Part 11 (1/2)

Five minutes later he cruised past Eva's house. There was no marked squad car sitting on the road, but there was a white car with tinted windows even darker than Ric's parked across from Eva's. Ric smiled. Cops were almost as practiced at the art of deception as the Undead were. He headed home, his smile still in place.

Vampires loved nothing better than a game.

Chapter Eight.

Shelby's decision to cancel the date with Ric hadn't been a quick or easy one. She had really been looking forward to tonight, not just because she was coming to love the way her body felt in his presence, all jazzed up as though she had received a double dose of adrenaline and aphrodisiac, but because he was the only one around not anxious to judge her.

Publicly Cristallia County was turning a benign face to Shelby. The latest issue of the local paper, the Harbor-Bay Light, had just arrived in her mailbox tube. There wasn't a single article anywhere in the weekly paper about either the murder or the investigation.

Deputy Marc Montoya's voice, when he had awakened her at eight-thirty in the morning to relay the information about the bartender and the stripper, had been professional and neutral. When she had arrived at the county building an hour later, citizens, employees, and deputies alike had greeted her with bland faces and tepid smiles.

If that had been all Shelby was exposed to, she would have felt like she was an accepted member of the Shadow Bay family. But privately she felt the censure as acutely as if it had been in-her-face. In the wake of her arrival at work, heads turned and whispers flowed. Surrept.i.tious glances slid her way when people thought she was unaware. And behind the closed door of her office her detractors gave full voice to their discontent with angry phone calls and venomous letters.

The chairman of the a.s.sociation of Downtown Businesses called for the third day in a row to ask what measures Shelby was taking to ensure the safety of the Moonlight Madness shoppers. When she replied that, as usual, one squad would be monitoring the downtown area, the chairman muttered that they never had these worries in past years and hung up. Small-town politics had always been hard for Shelby to understand. The closest she had come to understanding them was the realization that the residents, as well as the merchants, hated both change and anything they saw that threatened the status quo.

The unwritten, unspoken implication seemed clear. She was a female, she was an outsider, and she was not competent to run an investigation of this importance.

This new lead had been a G.o.dsend. She'd sent Marc Montoya to pick up the stripper, Eva Hazard, and another day s.h.i.+ft deputy to pick up the bartender and bring him in for a full, signed statement. But the excitement of the lead had quickly waned. Eva hadn't answered her door, and Marc hadn't been able to determine if she was even home. Shelby ultimately had sent Marc back to the stripper's house in an undercover car.

The other deputy had delivered the bartender, Ernie Raco, but he was a less than desirable witness. A record check on Raco revealed not only a number of moving violations on his driving record, but a citation issued three years earlier for serving a minor and arrests prior to that for disorderly conduct and vandalism. Raco was forty, a heavy smoker with a Fu Manchu mustache and a receding hairline. Shelby had monitored his interview. Raco admitted that he routinely had drinks during his s.h.i.+ft when a patron would buy him one. His identification of Kyle Carver as the man who had created a scene with Eva seemed positive, but Raco wasn't sure who else, if anyone, had noticed the disturbance. It meant trying to identify and track down as many employees and regulars as possible and interviewing all of them.

At three in the afternoon Shelby had driven Jason Rody out to Eva's to try another door knock. Failing success with that, she left Jason as relief for Marc and drove Marc back to the office. Marc didn't say one word to her on the short drive.

So different from a year ago. After her uncle had died, Shelby had turned to Marc for support, but it had been the beginning of the end of their relations.h.i.+p. Marc hadn't minded offering her a sympathetic ear or a shoulder to cry on as long as they were in bed and other body parts were involved as well. But his caring hadn't extended past the bedroom door.

When they had arrived back at the county building, Seline had handed her a handful of phone messages.

”Anything urgent in here?”

Seline's eyes had darted around the room before she answered. ”Dr. De Chaux called for you. He wants you to call him at his office.”

”Thanks, Seline.”

Seline's dark eyes brimmed with understanding. Surly Seline the Goth Queen obviously knew what it was like to be ridiculed. She was the only one in the office who had looked at Shelby lately with something other than a pasted-on smile, a tacked-on look of tolerance, or an ill-disguised air of condescension.

Marc had heard the exchange, and the look on his face could subst.i.tute for the building's air conditioning.

Shelby had debated for over an hour on whether or not she should break the late date with Ric. He was quickly becoming her daily fix. A dose of the doctor seemed to be all she needed for an all-purpose, feel-good high. A spoonful of Doc French's patented, aged-to-perfection sagacity, a booster shot of his strength, and an eyeful of one of his shy smiles were all she needed to banish her blues. And what his body did to hers should be banned as an addictive drug.

But today's workday was far from over, and she still had hopes that Eva Hazard could be located for questioning. She didn't dare count on a late date with so much going on at work. So it was with much regret that she returned his call and cancelled their Moonlight Madness date for tonight. Ric seemed to take it well, understanding that in both their professions, work emergencies took precedence over personal concerns. In fact, he was rather sweet about the whole thing, not only wis.h.i.+ng her luck, but offering to help.

If only my own staff was so eager to work with me and not against me...

Ric called Eva's home number to leave her a warning message. As expected, he got an answering machine.

”Hi ... this is Eva. Sorry, but I don't come out to play until after the sun goes down. But if you absolutely can't wait 'til then, leave a message.”

Ric groaned. He supposed there was no real harm in the recording, but if any of his charges were inclined to trouble, it was no doubt Eva. ”Eva, this is Ric De Chaux. Listen carefully. There's an unmarked police vehicle parked outside your house-a white four-door with tinted windows. They want to pick you up for questioning regarding Kyle Carver's murder. Apparently one of the bartenders at the Diamond Stud told the sheriff he had seen you in some kind of altercation with Carver before he died. Don't leave the house or answer the door until you talk to me. Call me at home as soon as you get this message.”

Ric hung up the phone in disgust, but he was more upset with himself than with Eva. Eva was Eva, and her behavior today was probably no different than it was decades ago. But he had been remiss in his duty. He should have had a private meeting with her days ago. Instead, he had postponed his session with her to take his pleasure with Shelby.

He considered his options with Eva, and none of them were overly appealing. He could compel the deputy at Eva's house to report that he was unable to make contact with Eva, but Shelby would just keep sending deputies to the house until one was successful. He couldn't keep Eva in her house indefinitely, and even if he got her out of the house and to work without the deputy being aware, they would eventually track her down at the Diamond Stud.

It would be dangerous in any case to try to compel the deputy on the road. It was a secluded area, but pa.s.sersby and neighbors were still a risk. Ric knew his appearance was unique, and anyone happening to see him would not likely forget him.

He was afraid that the best option was the riskiest of all-to let Eva go downtown and be questioned, and to trust that she would give the right answers and be able to compel her interviewers to believe she was telling the truth. However, Eva's statement would likely be written down. Someone who hadn't been compelled might read the statement in the future and not be convinced that Eva had no involvement in the murder. But by far the biggest peril was the immediate one-that something would go wrong and Eva be taken into custody. If she were unable to escape before dawn, chances were good that she'd perish in the daylight. Eva was not created from the unique diurnal vampire strain that enabled Ric and Tux to tolerate the light.

Worse, he had the strange feeling that Eva would find the danger to be just another wickedly exciting game. After all, her name was Hazard-a moniker that Ric was certain she wasn't born with.

When Tuxbridge arrived two hours later and heard the plan, he wasn't amused. ”You want Eva to do what?”

Ric stared at his adjutant with unblinking eyes. ”If you have a better idea, I'm listening.”

Tux's stare was just as steady. ”It should have never gotten this far.”

”I agree. This county was without an Overlord for far too long. The young ones have been behaving like spoiled, willful children, doing as they please without worrying about the consequences. Well, the consequences are here now, and we have to deal with them.”

Tux's green eyes glowed. ”That's out of line, Ric, and you know it. The rogue already confessed to sticking the body in the privy hole, and there's no proof that any of us, including Eva, has done anything wrong.”

”And neither is any of this my fault, as you seem to suggest. Once again, if you have a better idea, I'll listen. If not, we do things my way.”But Tux, for all his snorting and hoof pounding, had nothing to offer. Instead, they discussed Eva's merits-not those that Ric imagined that human males took quick note of-but her vampiric attributes of command and manipulation. Tux admitted, albeit somewhat grudgingly, that appearance aside, Eva had all the tools to be as cunning and crafty as any vamp around. Remembering Eva's mystic eyes, Ric thought it likely that she could stare a human to death as easily as any male vampire.

She called on the phone a few minutes later, and Ric answered on the first ring. ”De Chaux.”

”Eva Hazard here, Doc, reporting as ordered.” The kittenish voice was teasing even in this situation.

”Eva, is the white car still parked across the road?”

”It sure is. Want me to go out and dazzle him? I can have him forgetting his mother's name in one minute and his pants off in two.”

Ric served no deity except Mistress Death, but he prayed for patience anyway. ”No. Just listen to me for a minute, will you? The bartender at the Diamond Stud told the sheriff he saw you in some kind of argument with Kyle Carver, the man who was killed.

We need to make this go away, Eva, but subtly, understand? If we do something to the deputy outside your house, they'll just send someone else.”

”I can do subtle, Chief. I can do it any way you want it.”

He sighed. ”Then pay attention. Let them take you in for questioning. As for whatever happened in the bar with Carver, answer as truthfully as you can without implicating yourself in a crime. We don't know how many witnesses they have who saw what you did, and even if we did, we can't compel all of them. Just make sure, of course, that you deny any knowledge of the murder. When you're finished with your statement, go ahead and compel anyone present to believe you told the truth and that you know nothing more. Understand?”

”This is child's play, but don't treat me like a child. I know what I have to do.”

Somehow that didn't do much to rea.s.sure Ric. ”Tux and I will be right outside the building in the parking lot. We'll make sure you're out of there well before dawn. If something should go wrong and they take you into custody, use your phone call to call me.

Don't try to handle things on your own.”

”Aye, aye, Chief. Can I get dressed now?”