Yana promised to visit Ari tomorrow evening and explain everything.
The conversation added to Ari’s frustration. She was tired and discouraged. Now her friends were ganging up on her.
When she met with Ryan at his office, he disapproved of almost everything she’d done in Canada. Like she’d planned for it all to happen. He wasn’t even happy she’d brought back the thumb drive, claiming she’d tampered with evidence. Ari had sighed but said nothing. She wasn’t looking for trial evidence, just information. They both knew this case wouldn’t be settled in a human courtroom. Ryan still had a scowl on his face when he took the thumb drive to the lab for data recovery.
And Andreas. Ari didn’t think he had any room to complain. He’d warned her about Sebastian, but just barely. Not enough. She wondered if he’d suspected Sebastian from the beginning. When she stopped at the club to ask him, he chewed her head off the moment she mentioned Sebastian’s name.
“Trust you to go off and do exactly what you were warned against.” His dark eyes flashed with annoyance.
Ari stood her ground. “Maybe if you’d told me Sebastian was behind the drugs and violence in Riverdale, I wouldn’t have met with him. Although, I’m not sure we had a choice. You suspected him, didn’t you? From day one.”
“No, Arianna, I did not. Don’t try to put me in the wrong. You broke your promise and could have gotten yourself killed.”
They were standing in the middle of his office where she’d found him going over the club receipts. Ari had her hands on her hips.
“Maybe that’s because someone didn’t share. Unlike you, I’ve told you everything I know. So what’s going on? Some private vampire war? Coincidental, isn’t it, how everything seems to be about the vampires?” She glared at him.
“Your suspicions of me are tiresome—and wrong.” Andreas walked away from her.
“Really? Sebastian said he knows you well. Have you talked to him recently? He made a point of saying he knows you and I are friends. “
Andreas swung around; his gaze sharpened. “Did he? Now that is the first interesting thing you’ve said tonight. Very interesting. He must have a spy in town.”
“Well, duh. Molyneux was here.” Ari knew she was being bitchy, but she was more than annoyed by the way her friends and partners had reacted to her trip. She hadn’t gone looking for trouble, but if she hadn’t talked to Sebastian, she still wouldn’t know who was behind this whole drug scheme.
Andreas paid no attention to her attitude. “The spy has to be someone else. I was not with you when you visited Molyneux. That was Steffan.”
“Fine. Maybe Molyneux saw us somewhere else. It doesn’t matter. And don’t try to change the subject. I still think you’re hiding something.”
Since the conversation had deteriorated to bickering, Ari went on patrol.
* * *
Thursday morning she woke in a better mood. A full night of sleep had improved her perspective. Although her friends were overly protective, she decided they meant well. She patched up the disagreement with Claris by phone then she called Yana. They talked for an hour. Ari said she was sorry; Yana admitted she’d overreacted. Her mentor even laughed when Ari described Sebastian’s mustache. Yana still wouldn’t talk about the fire shield until they met that evening, but today that short delay seemed acceptable. Satisfied two parts of her life were back in sync, Ari made early rounds throughout Olde Town, stopped at her office in the afternoon to write a lengthy report on the Toronto trip, and started home.
She glanced at the setting sun and hurried her steps. It was late, near dusk. The report had taken longer than she thought. She didn’t want to keep Yana waiting. Her mentor was bringing dried herbs for a new potion, and Yana would insist on explaining the details of its various applications. Ari wanted to allow plenty of time for dinner and a long discussion regarding the mysterious fire shield, an ability Ari had never heard of before yesterday. She was making a mental checklist of restaurants they might try when she turned onto her street and saw the first of the flashing red lights.
Emergency vehicles crowded haphazardly around her apartment building. Her first thought was fire. Then a horrible premonition hit her, crushing out rational thought. She started to run, shoving through the onlookers. A uniformed officer grabbed for her arm, but she pulled away.
“Miss, you can’t go over there! This is a crime scene.”