Unspoken: Shadow Falls: After Dark (29 page)

“Who are you?” The man put his eye to the peephole in the door.

“I’m a house flipper and wanted to ask you about a few of the empty houses on the street.” Damn, Della could come up with a story quickly.

“You can flip me anytime,” Chase heard the lowlife mutter and saw him run a hand through his hair and suck in a beer belly that appeared to have taken years to grow.

He opened the door. Chase eased closer, in case the lowlife put a finger on Della, but he kept against the wall where the guy couldn’t see him.

“Hi,” Della said as soon as the door creaked open. “My name’s Charlotte Nance.” She smiled and tilted her head to the side like a cute puppy. “I’m interested in some of the properties on the street and wondered if you could tell me who owns them.”

“You look kinda young to be in real estate,” he said.

“My curse. My mama says I’ll be happy about it in a few years.”

“Your mama is right, honey. Besides, I like ’em young.”

Chase saw a muscle in Della’s cheek start to twitch. Something told him that could mean trouble.

“Are any of these houses for sale?” she asked, still managing to keep her voice flirty.

“Well, uh, there were a couple of druggies living in that one, but I think they were renting it. Seemed to take off about two months ago. No one has even been around to mow the yard. The one next door has been condemned. It caught fire last year and no one’s even touched it.”

The dog barked, and Chase saw the man stick his head out, probably wondering why the animal wasn’t doing his job. “You might want to come inside. My dog eats pretty young things like you for lunch. I, on the other hand, don’t bite. Not too hard, anyway.”

Chase bit back the desire to show the guy how hard he could bite. Della hesitated for a second. The muscle in her cheek continued to twitch.

She put a smile on her face, but not a real one. “Are you the owner of this property? Mr. uh … I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Stone,” he said. “But call me Doug. All my lady friends do.”

Yeah, Chase bet the guy had a lot of those.

“Oh, well, that’s okay. If you don’t have the names…”

“I bet I have ’em in my address book.” He poked his head out again, but thankfully didn’t look Chase’s way. “You here all by your lonesome, sweetheart?”

Something about that question put Chase on instant alert. He almost stepped out, but Della cut him a glance and shook her head.

The man’s hand reached out, but Della moved faster. She bolted back and his grubby little hand missed her by an inch.

“Don’t play hard to get,” the man said. “I got a few beers and I could use some company.”

“Sorry. Gotta find a house to flip.” She started to walk off—none too quickly—and she sent Chase a look that said she had this.

The idiot reached for her. Della swung around and with one quick lift of her knee, brought the guy down on all fours.

No excess force
had been Burnett’s rule. And it hadn’t been excess, just a direct hit. The guy rose up, but with his hands cupping his privates, his mouth wide open, he had yet to make a sound. No doubt, however, he was gonna be singing soprano when he found his voice.

“Sorry,” Della said, sneering down at the man. “I think I’m allergic to perverts. I get involuntary knee jerks whenever one is around.”

They walked back to the car, keeping to the far left, out of the dog’s reach. “Remind me,” Chase said smiling, “to never upset your allergies.”

*   *   *

“We got lucky,” Chase said twenty minutes later and followed behind a car into a gated apartment building complex. Della looked around. It wasn’t high rent, but it looked decent. He parked right against the building and hit a button that brought the top up and over.

“I didn’t realize something until now,” Chase said.

“What?” Della asked, still scanning the area.

“This apartment is only a couple of miles from where Pope told me Stone’s girlfriend lived.”

“So this is another one that you already visited, right?”

“Yeah. Hand me those files under your seat. I can’t remember why I dismissed him as a suspect.” Leaning forward, he looked around. “If I remember correctly, a woman answered the door.”

“And she was human?” Della asked as she pulled a folder from under the seat.

“Yeah.” He took the file and opened it, scanning his old notes. “Okay, I remember now. The girlfriend claimed her boyfriend had run to the store for some parts to fix one of the other apartments. She said he was the handyman of the place. I didn’t come back because I didn’t think someone like Stone would actually work for a living or date a human.”

“So let’s not waste our time,” she said.

He looked around again. “Maybe I’m wrong. But my gut says…”

“What does your gut say?”

“See that?” He pointed to the building.

“What?” Della asked.

“This place has cameras.” He looked back at Della. “Do you remember what Burnett said? That it seemed like a long shot because if I didn’t get any trace of Stone, how would he have known I was here?”

“And it’s true?” she said, not following.

“Well, if Stone has access to the cameras, his girlfriend wouldn’t have had to recognize me. He could have just looked at the film.”

“Okay,” Della said. “But what about him not being of moral character to actually work? That sounded logical. And the human girlfriend?”

He looked at Della, and his eyes widened as if he figured out something. “Remember the interview with Sam? He said he heard that Stone hired patrons to do his grunt work for him.”

She nodded.

“Well, maybe keeping up the apartment is their grunt work. Look at the advantages. Stone gets to live here for free, has a camera to watch who comes and goes, and gets some of his not-so-smart friends to work for him for nothing. Or maybe he lets them live here for free.”

“It’s possible,” she said, and right then a cool breeze brought with it the scent of a were.

“You smell that?” she asked and looked around, but didn’t see anyone.

“Yeah. Were, but not strong,” he said. “Maybe a half breed. And maybe a member of the Bastards.”

“What apartment is it?” Della reached for the door handle, eager to catch this guy.

“Not so fast,” Chase said.

“Why?” Della asked.

“I think we need to get Burnett.”

“Why?” she repeated.

“If he’s here, it could be dangerous.”

“For him, not us,” Della said.

“We don’t know how many of his friends live here.”

“All we’re getting is one weak scent.”

“Others could be behind doors. Especially if they are half breeds. Their scents can be undistinguishable.”

She frowned. “Burnett might be halfway across town. I’m not going to just sit here and let this guy get away.”

“He’s not getting away. We’ll wait here.” Chase pulled his phone out.

Della listened as Chase informed Burnett and named off the address, a little pissed that Chase didn’t think they could handle it themselves.

“Okay,” Burnett said. “I’m ten minutes away if there’s no traffic. I’m calling a few more agents to meet us there. Do not get out of the car. And keep Della on a leash. I know she’s chomping at the bit to go in.”

Chase’s gaze shifted to her. “I will.” He hung up.

Della glared at him. “Oh, you’re gonna keep me on a leash, huh?”

“What was I supposed to say?” He shrugged.

“Maybe that you don’t think I need a leash.”

“He just wants to make sure you’re safe.”

“Since when did you start taking his side? I thought you didn’t even like him.”

Chase exhaled. “He kind of grows on you.”

Della nodded. “True, but he acts like I can’t take care of myself.”

“If he really thought that, he wouldn’t even entertain the idea of you becoming an agent.”

“If he had his way, I wouldn’t.”

Chase cut his gaze back to the apartments for a second. “He lost a female agent he was training. Sounds like it was hard for him. I think you remind him of her.”

Della sat there staring. “How … He told you this?” she asked.

“Not that you reminded him of her, but he told me about her. And I kind of figured it out.”

“He just confided this to you?”

Chase looked at her as if she were jealous. And, yeah, maybe she was a little.

“It’s not like he was sharing something with me. Except his temper. He was reading me the riot act about going to the prison and told me he’d lost one agent he was training and didn’t plan on losing another.”

They sat there in the silent car a few minutes. Della used her phone, checking emails to keep from letting the quietness chip away at her sanity.

But when she found an email from her sister, it no longer felt like a stress relief. She decided not to read it. Her new, two-worded litany worked well in this instance as well.
Not now.

Della put her phone away. She felt Chase studying her. “Don’t,” she said.

“Don’t what?”

“Stare.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to say … thanks.”

“For what?”

“Last night. The morgue thing.”

Her heart got tripped on the memory.

“I still think Eddie should be shot for taking you there.”

Silence filled the car. “He’s not a bad person, Della.”

“What did his wife say? A woman would know that it wasn’t right.”

“There was no wife.”

“Ever?” she asked. “What? Is he gay?”

Chase’s mouth dropped open. “No. He saw some girls, sometimes.”

“So he’s a womanizer.”

“No. He used to be married. He said his heart belonged to one woman. He never got serious with any of the others.”

“What happened to his wife?” Della asked. “Did she leave him?”

He shook his head. “She was a medical researcher like him. There was an explosion.” Della saw Chase’s expression get serious.

“Sorry,” she said.

“Eddie had just walked out of the building. I think he felt as if he should have died with her.”

“That’s sad,” Della said.

“Yeah,” he said. “She was his bondmate.”

Della looked away, not wanting to think about that. “He still shouldn’t have let you go to the morgue.”

“It’s the same thing as going to a funeral,” he said. “But I sort of understand. I don’t like your father, either.”

She looked at Chase. “I told you he wasn’t always like this. He was patient, kind, and he thought I held up the moon.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just the way…” He let out a deep breath. “I’m just saying I feel protective of you, too. Like you do with Eddie.”

She wanted to deny it, but couldn’t. She recalled how she’d heard Chase’s heart skip to a lie last night about being jealous. “You really don’t know where Eddie is?”

“No.” Chase looked at her and he didn’t blink, as if letting her look him right in the eye meant he thought she’d see the truth there.

“You know, it hurts that you still don’t believe me.”

“I don’t know what I believe.” She paused a few minutes. “How are you going to find out if anyone on the council knows anything about Stone?

“I guess I’m going to see someone,” he said and still sounded angry.

She hesitated. “You don’t think … that they would hurt you, do you?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. But he didn’t sound that sure to Della.

Another silence fell like soft rain in the car.

“Hey,” Chase finally said. “Don’t make it obvious, but look at the guy walking out of apartment ten … to your right. Can you read his pattern?” Chase lifted his nose and inhaled.

Della turned her head slowly. “You think it’s Stone?”

Chapter Thirty-four

Let it be Stone. Let it be Stone.
Della pushed her hair back, trying to appear normal.

“No, he’s too young, but he might be one of his grunt workers,” Chase said.

Della spotted him. The brown-haired guy, around twenty, wearing jeans and a dark black T-shirt, but he was too far away for her to make out his pattern. “He has a tool box in his hands.”

“I know,” Chase said.

Not wanting to get caught staring, she looked around for a few seconds, but when his footsteps brought him closer to their car, she glanced back again. “Half were,” she whispered and looked away, because if she could read his pattern, he could read hers.

“Do you think he can smell us?” she asked.

“Not all half weres have the ability to trace,” he said, but then muttered, “Shit. He’s coming this way.”

The next thing Della knew, Chase pulled her closer and had her in a lip lock.

“What are you doing?” Della asked when Chase’s mouth melted against hers.

“He can’t read our patterns this way.” His lips continued to brush against hers. “Besides, you’re the one who taught me this trick. At the bar, remember?”

She wished she couldn’t remember. Footsteps outside the car grew closer. So did Chase’s lips.

“Kiss me, Della.” He ran his tongue over her bottom lip. “Don’t make me do all the work.”

She opened her mouth. His tongue slipped between her lips. He tasted a little like toothpaste, a little like … Chase. And a lot of something forbidden.

He ran his left hand through her hair and gently cradled her head. With a gentle pull, he brought her closer. She stopped fighting it, and let herself go there—go to a place where nothing but sweetness and possibilities existed.

Where those footsteps were hardly heard.

Where the line between faking a kiss and enjoying a kiss became blurred.

Chase pulled back. Della opened her eyes and looked at him. Her heart raced, and she felt lost in his taste, in the soft feel of his hand behind her neck. The smile in his eyes sobered her. She looked around.

“Where did he go?” she managed to ask.

“Apartment sixteen.” He dipped back in for another kiss. And she let him. Then, realizing what she was doing, she put her hand on his chest and lifted her mouth from his. She didn’t actually push him away, but she thought about it.

“You sure?” she asked.

“Yes.” He brushed his lips against hers again.

“Then we should stop.” She pulled back, just an inch. With his hand still curled around her neck, he moved in and reclaimed that tiny space.