Page 36 of Fire Dancer
Oops. A shifter’s eyes tended to heat with their emotions, each showing in a different fiery hue. Love. Fear. Passion. Hatred.
I blinked hard, trying to dim the fire in my eyes. “Well, I am a wolf.”
“And you are cunning.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
We both broke into grins at that echo of an old line of ours from way back when.
The helicopter lifted off again, and the whirr of the blades echoed off the hills. The sound moved with the helicopter, fading slowly as it returned to the airport.
“Well, there you have it,” Pippa murmured. “That’s how exclusive it is.”
“And what do those exclusive guests do there?”
“Well, it sure ain’t golf,” Pippa quipped, indicating the steep property. “Probably some kind of wellness place, where you can relax and rejuvenate.”
A shiver went down my spine. Rejuvenation for a vampire called for blood. A lot of it, and fresh as can be.
And, oops. Pippa must have caught my reaction.
“Wait. What are you thinking?”
After weighing it up for a moment, I decided to show my cards. Some of them anyway.
“That woman who was found dead at Gunnery Point…”
“The accident,” she filled in.
I shook my head slowly. “The pawprints were erased by the time the police arrived, but the scent of bear shifter was all over the place.”
Her mouth formed a surprisedOh. Then she nodded for me to go on.
“Stacy’s chauffeur is a bear shifter,” I continued.
Pippa narrowed her eyes. “Same bear shifter or different bear shifter?”
“Not sure.”
She threw up her hands. “That’s as bad as racial profiling!”
I stuck up my hands. “I’m not assuming it’s the same guy, but it’s the only lead I have.”
“Not really a lead, though, is it? Just a baseless accusation.”
“I’m not accusing anyone. But it’s all I have to go on right now. Do you know anything about him?”
Her expression went grim. “No. Only that he drives — and the last time Stacy came by the shop, she wasn’t eager to leave.”
That didn’t sound good.
“Can’t you trace the car or the company? I did show you the address.”
“I’m trying, but it takes time. And there’s a thin line between waiting for enough evidence to protect a suspect’s rights and waiting so long that you risk an innocent person’s life.”
Pippa frowned, and I knew she was thinking of Stacy. Hell, I was thinking of her too, along with the vow I’d made to myself — and to a murder victim named Bridget.
Just then, the security gate rolled aside, and an SUV exited the grounds of La Puebla. The same color and model driven by the bear shifter, with the same ding in the front bumper. I could tell by the way the sun glinted off it.