“What if it’s a vampire?” I sat back down again. “Vampires can get magic from dragon blood even if they drink it while the dragon is in human form.”
“That so?” He cocked his head to one side. “See, these are the kinds of things that it might be valuable for the department to know. You’re a creature expert—”
“I’m not an expert.”
“You don’t want to help us, though. But you’re driven to be part of the investigation somehow. Perhaps because you’re involved in some way.”
“Actually, I came back because I changed my mind,” I said. “I do want to help. If there’s something I can do. If she was a dragon, I mean. If it’s the kind of case that I can even help with…” I was getting quieter with every string of words, as if I was losing faith in what I was saying. I furrowed my brow. “If I’m a suspect, why would you want my help?”
He made a tent with his forefingers and rested them against his chin. “Did you ever read The Scarlet Letter?”
“Maybe. In high school, I think.” I was thrown by this strange shift in subject.
“In the book, Arthur Dimmesdale, he’s the preacher who impregnated the girl, right?”
I nodded.
“Well, she’s ostracized from society, forced to wear the letter on her chest. You remembering this?”
“I guess so, but I don’t understand why you’re bringing it up.”
“Do you remember the end, where he pulls aside his shirt and he’s got his own big A on his flesh?”
“Um…” I was thoroughly confused.
Flint tapped his tented fingers against his chin. “Some people think he cut it into his own skin, but those people aren’t reading the book right. See, what Nathaniel Hawthorne was trying to say in that book was that guilt wants out. You do something wrong, and it starts to fester in you, and it strains and it pushes and it takes whatever opportunity it can to show itself. The more you push it down, the more it finds a way. So, if you really have been out murdering people, Ms. Caspian, there’s something inside you, some scarlet letter that’s trying to push its way out, and it’s what’s bringing you to me right now. I’d be a bad detective if I didn’t allow you to do whatever you need to do in order to confess to me, because that’s what you want deep down.”
I drew back. “I’m not… I would never hurt those girls.”
He smiled. “No?”
“I’m not that kind of person.”
“You’re hiding something.”
“You already know what I’m hiding.” I lowered my voice, leaned closer to him. “I’m a dragon, and I don’t want anyone to know that.”
“Sure,” he said. “But why don’t you want anyone to know?”
I sighed, frustrated.
“You’re hiding something.” He stretched and cupped the back of his head with both hands, looking relaxed. “So, anyway, you want to help the investigation now?”
“I don’t know if I do, not if you think I’m a murderer.”
“If you aren’t a murderer, why are you here now?”
I felt exasperated. “Because I’m afraid this might be a pattern. That more girls are going to die, and if there is something that I can do, and I don’t do it, I’ll feel guilty about that my whole life.” I glared at him. “Guilt wants out,” I said, mimicking him.
He chuckled again. “All right. That’s fine, then, Ms. Caspian. Truth is, we don’t know if the other body is a dragon or not. We can’t identify her. You want to look at a picture?”
I gulped. A picture of another dead body, when Elena’s blank eyes were already making it difficult for me to sleep? “Does she look as bad as Elena?”
He reached into a folder on his desk and slapped an eight by ten glossy down in front of me.
The first thing I saw were the gaping wounds on her chest and I turned away, feeling sick.
“Do you know who she is?”
I turned back slowly. “You could have warned me you were going to do that,” I said in a tight voice.
“Wanted your honest reaction.”
“I’m not a killer.”
“Sure, sure. You know who she is or not?”
I blinked, trying to look past the wounds to see the girl’s face. At first, she didn’t look like anyone recognizable. She was in worse shape than Elena had been, and her features had been ravaged by water. “What happened to her?” I murmured.
“She’s been in the water longer,” he said in a husky voice. “This one was probably dumped before the first one. She’s our first victim. Elena was the second.”
I bit down on my lip. “I can’t… I can’t be sure. But maybe if you pull up a picture on your computer. Look at her Facebook account?”
“Whose?”
“Uh… Sophia Ward. She was older than Elena, but unmated as far as I know, and so she might have been wandering downtown, going to bars on the boardwalk.”
“What’s the mating thing got to do with it?” said Flint. “Dragons mate for life, I know that much. And they never cheat on their partners.”
“That’s not true,” I said.
“Which one?”
“Either,” I said. “I mean, in theory, it shouldn’t happen, but it does. And yes, dragons mate differently than humans. We… have one mate, a destined mate, a person we’re meant to be with for the rest of our lives, and when we see that mate, then…” I was starting to sweat. I shook myself. “That’s not important. What’s important is that once dragons are mated, we settle down. Before mating, it’s open season—wild parties, drinking, staying up all night, that kind of thing.”
“Doesn’t sound that much different than humans, honestly,” he said, turning to his computer. “Sophia Ward, you said?”
“It’s different,” I said. “When you’re mated as a dragon, it’s…” The sweat was back.
He turned the computer screen toward me, and there was a picture of Sophia. She looked about the way I remembered. She had big, bright eyes and freckles. She was wearing a set of dangling ruby earrings in the shape of flames. They were one of a kind. I recognized the work of the artist. I remembered that Alastair had once given me a bracelet crafted with stones like that.
“The hair color is right,” said Flint. “And it could be her.” He picked up the photograph and held it up against the computer screen. “I don’t want to give ultimate confirmation just from this, but maybe I’ll bring in her family.”
I shuddered.
He turned to look at me. “I was planning on going to talk to Elena’s family today anyway. Would you like to tag along? Since you said you wanted to help?”
“Go there?” I got out of the chair. “I can’t go there. I can’t be around the dragons. They can’t know I’m here.”
He raised his eyebrows.
I shook my head. And then I turned and fled from the room. What the hell had I been thinking?
CHAPTER FOUR
I put my hands on my hips, surveying the new window. “It looks good, but I feel like that caulking there is a little—”
“Oh, no, we’ll fix that,” said Jim, the guy who always did my windows. “If you think it’s worth it, that is. This is the third time I’ve replaced this window.”
I gritted my teeth. “It’s not going to happen again.”
“That’s what you said last time.”
“Fix the caulking,” I said, sighing.
“Sure thing,” he said.
I rubbed my temples and went out onto the front sidewalk. It was growing dark and Connor would be waking up soon to take over the front desk. I was filling in right now because the girl who usually did evenings had called in with the flu.
I was happy to have something to fill my day with, actually. Truthfully, owning a hotel was a strange profession. I had a lot of free time, but I also had bursts of stressful activity, during which I was pulled in several directions at once. Most of the time, though, I had to admit I was bored.
I figured I had a bit of time before the vampires came back. They usual
ly gave me a little time in between attacks. I intended to keep my word, however. I wasn’t going to allow that window to get smashed again. Using magic against them had been empowering. I wasn’t going to get walked all over anymore. I was going to find a way to stop them.
As I considered my options for fighting back, a Ford Taurus pulled up in front of the hotel, and Detective Flint got out. He wasn’t wearing his suit jacket, and his shirt was untucked. It blew against his chest in the breeze.
Maybe he wasn’t quite as gaunt as I had thought. I could see his wiry muscle, the outline of him as he approached me. He was wearing sunglasses. He took them off.
I drew in breath and let it out. Was I attracted to the detective? Was that what this was? I wasn’t sure what regular, run-of-the-mill attraction even felt like. I wasn’t sure if I was even capable of it. I put my hands in my pockets. “What are you doing here?”
He smiled. “Just couldn’t handle it. You intrigue me.” He pointed at me with his sunglasses. “So, I have to admit, I looked into you. Funny thing, Ms. Caspian. If you were really trying to hide, why use your real name?”
“Are you kidding? Like it’s so simple to just create a life under an assumed name. How would I get a driver’s license? How would I buy a hotel without using my bank?”
He considered. “Well, anyway, you weren’t hard to track down.”
“You say that, but it’s because you started by finding me, and then looked for who I was. I guarantee that it wouldn’t have been as easy the other way around.”
“Perhaps that’s so. There’s not much information about you here in Sea City, I’ll admit. But just oodles of it about you in Connecticut. Rich heir to the Caspian dragon dynasty. Inherited young due to the passing of your parents. I’m sorry for your loss, incidentally.”
I pressed my lips into a firm line.
“Then you married Alastair Cooper, another wealthy dragon heir. The two of you were a power couple. Until you disappeared.”
“Am I still a suspect? Is this some attempt to shake the truth out of me? What did you find that would make you think that I was a murderer?”
“I didn’t necessarily find anything like that.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t get it, though. You left your husband. That never happens, despite what you said earlier in my office today. Dragon marriages do not end.”
I was getting sweaty again. I wanted to run away from him.
“Did he cheat on you?”
I whipped my head up in surprise. “What?”
“Well, earlier, when you were in my office, and I said the thing about infidelity—”
“No.” I shook my head. “Or, I don’t know. Maybe. It’s the kind of thing he would have done.”
“Why’d you leave?”
I glared at the detective. “He hit me, okay? He beat me within an inch of my life on multiple occasions. I was bonded to him, he was my one true mate, and I never loved anyone the way I loved him, the way I still…” I flinched. “If you don’t have a reason to think I’m a murderer, then why are you here?”
He drew his brows together. “Okay.”
“That’s it? Okay?” I was aghast. He’d gotten me to admit it all, the truth of my life, that everything that I had ever believed about my kind was a lie. I’d been brought up to believe that my mate was my destiny, and that when I found him, he would complete me. He was all I was ever going to need.
And when I did find him, it was true that the bond between us was undeniable. I was consumed by my love for Alastair Cooper.
But yet, that hadn’t been enough. That hadn’t stopped him from hurting me. Nothing had.
Destined for a man like Alastair?
Why?
For a long time, I’d thought I deserved punishment for some reason. I was meant to be with this man, so I must be meant for beatings.
Finding the strength to leave him, when I was so strongly bonded to him, had been the hardest thing that I had ever done.
“What do you want me to say?” said Flint.
“Why are you here?” I repeated.
“I want a consultant on this case,” he said. “I don’t understand dragon culture, and you do. I think I need to know what you know.”
“You don’t suspect me?”
“No.” He shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t think I ever did. Like I said, you don’t fit the profile of someone who would kill for pleasure.” He began fiddling with his sunglasses, unfolding and folding the arms. “Listen, Ms. Caspian, catching killers is what I do. It’s all I do. When I go to sleep tonight, what I’m going to be thinking about is the face of Elena Watson’s mother when I told her the news that her little girl was gone. That disbelieving shock that seized her whole body, made her go stiff and still. I can’t do anything about her loss. But the worst thing about loss like that is that it seems like the sun shouldn’t keep circling the earth in the face of it. And it does. The world just keeps going on as if nothing had changed. Nature doesn’t care. Most people don’t care. It doesn’t affect them. But it affects me. That’s what I do. I’m affected, and I don’t stop being affected until I find whoever did it. It’s what I do.” He tucked his sunglasses into the breast pocket of his shirt. “So, if you can help me, I want your help.”
“I came to you because I wanted to help,” I said. “But I can’t go with you to the north side.”
“No, I understand that,” he said. “I’ll do that on my own. I’d just like to ask you information about dragons. And about Alastair Cooper.”
“Why?” I said.
“Well, turns out that someone saw Sophia Ward with him several weeks ago. Last time anyone’s seen her, near I can tell.”
I swallowed.
“You say he was violent, that he was abusive? Well, that kind of man does fit the profile of someone who might do this.”
I couldn’t breathe. The thought of Alastair killing a girl? Yeah, I could picture it. I remembered the way he would rage, as if he’d lost all control of himself. And if he was guilty, then Flint would lock Alastair up, and I’d never have to worry about him ever again. I turned away from the detective, emotion rising in me like a tidal wave.
“Hey, Penny?” said a voice.
I looked up.
Connor was in the doorway of the lobby. “Window looks good.”
“Hi, Connor,” I said in a strained voice. “I’m a little busy at the moment.”
“Just saying hi,” said Connor. He looked the detective over. “Hi to you, too.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Hello,” said Flint.
Connor came outside, crossing to us, offering his hand. “I’m Connor. I work here.”
Flint shook his hand. “Good to meet you. I’m flattered, really, but I don’t exactly have time in my life for anything… extracurricular, and I have to admit I’ve never been attracted to men.”
Connor yanked his hand back. “I was only saying hello.” He turned to look at me. “Did it seem like I was hitting on him?”
“Um…” I shifted on my feet.
Connor huffed. “You know what? Forget it.” He glared at Flint. “I was being friendly, that’s all.”
“Oh, my mistake,” said Flint, shrugging. “I get unwanted attention a lot.”
It was my turn to glare at Flint. “You’re a little full of yourself, aren’t you?”
He shrugged again. “I’ve looked like this my whole life, Ms. Caspian. It’s helpful sometimes. People tend to be friendlier to attractive people. And in my line of work, that’s not a bad thing. But frankly, I’d rather blend in.”
I gave him a look of disgust.
Flint put his sunglasses back on. Damned if it didn’t make him look sexy.
Connor squared his shoulders. “I’m going back to work.”
“You do that,” I said.
Flint watched him go. “You know about gargoyles too?”
“A little bit,” I said.
“You busy this evening?”
*
“Listen,
” said Flint, who was surrounded by a gaggle of female gargoyles. “This would really be easier if we could talk to Mr. Ross alone?”
Brody Ross was behind all of his female relatives, hidden completely from sight.
We hadn’t gotten one look at him since arriving at Brody’s home. He was a suspect, according to Flint, and we were there to interview him. But thus far, we weren’t getting anywhere near him.
“I don’t think so,” said Brody’s mother. “We know his rights, and we are not going to let anyone near him without a warrant.”
“Actually, that would only be if I’d uncovered enough evidence for an arrest,” said Flint. “If I could talk to him now, I might be able to cross him off my list entirely.”
“No,” said Brody’s mother.
Brody’s sisters all stood in a row, gray arms crossed over their chests.
“Hiding behind the women?” said Flint. “Is that really what you want to do, Ross?”
I shook my head at Flint. That was a very bad idea. I pushed in front of him. “Don’t listen to the detective,” I said. “He’s human, and he doesn’t understand.”
“We would not let Brody out to talk to you,” said his mother. “What he wants to do makes no difference. We are his family. We know best.”
“Of course you do,” I said. “Listen, we wouldn’t dream of asking you to leave him alone. Of course, you must be here to protect him. That’s only proper.”
Flint raised his eyebrows.
“But if we could ask him just a few questions?” I said.
“You ask the questions,” said the mother. “We will decide if he can answer them.”
“Okay,” I said. “That’s fair.”
“It is?” said Flint. But he shrugged. “All right.”
“We are waiting,” said his mother.
“Can we at least see him?” said Flint.
“It’s best not to push,” I told him.
He shrugged again. He seemed to do that a lot. “All right, then. Mr. Ross, I understand that you were fairly angry about the new development that went up in the north side of the city. You spearheaded several protests to stop the dragons from building their summer homes on that land. Said it was the site of your ancestral home.”
Fire Song (City of Dragons) Page 3
