Release Me When the Sun Goes Down (9 page)

Rob remained silent as I sipped at my mug, waiting until it reached the right temperature to drink it more quickly. 

“What would you even say to them?” he said finally.  And maybe he had a point.  I couldn’t go barging over there in the middle of the night.  Even if his widow was up, what would I do?  Knock on the door and offer my condolences? 

“
Fine, I won’t go there tonight, but I want to at least go to the funeral to pay my respects.”  In the meantime, even if I couldn’t dig deeper into their financial situation at present, maybe I could talk to Maggie or Felix about setting up a trust for the family.  It was a cinch they weren’t independently wealthy, and even if the guy had life insurance, it wouldn’t last them for very long.  My conscience mollified, I drained the rest of the cup and set it in the sink as Mason stuck his face into the kitchen.

His scars seemed less pink and inflamed already, if that was possible, and he moved easily enough, but his overall appearance was still jarring.  “Hey, Frost said there have been some reports of fresh bodies in town that meet the bill.”

“Really?  Where?”

“Over in SoMa.”

“That’s perfect, those are your old stomping grounds, right?”  I assumed he still had his loft apartment in the neighborhood. 

“Ye
p, that’s my turf, but there aren’t many vamps around there for us to question.  Our best bet is to piggyback onto the local uniforms investigating the scene.”

“
Great, how do we do that?”

“Usually it’s a matter of logging into their database, but all that shit’s gone now.” 

There had to be a way to re-establish that link.  “How did you set it up before when you first gained access?”

“We snuck a relay into their server room.  If Trick was still alive
, he might be able to hack into it again, but right now we can’t access it with our existing hardware.”

“So that means we have to go in and set up a new relay, or whatever, is that right?  How hard would that be to do?”

“Not all that hard, I guess.  I’ve never done it before myself, but I understand the concept.  Only, it’s a little harder for me to dance in and out of there looking like roadkill.”   

He
was
sort of memorable in his current state.  “What if we went instead?  Do you think you could give me a crash course on what needs doing?”  I wasn’t a complete slouch at techie stuff.  It sounded like all I needed to do was figure out the right place to plug something in and the hardware would do the rest.  

His brows rose as he considered it.  “I could even do you one better.  I can fit you with a cam and an earpiece and guide you through it.”

“Shiny, how soon can you have everything put together?”  With any luck, we could focus our search for Jakob and Lodinn before the end of the night. 

“I’m n
ot sure that’s such a good idea.”  Rob hesitated and Mason fixed him with a wry twist of the lips.

“
Why?” he asked.  “Because the last time the three of us went out together you wound up dead?”

“
There is that, yeah,” Rob allowed.  “But I was thinking more along the lines of doing this the old fashioned way.”

“Meaning?” I prompted.     

“Seems a bit risky strolling into the middle of them coppers.  Why not find the bloke in charge of the investigation and bend his ear for a tick?  Shouldn’t be hard to get what you need, compel him to forget about the conversation and Bob’s your uncle.” 

“That’s true, but this way we’ll have access to their systems, that spans a lot more information than one guy can provide.  But hey, we don’t have to take care of it for now
. I can work with Frost on it later if you want to hit up the detective in charge and pick his brains.”

They both looked to me for the final decision, and I had to admit, Mason’s way seemed like the most comprehensive of the two.  “Why not try a bit of both?  We can go down to the station and plug in your deelybob and then find the guy on the case and see what he knows.  It’s probably a good idea to steer him away from anything that screams vampire while we’re at it.  That way we can kill a couple of birds with one stone.”  

“How’s about Gunnar and me give it a whirl then?” Rob suggested.  “No sense in you risking your own neck.”

“I’ll be in the middle of the police station, how much safer can I get?  The quicker we get the Order back in the loop, the better, and I’d actually like to talk to the detective myself.  I’ll go nuts if I spend all my time rattling around the house here, waiting for Lodinn to strike again.”   

“Fine, but I’m not leaving your side.”

“I wouldn’t expect it any other way.”  I smiled just for him, holding his gaze for long moments until Mason cleared his throat.

“Oooohkay… I guess I’ll get suited up then.  We’ll need to stop at my place to put together the hardware we’ll need.  Or should I go do that while you two make cow eyes at each other?”

Frak…
I was supposed to be watching that.  My eyes shot to his, catching hold of his will in an instant.  “There were no cow eyes here.  Rob is only interested in my safety as a friend and vice versa.”

“No cows,” Mason mumbled, nodding slowly and I let him go.  “I’ll go get changed then,” he said, rubbing his hands together.

“We’d better watch it if we don’t want to end up in trouble,” I whispered once he’d gone.

“Yes, miss,” Rob replied, absolutely straight faced.  I stuck my tongue out at him.  It was going to be a long night.  

“So, all you gotta do is go up to the duty officer and ask to see the detective in charge of the case.”  Mason dug around in the back of the van and came up with a couple of earpieces for us.  The tiny comm device was small enough to fit completely into my ear, real spy stuff.  How spiffy was that? 

He leaned over and slipped a necklace around my neck, the heart shaped pendant liberally coated with rhinestones and falling to rest right over my heart.  “Here, with this I’ll be able to see everything you do as long as you don’t cross your arms.”

“Thanks, it’s pretty.”

“Don’t get too attached to it, I’ll need it back at the end of the night.”  He switched on a monitor that showed the darkened van from the vantage point of my boobs.  “Alrighty, I think we’re all set.  Why don’t you kids hop outside and we’ll test the audio.”

Rob had remained fairly quiet, and I got the feeling he still wasn’t too happy about my undertaking the mission myself, but he kept it to himself.  We climbed out into the parking lot across the street from the police station, and I gave his hand a squeeze.

“It’ll be alright,” I said softly.

“Of course it will.  You’re not going into enemy territory, it’s a police station for fuck’s sake,” Mason replied in our ears. 

“I understand that, but how are we supposed to find the specific detective we need? 
Go up and start asking about the recent murders?”

“Pretty much. 
Go talk to the duty officer and tell him you have some juicy intel and they’ll put you right in touch with him.  It’s as easy as lying.”

“I’m a terrible liar,” I frowned, switching the comm to the left ear, which felt a lot more comfortable.

“Pssht, no you’re not, you’ve been lying since the day you were turned.  Now nut up and put your game face on and whatever you do…”  Mason’s voice cut out, static making me wince.

“What?  What did you say?”  Halfway across the street, I wasn’t sure if I should go back and find out what his important
piece of information was or keep going.  Either way, it didn’t bode well for the quality of the tech if it cut out so easily. 

Mason’s chuckle came through loud and clear.  “Nothing, I’m just fucking with you.  Trust me, most of these guys have more on their mind than trying to figure out if you’re supposed to be there or not.”

“Wanker…” Rob muttered under his breath.

“I heard that,” Mason replied, but Rob wasn’t the least bit sorry.

“Good.” 

“Cut it out you two,” I intervened before they started bickering like kids.  “This is serious business.” 

Striding in through the double doors like I had every right to be there, I bellied up to the counter where a uniformed cop sat typing into a computer, his head at an awkward angle as he balanced the handset of the phone on his shoulder.  He barely glanced in our direction, ignoring my polite smile completely.  Rob’s shoulders were bunched and tense, but I didn’t dare ask him what was up with Mason listening in. 

Finally, the duty officer looked up at us and I fixed him with my best smile.  “
Um, hi.  We’re looking for the detective in charge of the recent killings in SoMa.  We have some information for him.”

The cop slid a dirty clipboard across the counter in my direction.  “Sign in here and have a seat over there.  I’ll put a call in to Detective Mathis and see if he’s available.”

So far, so good.  He hadn’t given us a second look and at least we knew the name of the detective in charge in case we had to track him down later.  We took a seat and I resisted the urge to reach for Rob’s hand when I addressed him.  “Actually, this is a good opportunity for us to work on your compulsion skills,” I said softly.  “Why don’t you take over trying to get this Detective Mathis to cooperate with us?”

Rob shifted in his chair.  “You sure now’s the time for that?”

“Sure it is.  Better to try it now than when you’ve got someone bleeding in an alley.  And I’ll be right here for back up if you completely blow it.”

“Thanks,” he said dryly.

“You know what I mean.  Listen, it’s easy.  Just focus on what you want.  Catch his eyes and project it, it’s as simple as that.  Don’t overthink it.”

“Easy for you to say,” he muttered, hands rubbing against the tops of his thighs as if they’d grown clammy. 

“I know you’ll be great.  I started doing it without even realizing it at first.  It’s one of the easiest skills to master.”

“She’s not wrong, buddy,” Mason echoed.  “There’s nothing to it.”

The door to the right of the counter opened, and I sat up straighter, my hands clenching into fists as I recognized Detective Lucas.  What were the odds he’d show up right at the exact moment we happened to be there?  Regardless of my instructions for Rob to take the lead, I was ready and primed to compel him if he showed the slightest flicker of recognition, but he kept on stepping, barely giving us a glance. 

Right on his heels came a smaller guy, a couple of inches taller than me with curly
brown hair and deep set brown eyes.  His posture wasn’t great, his back bowed slightly, which maybe lent to the idea that he wasn’t very tall.  He wore a tan blazer over a green polo shirt with jeans, not very dressy, but then again, Detective Lucas had never dressed very formally either.  His eyes darted everywhere at once until they came to a rest on me and then Rob respectively.  He sniffed a couple of times before wiping his nose on the back of his sleeve.  Super sexy. 

“Which one of you is Anja?” he said with a nervous titter, almost a giggle which felt completely out of place for a police station.  He pronounced my name wrong with a hard J sound.

Rob rose to his feet beside me, his face intently focused on the detective.  “She is, but that ain’t your concern.  You’ll be talking to me.”

“Is that so?”  Detective Mathis sounded dubious at best, the undercurrent of amusement still crinkling his eyes.  “And who are you then?”

“Not important,” Rob tried again.  “Just need a moment of your time, mate.  Take us on back where we can have a chat, yeah?”

It wasn’t working, I could see that right off the bat and Rob’s jaw tightened with the effort of concentration.  I stood to try and salvage the conversation, only then getting a whiff of what the problem was.  “
Oh hey… it’s no good,” I said, laying a hand on Rob’s arm before he lost his temper and tried smacking the guy.

“
I’m shit at this,” Rob growled, his nerves strung tight as a bow as the detective shook his head.

“Jeez, it’s not that hard,” Mason butt
ed in.

“
No, he’s a shifter,” I said quietly, even as Mathis let out a string of giggles. 

“Y
ou bloodsuckers never stop, do you?  I mean, did it ever occur to you to just ask?”

I kept my hand on Rob’s arm, tight enough to keep him from doing something risky.  There was a good chance the waiting room we sat in was under video surveillance and popping a cop in the jaw wasn’t the right way to start the night.  “
I’m sorry, really I am.  We wouldn’t even have tried it if it wasn’t a super big emergency.”

Mathis stopped laughing, but the amusement lurked around his dark eyes as they swung to me.  “
I’m surprised to see you down here doing your own dirty work.”

“
You know me?”  My brows rose in surprise.

“
Yeah, I tend to take notice of anyone in town who could squash my nuts in a vice if they decided to.”

“
I’m not all that into nut squashing…”

“
Usually you have your goons do the squashing to save the manicure, huh?”  That tickled him enough to unleash more giggles, which was seriously starting to annoy me enough to think about letting Rob get in one pop.