Unspoken: Shadow Falls: After Dark (23 page)

Chase hated to disagree with Burnett, but … “You may not be worried, but the kid managed to get in. And as nonthreatening as Sam might have been, the next guy—”

“His getting in was my own mistake,” Burnett said. “I should have run a check as soon as the power flickered. I won’t make that mistake again.” The man leaned forward. “If I feel your being here becomes a threat, we’ll revisit this discussion. Until then, you stay.”

Burnett’s tone made it sound like an order. One that Chase didn’t think he had the right to give.

*   *   *

Della landed in front of Chase’s cabin. She tuned her hearing to listen to the conversation and walked in. They both looked at her and Burnett motioned for her to sit down.

“Who on the council do you suspect of being dirty?” Burnett asked Chase.

“I’m not sure, but maybe I can investigate further by speaking to the prison guard. Maybe he knows more than he thinks.”

Della didn’t miss the fact that Chase wasn’t willing to admit it might be Kirk who was dirty.

Burnett frowned. “You do not go back into that prison. Not even near the prison,” his tone deepened.

“I understand,” Chase said.

Della wasn’t sure what had conspired between these two, but Chase seemed to be playing nice.

In the beat of silence, her patience snapped. “What did you need to see me about?”

“Let’s start with good news,” Burnett said. “I just heard back from the agent trying to fix things so Natasha can return to the human world. We tied up a few loose ends and now have her disappearance tied to Liam’s.”

“So she gets to go back home?” Della asked.

“We still have a few things to work out, but yes.” He paused. “Now for the bad news. There’s been another murder. We’re thinking it’s the same killers as the Chis and the young were cases. A couple, early twenties, only a mile away from the other crimes, was found in another park.”

Della nodded. “Mrs. Chi appeared to me about fifteen minutes ago and told me they had hurt others. I called you.”

“I was on my way here.” He hesitated. “Did she give you anything that might help us catch them?”

“No. But she still had the basketball. Did you keep the agent at the park at the basketball court?”

“I did. No one has shown up.”

“Was there a basketball court at the other park?”

“I think so,” Burnett said. “I’ll put someone on it. And I’ll see about putting other agents at any nearby park with courts.”

“I’d be happy to do that,” Chase said.

Burnett shook his head. “They might recognize you from when you rescued Della. Plus the doctor said you need to take it slow for today.”

Della remembered the reason she’d come here to start with. “Mrs. Chi said something … something that led me to believe she thinks I didn’t pick up on something in the vision. Because Chase was in the vision too, I thought if we compared notes we might stumble across something.”

“You should have done it right afterward,” Burnett said.

“Things came up,” Chase said.

Changing the subject, Della asked, “Have the autopsies been done?”

“Of Mr. and Mrs. Chi, yes, but not the young weres.” Burnett hesitated. “Definitely a were crime, a few bite marks but nothing distinguishable. So no evidence to help catch the killers. They are testing for DNA, but unless the killers were arrested by the FRU, that won’t help us.”

“So they just get away with murder?” Della snapped, and her frustration intensified not just from knowing the Chis, but from the fact that these killers were close to her parents’ home—close to her sister, who probably visited both the parks where the murders happened.

“Not if I can help it,” Burnett said. “The same examiner who did the Chis’ autopsy is doing the young weres’. She’s supposed to call when she’s finished.”

Leaning forward, Burnett cupped his knees in his palms. “Holiday told me she brought you the DA’s file. I still haven’t had the opportunity to read it. Did you find anything that might help us?”

Della’s heart raced at his question. She hated saying it aloud. “Help us, no. Hurt him, yes.” She took a deep breath. “My dad’s the one who called 911. The DA had made notes that his story changed, because now he claims he was unconscious the whole time.”

Burnett frowned. “At least his lawyer knows now.”

Chase leaned in. “It was a very traumatic experience. People block things out. I think it will be understandable to any judge that the situation could have affected his memory.”

Della’s emotions pushed back her ability to hear the positive. “But that’s not the picture they are going to paint. They’re going to say he killed his sister and then lost his mind.” Making it harder was that his own sister believed it.

Burnett seemed to read her mind, or at least the direction of her thoughts. “Holiday’s worried the ghost is—”

“No,” Della said. “I’m not letting Holiday send her away or chase her off.” She stared at Chase, praying he wouldn’t jump in and add fuel to the fire. He didn’t, but his gaze said he wanted to.

She swallowed the need to give in to tears and faced Burnett. “Have you gotten a judge on board yet?”

“Not yet,” Burnett said. “We’re still working on it. But giving up hope isn’t going to help.”

“I’m not giving up; I’m worried.”

“We’ve got the Douglas Stone lead. And now we have this cousin of Perry’s,” Chase said, as if to comfort her.

Della glanced at Burnett. “Has Sam given us anything?”

“I was pulled away to go to the murder scene. I’m letting him stew for a while.” Burnett cupped his hands and glanced down. She knew that look. He had something else to tell her and it probably wasn’t good.

“What else?” Her stomach muscles hardened to the point it hurt.

Chapter Twenty-seven

“I got a call from our guy in the DA’s office,” Burnett said. “They got the trial date. Two weeks.”

“We’ve got two weeks to prove him innocent?” Della’s voice shook. “We’ll never do that.”

“Yes, we will,” Chase said.

“Listen to him,” Burnett said. “All it takes is one lead.”

Burnett took out his phone to check the time. “Why don’t you two go over the vision? In about an hour…”—he glanced at Chase—“if you feel up to it, you two can come down and help me interrogate Sam.”

“I’m up to it,” Chase said. “Tomorrow, in addition to looking for Stone’s girlfriend, I’d also like to start revisiting the Douglas Stone suspects, concentrating on the ones I’ve already visited.”

“But I thought you didn’t get anything from them,” Burnett said.

“I didn’t, but as Pope pointed out, Stone said I was poking around in the wrong places.”

“Were any of these people you spoke to vampires or supernaturals?” Burnett asked.

“No.”

“Then how would Stone have known it was you asking questions?”

“I don’t know, but my guts say he did.”

Burnett sighed. “Then I guess follow your gut.”

Della sat up a little straighter. “I’d like to go with him.”

“You have school,” Burnett said.

“I could miss a day or two. Hell, I could miss two weeks.”

Burnett frowned. “You can’t—”

“What am I gonna miss? Lessons about Russian politics, finding what friggin’
x
is to
y,
and trying to decipher the theme of
Pride and Prejudice
? We’re running out of time. This could mean my dad’s life!” This time tears filled her eyes.

Burnett glanced at Chase, almost as if seeking his okay. What the hell? She sure as heck didn’t need his permission.

“I’ve got her back,” Chase said.

“Oh, please,” Della said. “Excuse me while I go and grow a penis so the sausage-and-meatball-toting gender will stop thinking I need a man to protect me.”

Both Chase and Burnett looked taken aback by her rebuttal, or perhaps it was her description of their genitals, but what the heck did they expect?

Burnett cleared his throat. “What matters is that both of you are safe. If either of you sense danger, I want you to pull back and call me.”

Chase nodded.

Burnett stood up. “You two go over the vision and meet me at the office in an hour.” Burnett left, and after about a minute, Chase started laughing. “Sausage and meatballs?”

*   *   *

They spent thirty minutes recounting the vision. It led nowhere. Chase offered nothing that Della didn’t recall. Frustrated, and feeling as if time were running out, she got up and started for the door.

“Della?” Chase said, trying to stop her.

“I’ll meet you at the office.”

“Where are you going?” he asked and came to stand beside her.

“I need to think,” she spouted out.

He put his arms around her. And she let him. But when she felt herself about to cry, she pulled away and shot out.

She ran. Once. Twice. All the way around the Shadow Falls property, hoping to work off some of her emotions. It didn’t help, but at least she wasn’t in danger of crying anymore.

She arrived at the cabin a few minutes early. Perry stood on the office porch.

Having not really spoken to him since he’d returned, she offered a quick “Welcome back.”

He shrugged. “What a welcome.” He frowned. She got the feeling he was talking about his cousin.

“Are you coming with us to talk to him?” Della asked.

He nodded. “Maybe I can talk some sense into him this time,” the shape-shifter said. Pausing, he glanced down, and then added, “I’m sorry. You know I haven’t seen him in over twelve years. I wasn’t aware of any of this.”

Della recognized the guilt in Perry’s eyes. “I know. Nobody blames you.”

He dropped his hands into this jean pockets. “I still feel bad. But…” he paused. “I don’t think Sam’s all bad. I think he’s afraid, and not just of Burnett, but of that Stone character.”

“Maybe he should have thought about that before he went to work for him.” She instantly regretted her gruffness and recalled how she’d felt about Chan, her cousin. He’d tiptoed close to the line of going rogue, but she’d still loved him. His death continued to haunt her.

“True,” Perry said, and got quiet.

“He’s still your cousin. This doesn’t change that.”

Perry exhaled. “I know. And it feels … weird. Seeing him. Crazy, how I recognized him right away. I never thought I’d see any of my family.”

Miranda had confided in Della about how Perry had been abandoned when he was young. No doubt that had to sting. The only thing worse was being abandoned by your family when you were seventeen. But this wasn’t about her.

“That has to suck,” Della said.

“Yeah.” Perry stared into the woods. “He knows where my mother and dad are.”

Della heard his emotions, but was unsure what to say. “Are you going to go see them?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know. They sure as hell didn’t want me then. Why would they want me now?”

She sensed the emotion stirring inside him. She couldn’t say he had tears in his eyes, but his eyes looked brighter.

“Better yet,” he said, sounding angry, “why would I want to see them? I don’t care about them!”

She heard his heart jump the tune of his lie. She knew all about caring when it felt wrong. She gave him a nudge with her elbow. “You might want to see them because you’re curious. Or maybe because you want them to know they were wrong about you. That you grew up to be someone they would have been proud of.” She inhaled. “Or maybe you just want to call them mo fos, shoot them the finger, and then moon their asses as you walk out. Not that you’d have to do that. But you could.”

He grinned, but when his gaze met hers again she saw a sheen of tears in his eyes. “Thanks,” he said.

“For what?” Della asked.

“I don’t know. Listening, maybe. Saying the right thing.”

She frowned. “I pretty much suck at that.”

“Nah,” he said. “Actually, you’re not that bad at it.”

“You know who’s better at it?” she said.

“Who? Miranda?” he asked.

“Uh, well, I was gonna say Kylie. She’s like a little Holiday. She says all the crap you don’t want to hear, but she’s right, and while you don’t like it, you need to hear it. But I’ll bet Miranda is good too.”

He shook his head. “I wish I could talk to Miranda. She’s still playing hard to get.” Shuffling his feet, he looked out at the sky. At almost five, the sun was a big ball of yellow.

“Do you know if Miranda’s seeing that FRU agent?”

What could she say?
Yeah, she saw him last weekend and wanted to kiss him.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Della so didn’t want to get in the middle of this. But in a way she was. Smack dab in the middle, too. Worse than being in the middle, she’s been the cause of it.

For the first time she felt guilty for encouraging the witch to give the warlock a chance. Perry would totally hate her if he knew that.

But at the time, the shape-shifter had practically dumped Miranda. And as good a friend as Perry was, Miranda trumped him.

“Is she?” Perry asked again.

“I…” As a shape-shifter, Perry couldn’t sense if she lied, but lying to someone she liked gave her stomach cramps. But damn, this was why she didn’t like listening and being someone’s commiserating buddy.

Right then, Burnett landed on the porch. Saved by the vampire. Relief spiraled through her. Temporary relief, but at this point she’d take it.

“Where’s Chase?” Burnett asked.

“Here,” Chase said, walking up.

“Then let’s go get some answers.”

*   *   *

They had all walked into the observation room with a two-way mirror. Through the mirror Della saw Sam sitting at the table, looking lost and scared. Before anyone spoke to Sam, they were waiting on another agent, who’d briefly interrogated Sam. She hadn’t arrived yet.

Another agent stuck his head into the room.

“If he”—the man pointed to Chase—“is working this case, you need to get him to sign a contract now.”

“Let’s get this over with.” Burnett led Chase out, leaving Della with Perry. Before the door closed, Shawn—Miranda’s Shawn—walked past.

After staring at his cousin for a few seconds, Perry started toward the door. “I’ll be right back,” he offered. He was almost out the door when Della realized what he might be doing.