Bless The Beauty (12 page)

I sighed away the remorse as I got into the truck and situated myself beside Kellen in the backseat. What was done was done. Maybe Kelly had been dead for days. Therefore, my guilt was pointless. I’d wait to hear details before I punished myself. “Where was her body located?”

Mike’s tension still radiated off him as he started the ignition of the truck. His fists were clenched around the steering wheel as his pissed off gaze met mine in the rear-view mirror. “At the market.”

Chase’s gaze snapped to Mike from the front seat. Surprise filled his face. “Right out in the open?”

Mike took a deep breath, obviously in an attempt to regain himself. “The market is closed during the week, only open on Sunday. A security guard found her body under one of the vendors fruit stands.”

Okay, well that eased my guilt a little. It sounded like she’d been there a while. “So, she has been dead a few days then?”

Mike shook his head. My guilt returned. “I’m not sure until we get there. As I said, I was waiting to find you all.” His gaze met mine in the rear-view mirror and gave me another stern glance before he focused back on the road.

Another couple miles clicked away on the odometer. Up ahead, flashing lights lit up the sky.

“Game faces on,” Mike exhaled as he drove past the group of people held back by the police.

A uniformed police officer waved us over and held up his hand in an indication for us to stop.

Mike rolled down his window. “FBI, Criminal Investigations Department.” He flashed his badge.

The cop nodded. “Go right through.” He lifted the yellow tape and waved us in.

Mike pulled in slowly then parked the car. “Let’s go see what we got.” Then, he opened his door and was out in a flash.

As I exited the car, I bit my lip in anticipation of what I was about to see.

Just cause I was a vampire didn’t mean I didn’t have a heart. Seeing dead young women was never a part of the job I enjoyed and could happily live without.

In only a few shorts steps, Kelly Lewis appeared on the pavement. Her face was angled toward me. Pretty woman—mid-twenties, blonde, blue-eyed and I suspected when she was alive those lovely eyes had been filled with happy memories. Now though, her eyes were empty—cold. She appeared done up, which aligned with McKinney’s MO.

The makeup along her skin made her look so alive, but her blue skin clearly indicated that she was not.

She stared, almost looking straight through me. The blue depths held in those eyes was a unique kindness that still showed through even though her life was lost.

“About time you got here,” Nick’s curt voice came beside next to me.

I tore my gaze away from Kelly to look at him. “Sorry, we were…uh…checking out the hospitals in the area.”

Nick nodded gave a forgiving smile, clearly he barely believed my story. “From what the M.E.’s reported, Ms. Lewis has been here for two days.”

It was like a damn roller coaster with my guilt. Luckily, with those few words said, it evaporated.

I kept it close. Until Sabrina was found I wouldn’t feel better about this situation.

“So, he put her here just before he was arrested?” Chase asked.

Nick nodded. “Manner of death is suffocation, but like buried alive kind of suffocation.”

My stomach clenched, a wave of sickness washed over me. “He buried these poor women alive?”

Nick sighed, glancing down to Kelly Lewis. “The M.E. found dirt in Ms. Lewis’

mouth and nose. He said he wouldn’t know more until the autopsy, but did note the findings of dirt lining her nostrils and down into her throat.”

“Fuck,” I exhaled. “So, he buries them, then digs them up and places them in places they’ll be found.”

“I’d say that is a likely assumption.”

I was about to ask more, but a thought presented itself that we hadn’t really dug into yet. It was what struck me first when I looked at the pictures of these dead women and what ran through my thoughts moments ago. I glanced over to Mike. “Have you discovered why he does this to them?” I waved my hand across my face. “You know, makes them so beautiful looking.”

There had to be more to it—something sick, I was sure of that. But my thoughts definitely kept bringing me back to this and that usually said something. Normally it meant I was on the right track.

Mike gave Chase a curious glance. “You’ve spent this much time with her and haven’t filled her in on what we have discovered thus far?”

Chase showed no moment of hesitation in answering him. “We were busy focusing on her end of the investigation—it just hadn’t come up yet.”

Mike gave a displeased look, but said nothing more on the matter, then glanced to me. “They’ve gotten jack shit out of him—the kid is insane. All he’ll admit to is that he has the other women hidden—keeping her safe, as he calls it.”

Nick let out a long sigh. “I’m going to stand in on the autopsy.” He looked over his shoulder as the M.E. pulled the gurney out of the white cube van. “I’ll call if they discover anything.”

Mike nodded, as Nick headed off toward the van. He looked back to Kelly Lewis, gave her a final glance before he started to walk back toward his car. “If they didn’t have the evidence they do, I wouldn’t believe they had the right man.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked, following in behind.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, signs of frustration sat hard in his jaw. “He is as sweet as apple pie.” He looked ahead of him again and picked up his stride.

This didn’t surprise me. I’d witnessed this very same thing a dozen times over through the years as an interrogator. “Why do the crazy ones always have to be so damn nice?”

Kellen smacked my ass. “That’s how you know it—no one sane is ever that nice.”

I jumped forward from the hit and banged into Mike’s back. “Oops, sorry,” I said, peeling myself off his back.

Mike peeked over his shoulder and gave me a chastising look. “Focus please.”

I grinned shamefully. “Sorry.” Then snapped my gaze back to glare at Kellen and whispered, “Do you mind?”

Kellen shook his head completely unashamed. “Don’t mind at all.”

Chase’s grin came quick as he took a step forward and said in a low deep tone,

“Actually, don’t mind if I do.” Then he walloped my ass—hard.

I gasped and shot forward again landing right into Mike’s back again. He spun around, glowering. “Hadley, pull it together.”

“I’m sorry,” I retorted, rubbing my butt. Chase’s hit hurt. I took a glance around to make sure no one had seen it, which they hadn’t. I should have known that Chase wouldn’t have taken such a risk as to expose himself. I met his amused gaze. “Stop that.”

I looked to Kellen. “The both of you.” They just grinned at me in return. I might be annoyed, but it was hard to watch them both grin at me like that and not respond to it. I finally resigned and grinned back. “Just save it for later.”

Their grins grew with all types of sultry promise.

Up ahead, Mike stopped at the truck, held open his door, but didn’t get in. “What did you find out at the hospital?” he asked me.

“Oh…um…” Shit, I hated being put on the spot and lying. I never did it well like Chase could. “We ah…located the hospital Chad was in.” Okay, I was about to feed him a ton of bullshit but it would make our delay more believable. “We went there and spoke with the nurse. The, umm, the doctor wasn’t in, but is going to meet with us now.”

Mike looked solemnly. “Not much good it would have done anyway, we didn’t have a warrant. I doubt he would have talked to you. Luckily, I just got the warrant from the judge. It’s in the glove compartment.” He gestured for Chase to get into the driver’s seat.

“Go on then. Get what you need and meet us at the station then Hadley can interrogate this McKinney. I’ll catch a ride with the Chief. Let’s just hope that Sabrina Stopforth is in better shape than this young lady.”

If I had a heartbeat, it would’ve started pounding. This was the part of the job I loved. The adrenaline that I was sure I’d been feeling now, if I could.

We started a race that I was ready to win.

An hour later, Chase was nestled in the backseat sound asleep. He might be upset with me later for the whole mind-warping bit, but he needed the rest. This whole situation had drained him. He looked beyond exhausted and I could see it wearing on him. Using a little mind control for his benefit was nothing I would feel bad about.

“There it is,” Kellen said, pointing out the front window.

I followed his gaze to see a large decorated wooden sign that read,
Aurora
Psychiatric Hospital
.

“Pfft, some hospital. Being nutty sure keeps you well.” The building resembled more of an upscale suburban bungalow than anything that could be classified as a hospital. I straightened up in my seat and glanced back to Chase. “Wakey, wakey, rise and shine.”

Chase immediately sprang up, glanced around, his brows furrowed in confusion. He leaned forward slightly, glanced at the clock to see it read,
four a.m.
He blinked a couple more times, then turned his speculative gaze on me.

I laughed in response and quickly added, “You needed the rest and trust me, you didn’t miss anything.”

His eyes squinted into nothing and the muscles in his jaw flexed. “You gave Kellen shit for doing that earlier.”

I looked at Kellen, who only grinned at me in return. Immediately, a serious pout settled across my face. Now there was going to be two against one. This might not be such a good idea after all. Oh, I didn’t like where this was going at all and felt the need to justify myself. “That was different.”

Kellen arched a brow and gave a sideways glance. “And just how was that different?”

“Yes, Hadley, do tell us,” Chase prodded with a sly tone. “How was that different?”

My gaze hit Chase, then Kellen and I repeated the move a couple times. After a moment of that ridiculous move, my eyes narrowed as I pointed at them. “Don’t even think of it, do you hear me?”

Kellen grinned innocently, Chase mirrored it. “There will be no ganging up on me, got it?”

Kellen took my pointed finger in his hand and kissed the tip. “You cannot make all the rules you know.”

“Yes, I can,” I said adamantly before I glanced back at Chase with a stern look. “You needed to sleep. I was being considerate. Really, nothing happened here except dark sky passing overhead.”

Chase didn’t look settled. His jaw clenched a final time before he looked out the window and let out an annoyed breath from his mouth. “I take it we are here then.”

I was about to respond, but Kellen interjected. “Your way of doing this, Hadley, is absurd. You are a vampire. Walk in, capture their gaze, ask what you need and get out.

You could go through this whole process in two minutes, but you resign yourself to phone calls and preposterous conversations.”

Here we go again. I was getting tired of explaining myself and the way I worked, but he needed to hear this. “Just as vampires have laws, so do mortals. This is how they do things. I follow their ways because it’s the right thing to do, Kellen.” Yes, my voice might have held a bit of a sneer. He deserved it.

Kellen manoeuvred the car toward the curb and cut the engine. “It’s a ridiculous amount of wasted time.”

“You’re an immortal.” I waved my hand through the air. “All you have is time.”

“I’m with Kellen,” Chase groaned. “The catnap didn’t do it for me. If you have ways of cutting this time in half, I wouldn’t be opposed. Finding this girl then getting home and to bed sounds all too good.”

I jumped out of the car and slammed the door behind me. “You’re still tired?” I asked, but really didn’t need to. I could see the exhaustion set hard on his features and the dark circles surrounded his eyes. His body looked heavy and without strength.

Chase nodded slowly. “Fucking exhausted.”

The weight of everything still hadn’t lifted from him. What he needed was a good twelve hours of sleep in order to pull himself back together. But we didn’t have time for that. I glanced around quickly and found a big maple tree off to the side of the building.

“Come with me.” I took Chase’s hand and yanked him with me.

At the tree, I stepped behind it and pulled Chase close to hide away from the streetlights diming down on us. My fangs pressed against my gums before they released.

Immediately, I bit down on my wrist before I held it up as the blood dripped down my forearm.

“Go on.” I nodded encouragingly to Chase.

He cocked his head, his expression blank. “Go on with what?”

I gestured toward my arm, which only caused the blood to drip faster as I raised it to his face.

“Have a drink. It will give you a boost.”

Chase’s eyes were trained on my bloody wrist, his nose wrinkled in apparent disgust.

“I cannot deny that this isn’t exactly as appealing when you aren’t standing in front of me nude.”

Tough guy was unsure of himself and I had to admit I enjoyed making him squirm.

But really, I just wanted him to feel better. Seeing him so tired tugged at my heart.

Considering it was me who caused it. “Just go on, trust me.”

“I already had lots of it,” Chase retorted, trying to sideswipe my offer. “Why do I need more?”

“You’re a mortal, bloke.” Kellen smacked Chase on the back with a loud thud. “You used your energy elsewhere and burned the effects off.”

It only took moments for the wariness on Chase’s face to fade. He sucked in a deep breath and with purpose, stepped forward, grabbed my arm and raised it to his mouth.

The second his lips touched my skin, his eyes closed and he groaned deeply.

My only response was to shudder out a sigh. Feeling his lips tight around my arm, the deep tugs he took on my wrist as he filled himself with my blood, was exhilarating.

Kellen suddenly gave Chase another hard knock on the back to break him free from my wrist.

“Better stop now or you’re going to give yourself a hard-on that will last for hours.”

Chase released his tight grip and licked the remaining blood from my wrist. His eyes burned with desire. “I think that has already been accomplished.”