In the lab, Bones had our pathologist’s assistant, Brad Parker, pinned to the wall by one pale hand. The glow from his gaze lit the room with an eerie green luminance.
“Right then, where were we? Tell me all about what you’ve been up to, and be specific. You can start with any partners.”
“One,” Brad mumbled. “He looks just like her.”
I froze. Don’s gaze met mine as a chill went through me. There was no doubt who Brad had to be referring to.
Bones glanced at me once and then turned his attention back to the man in front of him.
“Indeed? Now, tell me everything else... ”
This time, Juan and Tate took dictation and I merely listened for the second time in as many days as a plot to kill me was outlined. Brad called him by a different name, but the perpetrator was clearly my father. Apparently after Ian pieced together the family resemblance between the Red Reaper he’d tangled with and his own lackey Max, my father had decided he didn’t want to be a dad. He traced me by tracking Don, knowing he had to be the one backing me. Find one and the other wasn’t far, he’d assumed correctly. With his inside knowledge of both the Bureau and his brother, Max had progressed with remarkable swiftness. Then he found what he was looking for in Brad Parker, a man whose loyalty could be bought and who knew enough to make it worth the payment.
It had almost worked. If not for my being on a date with a vampire, my head would have been blown off.
When Bones was finished, he arched a brow at Don. “You have any more questions for him?”
Don looked stunned. “No, I can safely say you covered it. Tate? Juan? Anything else?”
Mutely they shook their heads. Tate was more grudging in his silent response, his lips thinned to a straight line, but Juan looked at Bones with a flash of admiration. A start.
“Fancy locking him up?”
The question was again addressed to Don. I appreciated the gesture behind it. Bones was deferring Brad’s fate. To my surprise, Don waved a hand.
“You know we’re not letting him live, not with what he knows. Just don’t make a mess.”
Tate was incensed. “For Christ’s sake, we can take him below and shoot him!”
“Don’t be childish, Tate,” Don snapped. “Bullet or bite, the end’s the same, and it’s his right. He found him; we didn’t. Cat would be dead soon if he hadn’t, and despite what she thinks of me, I don’t want that to happen.”
Don looked straight at me when he said that last part, and understanding dawned as to what this was. He was giving a peace offering in the form of Brad Parker’s jugular. It wasn’t pretty, but again, it was a start.
“Make it fast,” I said to Bones. “I know you want to take your time, but don’t. He’s not worth it.”
I didn’t leave the room, but Tate did, in a huff. Juan shuffled but stayed, and Don remained where he was.
Bones didn’t mind the audience. He bit into Brad’s neck with his fangs fully extended, swallowing deeply and repeatedly. No one except me heard the inevitable sound of death as it occurred, and true to my request, it was fast.
“There you are, old chap,” Bones said a minute later as he let Brad fall limply to the tile. “Not a drop spilled.”
I went to him, stepping over Brad, who was sprawled by his feet. Bones kissed my forehead with warm lips. Two kills in two days; he was probably stuffed. Then again, his dinner last night had drained into the capsule.
“You know I’m going after him, Don.” There was no need to say the name, and somehow, I didn’t want to.
“Yes, I know.” He appraised the two of us together and tugged his eyebrow. “I want to speak in private with you, Cat. There are some things we need to discuss.”
“We can speak, but Bones is coming. Really, even if he couldn’t hear us, which he can, I’d just tell him later.”
Bones gave Don a smug smile. Well, he’d earned a little gloating.
Don coughed. “If you insist. Juan, would you remove... ?” He gestured vaguely at Brad’s body as we followed him back to his office.
TWENTY-FIVE
“ARE YOU LEAVING US?” Don began without preamble when I shut the door.
It was a good question, since I now knew what he’d hidden from me these past years.
I looked around Don’s office and then back at the man himself. Don and I didn’t have similar features, but he was my blood, as surely as my mother was. After several quiet moments, I realized I didn’t hate him for his lies, both outright and of omission. Who was I to judge him so harshly for his mistakes? After all, I’d made an exceptional number of my own.
“No.”
Don let out a sigh that might have been relieved, but Bones ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
“Bloody hell. You just won’t take the easy road.”
“I need to do this.”
Bones stared at me for a long moment, then turned to Don.