detective Salazan.
Once I saw beyond the handsome face and rich brown eyes, I noticed his suit was well made and tailored to fit. Silk and much more expensive than someone would expect a detective to be able to afford, the suit hugged his body like a glove. He noticed me gawking and adjusted his jacket, tugging on the bottom with both hands.
I thought about the question he asked me and, sure, the place had been tossed but not robbed and I’d smelled a vampire at the scene but I couldn’t tell him that. I narrowed my eyes and listened. His heart rate picked up and he radiated body heat like it was the middle of winter instead of mid-April in Las Vegas. His palms were sweating and I could smell the mix of his sweat with whatever hand soap he used. The soap was something flowery but there was no wedding ring on his finger. Did I notice anything unusual? Hell yeah, I did, and the situation was getting weirder all the time.
“No, was I supposed to?” I asked.
He gave me a once-over, grazing his eyes over me-up and down-one last time before slipping his sunglasses on.
“You’re not leaving town anytime soon, are you, Ms. Sabin?”
“No, Sir, not anymore,” I snipped.
“Good. I know where to contact you if I have any further questions,” he said, walking beneath the crime scene tape, leaving us to our own devices.
Enza waited until we were back in her SUV with me behind the wheel before she spoke again. “You didn’t want him to know your name, did you?” she asked.
She was perceptive, I’d give her that.
“No,” I answered as I strapped the seatbelt into the buckle.
“Are you running from the police? Is that why you’re hiding?” she asked, fastening her seat belt with a matching metallic click.
I took a deep breath and ran my hands down my face in frustration. This was so not the conversation I wanted to have.
“No, Enza, I’m not running from the cops. There’s just one officer in particular I don’t want to know where I am,” I said, thinking of how understanding Derek had been when I left. If Derek didn’t know where I was, then Patrick couldn’t pressure him and he wouldn’t be in the cross hairs of a possibly angry vampire.
“He’s going to find out now, isn’t he?” she asked, an apology filling her voice.
“Yeah. I think he is,” I said, slipping the sunglasses on my face and turning the key. The engine roared to life and I turned down the radio to an inaudible whisper. I wasn’t in the mood for music, too many questions raced through my mind.
“Are you in danger?” she asked, perceptive again.
I glanced at her and then out the window to meet Detective Salazan’s gaze. He stood on the front stoop where Enza had cried her eyes out just an hour earlier, watching us.
I shifted the SUV into gear and said, “Not from the people back home,” before pulling out into traffic. I needed to call Derek and warn him. I guess radio silence was over.
Chapter 3
I pulled the SUV up to a pay phone outside of a pawnshop in downtown Las Vegas and slammed the gear into park. There was no way I was going to call a cop from Enza’s home number. Plus, Derek was smart. He’d figure out where I was when the warrant search crossed his desk. I, however, didn’t need to give him an address to look for me. Vegas was a very big city.
I jumped out of the SUV, stalking around the front and picked up the receiver of the pay phone. Vegas was one of the few places I’d seen that still had payphones. Today, I was glad for it.
“What are you doing?” Enza asked, rolling the window down.
“Gotta make a call,” I said, digging three dollars’ worth of quarters out of the bottom of my bag, the car cup holders, and the glove compartment and into the machine. I dialed Derek’s number from memory and waited.
“You can call from the house,” she said, confused.
“No, I can’t,” I snapped as the phone rang in my ear. One . . . two . . . come on, Derek . . . three.
“Hullo,” he answered in a confused, groggy rumble. The sound of his familiar baritone almost brought tears to my eyes.
“Hey,” I whispered.
“Dahlia? Holy shit, Kid! Are you all right?” he asked, the words tumbling out of him like water from a sieve.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I said with an audible lump in my throat as I fought
back tears. God Damn it!
“You in trouble?” he asked. His excited panting echoed on the other end, waiting.
Am I in trouble? Not yet.
“No, but I did want to warn you,” I said, shoving everything back so I could have this conversation rationally. Soraida was definitely in trouble and I would be shortly if I wasn’t smart about this. I wasn’t planning on leaving Soraida’s life to Detective Salazan, that’s for sure.
“Warn me about what?” he asked.
I could almost see the disbelieving look on his face as he spoke. The thought made me home sick.
“My name is going to turn up in a police report and they might also check to see if I have any warrants back there,” I said. “I wanted you to know before . . .” I started but couldn’t finish.
“Before it crosses my desk and Patrick finds out,” he finished for me.
“Yeah,” I breathed.
“Thanks, Kid.”
Silence sat heavy between us like neither of us knew what to say. I didn’t want to bother him but it might be my only chance.
“How is . . . everyone?” I dared to ask. I turned my back on the SUV as I huddled around the phone so Enza couldn’t hear me. Her eyes bore holes through me but all I could concentrate on was the sound of Derek’s friendly voice on the other end of the line.
“He took it pretty hard,” he said. He sat silent for another moment before his sharp, ragged intake of air to speak. “But Dean is keeping him together.”
Keeping him together? I had hoped Patrick would find some peace while I was gone but if I couldn’t come to terms with my guilt, how could I really expect him to.
“Hey, hey,” he soothed on the other end of the phone. I realized I had started to cry. “They’re all right. Everyone’s all right. You should call Dean and let him know you’re okay though,” he added.
Golden Anidae (A Blushing Death Novel) Page 3