Kiss of the Vampire(34)

Samantha nodded.

Tobias looked at her mother. “Thank you for your hospitality, ma’am.”

A few minutes later they were back at the SUV. “I highly doubt the wife had anything to do with Rinda’s murder,” Nix said.

“You don’t say.” Tobias’s voice held snarky sarcasm.

She grimaced. “You know what I mean. If my husband had an affair and I was the kind of person to go after the other woman, I’d do it with a gun, or a knife. But I wouldn’t gut her. And if I’m human, I wouldn’t have a chance in hell of doing that to a vampire.” She huffed out a sigh. “Plus that doesn’t explain the other murder, does it?”

“Well, we don’t know if the wife’s human or not, do we? We don’t know anything about her. We don’t even know if there is a wife.” Tobias jerked open the driver’s door of the Porsche. “Damn it.” He got in the SUV and slammed the door shut.

Dante looked at Nix as they walked around to the other side of the vehicle. “He’s, ah, passionate about this, isn’t he?”

She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “He and Rinda were friends for a long time. So he’s taking it personally.”

“Not a good idea.” Dante stopped beside the rear passenger door. “Letting your emotions in will cloud your judgment every time.”

“Yeah, well, keeping your emotions out of it when you know the victim is easier said than done.” Nix reached toward the handle.

Dante put his hand on hers and leaned in. “Wait.” When she looked up at him, he curled his fingers over her hand. His dark eyes held concern. “I’m sorry, Nix. I forgot she was a friend of yours, too.”

She drew in a shaky breath. “It’s okay.” The heat from his palm seeped into her hand, warming skin she hadn’t realized was cold. She met his gaze. “I deliberately cut her out of my life after Tobias and I split up. What kind of horrible friend does that make me?”

He put his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, honey.”

Nix gave a short nod. “I know you’re right. Like I said, easier said than done.” She moved away from Dante and opened the back door. “We need to get going.” Doing something was better than talking. She wasn’t ready to talk. She climbed into the backseat and pulled the door closed behind her. She could feel Tobias’s stare and busied herself with arranging her bag at her feet and fastening her seat belt.

Dante opened his door and got in.

“Glad you two could finally join me.” Tobias started the vehicle and put it in gear but didn’t take his foot off the brake. “You get all caught up? Or do you need more time for a heart-to-heart?”

“We’re just fine, chief.” Dante shot him a frown. “Shouldn’t we get going?”

She could see in the rearview mirror the way Tobias’s lips thinned, but he said nothing.

He seemed…irritated. Maybe even a little jealous. A jolt of excitement shot through her at the thought, but she was careful to not let it show. With a glance at her watch, she said, “We should head down to the observatory. It’s early yet. If we leave now we’d get there right around lunchtime.”

“I agree.” Without waiting for Dante’s input, Tobias pulled away from the curb and within minutes they were on the freeway headed south toward Tucson. Nix could tell from Tobias’s expression that his mind was hard at work, probably going back over what Samantha had told them, sifting through the bits and pieces to hopefully come up with something since they still pretty much had nothing.





Tobias tightened his hands on the wheel. He wanted to reach across the seat and thrash MacMillan for… For what? Caring about Nix? Being there for her when he hadn’t been?

She’d barely been able to sit on the sofa next to him. He couldn’t blame her, but he didn’t like feeling like the bad guy. What he’d done he’d done for her. Yet she treated him like she hated him.

He tightened his jaw. Her hatred was a small price to pay for her sanity. For now, they had about a three-hour drive ahead of them. Three hours for him to collect his thoughts and steel his resolve to be around Nix as little as he needed to be.

For both their sakes.





Chapter Six





So, what’s the plan?” MacMillan got out of the SUV and stared at the observatory. Car door still open, he leaned one forearm on the roof of the vehicle and the other along the rim of the door. “Go in and start asking who was having an affair with Amarinda?”

“Yeah, why don’t we do that?” Tobias slammed his door shut. “And here I thought you were supposed to be some hotshot detective.”