“Ignore it? Bridget, you have what looks like teeth marks on your neck? I’ve never seen you with marks like that before. Need I remind you, I’m the one living with a vampire, and even he doesn’t leave marks like that on me.”
Bridget’s cheeks went bright red.
“I could do that for you, if you’d like me to,” Viktor said with a grin, coming over from the counter and putting a mug of coffee on the table in front of Bridget. “Those marks are commonly known as hickeys, babe. Nothing for you to worry about. I take it things are going well with your mage professor, Bridget?”
“Robert and I are getting along very well, thank you for asking, Vik. Now, can we talk about Carmine?”
“It was Doctor Stevens who left those marks on your neck? But he’s a professor in astral projection. He has two master’s degrees.” Ant couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What on earth did he think he was doing, abusing human flesh like that?”
Picking up her coffee mug, Bridget grinned. “Did you finally want to discuss our sex lives, Ant? That could be more interesting than talking about Carmine.”
“Think about what you know about erogenous zones, babe. I’m sure that would’ve come up in your studies somewhere,” Viktor suggested, taking his seat next to Ant.
Erogenous zones?Ant thought about it for a moment, and then it clicked. He snapped his fingers. “Got it. I understand now. The sides of the neck are particularly sensitive erogenous zones that can be stimulated with light touches, kisses, and gentle bites.”
Checking his sister’s neck again, Ant added grimly, “Doctor Stevens might need a reminder on the gentle part of a bite aspect. But I said I wouldn’t interfere in your relationship with my colleague, and I won’t. Tell me about Carmine. Did you sendthe report to him as I asked, outlining the issues Viktor and I faced when dealing with the murder scene and letting him know I wasn’t able to complete the reading?”
“Vik’s a bad influence on you,” Bridget said, taking a sip of her coffee. “Ooh, nice, you got in some good stuff. I’ve never known you to lie to a client before.”
“You didn’t want me taking Carmine as a client in the first place, and it wasn’t Viktor’s idea, it was mine. I am emphatically opposed to lying in any form, as you well know. However, I would posit the argument that as Carmine is a known liar, I am simply communicating with him in a similar vein, as a means of furthering our working relationship.”
“You have to watch these brainy people. They pull out so many twists in an argument, they can convince you of anything.” Bridget shared a chuckle with Viktor, although Ant had no idea why. He was just stating his rationalization.
“What did Carmine’s note say, exactly?” he prompted his sister.
“Your outlook on life would be a lot lighter if you could appreciate a joke, Ant.” Bridget put down her coffee mug, reached into her jacket pocket, and pulled out a fancy envelope that still had remnants of a broken wax seal on the back of it. She took a sheet of what looked like expensive paper from it and shook the folds out with a flourish.
“Dear Miss. Channon,”she read.“Thank you for your wonderfully detailed report on the investigation provided by your brother, the esteemed Doctor Channon, and the vampire known as Viktor.
“While I’m understandably distressed that someone has interfered with the site where my sister lived out her last moments on Earth, I appreciate Doctor Channon’s caution.
“After consideration, I have concluded that maintaining this fight to seek justice for my sister is not a healthy course of action for me to continue. I am touched by Doctor Channon’s offer to host some form of magical ceremony in an effort to contact my departed sister. I would love nothing more than to speak with her or hear a message from her one last time.
“But in consideration of our culture, and my religious beliefs, I feel a séance would simply disturb my sister’s spirit unnecessarily, and regretfully, I feel it’s best to refuse his gracious offer. In fact I must insist, as my sister’s closest living relative, that no attempt should be made by Doctor Channon to contact the spirit of my sister.
“Then he just closes off with his thanks for our understanding, copious best wishes, etcetera, and that’s it. Apart from another six vases of flowers.”
“Tell him you like chocolates,” Ant said distractedly. “Then perhaps Doctor Stevens will stop nibbling on you. You can share them with him.”
“Ant!” Bridget burst out laughing, but Ant couldn’t see the joke, so he ignored it.
“I can’t believe Carmine would say no, when he was the one who wanted me to investigate his sister’s murder in the first place.” Ant looked at his mate, who was also grinning. “We need a new plan.”
“We could drop the whole thing?” Viktor suggested. “The way I see it, you and Carmine are at a stalemate. In dealing with Carmine, that’s probably the safest place to be. He won’t contact you, because he’ll worry you’ll bring up the séance. We didn’t want to have anything to do with him in the first place…”
“Youdidn’t,” Ant said quickly. “I want to know why Carol had to die. There was no motive, she was with people shefelt comfortable with. Nothing in their conversation before they started hitting her suggested the men intended to kill her, but their actions afterward all point to the fact that they planned it in advance.”
“If you were still working as a police consultant, you could get a copy of the complete case file.” Bridget took a big bite of Ant’s toast and hummed happily.
“I have nothing to say to Captain Bains… Although…” This time, it was Ant who grinned. “He’s not the gatekeeper of the prisons. Bridget, I want you to get in touch with the prison warden…”
“At the risk of ending up sleeping on the couch, you are not doing a reading at the prison, Ant. That’s too dangerous.” That sexy grin disappeared from Viktor’s face.
“Sleeping on the couch? Why would you do that? Don’t you like the bed we share? Honestly, I don’t know what you two are talking about half the time.” Ant huffed. “I want Bridget to get in touch with the warden and ask for the case file concerning thedeath of the inmatewho was sentenced for killing Carol. That file will have a photograph of him. I will know when I see it if that man was one of the two we’re looking for.”
“That’s a good idea,” Viktor said slowly. “However, I know Carmine has contacts among the prison guards. He’ll get word about what you’re doing in the time it takes for you to get the file.”
“I’m not going to concern myself with Carmine at this point in time. He’s made his position very clear. This is about Carol. You could also follow up with Hammond for me, Bridget, please. He claims to have a full copy of Carol’s case file. I want to see it, today. Employ your wonderful badgering techniques if he keeps putting you off.”
