Allowing him to take the lead, I slipped my dagger out of its holster and followed. The hallway was decorated in terracotta and white, traditionally Spanish, just like my friend. A picture of us with our mothers hung near the bottom of the stairs. Several other family photos lined the wall, Brianna smiling in every single one of them.
Tracing my friend’s pretty face, I sighed to myself. Recently, I had distanced myself from her. She was vivacious and fun loving, too cheery for my dead self.
“Hello?” Dave called into the house.
We waited at the bottom of the stairs, listening for any sound. It was silent.
Dave nodded at me, indicating that we go into the front room. Our footsteps were quiet as we paced around the lower level of the house. Everything was in place, everything neat and tidy. I hadn’t been to Brianna’s house in almost a year. She had constantly pestered me to visit, but I had always been too busy.
Nothing seemed out of place as we scoped the kitchen.
“Everything looks normal.” Dave tucked his gun away, his alert expression clearing.
Going to the counter, I checked the post that laid there. A couple of bills were stamped with red, urgent payment required. Brianna had never been one for conforming.
“What’s that?” Dave pointed at an open handwritten letter.
It was tucked under the others, a small piece of paper marked with Biro. Pausing before I reached out, I wrestled with myself. The letter was private, not something that I should read.
“You’ve tried ringing Brianna how many times? She’s missing. We have to do this.”
Taking the letter from me, Dave started to read it out loud. It was a love note from her human boyfriend, begging her to go back to him. Across the centre of the letter, Brianna had scribbled a big No in red lipstick.
“Nothing there,” I muttered as I pushed away from the counter and headed for the stairs.
“You knew that she had split up from her boyfriend?” Dave called.
Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, I glanced over my shoulder. “She went off with some other guy that night I got drunk. I kind of guessed she was no longer in a relationship. It made me a little sad, actually. They made a good couple.”
Without waiting for Dave to give me some of his wisdom, I ran up the stairs. My Essex dagger was still clasped in my hand, just in case. Checking in the bathroom, I quickly retreated when it showed that it was empty. There was only one bedroom in the house, so I gingerly stepped inside.
Brianna’s rowdy personality came alive in her bedroom. Bright reds and pinks blended together on the walls. She was obviously a bit of an artist, considering she had painted pictures of flowers directly onto the wall. To some, it would be pretty, to me, it was too feminine. Although, I could see that Brianna was a talented artist, so I had to appreciate that.
My Spanish friend had obviously left in a hurry. Her bedroom was a mess, clothes scattered all over the floor. Her bed was unmade, the covers crumpled in a heap.
“Anything?” Dave asked as he trod into the room behind me.
Tiptoeing across the floor, I stared open-mouthed at Brianna’s bedside table. Lying there, face down, was her phone. The phone I had tried ringing numerous times since Lucien told me that Brianna had been taken.
Dave joined me, also staring at the gadget that should have been with my friend. The fact that the vampire had not taken it meant something was seriously wrong.
“Maybe she was taken. Who goes out without their phone nowadays?”
The bang on the front door made us both turn around. Putting a finger over my mouth, I indicated that Dave be silent.
He nodded before stepping towards the door and out into the hallway. Glancing over the top of the stairs, his tight shoulders relaxed as a voice called up.
“Gemma?”
The male voice was instantly recognisable. Leaving Brianna’s room with the intention of coming back to take her phone, I joined Dave at the top of the stairs.
Standing at the bottom, Archie Roberts had his hands on his hips and a frown on his face.
“Do you know where she is?” I barked before he had a chance to talk.
Shaking his head, he sighed as he put his hands in his pocket and brought out his phone. “She sent me a text after I...”
His sentence trailed off as he shrugged, his eyes red from where he’d obviously not slept.
Gritting my teeth, I held myself stiff, resisting the urge to fly down the stairs and pound his face in. He might be a handsome vampire bookworm, but he had spoken to the Harveys. Something wasn’t right, and I had to find out what that was.
“I think you had better come to headquarters for an interview,” Dave said, getting out his handcuffs.
Placing my fingers around my partner’s wrist, I stilled him, my eyebrows raised when he looked at me. Yes, in normal circumstances, the first thing I would do would be to take the vampire for questioning. However, if that happened, Dave could not tell me what was said. I had to know more about Brianna. And the Harveys.
“Shall we?”
Before trotting down the stairs, I waved Dave towards the bedroom. He knew what I wanted him to do, even though his eyebrows pulled low.
He wouldn’t like me questioning Archie on my own, but it was the best time to get as much information as possible.
“I want to save Brianna as much as you do,” Archie muttered as we walked into the living area and sat on Brianna’s red leather couch.
Tucking my hair behind my ear, I glanced at him. Brianna had believed that Archie would make a good match for me. Part of me understood why she thought that, considering he was a very well read vampire who knew the classics. It really was easy to see why my friend had believed we were soulmates. Sometimes, a tiny part
