Page 72 of Blood and Buttercups

“Is that allowed?”

“At a certain stage, yes. When a vampire has been stable for several years, and has shown they aren’t a threat to society, they can refuse our aid. However, they must submit address changes, and it’s possible Ethan did not.”

“Instead of searching Garfield County, can you search the Colorado database? Or even a national one?”

“We can, and I imagine that’s what Daniel is going to do next and why he needs a description. Imagine how many results it’s going to pull for someone named Ethan with a last name that starts with B. I don’t suppose you know his last name?”

“No. He always paid for his flowers with cash.” I pause, sitting straighter in the car seat. “But the hostess at the restaurant used his last name. What was it?”

She called him Mr. …something.

“Can you look up the owner of a building?” I ask, suddenly excited. “He says he owned the building the restaurant is in.”

Noah jerks his head toward me. “Absolutely. Just give me an address.”

“Thank you, Daniel.”Noah paces my kitchen as I crunch on my second cucumber, looking like a caged leopard. Whatever news his contact gave him, he doesn’t seem happy about it.

When he hangs up, he sets the phone on the counter, presses his hands to the granite, and leans forward, looking both deep in thought and highly annoyed. I should be focusing on the situation at hand, but my eyes catch on his muscular frame—specifically, his tense forearms and the bulge of his biceps.

He’s in a hunter green T-shirt today, not the brighter emerald of his family’s grocery store, but a deep, rich color. It complements his sun-kissed skin and amber eyes.

The man is glorious.

“The building belongs to Brennan Properties,” he finally says.

“Okay…?”

“The president is Hunter Brennan, and the CEO is his brother, Ethan Brennan.”

Mr. Brennan.

“That’s it! That’s what the hostess called him—Mr. Brennan.”

“They aren’t registered in our system.”

“What does that mean?”

“They either aren’t vampires…or someone has removed them from the database.”

I point to my neck. “I’m walking proof that Ethan is a vampire.”

“That leads me to our next issue.”

“What?”

“There’s no record of the attack in your file. You’re in the system, but your history is blank.”

“Dr. Granger probably forgot to upload it.”

“That’s what I thought, so I asked Daniel to add it manually so we can begin an official case.”

“And?”

“Access to your file is restricted. The only ones who can access it are much further up the command chain than Daniel.”

“Is that…normal?”

“No, but I ran into it a few times. And when I followed the trail, I ended up back here.”

---