Page 7

7

T ess

“This is why we need you, Shepherd. The danger lives right next door to you,” the NACOS guy said.

“In Riverton?” I asked.

“No. Miss Callahan. Literally next door to you. Carlos Gonzalez is the killer. He wants to stop NACOS from existing. He and the rest of the vampire high council.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I said hotly. “Carlos isn’t a killer!”

“He’s a vampire, Miss Callahan,” the voice on the phone said slowly and condescendingly.

“How did you know Carlos lived right next door to Tess?” Jack asked in that deceptively calm voice that meant he was a hair’s breadth from violence. “Are you spying on us?”

“We have … information.”

“Does your information also tell you that the Dead End sheriff is Carlos’s sister?” Susan’s laugh was an icy sound. “Are you accusing my brother of coming to his friend Tess’s house and killing a deputy sheriff in her garage ?”

Click .

“He hung up on us!” I grabbed Jack’s phone and hit redial.

The number you have dialed is not in service.

Please hang up and try again.

Sheriff Reynolds finally spoke up again. “Guy’s got some juice to get his phone disconnected so fast.”

I waved a hand. “It’s an app. Anybody can do it. But we can track him down from?—”

“No need,” Jack said. “I know who it is. I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard his voice on conference calls. And yes, he has juice. Things just took a turn for the worse. As far as I know, he’s still at the Pentagon.”

Susan ran her hands through her dark hair. “Name?”

“Brigadier General Barstow. Career Army. Ran Special Forces missions. Lucky and the boys would know him. He is not a good guy.”

Jack had his understatement face on.

“Brigadier General?”

“A one-star. I never met him. I don’t like that he knows my name, although I’d have expected that, after the first vampire war. But that he knows about Tess? And where she lives, and that Carlos lives next door?” Jack shook his head, and flickers of hot amber glowed in his green eyes. The tiger wasn’t far beneath the surface tonight. “I may need to take a trip to D.C. and remind some people why they never, ever want to get on my bad side.”

Sometimes, it was easy to forget how dangerous Jack really was. But he’d been the North American commander of the forces that put down the rogue vampire uprisings, and that wasn’t a job they gave out for being nice. After the vampires had brainwashed a lot of important people into creating a third house of Congress specifically for vampires, they’d then tried to take over the country through vampire-first laws, banking, and more. Jack had been one of a rebel force that worked and fought hard to pull the vampire-induced wool off everyone’s eyes, so they could see what was happening. When they were finally successful, the end of the vampire aristocracy taking over the United States occurred pretty quickly.

But a lot of very important people owed Jack a lot of very big favors.

We in Dead End had known for a very long time—since the town’s founding—that the Fae, vampires, shapeshifters, and other “mythical” creatures and beings really existed, but it hadn’t been even two decades since the rest of the world found out. The shock waves from that discovery had smashed their way around the globe, causing wars and terror and worse.

I reached over and squeezed Jack’s hand, maybe too tightly. I was awfully glad that he’d survived.

I think he saw what I was thinking, because he leaned over and kissed the top of my head. Then he stood up, and everybody else did, too.

“Okay. Tess is exhausted. She went to work at six this morning to do the inventory. Can we do something about getting the body out of here so we can get some sleep?”

Reynolds nodded, but his expression was troubled. “Not meaning any offense, Sheriff, but are you sure your brother had nothing to do with this?”

Susan leveled a steady look at him. “Yes. I’m sure.”

“He’s a vampire .”

“And you’re a werewolf. Does that mean you’re a suspect, based simply on that? Is Jack a suspect, too, then? Tess’s grandmother is a banshee. Does that make her a suspect?”

“No, but?—”

“No, period.” Jack said, cutting off any incipient argument. “Let’s regroup tomorrow. Oh, Reynolds, speaking of wolf shifters, though, can we talk to you about Lizzie?”

Reynolds tilted his head in almost exactly the same way that Shelley’s pug did sometimes. I managed not to tell him this, but I was exhausted, so it was a close thing.

“I thought I smelled something,” he rumbled.

“She’s almost a werewolf,” I said.

“Ah.” Reynolds nodded. “No shifting yet?”

“No, but I hoped that if you took her on your moon run tomorrow night, your pack might help her over the last hurdle,” Jack said, leading the sheriffs down the short hallway toward the front door. “What do you think?”

“Traumatic start?” Reynolds asked with compassion. “We’ve had people with that. Sure. I’ll talk to her tonight.”

“Thank you. And I’m sorry about your man,” Jack said, shaking the Riverton sheriff’s hand.

I shook off my tiredness. “Yes. I’m sorry, Paul, I should have said that first thing. I’m so sorry for your loss. Both as your deputy and as your beta. Does—did he have a family? Can I take a casserole somewhere?”

Reynolds smiled with obvious effort. “That’s really nice. I’ll let you know, but I doubt it. Quark was from up north, and he hadn’t made many friends here yet outside the pack. I know he doesn’t have a wife or kids. He was only beta because our last beta moved away, and nobody else wanted the job.”

A siren and lights heralded the crime scene people finally arriving, so the sheriffs went outside to deal with that. Jack started to follow them out and then turned around and pulled me into a warm hug.

“I’m so sorry about this, Tess. Having shadows of my old life haunt you wasn’t anything I ever wanted. I hope you don’t decide I’m more trouble than I’m worth.”

I hugged him back and then kissed him. “Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you today when you started jitterbugging.”

“I’m just glad there’s no video evidence of that,” he said with a heartfelt groan.

“As far as you know.”

I enjoyed his look of terror for almost three seconds before I burst out laughing. “I didn’t make a video. But maybe I need to check the interior security cameras …”

“Get some sleep if you can,” he said. “I’ll watch over this until they’re gone, and then I’m going to patrol and see what I can see. I’ll be in as soon as I can, but you and Lou are perfectly safe.”

He didn’t need to tell me that, but I appreciated the thought. “Jack. I’m always perfectly safe when I’m with you.”

When he kissed me this time, it was a “sweep me off my feet” kind of kiss, and I felt a little dizzy when he put me down.

“Get some sleep. I promise I’ll take care of General Barstow and NACOS, too.”

“Okay.”

After I cleaned up, brushed my teeth, and changed into my Wonder Woman PJs, I texted Carlos that I certainly didn’t believe he killed anybody.

Then Lou and I curled up in bed, and I tried not to think much about the poor man who died in my garage, other than to be sure to find out if there was anybody at all to take food to or even send a card.

When I finally fell asleep while waiting for Jack, I dreamed about mirrors dancing beneath the disco ball across the floor of my shop.