Jesse thought that over for a moment. “Then why didn’t Kirsten come to me right away when the witches began dying?”
She shook her head. “I trusted you, but Kirsten didn’t. She could tell that I was…that I was falling for you.” Runa took another deep breath. “We argued about it. Scarlett said something that helped convince her, and then she and I set up a little test for you, at the Jeep crime scene.”
“Wait,” Jesse said, confused. “What happened at the crime scene?”
She waved her good hand in front of her face, as if shooing a fly. “Not at the crime scene itself, but the next day. I had all those incriminating pictures of vampire activity, just right there for the taking. Kirsten thought you’d steal those shots, keep them as some kind of leverage against Dashiell.” She beamed at him. “But you erased them. You helped cover up an Old World secret. I knew I could trust you.”
“You could trust me,” Jesse said flatly, “but I couldn’t trust you, could I?”
She frowned, uncomfortable. “You have to understand what was at stake,” she began, “what the witches have worried about for centuries…”
Jesse held up his hand. “Runa, I just spent the last hour helping a vampire control the minds of my brother officers. It’s killing me, but I also know it was the right thing to do. I think I’m capable of some big-picture perspective.”
She was silent for a moment, and then she said very quietly, “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Jesse was at a loss. He had loved this girl. And he was supposed to be a detective. How had he been so oblivious? How was it possible to love someone when you didn’t really know them at all? He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’m sorry too,” he said. “But you understand why I can’t see you anymore, right?”
Tears filled her eyes. She would be one of those women who cried beautifully, he saw. When she nodded, they leaked down onto her cheeks. She lifted her good arm to wipe them off with the back of her hand. “Yes.”
He stood up. “I should get going. I think Scarlett is missing, and we haven’t caught Olivia or Mallory yet.”
Runa frowned. “Scarlett is missing?” she asked.
“I’m not positive that it’s anything big. But she’s not answering her phone, and this isn’t really the night for her to do that.” He studied her face. “You don’t know where she is, do you?”
“No…wait. What is she driving?”
Jesse smiled ruefully. “She took my car. I suppose I could always report it as stolen, but—” He slapped his head, feeling impossibly stupid.
“What?”
“I’m such an idiot. I have LoJack.”
He made the calls, pacing a few feet away toward the waiting-room windows so he could get better reception. Runa looked up when he returned. She showed no signs of getting up from her waiting room chair, and he figured she must be sticking around for Kirsten.
“The car is at Hair of the Dog,” he said.
“That’s good, right?” Runa asked. “She probably had a cleanup job there or something. And Will will keep her safe.”
“Yeah, I guess.” But something felt wrong, he decided. He scrolled through his phone and found the right number. “I’m gonna call the bar.” He went back over to the seats by the windows.
It rang forever. When someone finally picked up, the line was shockingly quiet. Every other time he’d called there, he’d had to shout over loud music to be heard. “This is Will,” said a tired voice. Jesse identified himself and asked for Scarlett.
“Yeah,” Will said heavily. “She’s here. We had a…well, she can fill you in, I guess. I don’t have it in me to talk about it. Hang on, I’ll go have her pick up the line in the office.”
There was a long pause, and Jesse found himself listening to a horrible Muzak cover of “Tainted Love.” Then “I Want to Run to You.” Just before the final chorus, Will finally picked back up. “Detective?”
“Jesse,” he said automatically.
“Jesse. She’s um…she’s not here. I left her in the office, but she must have walked out the back door. Her wallet is gone, but she left her phone here.”
“She couldn’t have gotten far,” Jesse objected. “My car is still parked there, or it was five minutes ago.”
Will coughed. “I actually went outside and checked. If your car is a blue sedan, then yeah, it’s here. But Eli’s truck is missing. His keys are gone too.” Will paused, and finally added, “I…um…think she’s gone rogue.”
Chapter 27
I drove south, blasting the heater in Eli’s truck. I was shivering in my borrowed T-shirt and boxers, but there just wasn’t time to stop at Molly’s for a change of clothes and the White Whale, not if Mallory was really going to perform her spell at midnight. I was going to have to face Olivia just as I was, bloody boots and all.