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  Nathan brought Kel in, and he was about to speak when he saw the vampires in the kitchen. “Deana?” he asked.

  “Have a seat. We’re waiting for one more guy,” I said.

  Kel sat, looking nervous.

  I heard the front door open once more, and walked to the entrance. “Please come in,” I said, knowing the drill now.

  Alfonso Delgado came in, all smiles. “Deana Holliday! You are a surprising creature, indeed. I hadn’t expected to see you so soon.” He came to me and, leaning down, kissed both my cheeks.

  He followed me into the kitchen.

  Then Delgado nodded to Tuesday. “Levi,” he said, inclining his head toward the other vampire. “Well, we’re all here. Nathan tells me you have stumbled upon a solution. It is interesting indeed, since it’s not a practice that is commonly known, but you are correct, Deana, that it would allow for the truth to be known.”

  “Why wasn’t it done immediately?” I asked.

  “It has to be a willing offering. I did not feel that there would be a willingness,” he shrugged.

  I wanted to slap him, but I smiled. “Well, there is.”

  “Oh? You’ve told him what will be required?”

  I nodded.

  “Very well. I shall do it. Your hand, please,” he said to Kel, all business now.

  Kel held up a hand that shook slightly.

  Delgado opened his mouth, and I saw his fangs drop down. He brushed his mouth against Kel’s wrist, and then set it down so fast I couldn’t tell what happened. He closed his eyes and swallowed.

  “Let Levi see as well,” I said. Because you know, Delgado could lie.

  Delgado’s eyes snapped open. Nathan was on alert, and when Delgado gave a short, curt nod, Nathan took Kel’s wrist and held it to Levi.

  The kitchen was so quiet you could have heard a mouse sneeze.

  After what seemed like forever, Delgado opened his eyes. He didn’t look pleased.

  “What did you see?” I asked.

  His lips pursed. “Your friend tells the truth, Deana Holliday. He did not kill Jessamine.”

  Everyone looked toward Levi. Slowly, Levi nodded as well.

  Kel let out a breath. He kind of looked like he might cry with relief, so I took over for him. “What next?”

  “You are free to go,” Delgado said to Kel. “You won’t speak of this business to anyone.”

  “No,” Kel said, his voice shaky. “What about Lavina?”

  Really? He had to push it when he’d just gotten his life back?

  “We will speak to her. That is not your concern. You need to go now,” Delgado said.

  Kel got up, and I hurried to his side, worried that he’d step in a big pile of shit. I could see his shoulders bunch, a sure sign of his rising temper. “Let me walk you out,” I said, taking his arm and pulling him away.

  He came with me, but I could feel the struggle. At the door, he turned, and hugged me. “I’m sorry, Dee. For everything. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Get out of here before you do something stupid. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Are you sure? But I—”

  I stopped him. “I’m sure. Go. And don’t make a fuss about Lavina. She was all right when we saw her. I’m sure you’ll see her soon.”

  His face brightened, visible even in my darkened hallway. He gave me a one-armed hug, and then left. I stood at the door for a moment, wondering what was waiting for me back in the kitchen.

  Might as well go find out.

  Everyone but Tuesday was sitting at the table now. She gestured for me to sit down in front of her. I was glad she was here, on my side, glaring at all three of the men.

  “Deana, I am glad to have settled that, but I am curious as to where you heard of this manner of discovering the truth.” Delgado’s words were pleasant, but his eyes were dark and flat. “And I will tell you that your efforts were more than that boy deserved.”

  “Probably, but that’s my call as to where I put my effort,” I said, trying not get shitty.

  “Yes, I suppose so. But where did you hear of this?”

  “Research. That’s what I do. I’m an investigator.”

  He studied me for a few moments. “You are very good at this, then. That’s good, very good.” He tapped his chin. “I will hire you to find out who the killer is. I’ll give you five days, since you managed this so admirably,” he beamed at me like he was giving me a gift. “Then, if you do not discover the killer, you and I will discuss what happens when my terms are not met.”

  “No,” Tuesday said.

  “No,” Levi said at the same time.

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  “It means you have five days from now. I shall visit you here, in five days’ time, and we shall see who the killer in our midst is.” He rose. “Come, Nathan, we have work to do this evening. Thank you for your hospitality,” he said to me. “Levi, Tuesday,” he added, and drifted from the room.

  Leaving quiet chaos in his wake.

  Chapter Eleven

  I waited, again, to hear the door close. But this time, I waited to hear the car start, and then, I went to the window to make sure they were leaving. As the car drove away, I turned back to the two vampires, who hadn’t said one fucking word.

  “Okay, what the hell just happened?” I asked. “I know it’s not good, so don’t spare me.”

  “You have five days to find out who did kill Jessamine, or…” Levi stopped.

  “Or Delgado will claim you and turn you,” Tuesday said flatly.

  “What?” I yelped. “What in the actual hell? Where was that said and agreed on?”

  “It doesn’t matter if you didn’t agree,” said Tuesday.

  “My mother was right. I shouldn’t have gotten involved in this,” I muttered, sitting down and slumping over the table. “I don’t have a clue where to go from here. Seriously,” I looked up. “I don’t know who had it in for your wife, and I’m fresh out of ideas.” I was so mad, I wanted to scream. I stood up. “You know what? I’m out for a while.”

  “Where are you going?” Tuesday asked.

  “For a ride. I’ll be back.”

  “Let me know if you decide otherwise,” Tuesday said.

  “I’ll be back. I don’t run from a fight,” I said.

  “No, I don’t believe you do,” Levi said. He sounded sad.

  Right now, I didn’t care. All the vampires could go straight to hell, or wherever they went. High handed assholes. Just assuming the little humans would go along with whatever!

  I shot out of the garage on the Chief, liking the night air on my face. I drove out of Venice and onto the PCH, needing to just be out here with the bike, and not think about anything.

  Because I really didn’t know what to do. And I didn’t want to die. In any way.

  Four hours later, I pulled into the garage. When I walked into the kitchen, Tuesday was there, reading on a laptop. At least it wasn’t mine.

  “I’m glad you’re back safely,” she said as she looked up. “I sent Levi home. He is not going to be any help with this.”

  “Who can?” I sat down, feeling very tired. “I’ve been over and over it in my head. It could be anyone who killed her. Levi said she was down on the beach. There are no cameras there, and we don’t have anyone else to use the bite-the-wrist truth telling thing with.”

  “How did you know about that? I didn’t even know,” she said.

  “I have a source,” I said, not willing to out Caleb.

  “It’s a good one. I can see why Delgado’s pissed at you. That’s why he did what he did, you know. He’s worried. You know more than you should, and he’s worried how much more you might know. So he’s got to control you.”

  “Who the hell does he think he is?”

  “He’s the guy who runs Los Angeles,” Tuesday said.

  “I like you, but I don’t want to be a vampire,” I said. “And I sure as hell don’t want to have to answer to that guy.”

  “It�
��s not for everyone, that’s true. I take no offense. I wouldn’t want to be beholden to him either.” She gazed at me thoughtfully. “I need to tell Zachary of this. He is my coven leader, and if it comes out I withheld information, it will be my head.”

  I shrugged. “I’m not the one keeping secrets,” I said. “Tell him the whole thing. Hey, where’s Levi again?” She’d mentioned him, and I’d already forgotten what she said. My brain was pinging like a thousand pinballs were loose in my head.

  “I sent him home. The nerve of him, bringing Nathan here. Nathan’s one step above a thug, and everyone knows that. What did he think would happen?” She sounded disgusted.

  “It did save Kel,” I said.

  “Yes, and put you in his place. You need to talk to your source again and see if there are any more ideas they haven’t shared.”

  “What have you been doing?” I nodded at the laptop to change the subject.

  She smiled. “We think alike. I was looking to see if there were any public cameras out near the house or the beach. It’s a public beach.”

  “Any luck?”

  She shook her head.

  I got up. “I’m going to bed. I can’t think straight.”

  “I’ll be up until dawn.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  She nodded and went back to the computer. I headed up to bed, to try and forget the tangle of thought and panic that was forming a big, fat ball in my head. But when I got into bed, I didn’t fall asleep right away. If I couldn’t come up with something by tomorrow night, I was going to have to call my mom. And my aunts.

  Shit.

  I closed my eyes and forced myself to relax. I needed the sleep.

  When I woke up, the house lay quiet. All my vampire pains-in-the-asses were asleep, which meant I could focus on how to get myself out this mess.

  All I wanted to do was pull the covers back up over my head, but instead, I threw them back and went forth into my day with a vengeance.

  I took stock of my concerns in the shower. First, I’d cleared Kel. He was done. The Chief was mine, and I didn’t have his death hanging on me anymore.

  Second, I needed focus on what Caleb needed. I wasn’t sure. He felt like a loose end, and he was the one holding the loose end. Maybe it was that loss of control that was making me crazy. Although he’d saved my ass with the Kel thing, so maybe he would have an idea. I willed him to come in today.

  Even though he was getting ready to die, and I hated being part of that, I found that I liked him. He was a force for good, even if he seemed to take a slightly off the beaten path road to do it.

  Third, I would ask him what he knew about a Volcanic. I hated the idea of pinning so much on one person, but I was at a dead end.

  Thinking about problem number three, I laughed to myself in the shower. Madigan had given me thirty days to do what I thought was probably his dirty work. I wondered what would happen if I ended up a vampire under Alfonso Delgado’s thumb. I’d pay some money to see those two arrogant asshats face off. I’d venture to say Madigan’s suit might end up a bit ruffled.

  Even though the thought of dealing with either of them wasn’t really funny.

  Fourth, if none of this panned out, I needed to call my mom. And my aunts. I dreaded bringing Mom into it. She was pretty low key, probably because Gran was most definitely not. But her last call showed me that she was leaning pretty hard into Gran territory and updating her on this mess would only make it worse. I sighed as I rinsed my hair. I didn’t need that, but I needed to be realistic. If I needed help. I’d have to do it.

  Finally, my fifth concern. How the hell was I going to discover who it was that killed Jessamine Cassidy? I had no idea who was pissed at her or wanted her dead. My introduction into the world of vampires was awkward, bumpy, and another pain in my ass.

  What I did know was that I didn’t want to be a vampire. And I sure didn’t want to have to answer to Alfonso Delgado. How to fight him?

  Another thing I didn’t have the answer to.

  How the hell had this gone from helping a friend to trying to save my own skin?

  The cooling water alerted me I’d been in here for a long time, trying to sort out my tangled messes. I sighed, and finished up, turning off the water.

  Today, I was going to plow through my emails, and get all my non-supernatural stuff in order, because my supernatural stuff seemed to be doing nothing but ramping up. I didn’t want any of my clients to get less than good service.

  Because even the threat of eternal undead life yoked to a psycho is not enough to stop good customer service.

  Despite all my woes, I was laughing to myself as I drove to work. When I got to my office, though, my smile fell.

  Kel was on a bike parked out in front of my door. I felt like I should know which one it was, but I didn’t have time for that this morning. He smiled a greeting at me. Great. Can’t he just be happy I saved his ass and move on? I sighed, put on what I hoped was a nice expression, and got out to face whatever it was he was bringing me.

  When I walked toward him, he came off the bike and enveloped me a bear hug. It was like falling backward in time when we were real friends.

  “Dee, I can’t thank you enough,” he said into my hair.

  I stepped back. “You don’t have to thank me, Kel. You asked for help, and I did the best I could. I gave you my word, and I don’t go back on my word.”

  He smiled at me. “No, you don’t, even though I’ve been an asshole to you for the past two years. I don’t deserve you as a friend.”

  I laughed as I unlocked the door. “No, you don’t, but I’m very glad you’re not going to die for something you didn’t do.”

  “Who killed her?” he asked as he walked in behind me.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know,” I said over my shoulder as I started making coffee. “So, what brings you in today?”

  “I wanted to apologize. I made things more difficult than they had to be when Derek died.”

  Facing him, I gave him my ‘no bullshit’ look. “Yes, you did. And it hurt.”

  He looked down. “I know. I have no excuse. I was so—I missed him so much.”

  “Yeah, so did I,” I leaned against the counter.

  “I know. And I shit all over that. I can’t make that up to you, and for that, I’m sorry. When you agreed to take this case, I thought, Wow. She didn’t have to. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this week.”

  “Impending death has that effect,” I said.

  “Yes, it does. And I know I can’t make this right, that we’ll never be friends like we were.” There was genuine regret in his voice.

  My voice softened. “No, we can’t.” I wasn’t going to sugar coat it.

  “But for me, this falls under unfinished business. I’m saying thank you again, and giving you these,” he stood up and put a set of keys on my desk.

  “What are they to?”

  He jerked his head toward the parking lot. “Didn’t you recognize it? It was Derek’s. The Sin Bin.”

  The Sin Bin was what Derek had called the bike he was restoring for himself. The last time I’d seen it, it had still been in pieces. In addition to the band, Derek and Kel had loved their bikes. Derek hadn’t been a spendthrift except with his bike addiction. The Sin Bin was a 1942 Harley Davidson UL74 Flathead, and he’d found it in a pile in some guy’s backyard in Pennsylvania. The entire time we were together, he had worked on it. The sidecar wasn’t original—he’d decided to add it when he found that in another pile in some moldering backyard a year or so later. It wasn’t a Harley Davidson—it was... I couldn’t remember what it was. But it was a bike just for Derek, and in the years since he’d died, I’d forgotten about it.

  “Did you finish it?” I walked to the door to see the gleaming black bike. She was gorgeous.

  “I felt like I had to. He loved it so much,” Kel came to stand behind me.

  “You don’t have to do this,” I eased away from him. I didn’t want to fall back into the comfor
table relationship we’d had. Those times were over.

  “I do. You saved my life, and you, more than anyone else in my life, had the right to tell me to fuck off and best of luck. And you didn’t. Let me do this. It eases my conscience.”

  I looked at him. He seemed sincere. “All right. Thank you. Now where’s the title?”

  Kel burst into laughter. “I love that about you, Dee! You don’t waste time with bullshit.”

  I smiled. “No, I don’t. There are better things to be doing.”

  Kel pulled papers out of his pocket and set them on the desk with the keys. “There it is. It’s yours. Honestly, it belongs with the Chief.”

  Unexpectedly, I found tears welling in my eyes. Derek had said that. I felt like I’d finally been able to move forward from that part of my life—and this week was bringing it all up again.

  Although maybe not in a bad way.

  “So, I’m out of here. Thank you. If you need anything, you call me. I know I blew it, but I owe you forever,” Kel said. He stepped closer to me, kissed me on the cheek, and left.

  I stood watching him, lost in thought.

  Then I went out to see the Flathead. Running my hand across the gas tank, I saw the words ‘Sin Bin’ painted on it. It wasn’t Derek’s handwriting. Kel must have done it.

  Combined with all the things going on this week, I suppose it was natural that I stood there, petting a motorcycle, and crying.

  Chapter Twelve

  Brushing my eyes, I went back into my office. It looked like another trip to Motor Vehicles was in order. I didn’t know how to feel, and honestly, at this point, I didn’t have the time to sit and mull this over. Which kind of pissed me off.

  This whole week had been me reacting to the shit going on around me. It was time for me to take back the control of my life. If I was going down, it was going to be on my terms. Not the terms of some vampire who bought his own hype.

  I locked the door, pulled the blinds, and put the Closed sign back on. Then I sat down and called Deadwood.