“Glad to see he’s sticking it out. How many times has he made it into headlines in the last couple of months?”
I smiled. “At least twice, The Vampire Princess’ Lover.” I drew out the word ‘lover,’ and Liz laughed in full.
My phone rang, cutting off Liz’s laughter. I sighed as I saw Mason’s name flash over the screen before I picked it up. “Special Agent Collins speaking.”
“So, I have a scene.”
“Which is why you normally call me, yes.” I tried to keep the irritation out of my voice.
Mason hesitated.
“What is it?”
“I’d rather you just come down and take a look.”
I glanced at Liz, who shrugged. “They put me on desk duty. I’ll send Liz down.” But I wanted to see what had shaken Mason. Was it a body in pieces? A shrunken head? What?
Mason grumbled. “I’ll text her the address.” He disconnected the call, and a moment later, Liz’s phone dinged.
I pouted. “I want to go.”
“I’ll tell you all about it when I get back. Until then, research.” She motioned to my computer, and I let out a huff.
“Fine.” I went to my desk and dropped into my seat.
She walked out, and I turned on the computer and waited for it to boot up. The small machine wasn’t the only thing on my desk. Over the years, I had added a creepy look-a-like doll, with its dark brown waves, big brown eyes, and dainty fangs. The fangs were the only thing I didn’t have. That and the frilly black dress. On the bottom of the stand was a protection ruin that kept people from trying shit in my office.
The other thing actually sat next to the desk, a pink flamingo with sunglasses on it. They both helped give the room a bit of personality without giving away too much about me.
The computer chimed as it started up, and I went to work.
#
A few hours later, the sun was sinking behind the mountains, and I had come to the conclusion that I wasn’t going to get far on the Samuel research.
I also hadn’t heard from Liz yet. I resisted the urge to text her, and instead, I shut the computer down and grabbed my bag. I walked down the stairs and out the front door. I expected Mario to be there the moment the sun went down, but I was surprised to find no one was waiting for me at the car.
This car was a junky piece of crap. It ran, and that’s all I really needed it to do. I was tired of my newer ones getting destroyed. It was bad enough that the Hummer had gotten damaged a few months ago. I climbed into the car and started the engine. My phone rang as I headed home.
I put it on speaker. “Special Agent Collins speaking.”
“Abigail, where are you?” Mario’s voice came across the receiver with a hint of his Italian accent.
“Heading home. There was nothing to do at the office, so I left. I’m thinking of seeing if Simon wants to come over and have pizza.” I tried to keep my voice light-hearted. “Where are you?”
“I’m at the PIB office.”
I chuckled. “Sorry, I should have texted you. I was put on desk duty, so there was no reason for me to stay late.”
“Did you get in trouble?”
“No, not exactly. Stephanie’s headline didn’t go over well with O’Donald. It’s no big deal. Once he gets over himself, I’ll be back in the field. Until then, it’s all paperwork.”
Mario didn’t know that I was given information about Samuel. I’d kept that to myself because I didn’t want either him or Levi involved.
“Levi wanted to see you tonight. He had something he wanted to ask you about your birthday.”
I’d almost forgotten that it was a few days away. It didn’t make any sense to celebrate with Clarissa gone. A small ping of grief hit me at the thought of her not being here to celebrate with me. “He can call me, or if he wants, he can come to the house.”
“I’ll let him know. Is Liz with you?”
“No, she’s out on a case, but I’m fine. I’m heading straight home.” I sighed. “You guys can let up on the bodyguard routine. Nothing has happened since Levi came out.”
Mario snorted. “It has been unusually calm. We’ll see you later.” He disconnected the call.
I tried not to roll my eyes. It had been unusually calm because all anyone did lately was follow me around. No one had a chance to cause issues.
I eventually pulled up to the house and texted Liz.
‘Home safe. Hope the scene was interesting.’
Then I texted Simon, ‘off early, come over for dinner?’
He’d given Travis more responsibility with the pups, and Simon had been spending more time in the city, which was nice. On occasion, if it was closer to the full moon, I’d stay up at the cabin with him.
Neither of them got back to me before I got to the house.
I disarmed the alarm the moment I got in. When I walked into the kitchen, Merick was standing at the breakfast bar with a glass of wine in his hand.
His black hair had recently been cut, letting me see his slim jawline and his dark eyes. His dark tan skin was from his heritage and not from too much time in the sun.
“You’re home early.”
Merick had become my unofficial housemate. Whenever Levi or Mario was around, he spent his time masquerading a sphynx cat.
“Yeah, long story, but Levi’s going to be stopping by tonight.”
He wrinkled his nose. “I’ll make sure that I stay in my room or in cat form. Anything interesting that he’ll
