The walls were closing in, the weight of the building above bearing down on her.
She got up, stumbling on shaky legs. Across the room, the young priest glanced her way. He frowned and hurried over.
“Are you okay?”
She took a deep breath and forced a weak smile. “I’m fine. Just a sleepless night catching up with me. I’ll go and…” She waved toward the restrooms across the way, and strode away without waiting for him to say anything further.
After splashing cold water on her face and neck, she leaned against the cool tiles.
God, she needed some fresh air.
First, she had to talk to the colonel.
She knocked lightly on his door and heard him call come in.
Father O’Brien sat on one of the upright chairs in front of the desk. Faith took the vacant seat beside him, facing the colonel.
“You look pale. Are you all right?”
She nodded. “I’m fine. Tired, that’s all. I’ll head home after this if that’s okay.”
“Of course. And so have we convinced you yet?”
“Of what?” she asked warily.
“That the monsters do exist?” Father O’Brien said softly. “And that it is our sacred duty to fight them and smite them down?”
She barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes while she tried to decide whether they actually believed this crap, or whether they had some other agenda.
“You have a file on my mother.”
Shock flashed across the colonel’s face, quickly smoothed away. “No wonder you’re pale. You shouldn’t have seen that.” He studied her for a moment. “Or maybe given the circumstances perhaps you needed to see it.”
“The circumstances?” she asked.
“We’re investigating a creature we believe to be a vampire. Who bites and drains his victims.”
She considered his words, turned them over in her mind, and gritted her teeth. “Are you seriously suggesting that Christian Roth murdered my mother?”
“Why are you so reluctant to see what is in front of you, child?”
Faith was furiously angry. “I’m not a fucking child.”
Taking a deep breath, she fought for control. Finally, she forced a smile. “Sorry, it’s been a long day. Let me go over what I’ve learned,” she said. “Right now, I’m tired and not seeing straight. I’ll be better tomorrow.”
“Okay, go now. Let us know if you hear anything more from Roth or his people.”
“Have you made contact with him about his wife yet?”
The colonel gave a small, tight smile. “Don’t worry about that; we have it under control.”
Why didn’t that make her feel any better? Guilt gnawed at her insides. Always before she’d known she was on the right side, working for the good guys to lock away the bad guys. Everything had been so straightforward.
Now she looked at these two bland, smiling faces and had no clue what was right or wrong, good or evil.
Rising to her feet, she wiped her hands down the side of her pants and nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, good night, Faith.”
…
Adams was on duty at his usual place when she left the building. He scrutinized her closely, his gaze resting on her shoulder where she’d taken his bullet.
“Hey, no hard feelings.”
“None,” she lied.
She almost sagged with relief as she walked through the door into the bright sunshine of the late afternoon. She glanced back and saw Adams had stepped outside and was still watching her.
Bastard.
He clearly didn’t trust her, or maybe he didn’t understand how he’d shot her through the shoulder yesterday and today, she seemed fine. She was a little hazy on that one herself.
Carl had told her that someone would be waiting. She searched the area for a possible subject as a black SUV drew up beside her. As she peered inside, she recognized the driver and her heart rate picked up.
Chapter Twelve
Warmth stole through her. Faith couldn’t believe how much she had needed to see Ash. His presence made her feel safer as though somehow she might get through this whole mess.
“Hi,” she said as she climbed in.
He pulled straight out into the traffic and turned to study her. She couldn’t see his eyes as he wore dark glasses, but lines of tension bracketed his mouth and his hands gripped the wheel so tight his knuckles showed white.
He looked almost as bad as she felt.
“How are you?” he asked. “You look…”
“Tired,” she supplied for him.
“Yeah, tired. I didn’t realize you meant to go into work this morning. You should have stayed home.”
“It would have driven me crazy doing nothing. And I felt fine. I still feel fine, just a little rundown. What about you? What have you been up to?”
“I’ve been out trying to get some word on Tara. I spent the night working with Christian, and then I’ve been chasing up people all day. But so far nothing. It’s like she’s vanished.”
“How is Christian?”
“Not good. I always thought Piers was the unstable one out of the two of them, but I think if we don’t get Tara back soon, Christian is going to lose it. And you don’t want to be around if that happens.”