Immortal Revenge (24 page)

Katie admired her friend’s quick assessment, but it left her perturbed. She now had two vampires instead of one to destroy. The addition of a vamp put a slight wrinkle in her plans to meet with Brandon.

“Did Charles mention the name of the stranger?” Katie asked.

“Brandon. No last name.”

“Brandon?” Jules and Katie said in unison, then exchanged glances.

The Asian vamp Katie destroyed said her boyfriend’s name was Brandon. Since she’d been at the bar with another vampire, the dark-haired one, Katie assumed he was Brandon. How wrong she’d been. There were indeed two vampires. One had a tattoo and his name was Brandon. The other had dark hair and no name.

“Have you heard the name before?” Ben asked.

“We have.” Katie admitted, yet held back saying anything more.

“Do you know who he is?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know the name?”

Ben’s questions were skirting a fine line. Katie had to be very careful of her answers. She’d fabricated a story after he’d caught her at Kyle’s property and he believed it, but she couldn’t continue to lie to him. The smart cop would pick apart her answers, find the fabrication and call her on it. She wasn’t prepared for confessing the truth. Not yet.

“You should tell him,” Jules said.

“Not here. This isn’t the time.”

“Why?” Her eyes tightened, hinting at frustration.

“I’m not ready.”

“Take a leap. What have you got to lose?”

Freedom and trust came to mind as Katie stared at Jules. If Ben couldn’t handle the truth, he’d see Katie as some loony and detain her downstairs. Even worse, he could escort her to the state insane asylum. The leap of faith would have to wait.

Smiling, Jules faced Ben. “Do you believe in UFOs?”

“Excuse me?” His face took on an impassive look.

“Jules, don’t go there.”

“Do you believe in little green men? Or silver ones? You know, aliens?”

Katie slapped her hand on the desk so hard a zing shot up her arm. “Enough, Jules.”

Annoyance raised her temper. Did Jules want to take a trip to the nut farm? Asking Ben about UFOs and aliens wouldn’t lend any support to their cause.

“Just tell–”

“No!” Katie snapped.

“Fine!” Jules stood and thrust her hand to Katie. “Give me your keys. I’ll wait in the car.”

Shaking her head, Katie dug inside her purse and handed the keys to her.

“I think you’re making a mistake,” Jules said.

“It’s mine to make.”

Jules opened the door and left. The door clicked as it shut behind her.

“What was that all about?” Ben asked.

Katie stared deep into his kind eyes. If she denied anything was wrong, he’d see right through her and smell the lie. Then, he wouldn’t trust her. But if she told the truth, he wouldn’t believe her either. How could she convince him vampires existed, were in town looking for her and his mind had been tampered with by one? How could she convince him now that Jules brought up UFOs and aliens?

“Ben, there are some things that are difficult to believe. You’re just going to have to trust me for now.”

He stiffened and leaned back. “Will you promise to tell me the truth sometime?”

A promise? She swallowed. “Yes.”

His chest expanded as he inhaled deeply. “I don’t like this. Everything feels…”

“Out of place?”

He tilted his head as if he were examining her. “Do you know Brandon?”

“No, and that’s the truth.”

“Do you know what he’s doing here, or why he is concerned with the Brown property?”

She bit her tongue from saying too much. Under the present conditions, he truly would not believe vampires walked among them if she informed him. Her gut warned her so.

If only she could ease him into believing.

“Do you know where I live?” Katie asked.

He shrugged. “Somewhere in town.”

“You don’t know?”

He scratched his head. “I guess I never paid attention.”

“And how many times have you or one of the others pulled me over for speeding?”

A grin formed, but quickly halted. He veered his gaze to the computer monitor. The light bulb must have illuminated in the detective’s mind.

“I’m not sure what this has to do with anything,” he said as he typed on the keyboard.

Katie had a hunch the vampires hadn’t erased her speeding tickets on file. At least, she hoped such were the case. They weren’t exactly good cleaners. Just as they had left Kyle’s ring at the morgue, she thought the vamps might have forgot to erase everything about her on record.

The computer beeped and he moved closer to the monitor. As he read aloud the address displayed on the screen, Katie’s heart jumped. The stupid vampires had only erased the fire investigation and nothing more.

“This is odd. It’s the same address as the Brown property.”

“I lived there for eight years with my boyfriend. Do you remember when we were in college and took psychology together?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you recall our professor, Kyle Brown?”

Ben rubbed his chin. “The name doesn’t sound familiar. We had a male professor, I remember that much.”

“He was my boyfriend and he owned the property. A few nights ago, someone torched the home. And him.”

“But that’s not possible. The Browns were elderly. They died years ago.”

“You said it yourself yesterday. You thought someone would’ve cleaned up the mess by now, or a family member would’ve come forward to deal with the property.”

He extended his arm across the desk. “Let me see your license.”

Katie dug for her wallet. Finding it, she opened it and handed it to him. “It has the same address. As do my checks.”

He lifted her wallet and examined her license and checkbook. “Huh.”

“I can’t explain everything right now, but I will later. I promise. For now, you have to believe what I tell you.”

“Is this Brandon fellow looking for you?” He handed her wallet back.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“To kill me.”

“Then let me help you. We have guards–”

“No, no. They won’t help.”

“We can arrest him and detain him.”

She chuckled. “No, you can’t. He’ll walk right out of here and you won’t even remember him. Just like the man with the dark hair did.”

Ben paled. “What’s going on here?”

“Do you believe I’m not lying? How could I fake the address on my license, the checkbook, or from tickets listed years ago?”

“Unless you’re some hacker, I don’t see how you could’ve broken into our system.”

“Look, I’ve told you enough to put you in grave danger. If this Brandon or his friend returns here and discovers you are hiding information, they will not hesitate to kill you. Take some time off and leave town for a few days. Just a few. That’s all I’m asking.”

“I can hide our conversation, claim I haven’t seen you.”

“You can’t hide
anything
from them. Trust me.”

“I know how to defend myself.”

“Bullets don’t frighten them, neither does human law.”

He crossed his arms. “You’re asking me to leave my job for a couple of days, knowing your life is in danger. What about other people’s lives?”

Katie sensed the tide turning. He believed the information she’d shared and suspected foul play amidst, but his duty to protect and serve stood firm.

“They’re here for me only.” It wasn’t a total lie. Initially, they vampires had come for Kyle, then Katie because she filed the police report. Only when Joe poked around did they start looking for Jules to get to Katie. If she’d stated Joe or Jules were in danger, Ben would want to know more about their involvement. At this point, it would only add to his confusion and since she could protect Jules better than he could, she decided to keep hush about them.

“Why you?”

“Because I filed the report on the fire. The one that no longer exists in your system.”

Ben leaned closer to the desk and tapped his fingers on the keyboard. Katie lifted her purse and stood slowly. He hit the enter button, then paused.

“You won’t find it.”

He glanced at her. “Nobody can erase data, let alone access our system except for one of us.”

“Research it if you don’t believe me. In fact, visit the recorder’s office and look for the deed. I bet you’ll find Kyle’s name on it.”

“You’re kidding, right? This is a joke.”

“Take my advice and leave town for a few days. There’s nothing for you to lose.”
Except your life if you don’t go.

She headed for the door.

“Katie?”

She turned the knob, then faced him.

“You can explain everything, right?”

She grinned. Of course, she could provide an explanation. But would he believe it?

“Yes, I can. And I will. Promise.”

16

Katie slid into the passenger seat of her Camaro and shut the door.

“Did you tell him?” Jules asked as she reached to turn the key in the ignition.

“No, but I gave him enough to think about.”

“Oh?”

“Kyle’s address is listed on my driver’s license, my checks and all my prior speeding tickets, which are still recorded in their database.”

Jules dropped her jaw and her eyes grew wide. “You’re kidding.”

“I told him to check on the property deed. Kyle’s name should be on it.”

“Oh my God! You are so clever.”

Katie had caught a lucky break. The vampires had failed to clean up properly. They had to have known her name from filing the police report. So why didn’t they do a search for her and wipe out all her records? It had to be an oversight. Even if they had erased the data, they probably would’ve forgotten about the deed. Their loss equaled her gain.

“I need him to trust me. He suspects something is wrong–”

“I picked up on that instantly.”

Jules swiveled her head in both directions to check for traffic, then pulled out of the police station and onto the main road. Traffic had lessoned, but the evening mass would soon fill the streets.

“I promised I’d explain everything to him later, but for now he should leave town for a couple of days.”

“That’s smart. Gain his trust. Raise his suspicion. He’ll dig for clues…”

“In a couple of days when this is all over, I’ll sit down with him and give him answers.”

“Not a bad plan.”

Katie nodded, believing her plan would work too. He’d already suspected foul play. Her tips would give him proof he was on the right track. But he’d never get the answers to how someone accessed their database or why Charles followed Brandon’s instructions. Only Katie could provide him the answers. Would he accept them? She couldn’t see a reason why he wouldn’t. He was a smart man who lived by the same morals Kyle did. The difference with Ben was the detective needed evidence to convince him the impossible was possible.

“Do you have your phone with you?” Katie asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

Katie peered between the seats for Jules’s purse. Finding it, she lifted the bag and dropped it into her lap. “Do you mind?”

“No. Who are you wanting to call?”

Katie dug the phone from the side pocket. “Amy. Do you have her number?” She touched the screen and it illuminated.

“It should be in my contact list. Why do you want to call her?”