Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1)

by Jenny Allen

  Lilith decided this would be a good time to interrupt before testosterone went flying. “I’m sorry, but what is all this about?”

  Cohen was the eloquent one, so he took the lead. He was struggling. She noticed the signatures of stress, disgust and heavy sympathy. He’d seen the body, probably not for long, but the haunted look was unmistakable. Once your eyes have seen something that horrible, that evil, it changes you forever. “Someone broke into your cousin’s office last night.” Whitmore was the silent observer gauging their reactions.

  Lilith frowned and tilted her head. “Miriah’s office? She’s just an accountant, why would anyone break in there?”

  “Well…” His hands fidgeted nervously as he tried to figure out the best way to tell them. “There was a body found at the scene.” He suddenly seemed to realize that she would understand crime scene-speak and that made it a little easier on him. “The woman’s body hasn’t been identified yet, but it was definitely dumped there on Miriah’s desk.”

  Lilith shook her head and dropped her eyes to the table. When in doubt, look elsewhere. Whitmore took his turn before their “shock” could wear off. “Where were you two last night?” His voice dripped of venom. It definitely wasn’t just an act, he seriously didn’t like them. Not that she took it personally. He probably didn’t like anyone.

  Lilith kept her head bowed and Chance patted softly at her back, playing the concerned fiancée. “Well, we were in Madisonville the night before last. We drove up here and arrived about…about 7? Does that sound right, cher?” Lilith simply nodded her head and wiped at her eyes. “Miriah’s brother, Spencer came over for dinner about eight-ish. We were supposed to meet up with Miriah after that but she never showed up, so we drove around the city a bit and came back here to get some sleep.”

  Another knock on the door interrupted Cohen’s next question. Chance patted her shoulders again. “I’ll get it, since I’m up.” He disappeared around the corner at a casual jog, but when he reappeared, he definitely didn’t look happy. A cop in uniform trailed behind him, a familiar cop. He marched over to Whitmore, sparing a few dangerous looks at Chance. The name badge caught her eye, Humphrey. Awesome. The cop that thought Chance was a vicious woman beater. Just when she thought she had everything under control. She was guessing that Chance didn’t find it as funny as he did last night.

  Chapter 11

  Her chest felt tight as the slight little bubble of panic started to grow. Maybe he wouldn’t remember them? Humphrey’s eyes glanced up at her and immediately started scanning the right side of her face. No such luck. Dammit. This was definitely going to complicate things. Chance slumped into the chair next to her and rubbed at his eyes.

  Finally Humphrey straightened and after a piercing glance at Chance, settled his gaze on Lilith. “Ms. Adams.”

  She nodded a forced smile at him and the uncomfortable silence settled in. So much for making this a painless visit. Cohen definitely picked up on the change in mood. You’d have to be a complete brain-dead vegetable not to.

  “If you’ll excuse us a moment.” Cohen and Whitmore stood at the exact same time and shuffled into the hall with Humphrey.

  Chance looked irritated as he crossed his arms over his chest, staring at the hallway. “That’s not good.” His voice was a bare whisper that even her highly sensitive ears could barely hear.

  Lilith shook her head and sighed painfully. “You just have to stay calm, give them as much truth as you can. If you get snappy or even irritable, it’ll just give them more fuel for the witch burning.”

  “What about your…” He gestured at the right side of her face.

  “We can’t tell them about Duncan. It’s too risky.” She thought for a few moments trying to come up with something plausible that didn’t sound like a standard abused housewife lie. “The bruising looks older than just a couple days, so I was attacked on the job. They thought the scene was clear and it wasn’t. It’s New York City, they’ll believe it. We can say that’s why we chose now to take a vacation down here. Alvarez is smart. He’ll know to cover for me. Just don’t make up any specifics, ok? If they ask for specifics, just say that I couldn’t talk about it because I was too shaken up.”

  Chance nodded solemnly. “They’re going to think I did all this.” He looked pale, disgusted, and she wanted to make it all go away. It definitely wasn’t going to be a fun experience that he would scrapbook about later. She caressed a palm over his cheek and forced a brave smile to her lips. When his eyes finally met hers, there were volumes hidden within them.

  “I won’t lie. That cop showing up with his account of last night means they are going to take us to the station. They will probably put us in separate interviewing rooms. They’ll be looking for inconsistencies. Just keep things simple and don’t elaborate. They may think you’re responsible, but they can’t charge you without proof or a motive. You’ll be okay.” She leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. She was scared for Chance. This could go horribly wrong a million different ways, but she needed to keep a clear, level head and convince Chance that this was nothing out of the ordinary. If he lost his temper, she’d be trying to post his bail while standing around, alone, like a sitting duck. Just then the Officers breezed through the door, all three of them, and returned to the table. They didn’t bother to sit down again.

  Cohen flashed a pleasant smile and tucked his notebook away. “We’d like to give you a ride downtown to take your statements if that won’t be too much of an inconvenience.” The words sounded polite and casual, but she knew better. A ride downtown was just code for ‘we don’t have enough to charge anyone, but we’re gonna hold you to see if we can find something to charge you with’. If she declined, they’d insist. She was pretty sure that Humphrey’s addition bumped Chance from the witness list to the top of the suspect list with lightning speed.

  She saw the whole thing flash before her eyes. Separate interrogation rooms, trying to separate the poor battered fiancée from her vicious man in the hopes that she’d feel safe enough to talk. The whole thing would have been hilarious, but she didn’t know how well Chance would take being painted as a monster. If he snapped they’d be in a world of trouble far too complicated to escape unscathed. She knew they couldn’t have any real evidence, because she hadn’t found any. However, they could still hold him for twenty four hours just on suspicion.

  It would be the perfect time for someone to strike at her. Twenty four hours alone with that monster that butchered Miriah on the loose. The very thought made her blood ice cold. There was no choice but to try to keep them both out of trouble.

  She pulled herself out of her thoughts and smiled over at Cohen. When he smiled at her, there was a touch of sympathy, like he was looking at a wounded kitten. She hated that look. It was the same look she’d seen when her mother died. Poor sweet Lily, losing her mom like that and at such an important age. Lots of kids lost their parents. People lose loved ones all the time. Yes, it’s tough and painful, but pity accomplishes nothing. In most people, it’s the most useless emotion because people seem content to just feel pity, not actually do something to improve or help the situation. It’s like they think feeling bad about something with hints of condescending sympathy will make the pain go away.

  “I’ll just get my things.” She nodded to Cohen and then turned to Chance. “You may want to grab some shoes, Hun.” That at least pulled a smile out of him.

  They put them in separate cars, of course. Lilith rode with the Detectives and Chance with Officer Humphrey. If it had been a cop in Madisonville, she would have been more concerned about Chance making it to the station at all. Humphrey may think he’s a rotten piece of work, but he wasn’t heavy handed. He seemed to take his job seriously, which included the rules that commanded neutral behavior. As long as Chance behaved himself, she didn’t think Humphrey would actually hurt him.

  Whitmore drove in absolute silence, while Cohen leaned over his seat to chat about New York City. She calmly shared harmless fac
ts about the city as they made their way to the police station. The young, almost handsome, detective still had that tone in his voice and look in his eye that set her teeth on edge. She’d clear up the pity party soon enough. No wonder battered women were often defensive. Of course everyone meant well, so you were supposed to politely ignore the condescending, sympathetic, puppy dog eyes.

  When they finally arrived at the small police station, they predictably ushered Lilith into an interrogation room, alone. She didn’t even get a look at Chance before they sealed her in. Detective Cohen removed his dark blue blazer, settling it over the back of a chair and flashed that enigmatic smile of his. If his chin wasn’t nearly invisible, he really would be a looker. Apparently Whitmore wasn’t going to be joining them. Naturally the bad cop was off to intimidate the supposedly bad guy. She whispered a silent prayer that Chance would keep it together, but secretly, she was glad she didn’t have to deal with Whitmore.

  “So, Ms. Adams, how long have you and Mr. Deveraux been engaged?” He made it sound casual as he took the seat across the table from her. He didn’t pull out his notebook. Of course, he didn’t need to. She was already being recorded on audio, video or both. It was a very simple question, but it was something they’d overlooked. Dammit. When it doubt, shoot for vague.

  “Not long. We’ve known each other a very long time though.”

  “How did you meet?” His eyes held hers with genuine interest. Cohen was really good at his job, at least the part of playing the friend. On some level she didn’t feel like she was being questioned, more like they were two people talking over coffee.

  “Through my father. He does a lot of work with Children’s Hospitals, especially those with very little funding.” Not actually a lie. Of course, Gregor’s motivation was more about spotting possible half-bloods than actually assisting the hospitals, but Cohen definitely didn’t need to know that. “Chance was an orphan at a hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, misdiagnosed with Anemia. He actually has Thalassemia, which is a disease my father strongly supports research for. Chance was 17 and my father felt a need to help him, so he got him into treatments, gave him jobs to do and eventually he became Gregor’s head of security.”

  “That sounds really tough. Your father must be a very amazing person.” His smile was definitely genuine this time, but there was something odd in his smile, something she couldn’t quite figure out. Then it hit her. Most people would ask the obvious question, “what is Thalassemia?’. Cohen just skimmed right over it. Either he knew about the disease, which was very unlikely, he didn’t really care about the story, which was possible, or he knew about her kind, which was a possibility if he wasn’t human.

  Lilith realized that she was taking too long to respond. She could feel his judging eyes on her. She smiled a slow sweet smile and met his eyes, as if she was just reminiscing. “He truly is, more than you could know.” More than he could ever know. She smiled on the inside at that. She decided to cut the charade short and leaned forward in her chair, resting her elbows on the metal table. “Detective Cohen, you’re a nice man, so let me make this a little easier on you.”

  There were faint traces of surprise on his face, but more prominent were the signs of satisfaction. “All right. I’m listening.” He leaned back in the chair casually, crossing his arms loosely across his chest. Now that the suit jacket was gone, she could tell that the young detective actually put some hours into the gym. It almost made up for his tiny chin.

  “I deal with law enforcement on a very regular basis, so I know what questions you’re circling around. Last night, Mr. Deveraux and I had a disagreement about directions while driving to meet Miriah. It was nothing serious, just a squabble. Chance pulled to the side of the road so we wouldn’t get in an accident while we double checked our directions, and Officer Humphrey stopped to see if we were alright. The right side of my face was a big ugly bruise and the Officer assumed, incorrectly, that Chance was responsible.”

  Cohen simply nodded, taking everything in, but revealing nothing. It was the standard cop poker face. Even his big blue eyes looked flat and bored. She had to admit she was somewhat impressed by his acting skills, which of course, made him even more dangerous.

  She tilted her head as she looked at him. “Would you like to know why I decided to take a vacation to visit family now?”

  “If you’d like to share, absolutely.” He was still trying to play the role of friend. That was fine by her.

  “A few days ago, I was called to a scene. The cops said it’d been cleared but they were wrong. I was following a blood trail to a closet and some meth-head asshole flew out of it. He cracked me in the head with a damn baseball bat and was about to take another swing when a cop shot him and took him down. My liaison, Detective Alvarez, suggested that I take some time off because my nerves are shot. I almost died on the scene.” She was able to put real emotion in her face because it was mostly true. She had been attacked while processing a crime scene and she had very nearly died. Tears stung her olive eyes and she wiped angrily at them.

  Detective Cohen’s expression softened and he twisted in his chair to pull a handkerchief from his jacket pocket. He passed it over the table with sad, sympathetic eyes. “Was it the first time you’ve been hurt on the job?”

  Lilith nodded as she wiped her eyes with the handkerchief. “Yes. I’m a crime scene investigator, not a cop. I know how to use a gun, I fire mine every other week just to keep myself accurate, but I’ve never had to fire it at someone. I didn’t even get a chance to draw my weapon. It was absolutely terrifying. When Chance found out, he was really torn up about it. He is a professional bodyguard after all. He took out his frustration on a wall, hence the bruised knuckles. Chance has been my biggest supporter of getting past this. He’s held me when I jump at shadows or wake up screaming from nightmares.” She looked up then, holding his gaze. She had the full power of truth behind her words as she spoke about Chance. Not one bit of it was a lie. He really had been there to support here. “He would never in a million years raise his hand to me. He is not your suspect.”

  The detective had the good grace to at least look surprised, even if it was completely faked. “Detective Whitmore is just taking his statement. We haven’t charged him with anything.”

  “Which is cop-speak for ‘We don’t have enough evidence to really hold him.’.” A half smile quirked her lips. “Out of professional courtesy, can we just be straight with each other.”

  Cohen bit his lip and leaned farther back in his chair. His eyes looked her over, calculating. There was a sharp intelligence behind his eyes that she’d somehow missed until now. He suddenly moved forward in his chair and placed his hands on the table. “All right. I’ll be straight with you. It looks bad. Officer Humphrey was pretty certain Mr. Deveraux caused your injury. The two of you just happen to arrive in town right before one of the most grisly murders this department has ever seen. You are staying in the possible victim’s apartment, and Mr. Sanders is conveniently out of town. On the plus side, there is Ida to corroborate your story.”

  “Do you really think it’s Miriah?” There was a part of her that hoped and prayed that maybe, just maybe, she was wrong and Miriah was still alive.

  “The fingers were badly damaged but the coroner seems to think he can get a print. It’ll take a couple days but hopefully we’ll know for certain soon. It is Miriah’s office and the victim was the right height, weight and hair color.” His shrewd eyes looked over her again. “If Malachi left on Monday night or even Tuesday morning, did you see him in New York? There was time before you flew out?”

  That actually hadn’t occurred to her and she cursed herself for overlooking that little tidbit. “No. We must have missed each other. I didn’t know he was in New York until I talked to my father after landing here. I didn’t really give my family much notice about my travel plans.” Malachi had to have made it to her apartment building. Why didn’t he stay and see her? Maybe he’d still be alive if he did.

  “S
o your cousin’s husband flies to New York and he doesn’t go to visit the traumatized member of the family? He doesn’t call in advance and let you know he’s coming to town?”

  Lilith frowned and squirmed a bit in her chair. “I honestly don’t know why Malachi is in New York. He’s in the real estate business and he does some work with my father, but Malachi is not a social butterfly. He doesn’t do much of anything but business without Miriah. He’s a very quiet person. Beyond that, no one knew about us coming down to visit until hours before my flight. It was all kind of last minute. Miriah, Spencer and Malachi didn’t know about my attack. I’m not exactly a person that shares that kind of thing.”

  The detective repositioned himself in his chair and kept watching her face with calculating eyes. “So Miriah failed to mention it when you spoke to her before flying down here?” She’d been so preoccupied with thinking through things here that the details of coming down here hadn’t occurred to her. She’d been distracted, trying to clear Chance.

  “Actually, my father arranged it with Spencer and Miriah. I didn’t speak to them.” Truth was the best bet while she collected her thoughts.

  “And your father can corroborate that I assume?” They definitely weren’t friends anymore. The good cop was gone and she was left with this impressively shrewd Detective with a southern drawl.

  “Of course.” She nodded simply and suddenly remembered Richard Coffee trying to call Gregor last night and getting nothing.

  “When did you last see your cousin?”

  “A few summers ago. I’ve been busy with work and she’s been dealing with her own business. Chance and I stayed in a motel in Madisonville our first night. Town and Country, was the name I believe. We were visiting with Spencer. He gave us the keys to Miriah’s place so we could come up and spend some time with her.”

  “Look, the crime scene was…” He paused, swallowing the bile in his throat most likely. “It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Probably the worst anyone has ever seen. I know you’re trying to be honest with me, but I know there’s something you’re not telling me. You work with cops and we are not all bigoted imbeciles down here.” He leaned closer and his eyes held that friendly glow again. “Work with me here. I believe we are on the same side.”