“Oh, no,” Glauer moaned.
“You knew she was a heroin addict,” Caxton continued. “You should have looked out for drug-?seeking behavior.”
“She was in recovery! You saw her, she didn’t look like a junkie at all!”
Caxton was ready to fire him on the spot. “We took her out of a stable environment. She was already under incredible stress—fear for her life, familial grief. Then we put her in a place where drugs were available. How many risk factors did she need before she broke down? She saw all the drugs in the evidence room. All the drugs we’ve confiscated over who knows how long. She must have done something to distract you, if only for a second.”
“Yeah,” Glauer admitted. “She kissed me.”
“Oh, fuck no,” Caxton said. She wanted to shoot something. Instead she picked up the remote control for the TV and stabbed the power button.
“It was—it was very sweet, I thought. I was showing her how we log in each piece of evidence. I was boring her, I thought. Then I turned around and she planted one right on me. Stood up on her tiptoes, threw her arms around my neck. The whole thing. I said—I don’t know what I said. I was so surprised I might have said anything. I probably said I was too old for her and she told me the kiss was just a thank-?you. For taking care of her.”
Caxton knew Glauer well enough to understand how he must have reacted to that. The big cop lived for rescuing civilians from danger. It was why he’d become a cop in the first place. Had Raleigh seen through him that easily? Drug abusers could be devilishly cunning when it came to getting their next fix.
“I turned around and walked out of the room, unable to say anything at that point. I took my eyes off of her for maybe a couple seconds, that’s all.”
“Plenty of time.”
“Sure. She could have palmed her works and a bag of heroin and I wouldn’t have noticed.” Glauer stared down at his feet. “This is terrible.”
“Yep,” Caxton said. She was seeing stars, she was so angry. She thought about firing Glauer. When she wrote up her report on this incident, he would at the very least go before an administrative hearing. Even if she spoke up on his behalf—and she wasn’t sure she would—he would be suspended without pay for a long time. He might get fired without her lifting a finger. “I asked you to watch over her. I saved her from her father and all I wanted you to do was keep her alive.”
“Hey,” Glauer said. “There’s no need to get personal about this.”
“No?”
“No! This was a terrible accident, but—”
Caxton’s eyes went wide. “Are you so sure? Are you sure it was an accident? What if it was suicide?”
“No,” Glauer said, denying the possibility.
Caxton couldn’t afford to do the same. You had to commit suicide to become a vampire. It was one of the rules—true accidents didn’t count. “Her father could have given her his curse.”
“No,” Glauer said again.
“He could have. Tonight, in just a couple of hours, she could open her eyes, and they could be red. She could open her mouth, and it could be full of those teeth. Look at her. She’s already lost all her color.”
“That’s not—you’re making a mistake. This was just a dumb accident. She misjudged the dosage. That’s all!”
Caxton shook her head. “We have to cremate her body, before dark. I’ve made this mistake before. And it cost me everything.”
Vampire Zero
Chapter 45.
Caxton had been worried about Simon. She had worried that Jameson would approach Simon, and make his offer, and that Simon would say yes. She had barely even considered the notion it would be Raleigh, poor timid little Raleigh, so fragile that Jameson had to rescue her and stick her somewhere quiet so very far from the real world.
She grabbed the yellow pages and started dialing. She needed an emergency cremation—before four-?thirty. That was a little over two hours away. The first three places she tried didn’t even do cremation. It wasn’t listed as a category in the directory—she was just dialing funeral homes at random. The fourth number connected her to a very polite, very understanding man who assured her that it was quite impossible.
“I’d need the approval of the next of kin.”
“I’m a U.S. Marshal,” she said. “Can I order a cremation even without permission?”
“Not unless you’re also a health official. Otherwise, you need family approval.”
“Her brother’s the only one left. I’ll make him say yes.”
“Make him? There are regulations that apply to this industry,” he said. “Even if he says yes, we would also need a death certificate.”