“I’m afraid you’ll have to rephrase that in question form.”
“Who is your accomplice?”
He shrugged. “Darling, you already know. Now if you would just admit that we belong together, I wouldn’t have to take advantage of the poor, stupid sluts who want to help me in my time of need.”
“The game’s over, Otis. You won’t be manipulating anyone. I’m getting the D.A. in Texas to prosecute you for the murder you committed there.”
“You do that, darling. I would enjoy a trip to Texas. I can use the opportunity to escape so we can be together.”
“You’ll be convicted there, and I will come to see you.”
He grinned. “That’s my girl.”
“I’ll be a witness when they give you the needle.”
His smile faded.
“Death penalty, Otis. How do you like them apples?”
His face hardened with a cold stare. “While you stand here making idle threats, my accomplices are getting away.”
“We’ll get them.” She strode toward the door. As usual, she felt like going straight to a shower.
“Olivia!” Otis called to her.
When she glanced back, he pulled something from the chest pocket of his uniform. It was red and lacy.
He rubbed them against his cheek. “Till we meet again, darling.”
Her stomach twinged, and she quickly left the room. She rushed back to the front office.
J.L. was behind the counter with the guard. “We’ve got her, Olivia.” He turned the monitor so she could see.
The woman appeared to be about the same height and weight as Olivia. She was wearing dark sunglasses, and her dark hair was covered with a baseball cap. Joe was the guard. She showed him an ID and signed in.
J.L. nodded. “And she knows where you stash your handbag. She probably made a wax imprint of your house key. It would only take a few seconds.”
Olivia pressed a hand to her stomach. It was bad enough to deal with Otis, but to discover that Yasmine had betrayed their friendship—it made her feel physically ill. “Did you call Barker?”
“Yes. They’ve put an APB out on her.”
“She wasn’t in the office?” Olivia asked, then realized what had happened. “Joe must have warned her.”
“Looks like it. He’s disappeared, too.” J.L. skirted the edge of the counter. “How did your meeting with Otis go?”
“He wouldn’t divulge her name, but he admitted to using her.” Olivia made a face. “How could Yasmine do this? Doesn’t she know what a monster he is?”
“You never felt any sort of deception from her?” J.L. asked.
“No! She never lied. She was always nosy, but as far as I could tell, her friendship was real.”
“She knew about your gift, so I guess she was always careful around you.”
Olivia groaned. How could she not have known? Detecting deception was supposed to be her specialty.
J.L. escorted her toward the door. He glanced back at the guard. “You can expect some special agents here this afternoon to interview all the guards. Meanwhile, if you hear anything about Joe, call the number on the card I gave you.”
“Will do.” The guard looked worried as he watched them leave.
J.L. led her across the parking lot to his car. “Are you all right? You look really pale.”
“I trusted her,” Olivia whispered. Her thoughts wandered to Robby and his red glowing eyes. If she’d been deceived by Yasmine, then she could have been deceived by Robby. “I feel sick.”
“I’ll drive you home,” J.L. offered.
“No. I want to keep working.” If she stayed home all day, she’d have too much time to think. Too much time to nurse some terrible suspicions about the secrets Robby was hiding. Had she been wrong to fall in love with him?
That evening, like most evenings, Robby set up his laptop and webcam in the conference room across from the security office. As soon as Olivia’s face appeared on the screen, he knew something was wrong. There was a sadness in her eyes and a weary droop to her expression.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
She told him about her trip to Leavenworth, and how J.L. had discovered that their office manager, Yasmine Hernandez, had impersonated her in order to visit Otis Crump. She’d been assisted in her deception by a guard at the penitentiary.
“Have they been arrested?” Robby asked.
Olivia shook her head. “We’re looking for them, but they’ve both disappeared.”
“At least now ye know who was sending the apples,” Robby said. “Ye should feel good about that.”
A pained look crossed her face. “I thought Yasmine was a friend. I trusted her. I joined the FBI so I could use my lie detector skills to catch bad guys, and there she was, right under my nose, and I never saw it.”
Robby leaned forward. “Ye shouldna doubt yerself. Ye always believed there was an accomplice, and ye were right about that. And did ye no’ use yer abilities to get Crump to confess to more murders?”
There was a glint of moisture in her eyes. “I should have known. I should have sensed deception from her.”
“Ye canna blame yerself. ’Tis normal to be feeling bad right now. Someone ye care about has betrayed you.”
She glanced at him with a wary look. “Are you still coming here on Friday?”
“Aye. I should be there a little before nine.”
She blinked, as if she were trying not to cry. “I wish we’d never left Patmos. It was so…magical there.”
“We’ll go back someday. Just you and me.” If she could accept him as a vampire.
She closed her eyes briefly. “Be honest with me. Have you been deceiving me?”
He inhaled sharply. Pretending to be a normal human was a deception. “Olivia—”
“Forget it.” She held up a hand to stop him, then shook her head with a wry expression. “If you’ve been lying to me, why would you admit it now? I don’t even want to hear it. One betrayal a day is more than enough.”
She was doubting him again? Bloody hell. But could he blame her? He’d already admitted there were things he hadn’t told her.
“Olivia, listen to me. When I say I love you, that is the truth. When I say I think about you every waking minute, that is the truth. When I say ye’ve changed my life, that before my heart was filled with vengeance and now it is filled with love, that is the bloody truth.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “I love you so much, Robby. It’ll kill me if you betray me.”
He swallowed hard. He could only pray she wouldn’t interpret his hiding the truth as an act of betrayal.
“Yo, Robby!” Phineas barged into the conference room.
“This is a bad time,” Robby told him.
“Yeah, it’s bad,” Phineas replied. “We just went on red alert.”
Robby tensed as he turned back to the monitor. “Olivia, I have to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
She frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ll let you know later. I love you, sweetheart.” He disconnected and rose to his feet. “What is it?”
Phineas led the way across the hall to the security office. “Angus and Emma just teleported in. I got an emergency message from Stanislav about five minutes ago. Casimir and his little band of merry bloodsuckers are on the move.”
“Do ye know where they’re headed?” Robby asked as he entered the security office. Angus, Emma, and Connor were there.
Angus gave him a worried look. “According to Stanislav, they’re somewhere in North America.”
CHAPTER 21
“We have to locate Casimir and his followers as quickly as possible,” Angus told them.
“It shouldna be difficult once they start leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake,” Connor grumbled.
Emma winced. “Hopefully, we’ll find them before any innocent people die.”
With a scowl, Connor crossed his arms over his chest. “If they’re here, the killing has already begun.”
“We need to check every place Casimir has teleported to before,” Robby said. “One of those places would have been his point of entry.”
“I agree.” Angus nodded. “We know he liked going to Apollo’s compound in Maine.” He turned to Jack. “Ye’re familiar with the place. Teleport there. Take Lara, Zoltan, Mikhail, Austin, and Darcy.”
“Yes, sir.” Jack led his team into the armory at the back of the office so they could select weapons. He vanished, taking Lara with him.
A few seconds later the phone rang. Connor punched the conference call button.
“We’re here,” Lara said. “It appears quiet…” She continued to talk while Zoltan and Mikhail fixed on her voice. They teleported, taking the mortals Austin and Darcy with them.
“Casimir also teleported to the coven house in New Orleans,” Angus said. “They should be warned.”
“I’ll go,” Phineas offered.
Robby snorted. He knew why Phineas was eager to go to New Orleans.
“Go ahead,” Angus said. “Call us if ye need help. And stay in touch with Stanislav in case he hears anything.”
Phineas grabbed some weapons from the armory and teleported away.
“Ian and Toni.” Angus regarded them. “I want you to take Shanna and the children to Dragon Nest. Stay at the school. Keep all the children safe.”
Ian’s jaw shifted with an annoyed look. “If there’s a battle, ye’d better call me.”
