Page 29 of Phoenix Falling
He grunted. “No one saw anything, or so they say. We’ll see what we can get on CCTV, but it doesn’t hit as many areas near the park.”
I’d see what I could find too. Nothing like neck wounds to send my mind directly to a vampire as a suspect.
Nick smoked his cigarette in silence, and I gave him some peace for a little while. Only when he’d dropped the butt and crushed it out with his boot did I finally ask, “What can you tell me about this case with the teenage boys over in Antioch?”
“That’s what you’re interested in?” He gave a faint chuckle. “The kids were so terrified that they pissed their pants. Not a good night for them.”
“So you don’t believe they saw anything?”
“Oh, I believe they saw something.” He stared across the street, watching a group of early twentysomethings give each other a hard time as they walked down the darkened road. “What they saw might have been influenced by a lot of things, including drugs, but there’s no way to know for sure. We did find a blockade in that alley though.”
“Just like the boys described?”
He nodded.
“So they might have been herded in there on purpose?”
Nick murmured something affirmative as a faint buzz reached my ears. He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Something hinky was going on,” Nick said absently, “but hell if I know what.” He swiped his phone and brought it to his ear. “Chavis.”
I halfheartedly listened to another detective fill Nick in on a case I wasn’t familiar with. Some burglary charge. The rest of my brain mulled over the details of the teen boys’ stories that I’d read in the report.
“Uh-huh. Yeah, keep me posted.” Nick cut off the call without a goodbye. “Anyway, what else are you working on?” he asked me.
“Nothing definitive,” I said, deliberately vague. “Just poking around some stuff.”
He grunted. “Well don’t go with the glowing eyes story. That’s more like tabloid fodder.” He shoved his phone into his back pocket. “Hit me up if there’s anything else I can do for you.”
“I will.” I wouldn’t unless there was something I needed a detective’s personal insight on.
Nick straightened from the wall. “Hey, when are you gonna take me up on that dinner?”
“Wish I could, but you know”—I pushed myself upright and began a backwards walk in the opposite direction—“a girl’s got work to do.”
“A girl’s also gotta eat,” he called out as the distance increased between us. The problem was, Nick’s invitation was really more of a reflex than any true interest, a sort of masturbatory impulse. I got the feeling dates were more done out of routine than any actual pleasure in someone else’s company. Maybe it was hard to enjoy being with a woman when you saw so many bad things happening to them every night.
“I promise I’ll think about it.” I wouldn’t and likely neither would he.
“Yeah, yeah.” Nick pulled out his pack of cigarettes and turned to walk toward his car. “I’ll hear from you when I hear from you.”
“Take care, Nick.”
He waved a cigarette-holding hand in the air but kept walking. I quickly turned my back and headed into the club.
Time to meet Sun.
Tingles of anticipation shot through my belly. Half a week of not seeing the male—as Risk or Rissa—had dragged on what seemed like forever. Tonight was a business meeting, but I’d soak up every second I could get. Rounding the corner and entering the club was the work of mere minutes, each step making the nerves sharper, brighter. My breath shorter. As I approached “our booth” along the back wall, disappointment hit at the sight of three big male bodies. Two shifters sat on either side of Sun, neither of whom I’d seen before. One was Hollywood handsome with shaggy blonde hair, the other with dark skin and a hint of red to his eye color.
The two males looked decidedly unhappy with their environment, but Sun seemed distracted, staring off into space. Was he remembering meeting me here? Did he have Rissa on his mind right now?
“Who’s the company?” I asked as I slipped into the booth.
Both men frowned in my direction. Wow, tough crowd.
“Is it the tats or the nose ring?” I asked. “Maybe the hair?” I ran a hand through my streaked hair. “Although I’ve got to tell you, I don’t have the best news for you, so those frowns are going to be put to good use.”
“What do you mean,” Sun asked, “that you don’t have good news for us?”
I took a moment to eat him up with my eyes—surreptitiously, of course—while I hiked my hip to pull a thumb drive from my back pocket. “Well, not all bad news. I’ve got some names for you.”
