“Don’t get dressed on my account.”
I meandered over to the bedroom. “Start the coffee, would you? And make it strong.”He shut the door behind him and I did the same. I gazed at my unmade bed, the soft blankets that looked so inviting, and sighed.
Clothing was a T-shirt and jeans. I brushed my teeth, hair, and put on deodorant. It gave me enough time to guess what Ryder was apologizing for.
For lying. For not telling me who his boss was. For not telling me more about the agency he was working for.
For dumping me?
No, he’d already apologized for that. Several times.
Or there was the possibility he was apologizing for something new. Some problem I’d have to deal with on about a minute and a half of sleep.
Great.
I needed boots for this conversation.
I strolled out to the sound of voices. Myra, Jean, Crow, and Ryder all lounged around my living room, drinking my coffee and chatting away like this was a book club.
Myra looked relaxed and well rested, when I knew she’d gotten the same amount of sleep as I had.
How did she do that?
“Okay. Who decided to throw a party at my house without telling me? And could you please un-invite me?”
Crow chuckled, but Jean stuck her hand straight up above her head, elbow locked. “I did. We did. Before you get all crabby about it, we’re not going to let you do what you did last time.”
“Do what which last time I did what?”
“Get shot while you were trying to solve a case.”
I inhaled against the fist of frustration that clogged my throat. Jean and Myra still hadn’t let that go. I really needed them to stop hovering like I was one brick shy of a Jenga collapse.
“I’m not going to get shot. Have I ever been shot before then? No. That was sort of a one-time deal. It’s not going to happen again.”
“We’re not just worried about guns,” Myra said in a now-now-calm-down voice I sort of hated. “There’s a lot going on in town and I decided we need to talk about it. All of us.”
“No.” I glared at her. There were two people in this room I didn’t want in the middle of the conversation about the missing god power or the ongoing murder investigation. Ryder and Crow.
“We agreed on this,” she said.
“When?”
“Last night when we discussed it.”
“Was I awake? Maybe I nodded off and you thought I was just nodding.”
She gave me a look that said she didn’t think I was funny. Ryder pointed at the Chewbacca cup on the table. “Caffeinate. We’ll figure it out.”
It was so close to what I’d told Piper last night, I almost laughed. “Fine,” I said, even though it was not at all fine. I sat and took a drink.
Lots of sugar, favorite cup, coffee strong enough to be used as an interrogation device.
Perfect.
I took a second gulp and glanced at Ryder.
He winked at me.
Winked.
My heart got all warm and gooey.
“I thought you were going to apologize for something.”
“I am.”
“Well?”
He made a circle with his fingers, indicating everyone in my house. “Pretty much this.”
“This intervention was your idea?”
He tipped his head with an eyebrow raised. “Well, I’ve been recently reminded, at length, that I’m a part of the police force. Since I have taken vows to look after Ordinary, there was no getting out of this team-building exercise. Although I don’t see Roy here.”
“Team Go Away and Let Delaney Sleep?” I asked Myra. She ignored me.
“Roy’s keeping an eye on the station. And because it needs to be said,” she turned her attention to Ryder, “Delaney told me about the conversation you had with her, Ryder. That you know there are vampires in town.”
Jean tensed up and Crow laughed. Crow tried to cover his glee with a cough that totally didn’t work.
I muttered, “‘Laugh it up...’”
“...‘Fuzzball’,” Ryder finished for me.
I lifted my Chewy cup in a toast. That was an old Star Wars reference. Not a lot of people got it these days.
“As we all know, we’re dealing with a murder in town that involved a vampire,” Myra went on like a kindergarten teacher who refused to give in to her students’ antics. “We understand you have some information that could be useful to our case.”
That teasing glimmer in Ryder’s eyes faded. “I already made it clear to Delaney that I didn’t have anything more to say on that unless she was willing to answer a few questions for me.”
“No,” I said.
“What questions?” Jean asked.
“Are there more vampires in town? Who are they? Who is their leader? How can I contact them?”
“That’s easy,” Crow said.
“No!” all us Reed girls chorused at once.
Crow sniffed. “Spoil sports.”
“You are still on my shit list,” I reminded him.
He made a raspberry sound. “You love me and you know it.”
“We are not at liberty to share that information,” Myra said. How was it that she was acting more like the police chief than I was? Could it be that I was still tired, possibly muddled because half of this conversation involved my not-ex, long-time-crush hotty of a boyfriend, and also that I hadn’t had nearly enough coffee yet?
Yes. Yes, it could.
“You understand that the persons of interest trust us to act in their behalf,” Myra said. “We’ve sworn to keep them safe and keep their confidence. We won’t break that trust.”
Ryder took his time studying her serene face, then shifted his gaze to Jean for a bit, then finally to me. “None of you are going to tell me anything I want to know?”
“If you would answer our questions, we might be able to facilitate a meeting with someone in town who could help you,” I said.
It wasn’t quite a bluff, wasn’t quite a promise. I was however, certain that Rossi would be more than happy to let Ryder know he was the big bad vampire in town. Rossi enjoyed threatening people he didn’t like, and he most certainly didn’t like Ryder.
Plus, I was pretty sure I’d agreed to let him be around when we questioned Ryder.
Ryder’s shoulders shifted as he leaned forward to put his empty coffee cup on the table. When he sat back, he looked like he’d made up his mind.
“Anyone want to tell me why the glassblower is here?” he asked.
“Maybe I’m a vampire,” Crow said.
“Nope,” I said.
Crow just shrugged and gave Ryder a wide grin. “Maybe I’m something else.”
“This isn’t about you.” I finished off the last of my coffee and sighed. “Jean, did you bring the photos?”
She pulled a folder out of her messenger bag and handed it to me. I sorted through the video surveillance shots. She’d done a great job cleaning up the images. The snap of the hand with the ring was particularly clear.
It looked familiar to me. Where had I seen that ring before?
“These are the images we got off of the surveillance camera outside Joe Boy’s.” I passed the folder to Ryder.