Unspoken

  Burnett frowned. “I would prefer that—”

  “I know you would prefer it, but I prefer to stay there. And I’m an agent, not a Shadow Falls student.”

  Burnett nodded. “Fine.” The man ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t mention this to Della. She’s got enough on her mind right now, but I just put two agents on her parents’ house.”

  “Why?” Chase asked.

  “Because I don’t believe in coincidences,” Burnett said. “If you’re right about the half were being a part of the group that murdered Mr. and Mrs. Chi, then it’s probably the Bastard gang doing it. All three of the murders that we’re looking at them for were less than three miles from Della’s home. It got me thinking, why there? Maybe Stone wasn’t so much looking for you, but for Della’s uncle. He might be watching Della’s house, thinking one of you would show up there. If we suspect that Della’s father saw the murder, then Stone might think Della’s father knows about his brother and has contact with him.”

  * * *

  “The examiner listed the girlfriend’s cause of death as homicide,” Burnett told Della the next day when she walked into the office.

  Yesterday, Burnett had made Chase bring her back to Shadow Falls, before he’d called the regular police and other agents to come help out with the murder investigation of Jamie Brown, Stone’s girlfriend. Della spent the afternoon and last night mulling over everything and worrying. Kylie and Miranda had tried to get her to talk, and Della had pretty much lost it. Again.

  Knowing Miranda, she was probably pissed, but Kylie … Kylie was always more forgiving, and she probably told the witch to just give her some space. But it wouldn’t last for long.

  With no other leads to hunt down on her father’s case, Della had been expected to go to school today. Fifteen minutes into English, she’d gotten up and walked out.

  “Did either of the half weres give us anything? Have you proven that the two cases are connected?” she asked, and bam, just like that, the smell of death found its way back into her sensory memory. She’d actually thrown up twice today.

  The look in Burnett’s eyes told her the answer before he did. “No, but I’m going back in a while and taking another go at it.”

  “I heard you chose not to go to school,” Burnett said.

  “Couldn’t do it,” she answered.

  After she’d left English she’d gone back to her cabin and written her sister another email, asking if things were okay. The email she’d gotten yesterday and hadn’t read until the middle of the night when she’d given up trying to sleep was just another angry message about how she wouldn’t forgive Della for abandoning her.

  Della had written her back and tried to explain that it hadn’t been her choice, but of course her sister wouldn’t believe it.

  This morning Della had also called her mom to see how things were. Nobody answered.

  Was it already happening? Had her father forbidden either of them to communicate with her? The possibility that he knew she was vampire seemed more and more likely.

  Della dropped into the chair across from his desk. “We already knew the girlfriend was murdered. How does that help?”

  “We can have the FRU investigate it.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “We’re not getting anywhere. We don’t have anything to prove my dad innocent.”

  “We have Mr. Timmons—he’s a damn good lawyer—and we have a DA assistant working with us.”

  “The judge? Any news on that yet?” Della asked.

  Something in Burnett’s eyes told her he had news about that, but bad news. “They’ve assigned a judge to the case.”

  “And he’s not one of us?” she asked and felt a tear slip from her lashes.

  “No, but the FRU is still trying to get that changed.”

  She shook her head. “If he’s convicted, Burnett, I’m not going to be able to live with this. I swear, I’m not.”

  Burnett frowned. “Della, I know this is hard, but you’re looking at this all wrong. Even if we went to court right now, Mr. Timmons says he feels certain that we have a good case.”

  The knot of pain rose higher in her chest. “They have what they think is his blood on the murder weapon.”

  “I know, but he was there during the attack. I spoke with Mr. Timmons this morning. He said the police forgot to take pictures of your dad, or they got lost. He’s going to argue that your father tried to defend his sister and received a small cut that went unnoticed.”

  Della stopped to consider it. “The police file didn’t say if he went to the hospital,” Della said, remembering.

  “I know. The lawyer has asked your father; at first he claimed he didn’t remember, then said everyone was just so upset about his sister.”

  “Mom said he went in later, like to a mental hospital.” She considered that. “What if he remembered something then and told them about it? That would look bad. Does the doctor-patient privilege law prevent them from getting those?”

  Burnett’s brow tightened. “You dad didn’t mention that hospital stay. So far the DA hasn’t brought it up. We don’t know if they are just being sloppy and haven’t discovered he went in, or if the lead DA is afraid of opening up those records for fear it might persuade your father to change his plea to insanity.”

  Della concentrated on that for a second. “But Mr. Timmons could get them. Maybe there’s something in there that could help my dad’s case.”

  Burnett leaned back in his chair. “If he gets them he’ll be required to share them with the DA.”

  Della swallowed. “He’s not getting them because he’s afraid there’s something bad in there? So what you’re saying is that the lawyer thinks my dad’s lying. And if that’s the case, then my dad saw his brother in vampire mode and he knows what I am. I was right: He’s scared of me.”

  Burnett frowned. “Mr. Timmons is just being cautious. I know this is hard, but don’t look at the negative. How about I give you some good news?”

  “About my father’s case?” Della asked.

  Burnett sighed. “Your lead about the shoes gave us the name of a were. And he has a record. There’s an APB out on him and I have several agents looking for him now.”

  Della had forgotten all about that. “So the one Chase caught and recognized wasn’t one of them?”

  “We don’t know for sure. They aren’t talking yet. But what we believe is that the guy with the shoes and the one Chase took down were both in on it.”

  “Is that what Chase is working on?” Della asked. He’d dropped by her cabin last night, and she’d refused to see him. After their little make-out session in the front of his car, and after everything that happened after that, she didn’t know what to say to him.

  He hadn’t tried to come see her this morning, and part of her had been disappointed.

  Burnett hesitated. “No, he has something else he’s looking into.”

  “About my father’s case?”

  Burnett nodded.

  “Then why am I not with him?” She sat up. “You said I could work this case.”

  Burnett held up his hands. “He had to do this alone. He went to try to find out what the Vampire Council knows.”

  “Alone?” Della asked.

  “Chase trusts one of the councilmen, a Kirk Curtis. He’s hoping Curtis will shed some light on why Mr. Powell would have tried to protect Stone.”

  Della inhaled. “But what if this Kirk guy is in on it too? It could backfire and even put Chase in danger. You shouldn’t have let him go alone.”

  Burnett frowned. “Chase was adamant that Mr. Curtis isn’t behind it.”

  “And what if he’s wrong?” Della asked.

  * * *

  On the way back to her cabin, Della texted Chase. Call me!

  She held her phone in her hand waiting to see if he would text or call her back. He didn’t. Just what she needed. Another thing to worry about.

  She got all the way to her cabin and the phone didn’t ding. She walked in, stood in the
middle of her living room, and instantly felt as if the walls would close in on her. The thought of going for a run to expend her energy tempted her, but then why spend her energy on exercise when she could spend it on something more useful?

  She went to her room, snatched up her father’s case file, and went back outside to read it.

  She read a few lines, then looked at her phone. “Please let me hear from you,” she muttered.

  She picked the phone up and was in mid-text, insisting Chase be careful, when it rang. She hit receive call and put it to her ear. “Chase?”

  “Della?”

  “Mom.” Della closed her eyes.

  “Who’s Chase?”

  “A friend,” Della said. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m returning your call from this morning,” her mom said.

  “I know, I just … I wanted to see how you’re doing.”

  The silence on the line had Della’s eyes stinging again. Knowing her mom, she was either trying to figure out a way to sugarcoat things or trying to come up with an out-and-out lie.

  “The truth, Mom.”

  “We’re dealing with things. You shouldn’t worry.”

  Della heard the lie in her mom’s tone. Just as she heard the pain in her voice. Her mom was about to break, and Della wasn’t there to catch her. Nobody was. Her sister was wrapped up in her own concerns. Her dad was drowning in emotional crap due to the murder case. And it was Della’s fault. All of it. She’d done this to them.

  “How can I not worry? Is Dad okay?”

  Her mom’s breath shook, a telltale sign she’d succumbed to tears. “Uh, I’m getting another call, I need to go.”

  There was no other call. Della would have heard the click. “Please, Mom,” Della said, but it was too late. Her mom had hung up.

  Della called back, but it went to voice mail. She pulled her knees up and let herself cry right along with her mom.

  * * *

  Kirk wasn’t at the council’s office. No one was. And when Chase looked in the window, the furnishings were gone.

  They’d moved. They did so regularly, fearing the FRU might catch up with them. And no doubt, with Chase working for the enemy, they were probably worried about him turning them in. While he wasn’t second-guessing his decision, and he understood their reasoning, it still hurt knowing they’d consider him their enemy.

  He’d been relieved that the FRU hadn’t asked him to hand over info about the council. But surprisingly, Burnett, meaning the FRU, had more information on the council than he would have guessed. He’d known the location of Hell’s Pit.

  I trust Kirk, Chase had told Burnett. And he did. Kirk, a friend of Eddie’s, had always been around when Chase was growing up. But did Kirk know Powell was protecting Douglas Stone?

  Chase got back in his car and drove toward Brown Lake, Kirk’s home for the last ten years. The place Chase had spent many of his summer vacations since he’d been turned.

  Chase’s only worry was that the lake house might be where Eddie had gone. He hoped not. He didn’t want to have to lie to Della or Burnett about knowing Eddie’s location. Nor did he want to hear Eddie say he was turning himself in.

  Chase knew Eddie had his finger on the pulse of his brother’s case. But it wasn’t over yet. Chase still had a little over a week to track down Stone. And Chase wasn’t going to slow down.

  While his tires ate up the pavement, his phone in his black suit coat pocket beeped. He pulled it out and read Della’s two-word text.

  If he called her she’d ask him where he was going. He wouldn’t lie. But he didn’t want to talk about this now.

  He’d call her later, when he was sure Eddie wasn’t there. When he knew he didn’t have anything to lie about.

  * * *

  Sitting on the porch, Della had read over the file so many times she practically had it memorized. But she reread it again. And she finally found something that she hadn’t noticed before. In the transcript of the 911 call, her father had said he had broken into the house, but that they had hurt his sister. They being more than one.

  What had her father really seen? She tried to imagine what her father must have thought seeing his twin brother, who he thought was dead.

  She tried to envision what Bao Yu must have thought, facing a vampire. Had Bao Yu seen Feng at all? Was it the shock that made her want to blame Della’s father?

  A piece of the puzzle was missing. A cold breeze brushed past. “Is that you, Bao Yu?”

  Della recalled Holiday’s concerns that the ghost could somehow hurt her. She didn’t believe it, but neither could she deny the prickle of fear that tiptoed down her spine.

  Della was so caught up in thinking about her aunt that she didn’t hear the person approaching until a shadow fell on the porch.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chase parked his car in front of Kirk’s two-story cabin that was built on stilts. Its balcony actually hung over the water. The noon sun was centered in the sky and water reflected it in diamond sparkles. No cars were parked in the driveway.

  But Kirk and Kirk’s friends didn’t always travel by car.

  He cut the engine off and got out. He lifted his face in the breeze and caught the lake’s scent as well as a fleeting trace of vampires. More than one.

  He relaxed when he didn’t detect Eddie. Another intake of air and he recognized the scents of the council members. Others were strangers.

  Chase debated leaving. He really wanted to chat with Kirk, alone.

  Of course, since he’d gotten their scents, one of them had surely gotten his.

  Leaving wasn’t an option now.

  * * *

  “Hey,” Della said and looked up at Steve, trying to suppress a frown at seeing him. If he’d come to “talk,” well, he’d come at the wrong time. Because damn it, she just had too much on her plate to deal with this right now.

  “Can I join you?” he asked.

  “I’m not in any mood to—”

  He dropped down anyway. She stopped trying not to frown and let it happen.

  “How are you?” he asked and he looked at her like Steve always looked at her, with concern and patience.

  “Terrible,” she said. “And I’m not very good company. So why don’t—”

  “I heard some of what happened. That had to be hard.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Della, you’re avoiding me. Sooner or later we need to talk.”

  “Then later it is.” She shot up to her feet.

  He caught her. “Don’t do this.”

  “Don’t what?” She jerked free and then felt like a bitch again, but she wouldn’t have to be a bitch if people would just leave her the hell alone! “Look, I’m sorry, but I’ve got too much shit going on to pile more shit on top of my other shit.”

  “Fine!” he snapped. “But don’t run off. Sit down. Please.” His warm brown eyes looked up at her. “Talk to me.”

  “Are you deaf? Did you not just hear me? I don’t—”

  “Not talk about our shit, about the other shit. You don’t have to go through this alone.”

  She wasn’t, the thought hit. She had Chase, but she might not when he returned, because she was gonna kill him for not texting her back. And she had Kylie and Miranda—though, after being such a bitch yesterday, they might not be on her team anymore. But she didn’t say any of that.

  Looking at him, she blurted out, “I’m sorry.”

  She dropped down and hugged her jean-covered knees. “My dad’s murder trial is days away. My sister hates me. My mom is dying inside. I know my dad’s going crazy. I’m pretty sure he knows I’m vampire. And it’s my fault. I’ve done this to them all.”

  She could have kept going and told him about almost seeing a little girl get her throat slit, about how the smell of death kept following her around, but she didn’t. Even she couldn’t handle that much pathetic.

  She pressed her forehead to her knees and swallowed, trying to fight her need to cry.

/>   “What is Burnett saying?” Steve asked.

  “He just keeps telling me it’s not as bad as it seems. But the police have a weapon with my dad’s DNA on it. Or rather my uncle’s DNA, but they don’t know he’s alive.”

  Steve frowned. “I can see how that’s hard on you. What is this?” he asked, pointing to the papers.

  “That’s the DA’s file on the case.”

  “Wow, you got it?”

  “Burnett did. I’ve been trying to find something that might help.”

  Steve picked it up. “Do you mind? Maybe you need a fresh pair of eyes.”

  * * *

  Chase clicked the button to put the top up on his car. He hit the locks, and then started walking toward the door. No doubt they were waiting for him by now.

  He tilted his head to the side and listened to see if they were talking. He heard a duck call to a mate on the lake, a fish splash in the water, and a motor on someone’s boat move down the lake.

  But not a word came from the house.

  He walked up the length of the driveway. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. Sensing that someone was watching him, he looked up, and just then the drapes in the front window fluttered back into place.

  He ran a hand over the back of his neck, fighting the crazy sensation that trouble waited. But this was Kirk, he told himself. He trusted him.

  Didn’t he? Right then Chase saw two guards standing at the back of the property.

  “Is this a bad time?” Chase asked, knowing the council inside were listening.

  “Yeah, but you’re already here,” came Kirk’s reply. “Come on in.”

  * * *

  “They never arrested your dad back then, right?” Steve asked Della when he finished reading.

  “No,” Della said. “But according to Derek’s detective buddy, who read the old case file, he was the only suspect. They just didn’t have enough proof to take it to court.”

  Steve looked back at the file. “So we know he called 911, but then he says he couldn’t remember anything. Was he checked for a concussion?”

  “The file doesn’t even say if he was taken to the hospital. My dad’s not much help. He says he doesn’t remember, and my uncle told Chase that when he got to the house my dad was unconscious.”