“Of course.”
“We’d also like to speak with Ms. Fuller,” I added.
He frowned. “Well, she’s off in a couple of hours. She said she didn’t have anyone to cover the desk until then.”
“Could you figure something out so we could speak to her? Maybe a student who works in the library could cover for her? I’d really appreciate it.” My perfected expression eased into something work appropriate, but it was close to being inappropriate.
Red splotches crept up Donovan’s thin neck. “If it would help, of course I’ll see if there’s someone here who could cover for her.”
He picked up the phone, but before he could dial, I asked, “What about security cameras?”
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have cameras in the library.
No budget for it.” He shrugged and Costa and I got up from our chairs.
I gave the man a small wave as we exited the office and suppressed a smile as he stumbled over his words into the phone.
I put my blazer back on when the cool fall air surrounded me, and I walked in front of Costa to the sidewalk that led down into the library. As I approached the door, he grabbed my arm, just under my shoulder, and pulled me to a stop. His grip wasn’t rough, but it was firm.
“What?” I asked, angling my shoulder away from him so he’d release me.
He let go, and his arm grazed my breast as his hand fell away. I took in a quick breath and glared at him.
“What the hell was that?” His voice was cold, but not void of emotion.
“Excuse me?” My mouth dropped open and I snapped it shut, ignored the way my pulse skipped faster under his gaze.
“Do you really think flirting while on the job is appropriate?” Anger coated his tone, giving it a hard edge.
“I’d think you could feed your desires on your own time.” Heat flared in my chest and rushed up to my face.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Come on, any idiot could tell that you were coming on to that little weasel.”
“An idiot might think that, yes,” I hissed. I spun around and marched down the sidewalk. What the hell? Did he really think I was desperate enough for a lay that I’d flirt on the job, the day after my sister was kidnapped, with a guy as unattractive as Donovan? Asshole. He probably didn’t know any way to get information out of people that didn’t involve strong-arming.
Swallowing my anger and ignoring Costa trailing behind me, I stomped back to the checkout desk. Barbara Fuller gave me a small wave. As Costa moved into her view, her eyes widened and then she snapped them back to the next person in line, obviously unnerved by whatever expression I’d put on the OWEA agent’s face. She helped the student, and then moved away from her post as a young woman came to replace her.
I tapped my foot and motioned toward Ms. Fuller. She walked up to us, hesitant, and I plastered on my pleasant smile.
“Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Ms.
Fuller,” I said.
“Of course,” she said, and tension faded from her stance as she examined me. She uncrossed her arms and pointed to a small meeting room next to the front desk she’d just vacated. “We can speak in there, if you would like some privacy.”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you.” I kept the smile firmly affixed to my face.
“So,” she said as she shut the door behind us, “what can I help you with? I’m afraid I don’t know much.”
“You said the police spoke with you earlier? Can you tell us what you told them?” I asked.
She nodded and her eyes lit up with excitement. I gritted my teeth and pushed down the flare of anger I felt at her reaction. This was probably the most dramatic situation the librarian had seen in her life.
A laminate table with several chairs surrounding it filled the small room. Ms. Fuller sat facing the door and I sat across from her. Costa eyed the door and dragged a chair to one side. The placement allowed him to keep the door in his periphery while watching Ms. Fuller at the same time.
“Well, as I told the other officers, I know all of the girls by their pictures. I didn’t know any of them by name except Wendy, though. They were all very nice. Quiet, you know? They didn’t cause me any trouble when they studied here.” She smoothed invisible wrinkles out of her blouse.
“Were you able to catch any bits of their conversation lately?” I asked. “Even something from several days ago could be relevant.”
“I’m sorry, I just don’t pay that close of attention. And like I said, the girls were quiet.”
“Did you see anyone else talking with them?” Costa asked.
She thought about that for a moment. “Not that I remember, no. I’m sure other students talked to them—
they seemed very popular—but I didn’t notice anyone in particular.”
“They seemed popular? Why do you say that?” I asked.
She waved a hand in the air. “Oh, you know. They were just that popular type. Pretty. Giggly. Popular.” I opened my mouth to ask her exactly what she meant by that description. My sister was smart—just because she was pretty that didn’t give the woman the right to assume she was an airhead—but Costa gave me a warning glance and spoke before I could.
“Can you recall any of the students who spoke to them more often than others? Any students who spoke to them this week?”
I stood up from the table, startling Ms. Fuller. I’d had about enough of her assumptions and Costa’s attitude. If he wanted to ask all the questions, then I’d let him. We weren’t going to get any information from this woman anyway. We were just fodder for her gossip. “I’m going to look around. Can you finish up here?” I smiled at Costa, knowing that for once my go-to expression looked forced, if not outright angry. I turned and left without waiting for his reply.
The chilly air cut through my jacket as I made my way out to the parking lot. I walked the path Teresa said Wendy and Elaine headed toward the last time she’d seen them. I pulled on my gloves and took in my surroundings.
The area was bustling this time of day, but Wendy and Elaine left the library late. Nine o’clock. There would still be people around then, wouldn’t there? This was a college campus, after all.
I could remember my college years vividly. There hadn’t been a lot of money, so I’d settled for a close commuter school that offered me a small scholarship.
It was enough to get me into the police academy. And it had given me time. Time to grow into my succubus powers. Time to learn to control them and keep them compartmentalized within me until I needed them. Time to start to grow into the adult I would become.
I’d wanted something better for Elaine. Because she hadn’t had the luxury of becoming a succubus slowly.
Because she didn’t get to feel safe. She had to live at home, but she did get to go to this beautiful campus.
A campus that now looked cloaked in danger.
I walked the couple of blocks to the parking lot, keeping my eyes on the area around me. There were too many places a person could have hid along the path.
Behind a tree, crouched next to a trashcan, standing in plain sight—it wasn’t like that would look out of place on a college campus.
The same gray haze that seemed to cover everything else also coated the parking lot. Rain wasn’t falling yet—
not really—but a slow drizzle coated the air and the dark fall sky was oppressive. Cars packed the large area to the brim, and like most college campus parking lots, not a single space remained free.
Well lit and recently painted, the parking lot didn’t look like the kind of place that women just went missing from.
Then again, people disappeared from perfectly normal-looking places every day. But two women disappearing together was highly unusual.
A lone officer—one who’d been assigned to the case while I was in the office with Vasquez—stood by a car not far from where I’d entered. When I approached he nodded to me.
“Is this Wendy’s car?” I asked
.
“Yes, ma’am. Just waiting on a warrant.” I gave the small Ford a once-over, careful to avoid touching it. I didn’t see anything unusual. The girls probably hadn’t even made it to the car. My gut clenched at the thought, and the small amount of hope I’d carried that we’d find a quick link to their kidnapper slipped away.
The vehicle wouldn’t contain any evidence to help us find Elaine and Wendy, and identifying where exactly they had been taken would be difficult. Never mind finding any evidence that could actually be linked conclusively.
I studied the parking lot carefully. The lights—
something about them drew my attention, but they were tall enough that I had difficulty making out exactly what was off about them. I strode to the closest one and looked up, then blinked at the object adjacent to the light dumbly, as hope blossomed in my chest.
Security cameras.
Chapter Five
“What do you mean, the data’s gone?” My voice rose to a shriek that even my half-banshee friend Mac would have been proud of.
“I’m sorry,” Donovan said. “I don’t know what could have happened to the footage. Like I told the other officers, nothing like this has ever happened before.” Sweat trickled down the sides of his face.
“And you didn’t think to mention this to us earlier?” I asked. Donovan’s gaze darted to his hands. Of course he hadn’t mentioned the cameras and lost footage. The little weasel hadn’t wanted to get yelled at.
“Isn’t there some sort of backup system?” Costa asked. He touched my shoulder and I shrugged him off.
“Not really,” the head of security said. “The system records everything onto a hard drive. It’s eventually deleted, but only when it’s downloaded and archived.
But everything from the last week was deleted—that was everything on the drive—and it doesn’t seem to have been archived. We’ve never had a problem like this before. I—”
“Well, you’ve got a problem now, buddy. Maybe you should go find someone who actually knows how to do his job.” I held my facade in place with the thinnest of emotional threads.
Red-faced, the head of security stuttered that he would get someone on the phone from the security company who sold the school the system, and he disappeared into his office.
I paced the hallway and Costa, eyes hooded, leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. After a few minutes, I calmed down enough to stop pacing. Donovan approached, his arms and head pulled close to his body like a dog expecting to be hit, and Costa pushed away from the wall.
“I’m sorry, Detective, but it’ll be a while before I have any information for you.” He glanced around. “I could call you,” he said, hopeful.
I opened my mouth to tell him that I would wait, but my cell phone rang before I could get the words out.
I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the number.
Astrid.
I touched my phone’s screen. “Hello?” I took my wallet out. Astrid’s voice came over the line as I handed the head of security my card.
“Hey, Marisol. It’s Astrid. I’m so sorry about your sister.”
“Thanks,” I whispered. I cleared my throat and shoved my wallet back into my jacket. “We’ll find her, so there’s nothing to be sorry about.”
“I hate to ask this, but are you busy right now?” she asked, voice tentative. “I need your help with something, if you have time.”
I covered the phone’s microphone. “Can you wait here for the footage? I have something I need to do on that other case.”
Costa nodded curtly, and I lifted the phone back to my ear. “What do you need?”
“So tell me again why you need me to talk to the witch?” I asked. Astrid and I stood in front of Natalie Leigh’s high-rise office building, and its shiny walls glittered even when surrounded by dark gray skies.
Astrid frowned. “I don’t need you, exactly. I just don’t really care for witches, okay?”
I raised an eyebrow but didn’t press her. Covenant witches were a secretive lot, and I couldn’t blame her for not liking them. Only the vampires compared to the Covenant for political power in the otherworlder arena.
Witches and vampires were powerful, and more plentiful than most other species. And more importantly, they were two species that were drawn to power. They sought it, fought for it, and generally got it.
“I’ll just wait for you out here. Let me know if you absolutely need me to come up and I will,” Astrid said, her face creased with worry.
“All right.”
I walked into the lobby. A large man stood as I entered, and boy, did he stand. He was at least as tall as Costa, putting him several inches above six feet. Where Costa was lean, this man was wide—built like a football player who did nothing but go to the gym. He wore a suit but had the guarded look of professional muscle. He wasn’t exactly my type, but I paused to appreciate the view anyway.
He watched me as I flashed my badge at the receptionist, and then he took a step toward me, his face strangely intense, no doubt drawn by my succubus allure.
I didn’t have time to deal with an admirer, so I frowned at him sternly and then broke eye contact and turned to the receptionist. The woman was shaking her head. “I’m sorry, but Ms. Leigh is otherwise occupied.”
“It’s important police business,” I said. “She’s just going to have to spare me a few minutes.” Not waiting for her reply, I strode toward the elevator, shooting a quick look over my shoulder to make sure the big man wasn’t following me.
I glanced at the directory. Natalie Leigh, Witch was listed in suite 1400. I stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the fourteenth floor.
Astrid’s partner, Claude, was a vampire, and in addition to working for the police department, he was the unofficial attaché between the local vampire leader, the Magister, and the local cops. Between Astrid’s dislike for witches and Claude’s vampire status—vampires and witches didn’t get alone well—they probably avoided Natalie like the plague. Lieutenant Vasquez probably loved them for it. Witches were tough on the department’s budget.
The doors dinged open and a plush hallway revealed itself. I walked to Natalie Leigh’s office door. Voices murmured inside, and I heard the click of a telephone being replaced on its cradle as I swung the door open. The receptionist warning the Covenant witch of my impending arrival, no doubt.
The reception area was empty, but the door to the single office in the suite was half-ajar. I walked to it and knocked lightly. The hinges creaked slightly as I pushed it open.
A dark-haired young woman—younger than I would have guessed a fully certified Covenant witch could be—
stood behind the desk. She was short, probably just above five feet tall, which made her slightly taller than Astrid.
She was pretty in the same way Astrid was—a cute pixie face with a short cut that only looked really good on very pretty women—but she possessed an air of sophistication that Astrid lacked. Where Astrid was down to earth, girl next door, Natalie was the understated movie star or politician’s daughter. Her height made her more than half a foot shorter than me, but thanks to the man sitting across from her desk, I wasn’t the giant in the room.
“Detective,” Natalie said, voice smooth despite the palpable tension in the room. “I understand it was important for you to speak with me immediately, but I’m afraid I’m in the middle of something—”
“Nonsense,” the thin man said. “Please see to the detective, Natalie. I can entertain myself for a few minutes.” He was a slight man, but well dressed and manicured.
Over six feet tall, he was thin as a rail, something his height only accentuated. Balding, he had smoothed his dark brown hair back from his face and held it with gel.
The lights glinted off his cold blue eyes.
“I’m Detective Marisol Whitman,” I said, and I reached out to shake the witch’s hand. The man’s spine stiffened, making his posture almost too perfect. Great.
He’d probably just p
icked up on the fact that I was a succubus. Men tended to have one of two reactions to my nature. They were either very interested—like the big guy in the lobby—or very irritated. Control freaks especially didn’t appreciate my innate ability to distract them. No wonder I bothered Costa.
Natalie nodded to me. “This is Councilor Koslov.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said smoothly. Wonderful. A Covenant Councilor. Just what I needed to complete my day. I reached out to shake the Councilor’s hand. “I’m so sorry to interrupt your meeting.”
“Nice to make your acquaintance, Detective,” Koslov said, his voice the perfect professional pitch. He took my hand in his, shaking it, and I found myself studying him. For such an unremarkable-looking man, he had a bit of an aura about him. He was attractive in the way powerful men were, and he commanded attention. To my chagrin, I realized I was staring, and I glanced away. Damn politician. No wonder he was on the council. He had that bit of charisma that all the best statesmen possessed.
“We can speak in my reception area.” Natalie gestured to the room I’d walked through to get to her office. “I’ll be right back, Viktor.”
The man nodded, a solemn expression on his face. I wondered if he practiced it.
Just as Magisters oversaw their pockets of the world and ruled the vampires, the Covenant was run by Councilors. Unlike the Magisters who were appointed, Councilors were elected and ruled all witches in their area of the world. Six councils in all ruled them.
I might as well have interrupted her meeting with the secretary of state or the vice president.
Natalie cleared her throat and I jumped. Heat flushed my cheeks when I realized that I’d been staring at the Magister. I turned quickly and followed Natalie into her small waiting room.
“Okay, what is this about?” Natalie asked, shutting her office door behind her.
“We have some remains,” I replied. “A body was burned beyond all identification. We’ve determined no accelerant was used. We need to find out what else could have burned a body so badly, and whether or not you can get anything off the body to help us identify the victim.”
Succubus Lost (Files from the Otherworlder Enforcement Agency, #2) Page 4
