“When did you arrive in the Philadelphia area?”
He turned his attention to the psychiatrist. “I don’t see what this has to do with why we’re here, Dr. Kettleman.”
“Did you do it?” Fia’s voice quavered. “I know you were questioned multiple times for the attempted murders of at least nine young women in southern California. They had all had blood drained from their bodies, and they all suffered from erotic asphyxia. They were picked up in bars, just like Casey Mulvine. Did you kill her?”
“Fia, how could you ask me such a thing?” He met her gaze, his cool voice suddenly full of emotion. “How could you jump to such wild conclusions? Of course I didn’t kill anyone. How…how could you believe me capable of such things?” His eyes grew moist. “You and I, we once loved each other. No matter what’s happened between us, how could you think that someone you loved could do such a thing?”
Fia exhaled. He sounded genuinely hurt and guilt washed over her. Maybe he was right, maybe she was jumping to conclusions. He hadn’t denied the girls in California. And there, he hadn’t really done anything more than she had done, although after all these years, after all her experience, she knew how much blood loss a body could sustain, depending on the height and weight of a victim. Joseph hadn’t had that advantage of time yet.
Dr. Kettleman looked to Fia. Waited.
“I’m sorry, Joseph,” Fia said quietly.
“You’re sorry?” he asked.
“Sorry I accused you…” Against her will, her own eyes filled with tears and she fought a lump in her throat. “I’m sorry I accused you of being a murderer.” She forced herself to look at him. “And I’m sorry for what I did to you. I’m sorry that I did this to your life…that I made you a vampire.”
He slid his hand across the couch and covered Fia’s, letting a moment pass before he spoke. “I just wanted to hear you say it, Fee.” He squeezed her hand and let it go. “You never told me you were sorry. I just…I just needed to hear it from you.” He picked up a box of Kleenex from the table beside the couch and offered it to her.
Fia took two.
“It’s all I wanted to hear,” Joseph said again, patting at his own eyes with a tissue. “I think that’s why I came back. Not because I really wanted to move here, Dr. Kettleman.” He looked across the coffee table to her. “But, because…because I needed closure. Does that make sense?”
“We all need closure to certain events in our lives, Joseph. Especially traumatic events such as the one you suffered. What Fia did was very wrong. And she knows that.” She nodded to Fia. “And now, maybe through this apology, she can have some closure, too.”
Fia felt like an idiot. For allowing Joseph to get her this worked up. For allowing herself to let her emotions get out of control. And there was a part of her still, deep inside, that didn’t quite believe what he was saying.
“So, now that you have this “closure,” can you go now, Joseph?” Fia looked to Dr. Kettleman. “This isn’t just personal, Marie.”
Fia made it a habit never to use Dr. Kettleman’s first name in her office because it helped the doctor-patient relationship to flourish. But sometimes…times like this, only another sept member could truly understand. So at this moment, Marie Kahill Kettleman wasn’t just a psychiatrist, she was also Fia’s second cousin on her father’s side. “This is about my job,” Fia continued. “Unsolved cases in the area cross my desk every day. If I saw a crime that I suspected Joseph had played a part in, I’d be placed in a very bad position. I would have to make the choice to either allow the humans to investigate him and put us all at risk, or take the matter to the sept.” She shifted her gaze to Joseph. “And neither would be good for him.”
“I don’t have to put my office in Philadelphia.” Joseph lifted his hands. Let them fall to his lap. “We’re actually seriously considering Dallas and Las Vegas. I can simply tell my partner that the client base we’re looking for isn’t here.”
“And that’s it?” Fia asked him. “You’ll just go?”
“I’m sorry, too, Fia, for doing this.” He turned to her. “For all the trouble I’ve caused you the last couple of weeks. But I really do feel better.” He slid his hand toward her on the couch. “Don’t you?”
She pulled her hand away before he touched it. “So it’s settled.” She looked back at Dr. Kettleman. “Joseph’s going to leave town and I’m going back to work.”
“I’m sorry I was late. Sorry I missed dinner.” Fia sat down on the edge of the bed, her back to Glen. She wasn’t good at this. Not at apologizing. Certainly not at relationships. She didn’t know what to say to him. How to say it. She felt as if she was making a mess of things…and things had barely gotten started. What had she been thinking when she even considered a relationship with a man, and with a human, no less? Maybe it just wasn’t in her. Maybe she would never have anything more than glimpses of humanity in dark alleyways.
She’d left Philadelphia earlier than she’d thought she’d be able to, but then there was a serious accident on Route 1, and she sat with her engine off for nearly an hour. Then she had to stop for gas in Dover. She ended up not making it to the Hill until almost ten, about the time Glen was paying his tab and heading out the door. They’d walked back to the B and B in silence. Glen hadn’t seemed angry with her. Just detached.
He laid stretched out, in his T-shirt and pants, shoes off, his arm tucked under his head. He was watching the ceiling fan slowly turn.
