“Did you know Amarinda Novellus?”
The young man gave a nod. “Amarinda? Yeah, sure. I knew her.” He stared down at the clipboard in his hand. “It’s a damned shame, what happened to her.” He looked up at Tobias. “You found out who did it yet?”
“That’s why we’re here.” Nix had pulled out her notebook and held pen poised to page. She peered at his name badge and scribbled something down.
“Uh, what’re you doing?” The young man’s nervousness increased. His eyes drifted from her notebook to the gun at her side and back to the notebook, neck craning as he tried to see what she was writing.
“Just noting your name for now. Charles.” She stared at him with raised brows. “Is that a problem?”
“Oh, no. Of course not.” He gave a sheepish grin. “My friends call me Charlie.” One eyelid dropped in a wink.
Even in an uncertain situation here the guy was flirting with her. Tobias curbed his inclination to smash his fist into the little numb nut’s face.
Charlie went on. “I’m just not used to… This is my first interrogation.” He looked equal measure scared and excited.
Tobias sighed. There were just too many damned cop shows on television these days. “This isn’t an interrogation. It’s an interview. There’s a difference.”
“Really?” Charlie gave Tobias a wide-eyed stare.
Tobias leaned forward as if imparting some deep dark secret. He waited until Charlie moved closer a few steps. “If this were an interrogation, you’d be at council headquarters in handcuffs. Surrounded by vampires and shape-shifters and all sorts of things that go bump in the night.” His voice came out more gruffly than he’d intended, and it clearly startled Charlie because he quickly put space between them, eyes even wider and youthful face a couple of shades paler than before.
“Tobias, behave.” Nix rolled her eyes and turned to Charlie. “What do you know about what Rinda was working on?” When the young man’s attention stayed glued to Tobias, she prompted, “Charlie?”
He gave a start and looked her way. “Oh, uh, not much. She was studying the rift, but I don’t know anything more specific than that.” He snapped his fingers. “You know who you should talk to? Dr. Sahir.” He gave a definitive nod.
“You said he’s not here today.” Nix tipped her head to one side, her expression conveying much more patience than Tobias had with the little nimrod.
“Yeah.” Charlie’s face fell. “No, he’s not.”
“Do you know where he could be?” She brushed a wayward curl from the side of her face. It popped right back where it had been.
Tobias clenched his hands against the instinct to tuck it behind her ear. If he touched her, even just her hair, he wouldn’t want to stop there. He was more professional than that, and so was she.
He saw Charlie give Nix another flirty grin. “No, I’m just a grad student. He doesn’t tell us much, so I really don’t know where the great and powerful Oz is. Sorry.”
“He treats you pretty bad, huh?” Nix’s voice held commiseration. Of the three of them, she would have the most empathy for the kid based on her experiences with the council.
Charlie snorted. “OMG, he can be such a prick. Pardon my French. As long as whatever you’re doing will reflect well on him, he’s like your best friend. As soon as you move on to something else, he drop kicks you to the curb.”
“Is that what happened with Rinda?” she asked.
“OMG?” Tobias asked as an aside to MacMillan.
“Oh, my God.” MacMillan shot him a sidelong glance. “Text speak. You need to get with the times, boss. Maybe you should start tweeting or something.”
“I dunno,” Charlie said to Nix. “I mean, they seemed kinda tight, you know? But like I said, I’m just a grad student.”
Tobias restrained a growl of irritation. This kid was getting them nowhere. His gut told him the youngster didn’t know anything, and his gut was rarely wrong. “Who would know where Sahir is?”
Charlie’s mouth opened and then shut. “I was gonna say Amarinda would know, but…” He sighed.
Tobias glanced at Nix. She pulled a face and shrugged. Looking back at Charlie, she asked, “Is there anyone else here that can tell us what Rinda was working on?”
“Um…” Charlie glanced around. “She pretty much kept to herself, but maybe…” He paused. “Clarissa, uh, I mean Dr. Busham might know.” He pointed to a curvaceous blonde standing next to the large telescope. “She’s worked with Sahir more than any of the rest of us. And she helped Amarinda with some of her rift research.”