Corbin was going to die—probably as soon astomorrow night—and there was nothing I could do about it.
Chapter Twenty-two
I hadn’t been in my car for more than aminute when the radio squawked at me.
“Officer Godwin, we have aone-eight-seven-vee in your sector—do you copy?”
I thought about not answering but a 187 ishomicide and the V tacked on at the end means vampire. Great, whatI really needed right now was to see the gory remains of a vampiremurder. I picked up the radio.
“Get another Auditor, dispatch. I’m notgoing to be able to make it.”
“Negative.” The girl on the other endsounded pissed. “There was a two-seventeen-vee at one of theglam-clubs in Town and Country a few minutes ago. No other Auditorsare available. The PD is already on the scene—they’re waiting foryou before they can proceed.”
Son of a bitch! I swiped angrily atmy eyes and struggled to control myself. I wanted to tell thedispatcher and the whole rest of the world to fuck off and go backto Corbin that minute. But he hadn’t been too happy to see mebefore—not that I blamed him. Maybe he just wanted to die in peaceand forget about me.
The thought made me want to break into afresh round of sobbing but I knew I couldn’t afford to give in tomyself like that. I had to go on—even if there was nothing to go onfor. I was on duty and I’ve always had a very strict work ethic—Ihad to do my job. At least one more night.
But tomorrow I’m quitting, I toldmyself.
“Officer Godwin, do you copy?”
I picked up the radio again. “Give me thelocation. I’m on the way.”
* * * * *
The crime scene was a surprisingly niceupper middle class house in Carrolwood, one of the tonier areas inthe Tampa Bay area. I parked and showed my badge to the uniformstanding at the door.
“Up the stairs, second bedroom on theright,” he said with a jerk of his head.
“Thanks.” I climbed the stairs and walkeddown the hallway to the second bedroom. The air was heavy with thesweet, coppery smell of spilled blood. I crossed the yellow crimescene tape with a sinking feeling in my heart. I really didn’t needto see this—not tonight.
But as soon as I looked up, there itwas.
The person on the bed—I really couldn’t tellif it had been a man or a woman, though I was betting on woman—hadbeen torn limb from limb. I mean that literally too—one of the legswas lying in one corner. The rest of the limbs, along with thebloody, mauled remains of the torso, were still on the bed. Thehead…well, I didn’t see it. Maybe it had rolled under the bed orforensics had already bagged it up. There was blood spattered onthe walls and sheets but not as much as you’d think considering thescene. Probably because most of it was inside the vamp who had donethis. It was a gruesome sight and one I was unfortunately familiarwith.
“Pretty ugly, huh?”
I turned to my left and saw DetectiveO’Meara from Homicide. I liked him—he never made the job into apissing contest, unlike some of the other guys on the force whogave me shit because I could go after vamps and they couldn’t.
“What have we got?” I asked him, even thoughthe crime scene was all spread in front of me like a picnic forhungry lions.
He sighed. “It’s a murder, all right. Lookspretty open and shut—the perp isn’t even trying to deny it.”
“He’s still here?” I asked in surprise. Mostof the time after a vamp kills someone he skips town and we have totrack him down later with a specially trained squad. The PD areinstructed to just let them go—there’s no sense in trying to takedown a being that can bench press a semi—you’ll get ripped in half.But a vamp that actually stayed…that was new.
“She—perp is a female name of CynthiaTorez,” O’Meara corrected me. “And yeah, she’s still here—shecalled it in herself.” He looked at me more closely. “Hey, youokay? You don’t mind me saying, you don’t look so good,Godwin.”
“Long story,” I said. “Where did you say shewas?”
“She’s sobbing her fucking heart outdownstairs in the living room. Swears it was an accident.” He shookhis head. “I almost feel sorry for her.”
“Great,” I muttered. Crap. Just what Ineeded—more crying. Like I hadn’t already done enough of it myselffor one night. Still, I had a job to do. I took a deep breath andwent back down the stairs in the direction he pointed me.
I heard her sobbing, low and heartbroken,well before I found my way into the lovely, well-appointed livingroom. She was sitting on a dark brown leather couch with her faceburied in her hands and her shoulders shaking.
“Hey…” I touched her lightly on the arm andshe jumped about a mile.
“Oh…” When she looked at me, her cheeks weresmeared with bloody tears. “Who…who are you?” she whispered.
“I’m Officer Godwin—an Auditor,” I told her,meeting her eyes. “Want to tell me what happened here tonight,Cynthia?”
“I…it…he…” She shook her head and I couldtell she was about to start bawling again.
“Hey.” I sat down beside her and put a handon her arm. “It’s okay. Just take some deep breaths and do the bestyou can. Detective O’Meara upstairs says you told him it was anaccident.”
“It was,” she burst out. “I swear Inever meant to hurt him. I begged him not—I told him I couldn’tcontrol myself but he wouldn’t listen…he wouldn’tlisten.”
“Okay, start from the beginning.” I rubbedher arm soothingly. “You begged him not to what?”
“Not to cut himself and try to give me bloodwhile we were…” She blushed. “You know.”
They shouldn’t have been “you knowing” inthe first place but I was willing to bet she already knew that.
“So why did he do it, then?” I asked. Whywould any human in their right mind do such a thing?
“Because he loved me.” She hung herhead.
Oh. Well, that explained it, right there. Itwas the only sensible answer to a whole hell of a lot of stupidquestions, it seemed to me. Still, I needed details.
“And he thought it would be, what, moreromantic to do it
