Page 180 of Black Bird

“Is that why you’re here?” Rhaena crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “Sir, you’re the last person that should be apologizing after what we’ve put you through.”

“Don’t do that. Look, I’m not here as your boss. I’m not even here as a fellow upholder of the law. I’m here as a friend, Northwood. I’ve been briefed on the disappearance of your roommate. I understand why you did what you did. I really do. I’m sorry it’s come down to this.”

“I swear to you, sir … I never meant to leave a bad taste in your mouth about—”

“I know all that. And I’m sorry for my temper. I thought a lot about what you asked me after you left. And then that girl went missing. If I’m being honest, I don’t think Detective Kane is a bad person. But I can’t just pretend that what he said isn’t serious. Twelve murders by his own hand? What the hell am I supposed to do with that, Gloves?”

“I—” Rhaena paused, not sure if she should say what she was thinking. Foley caught her stare.

“Safe space, detective. Whatever it is, I promise it won’t leave this room.”

“It’s not what you think. Kane didn’t kill random people off the street. He doesn’t feed on humans if he can possibly help it. He’s got a supply of blood from EverLife.” Her captain looked as if he’d choke on vomit at the thought. “He doesn’t even need that anymore. The twelve that he’s responsible for … they’re horrible people. He picked them out for that reason. All of them were tried, convicted, and doing time for unspeakable things.”

“How the hell did he manage that?”

Rhaena shrugged. “Athan keeps a file with possible candidates. The worst of the worst. When he feels like that hunger will take him over, he heads for the prison. Sarah was really bad timing. Or reallygoodtiming, however you wanna look at it.” She found his next expression even harder to read than the first.

“Be that as it may, murder is murder. If a convicted inmate serving time can get more years added to his sentence for an in-house killing, then how can I let somebody like Kane pass?”

Rhaena straightened and pursed her lips as she dropped her gaze down to her feet. “Somebodylikehim?”

“Yes. Somebody like him. Somebody like the man that stood next to you and took the same oath we all take. What he’s done goes against everything we vowed as officers, Rhaena.”

Rhaena … he never called her by her first name.

She thought long and hard about what he’d just said, knowing he was right, but also knowing that it was something Athan couldn’t help. He mourned those criminals just like he’d mourned every other life he’d taken. Bad people or not, a life was a life. Those inmates still had loved ones that cared for them, no matter what they had done. People that loved them. People that they had still sworn to protect and serve. The captain wasn’t wrong.

“I understand, sir.”

The captain was quiet for several minutes before turning towards the living room and taking notice of the cat that finally perched on the arm of the couch, watching him with his large green eyes. “When did you get a cat?”

Rhaena huffed a laugh, “I—” she snapped her mouth shut, staring at the back of his head and drawing her brows together. “I … don’t remember you ever being here before, Cap. How did you know that I’ve never had a pet before?”

Foley turned back, hands still in his pockets, though he looked a bit caught off guard by her question. “Foster had mentioned that you had a pet. You always told me you didn’t. I told her she had to be wrong, but she insisted that she saw pet hair and claw marks in your apartment when they came through.” He shrugged.

“It’s Wren’s,” Rhaena said, carefully considering what he’d just admitted. “She uh … really paid a lot of attention to pointless detail, huh?”

“Apparently.” The captain glanced up at her and gestured to the couch. “Do you mind if I sit? There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

Rhaena nodded and followed him into the living room, taking a seat across from him in the armchair. She watched him gently pet Denver, who instantly took a liking to him and eased into his lap. “He’s fidgety today. He’s been looking all over for her. Please tell me this talk isn’t about some bad news that Jenkins can’t bring himself to tell me.”

Foley shook his head. “Sadly, no. We haven’t got much of a lead on what happened, yet. I felt like I owed you a real answer to your question in the observation room.”

“Sir?”

“When you asked me why I didn’t seem surprised to find out Kane is what he is.”

Rhaena suddenly felt every hair stand on end, and a nervous flutter in her gut. “Okay …” she started, leaning her elbows onto her knees and resting her chin on her palms.

“Lindsey Trainor,” Foley began, his dark complexion suddenly growing taut just by the uttering of her name. “She was an excellent cop.So talented with weapons, and a fierce right hook.” His mouth turned up in the corner as he stared at Denver, scratching behind his ears. “She might have been the only person I can say I ever loved, but she was married. Happily married, actually, and she had a kid. She never had any interest in me that way, but her affection for me was different. We were partnered up, and thick as thieves. Sixteen years ago … I—” he paused, swallowing and sucking through his teeth. “We got a call for a peculiar homicide that was almost out of our jurisdiction. Practically on the line. We’d never seen anything like it before. Forensics team had told us the body had to have been out there for at least twelve hours, and it was mangled. I’d seen bodies that were bad off before, but nothing like that.”

“Psycho?” Rhaena asked, leaning forward with intrigue.

“No …” Foley’s voice lowered into something like dread. “They classified it as animal, but … something just never added up to me. Didn’t sit right with Linds, either. A few nights later—the night after Thanksgiving—we got another call that whatever it was that may have attacked that vic may have been spotted in that area. So, naturally … we went to go check it out. It was cold as hell that night. Lindsay’s flashlight took a shit about halfway through the woods. I offered her mine, but she said she wanted to go back to the car. I knew her well enough to know that she was spooked, but we were cops. We didn’t have room for fear, especially when it involved our case. Finding whatever this thing was would get us to the top of the list for promotion, and I wanted it. I wanted it so bad. I couldn’t have her. The only other thing I could get my hands on would be a foot in the door. So, I convinced her to keep looking.”

Rhaena could see where this was going. That nervous flutter in her belly turned into something that screamed at her in warning. She swallowed, trying to ignore it, and wondering why it felt so persistent. Her instincts told her some kind of danger was close by. Or some kind of darkness like it.

“The woods were silent. Eerily silent, and a little foggy. It made everything harder to see. Made my focus teeter between things I thought were real, and things that weren’t. Like being stuck in a horror movie—until …” His jaw set, feathering a little as he ground his teeth.

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