V neckline, and three-inch heels. Her legs went on forever. She looked great.
When Eric turned to the humans for their introductions, he paused. Eric clearly didn’t know the hugely muscular man’s name, but before the moment could become awkward, the man extended a bulging arm and shook the detective’s hand very delicately. “I’m Thad Rexford,” he said, and Ambrosel i’s mouth dropped open.
The uniform who’d come in behind her said, “Oh, wow! T-Rex!” with sheer delight.
“Wow,” Ambrosel i echoed, forgetting her stern expression.
Al the vampires looked blank, but another human present, a plump and perky twenty-year-old with a light brown mane of hair of which Kennedy Keyes would have approved, looked proud, as if being at the same party with him raised her status. “I’m Cherie Dodson,” she said, in a voice that was surprisingly babyish. “This is my friend Viveca Bates. What’s going on out front, guys?” Cherie was the woman who’d been making out with TRex. Viveca, just as curvaceous but with slightly darker hair, had been the one giving Felipe the “donation.”
Detective Ambrosel i quickly recovered from the surprise of meeting a famous wrestler at a vampire’s house, and she was twice as pugnacious since she’d shown a moment of starstruck awe. “There’s a dead woman outside, Ms. Dodson. That’s what’s going on. You-al need to stay here to be ready for questioning. First off, did you ladies bring a third woman here with you?” The detective was clearly talking to the humans; that is, al the humans except me.
“These two lovely ladies were with me at the casino,” T-Rex said.
“Which one?” Ambrosel i was al about the details.
“The Trifecta. We met Felipe and Horst at the bar there, struck up a conversation over drinks. Felipe here kindly invited us to Mr. Northman’s beautiful home.” The wrestler seemed completely at ease. “We was just out on the town, having some fun. We didn’t bring nobody else with us.”
Cherie and Viveca shook their heads. “Just us,” Viveca said, and gave Horst a coy sideways look.
“The victim came into the house, Mr. Northman says, but he doesn’t seem to know who she was.” Cara Ambrosel i’s flat tone made it clear what she thought of men who took blood from women they’d never met, while at the same time casting doubt on Eric’s assertion that he hadn’t known her. That was a lot to convey in one sentence, but she managed.
I was standing right behind her, and I was getting a good reading on her. Cara Ambrosel i was both ambitious and tough—necessary attributes to get ahead in the law enforcement world, especial y for a woman. She’d been a patrol officer, distinguished herself by her courage in rescuing a woman from a burning house, sustained a broken arm in the course of subduing a robbery suspect, kept her head low and her social life secret.
Now that she was a detective, she wanted to shine.
She was simply packed ful of information.
I kind of admired her. I hoped we wouldn’t be enemies.
Cherie Dodson said, “Tel me she doesn’t have on a green and pink dress.” Al the flirty fun had drained from her voice.
“That’s what she’s wearing,” the detective said. “Do you know her?”
“I met her this evening,” Cherie said. “Her name’s Kym. Kym-with-a-y, she said. Her last name was Rowe, I think. T-Rex, you remember her?”
He looked down as though he were working hard at recovering the recol ection, his dyed platinum hair showing a quarter-inch of dark root. TRex’s cheeks sported reddish-brown bristles, and his tight black T-shirt revealed that he’d shaved his chest. I thought that he had some ambivalence about his hair growth, but I was kind of fascinated by his musculature, I have to admit. He just bulged muscles everywhere, even in his neck. I glanced up to find Eric giving me a frosty look. Wel , big whoop, considering.
“I had quite a bit to drink tonight, Miz Ambrosel i,” the wrestler said, with a charming ruefulness. “But I remember the name, so I must have met her. Cherie, honey, was she at the bar?”
“No, baby. Here. While we were dancing, she walked through the living room. She asked where Mr. Northman was.”
“How did this Kym arrive here?” Ambrosel i asked. She looked at me first. I don’t know why.
I shrugged. “She was already here when I came in this evening,” I said.
“Where was she?”
“She was giving Eric blood back in the first room on the left past the bathroom.”
“And you invited her?” Ambrosel i asked Eric.
“To my house? No, as I said, I’d never met her—that I can recal . I’m sure you know I own Fangtasia, and many people come in and out of the bar, of course. I had gone to Sookie’s room because I wanted to have a private word with her before the … before we entertained our guests. This woman, this Kym, came back to the room. She said that Felipe had sent her to me as a present.”
The detective didn’t even ask Felipe. She just switched her dark gaze to him. The king spread his hands charmingly. “She seemed at loose ends,” he said, with a smile. “She asked me if I knew Eric. I told her where Eric might be found. I suggested she go back to Eric and ask him if he wanted a drink. I thought he might be lonely without Sookie.”
“Did you see the dead girl arrive? Do you know how she got here, or why she came?” Ambrosel i asked Pam.
“Our other guests entered through the front door, properly. I suppose this Kym entered through the kitchen,” Pam said, shrugging elegantly. “Eric sent me on an errand, and I didn’t see her arrive.”
“No, I didn’t,” Eric said. “What errand?”
“Mustapha told me you wanted me to go buy some more rum,” Pam said. “Was this not the case?”
Eric shook his head. “I wouldn’t send you on an errand if Mustapha was here at the house,” he said. “You’re
