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Liz blinked at her. “There’s no need to be so defensive. I’m not accusing your partner of anything.”

Aware that everyone was staring at her, Ella subsided into her chair.

“I do have some more evidence for us to look at.” Liz glanced at Sam. “We got the before-and-after pictures of the last three victims from Otherworld.”

She opened a large brown envelope and spread the pictures out on the conference table.

“They all ended up with fair hair, which is the opposite of what we’ve seen with Brad.”

Sam put his finger on the closest picture. “And they all retain perfect features, even after killing themselves.”

Ella contemplated the horrific differences between the happy faces of the “before” pictures and the death masks of the “after” ones. It was damned unsettling.

“Should we assume Adam is going for three blonds this time?”

“Seems likely.”

Everyone looked at Liz and Ella.

Liz tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s okay, we’ll be careful.”

“You’ll need to be,” Vadim said. “Even though you’re half-Fae, you still need to be protected. I’m sure Doug and the wolf pack can take care of that for you.”

“They will, but I’ll be extra vigilant, I promise you.”

“I’m all human,” Ella noted.

“But I’m your partner, Ms. Walsh, and I don’t intend to let you out of my sight.”

The sincerity and purpose in his eyes was intense. Damn, he might as well be down on his knees proposing to her. No one would believe there wasn’t something going on between them now.

“Um, thanks.” She dropped her gaze and fiddled with her pen.

“We can’t exactly protect all of the blonds in the San Francisco Bay Area from one man when we have no description of him, can we?” Feehan’s shoulders slumped.

“He’ll choose someone close.”

Feehan turned to Vadim. “You sound very sure of that.”

“The last three victims lived within ten miles of each other. I should imagine Adam has already decided on his next victim.”

“I think you know more than you are letting on, Vadim.” Liz turned to face him. “I sense a connection between you and this Adam in my Fae-Web.”

A muscle flicked in Vadim’s cheek. “I suspect Adam is connected to one of my family bloodlines. Unfortunately, I can’t help that.”

“You could if you asked your Otherworld family for more information.”

“I’m not friends with anyone in my family. I left Otherworld on extremely bad terms.”

Ella held her breath as Liz continued to stare at her partner. What was her friend seeing, and how would it affect the rest of the team’s ability to trust Vadim? She didn’t dare say anything else in case she put her big foot in it and made things worse. A thought occurred to her.

“Couldn’t you ask Rossa?”

“No.”

Fine, he wasn’t interested in listening to her. She folded her arms across her chest and pretended to concentrate on the photos. There were two men and one woman. Was that significant too?

“What’s the plan now, Mr. Feehan? Sit and wait for another crazy patient to show up saying he’s lost his face?”