Page 8 of Smokescreen (Knight & Daywalker #1)

Come to think of it, it was a little odd he had an office in his house. Maybe he did more than I thought with his investments...

“That would explain the lack of papers and computer in the room, then. If it was just for show, he might not have had one.” Cain leaned back on his haunches and nodded to himself.

It was true; I didn’t remember having ever seen Charles with a computer.

That wasn’t especially surprising, as older vampires often eschewed the newest technology, particularly if they were going to be required to learn how to use it.

It was something older humans did too, so I had a hard time holding it against people hundreds of years older than the oldest humans.

That was probably why Charles also hadn’t had a security system.

“He did have a cell phone,” I said, remembering him pulling one out of a pocket at a party once.

He’d pretended to answer an important call in order to leave a conversation, even though everyone in the room could hear that there was no one on the line.

I never understood why so many people did that.

“But yeah, he wasn’t much of a computer person. ”

“We have the phone,” Cain agreed, but he wasn’t pleased. “Someone smashed it out here in the hall, and stole the SIM card.”

Now that? That was suspicious.

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, his eyes scanning, as though going over information sitting in front of him.

The position looked uncomfortable, and he’d been there for a while, so I turned to where I’d put Twist, only to find that she’d torn open the bag and eaten.

..everything. Fourteen chicken breasts.

Also, my sandwich and fries. She had a dollop of mayo on her nose that she was trying to lick off, but not having much luck.

I blinked, staring for a moment.

How was I going to afford to feed her?

“The white sauce was very good, Father,” she informed me. “I want more of it.”

I sighed and shook my head. “Well I don’t have any more right now, kiddo. I hope you didn’t eat any of the paper.”

It didn’t look like she had, since there was a mound of shredded paper under and around her, but still, that couldn’t be healthy.

I started pushing it all together, and trying to put it into what remained of the paper bag, only to find Tobias Cain staring at me. “Did that cat eat your whole lunch?”

I blinked, thinking quick. “Healing,” I blurted after a moment. “I, um, found her last night, after some dick hit her with his car, and took her to a body mage. So she’s pretty depleted. I guess I just didn’t realize how depleted.”

It was his turn to blink, staring at me. “A body mage. You took a stray cat to a body mage? How much did that cost you?”

Oh, that.

Well, I had been willing to pay, even if...“Let’s be honest here, Detective. I’m basically Charles. My mother is even richer than he was. I know all her rich friends. One of them is a doctor and a body mage. He helped me because he knows me. He was my pediatrician when I was a kid.”

Cain scoffed at that, pushing himself up onto his feet.

“I may not think much of your chosen career path, Knight, but you are not some rich guy who’s never worked a day in your life.

We met because you were working and found a body in a dumpster.

More than that, because you were too honest to ignore it and walk away, so you reported it. ”

That was...was it sweet? I wasn’t sure. He seemed to be indicating something resembling respect for me, which was nice. But also taking the opportunity to take a swipe at my job? Yeah, I had no idea. The whole situation was confusing as hell.

But at least it had distracted him from just how much food Twist had consumed.

“Speaking of reporting things, if you want to keep an eye on a guy who hits kittens with his car and then leaves without even stopping, here’s his license plate number.

” I pulled a piece of paper off the corner of the bag and a pen from my pockets, and wrote the number on it then handed it over to him.

If the look on Cain’s face was any indication, I saw parking tickets in Mr. Kitten-Hit-and-Run’s future.

He put the paper in the pocket of his suit jacket, then motioned toward the hallway.

“Let’s take a walk. You can tell me about the names we found on a list in the office.

We don’t have any context, so it could just be people he wanted to invite to a party, but—well, I will say, your mother’s name was at the top. ”

“Anything I can do to help,” I answered back, once again sounding stilted to myself. Because well, I wasn’t going to help them arrest my mother, but I was also sure she hadn’t done the deed. And frankly, if she had, I didn’t think there was a chance the cops could do anything about it.

My mother was far from perfect, and I didn’t doubt she’d killed people in her past.

Charles, though? I would believe that she’d killed him when I saw proof.

So I picked up Twist and tucked her back into my front pocket, continuing to be weirded that she still seemed to weigh maybe a pound or two, even after eating multiple pounds of food. I’d figure it out or I wouldn’t; I just hoped that in the meantime, I didn’t go broke trying to feed her.