“At the bar. He met those men. Sven said he looked surprised to see them, then sat with them. That was...that was the last time the men were at the bar. The last time Sven said anything about them, anyway.”
Her voice faded away to a whisper, or maybe I just lost the ability to hear her clearly over the pounding of my blood. Ryder was there. Ryder was with the suspicious, funny-smelling men. Which meant Ryder was linked to Sven. Again.
I didn’t have to look at Rossi to know what he thought about all this.
Ryder was there. Ryder’s blood was on Sven. Ryder was guilty.
Ryder wasn’t guilty unless proven so. That was my job. To prove or disprove his guilt. It occurred to me that maybe I wasn’t the best person for this job. But who else would be?
Myra and Jean both had opinions on Ryder, on him dumping me. Would they be able to push that aside and treat the case fairly?
No, I could do this. If Ryder was guilty...everything in me tightened, like a deep string in my soul had been plucked. Still, if Ryder was guilty, I could keep a clear head about it. The law, my job came first, no matter what my heart wanted to believe.
“Did Sven mention if Ryder left the bar with them?”
She shook her head.
“Okay. One more question, Etta, and then this will be over. Did you see or hear Sven’s death?”
Her pupils went wide until black nearly swallowed the thin ring of brown. Her nostrils went hard, her mouth tightened. “Yes,” she hissed.
I ignored the ice encasing my nerves and the very real instinct that was screaming danger, danger, run, run. “What did you see?”
“Hands of death. Blood of death. Eyes of fire.”
Old Rossi sipped in a quick breath. Those words didn’t mean a lot to me, but they meant something to him.
“Did you see who was there?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see his killer?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who it was? Can you describe the killer?”
“Ryder Bailey. The last person Sven saw was Ryder Bailey.”
Well, crap.
Chapter 8
Keeping ice cream cold at the bottom of an active volcano would be easier than trying to make Old Rossi agree not to end Ryder’s life right then and there.
The only thing that made Rossi back off was the very real promise that I would throw him, and the entire Rossi clan, out of Ordinary if he killed Ryder before I had a chance to prove him guilty or innocent in the court of law.
Yes, I could throw all the vampires out.
No, some of the other creatures wouldn’t like it.
Yes, certain creatures, such as the Wolfes, actually would like it.
Maybe I could get most of the gods on my side to back me up.
But the threat of being exiled from town didn’t mean a lot to a furious vampire. A furious prime.
At least Rossi was old enough to know how to contain and control his fury.
Unfortunately he controlled it by making “deals” that were a lot more like “threats” and were just this close to being “preachy” and “condescending.”
“You do understand the terms?” he asked for like the fifth time.
“I am not a child, Rossi.”
He blinked. “Compared to me, everyone is a child, Delaney.”
“Not Bertie. Not the gods and goddesses. Pretty sure we have a couple gnomes older than you.”
“Delaney.” His mouth pulled down against what looked suspiciously like a tolerant smile. Or frustrated grimace. Yeah, probably more that last thing.
I started counting on my fingers. “Don’t let Ryder out of town. Don’t let him out from beneath my supervision. Don’t let him out from under the watch of one of your people who has sworn not to harm him in any way. Don’t expect him to be innocent. Don’t confront him on my own. Those terms?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. Did vampires get headaches?
“And the last term to our agreement?” he asked behind his palm.
“I let you question him.”
He nodded, but that condition of Ryder remaining unscathed was the one I was least comfortable with.
“I’ll be there when you question him,” I said.
“We didn’t agree to that.”
“We’re going to agree to it now.”
He dropped his hand, long fingers brushing over the soft cotton of his pants. Etta had already left. It had taken nearly an hour for me to wear Rossi down to this agreement. Who knew standing one’s ground made one sweat so much?
His eyes were dark, no color left in them, but they were not insane rage-red either.
Good enough.
“You push me, Delaney.”
“I won’t get in your way when you question him. But I will be there or it doesn’t happen.”
“Fine.” He gathered our cups off the counter and took them to the sink. “Good-bye, Delaney.”
And that was my cue to get the heck out of there. I let myself out, moving determinedly to the door. I took a few deep and shaky breaths once I reached the cool, damp air of the afternoon, and resisted bending in half to keep the blood from rushing out of my head.
That had been exhausting and terrifying.
Etta had seen Ryder.
Sven had seen Ryder.
Rossi had hired Ryder for a remodeling job.
I didn’t know how I was going to keep him safe. I didn’t even know if I should keep him safe.
The only car in the driveway was my Jeep. A slightly soggy scrap of paper was tucked under the windshield wiper.
I pulled the paper out and got into the Jeep before reading it.
You’re welcome was written in Crow’s tight, strong script. Below that were a few brushes of ink that sketched a crow in flight.
Cute how he thought doing me a tiny favor like getting Ryder out of the vampire’s kill zone was going to settle his dues with me. He was still the one who had lost the god powers, and we still had no clue as to where they could be.
I pulled my phone, texted him: Better be at the station by the time I get there.
Before I had time to start the car, a text pinged back: Already there. Ryder didn’t kill Sven. Stop listening to the vampires.
After that he had attached emojis of an angel, a bat, some kissy lips, and a banana.
I didn’t want to know why he included the banana.
I texted back: I’m a cop. I listen to everyone.
Good. Listen to me. Ryder’s innocent.
Prove it.
I don’t need to prove it, he texted back. I’m not a cop.
Typical. Just couldn’t leave anything alone. Always had to get in the middle of it and stir it up. If I hadn’t seen how genuinely ill he’d looked at losing the powers, I might even suspect he’d done that on purpose just to liven things up.
The phone rang. I started the engine and picked up the phone, thumbing on the hands-free. “What do you want, Crow?”
“It’s me,” Myra said. “Crow’s not with you?”
“He took Ryder and Jake Monroy out for free donuts. Said he’s at the station.”
“Maybe. Roy’s there. He’ll keep an eye on him. How did it go?”
“Not great. Rossi hired Ryder and Monroy for some kind of remodeling project or business franchising thing.”
“Uh-huh.”
She knew just as well as I did that Rossi wanted to keep Ryder close enough to snap his neck without the added trouble of Rossi having to leave his own property.
“Anything else?”
“I talked to Etta. She was dating Sven.”
“And?”
“She said Ryder was at the bar the last time Sven was seen alive. She also said she saw him when Sven died.”