Her breath hitched as she hugged the phone to her chest. How much longer would his body hold out before it gave up completely? She needed to make time to visit him soon. He might not be aware of her presence, but it was a reassurance that he was still with her, still alive. Still had a chance to awaken.
His belongings sat untouched in the trunks she’d packed the day she’d moved out of their home six years ago. It felt like a violation of his privacy to go through them. She would have hated it if he went through her things, though that hadn’t stopped him much when they were younger.
The alarm on her cell phone blared, and she nearly dropped it. There was her bat signal. If only heading to the VLO didn’t feel like heading to the gallows, she might actually say she was enjoying her temporary position. Graham’s impending execution hung over her head and on top of that her imminent meet up with a hot, Irish vampire with just enough accent to kick her libido into overdrive.
The men twisted her in knots, though for very different reasons.
When she arrived at the VLO, Piper was closing up for the night.
“You’re here late. I thought you would’ve left hours ago.”
“Ha.” Piper was less than humored. “Wish you’d told me how much work you do around here. Human Resources must be nuts for threatening to fire you. It would be like firing three people.”
“Good to know someone sees my value.” She pointed to Piper’s breasts. “Use those, and it’ll cut your workload in half.”
“Unethical.”
“Noooo. Clever.” Alice sat at the edge of her old desk. “Anything happen I need to know about?”
“Just stuff for the casebook, more pictures, labs and stuff. I e-mailed you.” Piper’s smile took on a wicked edge. “Oh, and Glenn called. He wants his dignity back.”
“He had some to begin with?”
“He thinks so. Anyway, he’s ticked the media’s calling you instead of him.”
Sighing, Alice rose and headed toward her office. “Not my fault.” She ducked in to deposit her purse and then leaned back out to catch Piper. “Uhm, those calls—”
“Forwarded.” The woman had read her mind. As she stepped into the elevator, Piper talked over her shoulder. “I left you a prezzie.”
“Better not be bread crumbs,” Alice called as the doors slid shut. She glanced around the floor. Everyone was gone. The silence pressed on her. It wasn’t the first time she’d been on the floor alone at night, but it was the first time she’d been hit by the creepy factor. The creepiness would only get worse when the lights flickered off, as she knew they would. Damn motion sensors. Damn granola-eating Seattleites. Who were they to care about overindulgent energy consumption? She’d take the empty security offered by adequate lighting any day over having a social conscience.
With a shudder, she shut her door firmly, fighting the urge to lock it. She was only a little paranoid, not that paranoid. Her office felt too big and quiet, and the wide window overlooking the empty floor made her want to pull the blinds. Don’t care to see the zombie attack coming. A nervous laugh escaped at her ridiculous turn of thought.
Settling behind the computer, she focused on the e-mails Piper had sent while skimming the new VLO treaties. Multitasker—her new middle name. Engrossed as she was, she jumped when the lights finally went dark outside her office. The inky blackness beyond the glass swallowed all light, even the blinking computer indicators.
God, she needed a distraction. And coffee. She was jittery enough without adding more caffeine, but in her book, it was comfort food. The luxury of her own coffee mess and mini-fridge in the corner rang in a close second to her pay raise as a bonus. She’d started the precious liquid brewing and reached into the fridge for creamer when she encountered Piper’s present. Oh, heavenly angel. She’d have to get her mini-me a raise. She’d left a monster slice of caramel-apple cheesecake mounded high with whipped cream. Mmmmm. Who needed dinner when this covered all the important food groups?
After pouring her coffee, she added a generous helping of creamer and sugar and turned back to her desk. A mountainous figure stood in her doorway, framed in darkness. She shrieked and fumbled her coffee cup. When an alarmed Killian stepped into the light, she wrapped her arms around herself, her body quaking with rampant adrenaline.
“Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod.” She glared at him. He reached for her, but she slapped his hand away. “What’s wrong with you, sneaking up on a woman in a dark, empty building?”
The residual shock put a bite in her voice, but she was too shaken to care. While she waited for her heart rate to slow down, she knelt to clean up the coffee.
“Leave it.” He stepped closer. “I’ll get it.”
She ignored him, though her hands shook too much to be very effective at her task.
“Alice!” The sharp command got her attention. He crouched next to her and took her hands in his. Pulling her up, he folded his arms around her, tucking her firmly against his chest. Warm. So warm and solid. Her arms went around his waist. As he held her, her breaths slowed and deepened.
“You’re safe,” he said. “Sorry I scared you. I just walked in when you turned around. I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you.”
Killian’s exotic burr rumbled under her cheek. Being held like this—it’d been so damned long. God, this was entirely too enjoyable. She didn’t want to let go, the steady rise and fall of his chest soothing. And arousing. He smelled amazing, like sandalwood. Would it be bad to bury her nose against his throat? But she’d already made a big enough fool of herself. She lifted her head from the wall of firm muscle beneath it and had the closest view yet of the perfection of his face. Smooth, lean angles invited the stroke of her fingers, and his eyes had a luminous sparkle. But his eyebrows were drawn and a frown pulled at his lips. A stab of guilt struck her.
“I’m sorry, too. I—”
“It’s all right. Nothing to be sorry for.” His tone was tender, as if calming a wild creature, the low bedroom voice sending tingles along her skin. He stepped out of her embrace, and his arms dropped away from her slowly, as if against his will.
“The lights didn’t come on.” She glanced past him toward her office window.
“They wouldn’t.” He grinned, the boyish charm of his dimples fluttering her stomach. “I move too fast for the motion sensors.”
The pride in his expression made her laugh. “You’d make a great bank robber.”
He lifted an eyebrow, his lips pursing—dear ever-loving god of panty melting. “Never considered that. Want to be my manager? Live a life of crime and extravagance?”
“Sign me up. I could use the extravagance.” She motioned for him to sit as she took her spot behind the desk. Ah, she’d always wanted to do that. Being in charge was, well, a charge. He went to the coffeemaker first and poured her a new cup, retrieving creamer and adding sugar before handing it to her, and then knelt to wipe up the spill with a towel from the coffee stand.
“Thank you.” She eyed him skeptically and took a sip. And then another to convince herself she’d tasted it right the first time. “How’d you know?”
He touched his nose. “I have skills.” Laughing, he rose and took the chair across the desk from her, somehow managing to seem higher than her. “You take a little coffee with your cream and sugar.”
“It’s how I stay so sweet.” She’d never noticed a man roll his eyes before. It was adorable.
His gaze settled on her for a long moment or three, and then he shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. “You have information on the case?”
Oh. “Yes. The boy’s name is—was—Jeff Ryan. He was turned under Ander’s authority. Are you familiar with him?”
“Yes, unfortunately.” He sagged against the back of the chair. “Wow. Ander? Couldn’t make this easy, huh?” His response struck at her Olympic-sized pool of underlying worry.
“My assistant couldn’t get a response from his people.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. Ander won’t play with the Tr
ackers so there’s no way he would acknowledge attempts by the VLO.” He pulled a cell phone from his belt and glared at it. “I need Ptolomy or Kade, but I don’t have access to them right now.”
His agile fingers flipped the phone over and over. She couldn’t turn away from them. Attractive hands, strong, neat, with long, dexterous fingers. They’d be dark against her skin. Snap out of it. She had a murder to avenge, not a bad case of lust to sate.
“Who else is there?” she asked.
“Izel maybe, but I doubt he’d listen to even her.”
“Izel?”
He glanced up from his thoughts. “She’s our Legion Commander, and I wouldn’t think at her crossly. She could kick my lousy arse into last century.”
“Really.” Alice leaned forward, bracing her chin in her hand. Now, this was interesting.
He cocked one fair eyebrow. “Not gonna test the theory, so quit overworking that pretty head of yours.”
“I’d like to meet this woman. You know, swap trade secrets.”
He ignored her. “Immortalis are all about power, who has more. Ander’s near the top of the food chain. Only one other guy I know can get close. Ezra.” With that one name, he hit his speed dial. Within a minute, he’d explained the problem and had an answer. He stood as he clipped the cell phone back to his belt. “Right. Let’s be on our way then.”
“You did it?” She drew back into her seat.
“Ye of little faith.” He held that sexy hand to her. “You doubted me? I’m a Tracker, born and bred. Trackers have connections, and I’ve been around long enough to make a lot of ’em.”
He kept her hand in his all the way down to the lobby, which she didn’t mind on so many levels. The building was straight out of a slasher movie when it was empty. Plus his hand was surprisingly soft. When she saw his sleek, silver Aston Martin convertible parked half on the sidewalk in front of the building, she shot him a glare.
“Don’t you worry about tickets?”
He had the nerve to wink at her. “Told you. Connections. I have ways to get rid of those.”
Her stomach lurched. Of course he’d have ways. Had she forgotten so quickly how indiscriminate he was with his methods, how he’d threatened an officer and then her? She didn’t want to get in the car with him, but what choice did she have? If he had trouble seeking an audience, she’d have no chance at all. At least she could appreciate the car.
“You don’t have a driver?”
“I do, a perk of working with Kade, but I’d rather be in control.”
She bit back a retort and worried over the case instead. “Why would someone risk taking the victim from Capitol Hill to Fremont?”
“My guess, it was a bigger risk to stay on the estate. Needed some place to work where he wouldn’t be interrupted.”
“Or she.” Alice never ruled out the capacity for evil in females.
He glanced at her. “Or she.” As his attention turned to the traffic, his face took on a dark cast. “Whatever the reason, the perp needed time.”
“For what, though? Revenge?”
“Maybe.” His tone was clipped. Her eyes narrowed, but he didn’t notice. Something was missing here. He was hiding information. Two could play that game. He kept talking, but she’d lost the inclination to help him out. “Have you gotten any labs back?”
“Maybe.”
His face jerked her way, and he cocked an eyebrow. “Are we being childish now?”
“We are being fair. If we must work together, we had better work quid pro quo.”
He shifted in his seat. Nervous? More than likely, the shady bastard. “How would I know the killer’s motivation when you’re the one holding the evidence?”
“I don’t know. How would you?”
He scowled at her as they waited at a stoplight. “Frustrating wench.”
A spark of humor in his eyes tempered his expression, the tiny laugh lines around his mouth deepening irresistibly. How ungodly handsome. She fought a smile, her lips twitching at the corners. “Shady McGrady.”
“That’s McCready to you.” His answering smile wiggled the rest of the way past her ire. Why was it so damned hard to stay mad at him?
“Don’t hide things from me, Mr. McCready.” Please, don’t hide them.
After parking in front of the behemoth Ander called a home, he turned to her.
“It’s Ian. Even my father never went by McCready.” He brushed a lazy path along her cheek and tucked a stray lock of hair from her face. As much as her nerve endings begged her to lean into that touch, she pulled away. “And I promise, if I knew something, I would tell you.”
She wasn’t so sure of that, but there was no reason for her to withhold information. “There was candle wax surrounding the body and several different samples of blood we haven’t identified yet. I’m not sure we can. It’s all vampire blood, which is, as always, a complete mystery. No fibers identified.”
“Not much to go on.”
“No, it’s not, but it seems ritualistic, and there had to have been more than one person there. What kind of vampire ritual involves murder of a newly turned?”
He sat back, his jaw clenching sporadically. “I don’t know.”
Liar
He recognized what she’d described. Before she could confront him, he swung the door open and shot out of the car. She might have slammed the car door a little, not that he noticed. Following slightly behind Ian, she glared an imaginary hole in the middle of his broad shoulders. If it took holding him under UV lights in an interrogation cell, she was going to have answers from him. Tonight.
Chapter Six
Fucking hell. Ian was losing his damned mind. It wasn’t that Alice shared anything he hadn’t already observed from the crime scene. But fucking hell. He had reliable proof of a conscience now. It could stop gnawing his bones any time. The Infancy Killer was dead and gone. He’d made sure of it. There had to be a copycat. Or maybe the guy had disciples who were stepping into his shoes. But why wait so long to start up again? The Infancy case had closed nearly fifty years ago.
As they passed the meticulous hedges and headed toward the entry archway, he had no time to ponder the problem. Ander’s extravagant mansion lit up from every casement window. The electric bill had to be higher than most people made in a month. Red brick cladding and white trim covered the exterior of the Tudor-style structure right up to the steep roof and around the gabled bay. He’d take his humble rambler ranch house over this waste of perfectly good funds any day.
The door swung wide, and a short, thin subjugate with a prominent brow greeted them and led the way into the household. The human wasn’t only short in stature, but his attitude followed along the same lines. Ian couldn’t help comparing the subjugate to his own. His human servants were always friendly and respectful, and he expected no less, regardless how far away the prospect of their impending transformation. Perhaps it made a difference that Ian lived out in the boonies, surrounded by trees rather than brick and mortar and gas fumes. Then again, maybe anyone who had to serve Ander while they awaited transformation would share the same bad attitude affliction. Ander had always been a pompous, power-hungry ass.
Speaking of which, the ass was nowhere to be seen when they entered the den. Instead, another Immortalis Dominus rose to welcome them, if you could call the vampire’s frown welcoming.
Ian spoke before the Dominus could. “Kenji. It’s been a while. Can’t say I missed you in the meantime.”
Kenji’s lip curled. “If I’d known Ezra was sending you, Tracker, I wouldn’t have hung around to waste my night.”
“No cussing in front of the lady. She hates the T-word.” He guided Alice closer to his side, admiring her somewhat bemused expression as he introduced her. “Kenji, this is Alice Capshaw, current Vice Director of the VLO. Alice, Kenji here is a Dominus adjuvant and apparently one of Ander’s roadies.”
The tall Asian vampire’s eyes flared brighter, but he held his tongue. Surprising. The guy had always been too hot
headed to seem like the Ancient he was. He hadn’t changed much over the years, his face still a little too long and a little too lean, but he had added a sparse goatee and an extra foot of hair. Apparently, he’d also taken to wearing designer suits. Last time he’d shown his face, he’d gotten a few mouthfuls of Ian’s fists.
He glanced toward Alice, but otherwise ignored her. Ian fought the urge to feed the guy more fist. It brought some satisfaction that Ian was a giant in comparison.
“I’ve been informed of your request, Tracker, but there is nothing to tell. The human was not my subjugate, but my assignment to transform. I did my adjuvant duty—turned the human, completed the aftercare, and left him in his quarters. By the end of the night, his door was lifted from the hinges, and he was missing. No witnesses on the estate to the occurrence. For all we know, he went rogue.”
“And you didn’t report it?” Alice asked, her frown matching Kenji’s. “He could have been deranged.”
Kenji did nothing more than pass his gaze over the top of her head, as if she weren’t even worthy of eye contact. “As I said, the aftercare was complete, and he was not my subjugate.”
Alice was about to blow a gasket. Not good. He nudged her with an elbow, and then the evil eyes were all for him. Dandy.
He cleared his throat and turned back to Kenji. “Any blood in his quarters?”
“None.” Kenji affected a mien of boredom.
“I want to see Ander’s transformation facilities.”
“He won’t allow it.”
“You have something to hide?” Ian asked.
“Not to hide, but to protect. Something called privacy. I doubt you’ve ever heard of it. You’ll have to get orders from the Rex to get into our facilities. Oh, right. There is no Rex.” Kenji’s slimy smirk begged readjustment. Ian took a small step forward, but Alice hooked her arm through his.
“Okay,” she said. “We’ll be back then with that order.”
Ian gawped at her. “What? Are you fucking insa—”
Bad Cop (Entangled Covet) Page 4