Shit, she knew where this was going. Swallowing her coffee, she put down the mug and placed her hands flat on the table, ready to push herself up.
“Don’t go without hearing us out on this, detective. At least afford us that.”
Faith sighed but relaxed her muscles. “Look,” she said. “If you’ve had me investigated, you must know what I think of all that crap.”
He considered her for a minute. “So how is your current case coming along?”
She pursed her lips at the change of subject, then realized it wasn’t a change at all. Just more of the same. “If you’re going to tell me that Julie was murdered by ghosties or ghoulies, you’ll have to get in line. I’ve heard it all before, and I’m not buying it. She was killed by some weird fucker who’d had his brain twisted by all the crap on the TV.”
“Like your mother?”
Shock hit her in the gut, and she gritted her teeth while she forced her emotions back under control. But of course they would know about her mother. They knew her goddamn favorite food.
The colonel didn’t wait for an answer, which was just as well because he wasn’t getting one. “Not ghosties and ghoulies, Detective. But vampires. And what if I told you we have evidence?”
The word “vampires” seemed to hang in the air, and a flash of primordial fear shivered through her. But before it could take hold, a wall rose up in her mind, familiar, calming, and her panic receded. “I’d say show me this evidence, but it had better be good.”
“It’s good and we will, but not here.”
“Are you going to get to the point anytime soon?”
He gave her a tight smile. “Over the last few years we’ve been investigating a man. We’ve found it impossible to get anything on him—”
“Why do you think there’s anything to get?”
“That’s where our evidence comes in, and if you agree to work with us, you’ll be shown everything. Anyway, as I said we’ve been investigating Christian Roth—”
“Stop there,” she interrupted. Now she was getting a glimmer of where this was coming from and where it was going. And she didn’t like it. Not one little bit.
“You know, I thought this was something to do with my mother. But I’m guessing that’s merely an added bonus and you don’t give a fuck about a twenty-year-old unsolved murder. Or even the one that happened six weeks ago. You want me because I’m your in to Ryan.”
“It’s not that simple. We’re looking at the bigger picture. We hope to make sure that murders like these never happen again.”
“So are you saying Christian Roth murdered my mother?”
“Not necessarily. But we believe he might be implicated.”
“So he’s a vampire?” She snorted. “Yeah, of course he is. Christian Roth, billionaire businessman and vampire. You’re crazy.”
“How did your partner find Jessica Thomas?”
The question came from Father O’Brien. She frowned. “He’s a good detective?”
“Oh, we believe it was more than that. We keep an eye on these things and we think he had help. You were present that night. Tell me—was there a woman with him? A woman you didn’t know, though maybe you’d seen her before. A woman who is now working for CR International along with your former partner?”
The woman Jessica wanted to talk to.
“Who is she?” Faith asked.
Father O’Brien answered. “Witch.”
“Oh, please,” she muttered. “Next you’ll be saying that Ryan is Harry Potter in disguise or something. Anyway, she so didn’t look like a witch.” She’d looked sweet in fact, sweet and sort of wholesome.
“What do you expect, warts and a pointy hat? Evil is all around us, Detective. We cannot ignore that, and it is our duty to fight it wherever we can.”
He was beginning to sound a little fanatical and his eyes gleamed. The colonel whispered a word to him and he settled back in his seat but drummed his long, bony fingers on the table.
“The woman’s name is Rosamund Fairfax. And actually, we don’t think your partner is anything other than what he seems,” the colonel said. “But we do believe he has gotten mixed up in things beyond his comprehension and is very possibly in danger.”
“Yeah, and I’m the only one who can help him. I think Ryan is big enough and ugly enough to take care of himself. And I’m not working against him, so I suggest you find yourself another stooge.”
No way would she believe Ryan was into anything dodgy. He was one of the good guys, always would be.
The colonel pursed his lips and shrugged. “I’d like you to think about what we’ve said.” He pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Call me when you’re ready to see that evidence.”