Surrendering(9)

She’d carefully watched the expression on his face as she told him her story. He had no idea how hard it was for her to step foot into that police station. And how equally hard it was not to.

He hadn’t believed her, of course. At first he watched her with eagerness and keen interest. As her story progressed, she could see his doubt and disbelief. She wasn’t an idiot. He was clearly placating her so he could get rid of her. He hadn’t even taken one note. She had honestly expected this to happen. She wouldn’t believe her either, if she were he.

Upon hearing about the necklace and tattoo, however, his face turned dark and grim and he immediately left the room. That had been nearly forty-five minutes ago.

She should have opted for that bad coffee after all. She hadn’t slept well again last night—surprise, surprise—and she was dragging ass today.

She still had a half-day of teaching classes ahead of her, plus a long evening of continued research on her paper.

Kate loved research. Craved it. Lived for it. That was all she’d ever wanted to do for as long as she could remember. Probably explained her minimal social calendar and social skills, truth be told. If she were honest with herself, it probably explained why John felt the need to seek refuge in another woman’s body.

Enough, Kate. Pity party over. This is exactly why she purposely kept busy all the time. A busy and full day assured she wouldn’t have time to think about the gaping holes and loneliness in her pathetic life.

That’s it. She’d waited long enough and was leaving. She had done her duty, told the police what she knew. Just as she was rising from the stain-covered gray plastic chair, Detective Thatcher returned.

At several inches taller than her five-foot-seven frame, he was a classically handsome man. Deep brown eyes, dark brown hair, perfectly straight teeth. Great laugh. Nice ass. But even though she didn’t know the man, she could tell sadness surrounded him like a protective shroud. She could practically see it.

“Sorry to keep you waiting so long, Ms. Martin…uh, Kate.” He stood still in the open doorway.

“That’s perfectly fine, Detective.” It wasn’t. ”Am I free to leave now? I have a pretty full day.” She remained standing, grabbed her purse, and threw it over shoulder. She was anxious to leave.

He shook his head; undeniable regret etched his handsome features. “I’m sorry, not quite yet. I need you to talk to some, uh…special investigators on the case and relay to them what you told me. They’ll be here shortly.”

“Detective, I genuinely want to help. That’s why I’m here, but I don’t see how telling the same story to somebody else is going to make a difference. I’ve already told you all I know and I really do need to get going. I’ve got a class to teach in a few hours that I still need to prepare for. I can come back later if necessary.” She started walking toward him, intending to push her way out. He held up his hand in a stop gesture, which she grudgingly complied with. It was an effort not to roll her eyes.

“These are special investigators, Kate. We really need to review everything again and I know you want to help. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t. Please. We just don’t have time to waste. I’m sorry, but I need you to stay and talk to them.” He gestured for her to sit back down. “I’m sure we can get you out of here in plenty of time for your class.”

She stared at him and sighed with a slight shake of her head. ”Fine. Yes, of course. Anything I can do to help.” She took a seat and waited for these ‘special investigators’ to arrive.





Chapter 5





Dev





As Dev and Ren entered the Milwaukee Police Department, Dev decided they should observe Kate Martin behind the anonymity of the one-way mirror for a few minutes first before questioning her. According to the phone call Ren took from the detective earlier, he suspected Kate Martin was a dreamwalker and dreamwalkers were very rare. He was only aware of a handful that still lived. He needed to determine how to best to deal with her. How to get her cooperation; gain her trust. That would be much easier and preferable than using alternative methods.

No matter, really. He would use whatever means necessary to find Xavier and destroy his vile soul. And after what Ren told him, his gut was screaming in hopes this woman would be a means to that end.

Xavier was an ancient rogue vampire who’d wreaked havoc on the human and vampire worlds for centuries. He’d become increasingly dangerous and deranged and his actions threatened to expose their entire race to the human population.

In his quest to rule both the entire vampire and human races, Xavier had nearly succeeded at doing just that several decades ago. It took months to clean up from that fucking debacle. They thought Xavier had perished in the explosion that took out his underground compound, but later found he’d escaped. Dev still could not fathom how. He only hoped Xavier had suffered significant losses of his rogues during the explosion.