"The city never sleeps, old man. Be nice to me; I'm about to do you a favor."
"You can start with a f**king apology for your last message."
"Who's your witness on the serial case? The one fingering a vampire as the killer?"
"You woke me up for this? It's not my damn case. Besides, I told you—"
"Yeah, yeah. But you checked into it when I asked about it earlier. I know you. So don't tell me. I'll tell you. His name's Todd Ryder."
"How ... What the f**k, Leighton. Who the hell—"
"And what a coincidence ... Do you know the name of Patti Hammel's old boyfriend?” she asked with false enthusiasm. There was dead silence, followed by vicious swearing and the sound of movement from Eckhoff's end. Cyn smiled. “Gets around, doesn't he?"
"Where did you get this?” Eckhoff said in a low voice. “Not even Santillo would have overlooked something that obvious."
"You have to look for something to overlook it, Dean. Santillo heard what he wanted to hear. You want my info or not?"
"Shit. Yes, dammit. And don't even tell me where you got it."
"Okay,” she said cheerfully, then passed on every detail she'd discovered, from her nameless lost-boy witness to Todd Ryder's vampire obsession, his nice car and his rental unit. “I've got the specifics on the web sites and his rental unit in my voice mail. I'll forward it on to you when we hang up, and I only want one thing in return for all of my effort on behalf of the LAPD."
"Yeah? What's that?” he asked sourly.
"Jeez, Dean. I think I'm owed something here!"
"Fine, fine. What?"
"I want to know why he did it. I want ten minutes in a room with him after the arrest."
Eckhoff was silent. “Just you, right, not—"
Cyn laughed. “I'm not going to kill your suspect, Eckhoff. Ten minutes, that's all I ask. Off the record, of course."
Eckhoff sighed deeply. “Why're you doing this, Cyn? You could cause some trouble here, if you wanted. Santillo and his friends hurt your boy, why not hurt them back?"
"Because, contrary to what all of you seem to think, I still believe in the law, boss. And all I really want is to stop this a**hole before he kills someone else."
"I'm getting all teary eyed here, grasshopper."
"And that's my cue to hang up. Remember your promise."
Chapter Forty
Houston, Texas
Jabril stepped out of his shower, toweling off quickly before donning the silken robe left hanging behind the door. He wrapped it around himself, enjoying the touch of it against his bare skin. No point in getting dressed. Not yet. He was trying out a new slave tonight—someone to replace his old favorite. She was proving more difficult to replace than he would have expected, which only told him it was past time he'd gotten rid of her. It was never good to become attached to a blood slave. They existed to serve him, nothing more.
He strolled back into the bedroom, admiring the new furniture. His staff had been admirably quick in refitting this room; he was quite pleased.
A knock sounded at the door. “Just in time,” he murmured. “Come,” he called out.
"My lord.” Asim slipped inside the room in his usual sneaky way. The vampire never fully opened a door and walked through, but rather opened it just enough that he could slide through the gap.
Jabril frowned. “I wasn't expecting you, Asim."
"No, my lord, but I've news of Elizabeth that I thought you would want to hear."
Jabril felt a rush of avaricious pleasure. “She has been found then. She is secured?"