Kiss of the Vampire(77)

It hadn’t occurred to Tobias, but now that he thought about it… “I honestly don’t know. Do I think she would have gotten mixed up in this out of malicious intent? No.” He glanced at Nix where she sat in the passenger seat next to him, chewing on her lower lip. God, she was so pretty. And he wanted to be the one nibbling on that courtesan mouth. He forced his eyes back to the road. “But could she have gotten involved out of boredom or curiosity? Absolutely.”

“You really think so?” Nix stared at him, her lovely eyes dark with so much confusion it made him ache. When this was all over, he’d show her how much he loved her so that she’d never doubt it again.

Tobias cleared the rasp from his throat. “She’d been around a very long time. Lived all over the world. It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine her hooking up with a bunch of hooligans for a break from the monotony.”

“I just don’t see that. I mean, I know she could be frivolous at times. I actually used to envy her a little for that.” Memories of a lonely, hard childhood reflected for a moment on her face. “But she wouldn’t be in cahoots with the bastards behind this rift device. Being bored is one thing, but inviting total chaos into the world? Nope. I don’t see it.”

Tobias stared at her.

“What?” she asked. When he continued to stare, she muttered, “Eyes on the road, Caine. Tobias!”

He growled a curse and corrected the drift of the SUV into the other lane.

“Now, what was that look for?” Nix asked again.

“What you just said. That she wouldn’t invite chaos into the world.” He glanced into the rearview mirror and saw he had MacMillan’s attention as well. “It’s something Natchook would do.”

“Who’s Natchook?” MacMillan asked.

“Tobias, you don’t think…” She blinked, horror building in her eyes. “Could it be him behind all of this?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s brilliant and charismatic. A deadly combination. And he’s very fond of chaos,” he added in a dry tone. He tightened his hands on the wheel. It was just Natchook’s style to kill his own kind but lay a false trail pointing the authorities toward someone completely innocent of any wrongdoing.

“Who’s Natchook?” MacMillan asked again.

“It’s the guy Tobias followed through the rift,” Nix told him.

“Oh.” He leaned forward and braced one forearm on the back of Tobias’s seat. “The douche bag who killed your leader.”

“You know about that?” Tobias asked, a little surprised.

“Yeah, Nix told me.”

“Oh, she did, did she?” He shot her a look. While it wasn’t exactly a secret, his story wasn’t widely known and he preferred it that way. How he lived his life was nobody’s business but his.

“It’s not like it was classified or anything. He deserved to know he wasn’t going to be working with a criminal.” She leaned her head against the headrest.

“Fair enough.” Leaning forward, Tobias turned on the audio system. Soon the strains of Vivaldi filled the vehicle. He settled back in his seat and the rest of the drive was accomplished without anyone speaking.

When he started up the road to the observatory, Nix broke the silence. “How do you want to do this? Should we split up?”

“No. We’ll stay together to question Sahir, like before.” Tobias wanted to watch her reactions. Sometimes the way she processed information gave him a new direction to move in. MacMillan, too.

He drove through the gate and parked the SUV. They all climbed out and headed toward the observatory. He saw MacMillan turn up the collar of his jacket against the cool air of the mountain. When they walked inside the main building, Tobias took off his sunglasses and stopped the first person he saw. “We’d like to talk to Dr. Sahir.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” the young man said. His freckled face turned disgruntled. “He didn’t show up for work today.”

Tobias raised his brows. “Is that so? Is that normal?”

“No, not at all.” He stopped and frowned. Suspicion laden in his voice, he asked, “Hey, just who are you?”

Tobias reached into his pocket and pulled out his ID. “I’m Tobias Caine, this is Nix de la Fuente and Dante MacMillan,” he said, motioning toward his colleagues. He replaced his holder in his pocket. “We’d like to ask you a few questions.”

“O-kay,” the other man said slowly, looking unsure and more than a little nervous. It could be because he was young and being approached by law enforcement for the first time, or it could be because he had something to hide. It was time to find out.