“Just grazed.” He went over and picked up the shotgun. Adrenaline still fired through his body, his shoulder stung, and he fought the desire to kick the two half-weres now stretched out face down on the stained carpet.
Then he noticed what was on one of the guy’s feet. “Nice shoes,” Chase said.
“Real nice.” Burnett stood and snatched his phone from his coat pocket and made a call. “We need a wagon to bring in two.”
* * *
They landed in a wooded lot, close to a fence. Her uncle took one step, then stopped. Della wasn’t quite sure where she was, but the neighborhood looked upscale. They’d passed over several nice estates. Houses as big as apartment buildings.
“You see that house?” her uncle asked.
Della looked between the metal slats of the fence. She could see it, but it was half a block away. “Yeah.”
“How fast can you make it there and knock down that door?”
Della looked at him. “More breaking and entering?”
“I don’t think he’ll call the police.”
She hesitated. “Why don’t I just knock, ask if I can come in? I can be convincing.”
He frowned. “Because the second one of us gets any closer to that house, it will set off a lockdown mode and a metal plate with electrical current will come down on all the windows and front door.”
“Oh.” She grimaced and looked back at the house.
Feng continued, “It will take thirty seconds for the metal to lower and get the power to it. Back in the day, I could get to that house in fifteen seconds. You that good?”
Della sighed. “Maybe. Whose house is this?” She inhaled, but wasn’t close enough to get any scents.
“Powell’s.”
She bit down on her lip. “Do you think Stone’s in there?”
“I don’t know. But I’d bet my canines Powell knows where his son is.”
The thought of snagging Stone and stopping the trial before it happened had Della pushing away the feeling that she was crossing over the line.
“He’s the old guy, right?” Della asked.
“Yeah.”
Della looked at Feng and tilted her head to hear his heart. “You’re not going to kill him?”
“No. I promise.”
Della nodded. “Then I’m ready.”
* * *
“You might as well confess,” Chase growled down at the barefooted rogue sitting in the interrogation room. “We got you. You’re going down.”
“You ain’t got shit,” the were said.
“Really?” Chase, feeling his canines lower, pulled the picture from the file he held. “Do you know what this is? It’s a picture of a shoe print, idiot! And guess what? By tomorrow, our guys will have matched it to your shoe, and you’re going down.”
“I’m not the only one who wears those shoes!” the half were said.
The door to the room opened. Burnett waved Chase to come out.
Chase slammed the door on his exit.
“What?” Frustration and worry over Della had his whole body knotted. “You found her?”
“No, but you’ve been going at him for thirty minutes. He’s not going to talk. And as you said, tomorrow they’ll identify the shoe print and we’ll have him. Don’t waste any more energy on him.”
Chase didn’t hate it so much that Burnett was right, he just hated that he was wrong. “Okay, let’s go back to our last two addresses to find Stone.”
Burnett shook his head. “I haven’t slept in thirty-eight hours and I’m betting you’re going on forty-eight.”
“And I’m not going to sleep until we know where Della is,” Chase said.
“Neither am I,” Burnett said. “But we both need to drink some blood and at least try to relax, or we’re likely to mess this up. I’ve already sent some agents out to the other two places on the list. Right now, both residences are empty. I’ve got them on watch, and if anyone shows up, they’ll call me first thing.”
“But—”
“Don’t argue,” Burnett said. “We did good tonight. Tomorrow, when the evidence comes in, I’ll mark the Chis’ case solved. Della will never have to know that her father reported her to the police.”
* * *
Della started to step back.
“Wait,” her uncle said. “If that metal plate comes down, stop. You got that?”
Della nodded.
“It probably wouldn’t kill you, but it would hurt like hell. And if I hand you back over to Chase with a scratch on you, he’ll have my head.”
“You won’t hand me over to anyone,” Della said.
“I didn’t mean … Sorry,” he said.
“Let’s do this,” she said.
She moved back several feet to get a running start. She heard the alarms as soon as she crossed the gate. The wind tossed her hair in her eyes. As she came closer to the porch she heard clicking sounds as if things were about to come down.
She sped up and hit the door with her shoulder full force.
It hurt like hell, but the door cracked. She landed on her side on the floor of the home.
The clicking noises stopped. She heard her uncle land on the porch and he rushed inside.
She bolted to her feet, and the smell hit.
It wasn’t as bad as the smell at Stone’s girlfriend’s house, but close. She slammed her hand over her nose.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about me killing him,” her uncle said.
Della turned around, and there, on the hall floor, was the old man she remembered from her one and only council meeting. Considering his age, Della might have suspected he’d gone of natural causes. But there was nothing natural about the knife sticking out of his back.
“What’s the address here?” Della asked, looking away.
“Why?” her uncle asked.
She reached for her phone. “Because I’m calling Burnett.”
Chapter Forty-five
Begrudgingly, Chase stormed out of the office. He’d just dropped his ass on the seat behind the wheel. He hadn’t even shut the door when Burnett shot beside his car.
“Let’s go,” he said.
“What?” Chase climbed out.
“Della,” Burnett said. “She’s at a murder scene.”
“Stone?” Chase asked, slamming his car door and putting his keys away.
“No, Logan Powell.” He pulled out his phone and spouted out an order to someone.
“What? How did Della meet up with Powell?” Chase asked.
“Don’t know. She was short on details.” Burnett took off.
Chase took off after him.
Ten minutes later, Chase and Burnett landed in front of a large two-story house.
“Does this belong to Powell?” Burnett asked.
“I don’t know,” Chase said. “I’ve never been here.” And he sure as hell didn’t understand how Della had gotten here.
As he got closer, he spotted Della sitting on the edge of the porch. The muscle in his chest—his heart—released for the first time since he’d known she was missing.
The smell of death hit. As he moved closer, Della’s scent reached him. But then another scent hit, a weak vampire trace, meaning he was no longer on the premises, but it certainly answered the mystery of how Della had gotten here.
Eddie.
“What happened?” Burnett asked as they got closer.
Della stood up. “I don’t know, I just found him.”
Chase walked over, wanting to hold her, but her angry look stopped him. He waited for her to mention Eddie. She didn’t.
“Who was with you?” Burnett lifted his face again to draw in air.
Della’s gaze met Chase’s. He nodded.
“My uncle.”
Burnett shook his head and looked at Chase. “Did you know she was with him?”
“No,” Chase said at the same time Della did.
“I found Feng when I went looking for my father.”
“And why would he bring you
here?” Burnett asked.
“I told him that Stone was Powell’s son. He thought maybe Powell could tell us where Stone was.”
Burnett looked at the door.
“Was the door broken in when you got here?”
“No, I did that.”
Burnett shook his head and exhaled loudly. “Have you touched anything else?”
She shook her head.
“Okay. Go back to the school.”
“But—”
“Don’t you even think of arguing with me!” Burnett seethed. “Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been about you? Go back to the school. Straight back!”
“The car,” she said.
“I said get to the school!”
“It’s on Peach Street and—”
“I know where it is!” He raked a hand through his hair. “Some more agents will be showing up here any minute now. If you want a career with the FRU, you’d better get your ass out of here now.”
Chase saw Della nod. He also saw the tears in her eyes. He took one step toward her. She took off.
“Did you have to be so hard on her?” Chase growled.
Burnett ignored him and stormed inside the house. Chase followed.
He stopped when he saw Councilman Powell’s body in the hallway. Chase hadn’t been close to the man, but seeing him dead pulled at his heartstrings.
Burnett looked up. “We need to mask Della’s scent. Go to the kitchen, find some seasonings, anything with a strong odor, add water to it, and boil it. Then wipe your prints off and put it all way. Fast.”
* * *
Forty minutes later, Della landed in the school’s parking lot. As good as home felt, right then she’d rather be anywhere but here. She knew what, or rather who, waited for her.
Della had grown accustomed to butting heads with Burnett. Holiday was another story. Burnett got mad. The kind of mad Della could handle. Holiday mostly got disappointed. That was harder.
A night breeze brushed against Della’s face and she hesitated, closing her eyes. Her heart ached, her mind raced. Then, knowing she couldn’t postpone it, she walked through the gate. The slight click of the alarm announced her entrance.
She heard the creak of one of the white rockers on the front porch. Through the darkness she could see the shape of one small woman.
Della didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t sorry she’d done it. Even considering everything that had happened, meeting her uncle was … good.
Holiday stood up.
Della stepped up on the porch. The red-haired fae frowned. Holiday didn’t frown a lot.
“I’m sorry I upset you,” Della said. “I know you were worried. But I had to go. And … the car’s fine.”
“It’s not the damn car I care about!” Holiday seethed, and she wrapped her arms around her. “You don’t do this to people who love you!”
Della rested her head on her shoulder for a few seconds before pulling away.
“I know what happened now,” Della said.
“Happened?”
Della nodded. “The night Bao Yu died. My dad didn’t kill her. Well, not … really. He wanted to help her. He found her and she was trying to pull the knife out of her chest. He did it for her. And that’s the last thing she remembered.”
Holiday sighed. “Does she know?”
“I think so. I don’t know if she believes it yet.”
“If that’s what really happened, she’ll realize it now.”
Holiday stepped back and looked at her. “You’re exhausted. Have you fed at all today?”
Della shook her head.
“Do you have some blood in your cabin’s fridge?”
Della nodded.
“Then go feed and get some sleep. Kylie and Miranda are worried sick about you, but don’t let them keep you up too late. Burnett said he’d talk to you in the morning.”
Della had barely stepped off the front porch when two cars pulled into the parking lot. One of them was a police car with its lights flashing.
* * *
At almost ten o’clock, at least six agents moved around the house. Chase kept his mouth shut and let Burnett do all the talking. When one agent asked how they’d found the crime scene, Burnett said he could read it in his report later. What they needed to do now was collect and find any evidence.
Thankfully Burnett’s order wasn’t questioned. Chase still didn’t know how Burnett was going to explain it.
So far, nothing appeared in Powell’s home to prove he was part of the council. But since Burnett had known Powell’s full name, someone at the FRU would probably put it together.
Wearing gloves, Chase helped two agents go through a desk off the back of the kitchen. He found an address book. When he flipped through it, he found Eddie’s old addresses. Not wanting them looking into him, he almost attempted to pull the page, then decided against it and bagged the whole thing for evidence. Even if they went there, they wouldn’t find anything.
The agent in charge of removing the body estimated that the murder had happened about seventy-two hours ago. That meant Powell had probably died the same day Chase had seen him.
The fact that Powell was probably killed by his own son made Chase feel a little sorrier for the old guy. Did Stone know his old man had turned on him?
“Chase?” Burnett called to him from another room.
Chase walked out and when he saw the look on the man’s face, he knew something else was wrong.
Burnett was ending a call on his phone. He turned to Trisha. “We’ve got something we need to handle elsewhere. Can you take over?”
“I got it.”
As they left the house, Burnett muttered, “The cops are at the school questioning Della.”
Chase’s chest filled with hot anger. If she learned her father had turned her in it might just break her heart. And if that happened, Chase just might have to break something of her father’s. Preferably his neck.
* * *
Holiday had sent Della to wait in one of the conference rooms housed in the main office cabin, with strict orders to stay put. Then she’d heard Holiday walk out to the parking lot to talk to the police.
It was just far enough away that Della couldn’t hear what was being said. She almost went outside, but considering she’d already disobeyed the woman once today, she decided against it.
A short time later, footsteps moved inside. A crazy thought hit. Were they here about her?
Two cops walked in and sat across from her at the table. Holiday sat beside her. One of them must have been a detective, because he was wearing a suit; the other wore a uniform.
“Ms. Tsang.” The detective introduced himself and the other officer.
“Yes,” Della inhaled, her heart hammering in her chest. She wondered if this was about the hospital break-in. Then another thought hit. Had Holiday called them when she took her car? No, she wouldn’t.
“We’re here about Mr. and Mrs. Chi. Are you aware of what happened to them?” the guy in the suit asked.
Holiday’s palm rested on Della’s hand, offering her some calm.
Calm that Della didn’t want. What she wanted was to understand. She pulled her hand down in her lap. “Yes, I’m aware.” She looked at Holiday and then back at the cops.
“Why are you asking me about this?” Della leaned in.
The dark-haired heavy-set uniformed guy sneered at her. He didn’t have a pretty face, and sneering just made it worse.
“I think you might be confused,” he said. “We didn’t come here for you to ask us questions. We came to ask you questions. And you can play nice and answer them or we can take you in. Ever been in jail, Miss Tsang? It’s not a nice place.”
Della’s breath caught.
“Just answer them,” Holiday said in a calm voice. But Della saw the fury glittering in the woman’s eyes. This time, there was no concern or love mingled with it. Just plain ol’ fury. And it wasn’t targeting Della.
Della recalled hearing Holiday call Burnet
t before the policemen had left their cars. Their dialogue had been quick. “The police are here.” It was almost as if she’d been expecting them.
“You knew Mr. and Mrs. Chi, right?” the other officer asked.
“Yes,” Della said. “They were my neighbors and I pet sit for them.”
“And where were you Friday night?”
All the air in Della’s lungs came out. “You think … you think—?”
“Just answer our questions, Miss Tsang,” the ugly officer snapped.
“I was out … with a friend. I saw Mrs. Chi at a restaurant.”
“What restaurant?”
Della was about to answer when she heard a loud thump on the office porch. The door swung open, and she caught Burnett’s scent.
He stormed into the room, holding his badge out.
“Hello. I’m Burnett James, part owner of Shadow Falls Academy, and I’m with the Federal Research Unit. I was recently assigned to the Chi case and just picked up the killers tonight.”
The sneering uniformed cop stood up. “You’re with who?”
“FRU,” said the detective. “They’re an offshoot of the FBI.” He looked back at Burnett. “I didn’t know the case had been reassigned.”
“It wasn’t.” Burnett gazed at Della, almost as if he were checking on her. “We were asked to assist. One of my students”—he motioned to Della—“was friends with the victims.”
“We haven’t seen anything about the killer being caught,” the uniformed cop said.
“We just brought them in tonight, haven’t done the paperwork yet. If you’d like I’d be happy to see you out.” From his tone it wasn’t a suggestion. Burnett waved at the door.
“Wait!” Della said.
Everyone looked back her. “Why did you think that I…?”
“We should just let them go.” Holiday put another hand on Della’s shoulder.
“No,” Della said. “Who … who said I was involved?”
“Someone named you as a suspect,” the detective said.
Things suddenly became clear. And damn, it hurt. “My dad?” she asked. “He said I did this, didn’t he?”
Tears filled her eyes. The memory of how he’d looked at her before she left walked across her heart.
“Why would your dad say you did this?” the fat cop asked.
“Because he thinks I’m a monster.” Della looked at Holiday and remembered the call she’d made to Burnett.