on the feel-good pheromones vampires gave off to turn pain into excruciating pleasure. Not that I had any experience there. Much. They were probably pretty annoying when you were trying to get a bite in edgewise with your intended, but the usual remedy was to move and not answer your phone, not kill the vampire who made the shadow to begin with.
“He found out about the shadow three years ago. They were both hauled into the I.S. for disturbing the peace at the time, but they worked it out and have been living quietly together since,” Edden offered. “He’s really upset, and Ivy tells me we might get a little more in a few days when the woman wakes up from the dead. There’s a lot of damage for the virus to repair. Then there’s the Were who killed her husband because he once belonged to a rival pack,” he added, and I shuffled the reports.
“How could she not know?” I asked, wincing at the bloodied extension cord. “Don’t they have to disclose that kind of thing on marriage certificates, like previous marriages?”
“They do.” Edden leaned back against his desk, arms over his chest. “Ivy tells me it’s been hard to get anything out of her, but the woman claims she’s always known, but something in her snapped. They’ve been married for over twenty years, and it never bothered her before.”
“Huh.” I flipped to the top report and the picture of Jack and Jacqueline waiting for me. To be honest, I was relieved it wasn’t just an Inderlander crime spree. “Crimes of passion for events that happened so far in the past it shouldn’t matter,” I said softly. “Things that both parties know about and have worked through? I don’t get it.”
“Neither do the people doing the assaulting.” Edden’s focus was distant in thought. “Ivy tells me they’re all distraught, bewildered at their actions. The Were woman is on a suicide watch, actually. It’s like something wormed into their brain and pushed them into it. You want to talk to Jack?” Edden finished unexpectedly, and my head snapped up. “We still have him in interrogation.”
“Absolutely.”
Edden gestured for the door, and I rose. The office noise spilled in when he opened it, luring me into the comforting bustle of wrongs being righted with the slow grind of bureaucracy. “And it’s not a banshee,” I said, meeting his pace as we headed for the interrogation rooms.
Edden shook his head. “Not according to Ivy.”
“Well, she’d know,” I said faintly. “It sounds Inderland-ish, though,” I added, then noticed Edden’s closed expression. “What?” I said flatly, and he shook his head.
“I appreciate you talking to Jack to give us your Inderland opinion,” he said, but I thought it was more for the passing officers than for me. “The news has figured out it’s more than a wave of especially nasty domestic crime, and I’d like to lock it down before their guesses start putting innocent people in danger.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” I said, startled when he put a heavy hand on my shoulder to stop me shy of an interrogation room door.
“Be careful,” Edden said, his dark eyes serious. “He’s been reasonably cooperative so far, but don’t let him touch you. We don’t know what’s causing this, and it might be biological.”
“It’s not food poisoning,” I said, remembering the news on the radio, and he chuckled.
“No, but be careful anyway. You got your truth charm?”
I held it up, the wooden amulet disguised as a key fob decoration. It was old, but still worked. “Edden, you know those are illegal without a lawyer present,” I said, and he smirked as he reached to open the door for me.
“Ah, I’ll be watching. If you need some help . . . I don’t know. Tug your ear.”
I smiled, resisting the urge to touch his nose, give him a hug . . . something. It was nice feeling as if I was part of a team. “I’ll be fine,” I said, “but thanks.”
He dropped back as he opened the door, and I went in. The stale smell of old coffee, the dusty linoleum tiles, and the hum of fluorescent lights were ugly but familiar, making me wonder if this was the same interrogation room in which I had blackmailed the coven into agreeing to rescind my shunning. Sometimes it was only the dirt we had on others that kept our asses above the grasses.
Lips pressed, I gave the man sitting at the table a neutral smile when he