Page 8 of Unhallowed Murder (A Paranormal Halloween #2)

Chapter Seven

Josef’s afternoon was taken up with duties involved in keeping Abbott’s properties and people safe. He loved his job, but he wished he could check in with his little tiger. Once he’d fed from the lovely Lieutenant, he’d be able to find her mind no matter where she was in the county.

He finished his most pressing tasks before sunset, and was contemplating whether to text her or merely show up, but she texted him first. If you’re still in the mood to be helpful, I’d love having a mindreader nearby .

He couldn’t help his grin. You pulled me into this case, and I’d like to see it come to a satisfying conclusion. Where shall I meet you?

Are you in a place you can talk?

He pressed the button to call her, and smiled at the sound of her voice. “ Bellula . I hope you are doing well this evening.”

She hesitated a half-second. “Little beauty?”

“You know Latin?” He didn’t mean to sound as surprised as he did.

“I told you my father was a History Professor. I assumed you’d learned more.”

“And I told you — I only observed your memories as you recalled them. I didn’t dig for more.”

“Thank you for that. My suspect is in a nightclub your boss owns, which means you’re technically head of security there, too. Yes?”

“Which establishment?”

She told him, and he leaned forward. “He owns it through a series of corporations. How did you connect Abbott with this club?”

“Nathan helped me negotiate for a list of clubs owned by The Abbott a while back, and I receive updates when he buys or sells. It’s helpful for me to know these things.”

Yes, he imagined it was. If there’d been negotiations, she’d be restricted from using the information in official channels. However, knowing ahead of time where she was likely to run into supernatural politics would be a big help.

And her familiarity with the Amakhosi didn’t escape his notice.

Few people referred to him by his first name.

Josef needed to figure out how close his little tiger was to the Amakhosi.

She lived on the east side of the county, not far from the Amakhosi’s Pride.

The Lion King likely allowed her to change and spend time on his land, which probably didn’t sit well with the local Tiger Alpha.

Also, he’d need to talk to his boss about letting him know when someone received this kind of list. It had likely been done back when Abbott and Nathan were on good terms, so it’d been a friendly conversation, and not official.

“I can be there in thirty minutes. I’ll stay in the back room, out of sight,” he told Ronnie. “Should I need to come out, do you want your coworkers to think us strangers, or shall we be acquainted?”

“You were around me last night too much for me to try to pass you off as a stranger. I know you put out a vibe so they wouldn’t notice you, but a lot of pictures and video were taken.”

“I put my body into a frequency that doesn’t show up on photo or video. I’ll either not be in the photos at all, or will appear so blurry no one can make out my features.”

“Let’s tentatively plan for you to stay out of sight. If that won’t work, I’ll think at you to let you know how to proceed.”

* * * *

Josef’s chuckle made her nipples harden from across the phone connection.

It wasn’t likely the vampire could read her mind from halfway across the county, so she should be safe thinking what she wanted while talking to him on the phone, but she didn’t know how she’d manage to control her response to him when they were in the same building.

It couldn’t be helped, though. They were storming the nightclub in ninety minutes, and she wanted Josef there if she could get his help without owing him anything.

A judge had granted a warrant for them to monitor two cellphones — Kevin Ramirez, the victim’s cousin, and Jorge Flores aka Calacas, because he was a known close associate and his girlfriend worked at the Haunted Maze.

Flores had told Ramirez to meet him at the club at nine, and Ronnie would be there with Detective Jamison Carter on a pretend date.

Carter was black, so the two of them wouldn’t seem out of place.

Probably. Their intel said black and brown both frequented the place, with the occasional white girlfriend.

Josef verified their intel, but said she’d have to dress the part.

Ronnie broke down the basic plan to Josef, and ended with, “Flores’ street name is Calacas, which is the decorative skull or skeleton you see on—”

“Day of the Dead. I’m not involved with this location enough to recognize a particular patron, but I’ll check with the people who are.”

“He has tattoos of a bunch of Calacas on his arms, if that helps. I feel guilty about asking you to be there when I’m not going to acknowledge you. I don’t know for sure when I’ll get away from work tonight, but I’ll text you when I do, so we can meet somewhere.”

“Not a problem. I’ll go to the downtown Billiard Room when I finish with your project. Meet me there when you can.”