The demon mask moved as the man spoke. “You have five days to find me.”
As my mouth dried out, I tried to swallow. He was giving us time? Why would he start doing that?
“If not, I’ll kill again. Just remember... she belongs to me.”
Chapter 7
“How’s the library?” Brianna asked.
Leaning back in my office chair, I pressed my phone to my ear. I didn’t want the others to hear my conversation.
“It’s good.” I tried to put enthusiasm into my answer, but my friend knew instantly.
Tutting, she sighed down the phone. “Come now, Bella, you sound exhausted.”
The vampire had phoned me for a catch up. The team had been working hard to put our evidence together to get some sort of lead to our case. It wasn’t promising. At least we knew we had a few days before the Essex Obsessor would strike again.
“Overworked, underpaid, you know the score.”
Looking over at the others, I watched as Dave handed Jake a printout. Some joke was made as they both shook their heads. Kate reached for the paper, frowning when she struggled to get a reading. The killer really was covering all his bases.
“I heard about the horrible event at the arena last night. Twenty people died. So sad.” Brianna’s voice was heavy with sadness, although something about her tone put me on edge.
“Oh, I know, it’s awful.” My own tone shocked me. Deadpan. So very deadpan. Where had my passion gone? Maybe passion was reaching a little. I hadn’t exactly been an enthusiastic person... probably ever.
“So, Archie said that he hasn’t heard from you. I hope you’re not avoiding him because he’s a vampire. That would be discrimination, no?” Her thick accent grew stronger.
What was wrong with her? There was something palpable in the air between us. Was she annoyed that her matchmaking didn’t work? Surely, she understood that Archie was not my type of person. Well, not really, anyway. His love of books was hot as hell, but still... me and vampires were not a good mix. Me and men weren’t really a good mix.
“Brianna...” I sighed, tempted to tell her to mind her own business.
“Sorry, my darling, I’m sorry,” she quickly interrupted. “That was rude of me. I just want you to find a lovely man. I want to see more of you, but you’re so addicted to your books...”
Allowing the sentence to hang, I gritted my teeth together. My friend was supposed to support me, not bash me about my hobby. My escape. Reading was the only thing that kept me alive. Well... and the ley line now, obviously.
“I’m sorry, I have to go,” I said, not allowing her to talk anymore.
Our goodbye was swift as I shut down the call.
“We have our profile,” Dave muttered as he wandered over.
The night before, we’d all gone home deflated, each one of us drained from the case. The demon masked killer had covered his tracks consistently. Except, I was getting a stronger and stronger feeling that I knew who it could be. I just wasn’t sure if I was ready to admit it.
“We’ll interrogate the Cambridges first,” I said, annoyed that our energy was split between the PFFs and the killer.
They were linked somehow, yet it felt like we were fighting two cases. A couple of agents had dragged Helen Cambridge to Paranormal MI5’s building just an hour ago. We needed answers about the bomb before anything else. Just in case they were planning to make another attack soon.
“Let’s go.” Nodding his head towards the door, he almost kept his eyes averted.
Ever since he’d snapped about me being in denial, there’d been tension between us. I didn’t need him to tell me how to be an agent. Although, a thrum of sadness wound itself around my heart as he marched out ahead of me.
“We’ll make sure this is tight for when you come back,” Kate said, a pity smile playing on her lips.
Oh great, she could feel the atmosphere, too. If my team weren’t strong, we wouldn’t be able to work well together. I would have to speak to Dave to clear the air.
Following my colleague out of the office, I marched right up beside him. He didn’t even glance at me when I tried to get his attention.
“Dave? What is it?”
The scoff that left him made me cringe. He was one of the most intelligent agents in the building, yet he was acting like a teenager.
Waving at the other agents as we thundered across the floor, he did his best to keep ignoring me. Not bothering to acknowledge those who were trying to greet me, I tugged on his arm as we pushed through the doors.
“I appreciate you keeping my secret.”
Spinning, he almost knocked me over as he faced me. His eyebrows pulled low as his lips snarled. “Do you know how hard it’s been to keep your secret? Every day we work with Jake and Kate. Not being able to share what’s going on with you is getting harder. You are not acting like yourself. You won’t even admit that the killer could be-”
My hand flicked, sending a spell across his mouth so it stayed shut. His eyes flared, anger sizzling deep within the blue depths of them. Taking hold of his arm, I flashed him away from the corridor that currently held a couple of agents who stared at us.
Dave swore when we landed in a cubicle. Frowning, I glanced around us. Why the hell had we landed in a toilet cubicle? Not that I had thought too much about where we were going when I had grabbed him, but still, a toilet cubicle was not what I’d had in mind.
“What’s going on, Gemma?” Dave crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at me.
Licking my lips, I looked anywhere but into his eyes. Could I really open my mouth and admit what was going through my mind? Being an agent had always been easy for me. Disconnection had been my middle name. However, this case
