competitive."
"With you?" I said.
"Yeah."
"I like a woman who can keep up with me," Pride said.
Claudia looked across me at him, and I watched her look at him. "I had you pegged for a competitive bastard," she said.
"I like to be the best, but I don't have to win."
"I'll keep that in mind," she said, and her voice sounded thoughtful.
I had a very alien urge to match-make. I didn't do that, ever, but suddenly it seemed like such fun. If Claudia hadn't hinted that she had a steady lover, I'd have pushed it, but it was too new a thought. I wanted to have more information before I did anything stupid, or helpful. I let it go, as Pride and Claudia both reached for the door at the same time. They glared at each other.
"See," she said.
He gave a small bow and stepped back, letting her hold the door open for me. His handsome face was that arrogant, almost angry, beauty that he wore as his blank cop face. Whatever he was feeling, he didn't want to share.
I went through the door, leaving Claudia looking at him as if she'd never quite seen him before. In the midst of catching bad guys maybe we could have a little romance, and for once, it wouldn't be mine. Cool.
Chapter Forty-Five
CLAUDIA AND PRIDE had to hand their weapons over, and the nice desk officer locked them away for them. Claudia had gone through this once before; that time I'd passed it off as two girls going out for some shopping and range time, and then I got that emergency call. This time I couldn't pretend that they were anything but what they were: bodyguards, my bodyguards.
Zerbrowski pulled out a chair so that Claudia could have a seat by his desk. He made suitably lecherous comments to her. She stood up and looked down on him, way down on him, since he was five-eight. She gave him her best glare, until he grinned and teased her until her mouth quirked and she almost smiled.
She looked across the room at me. "He doesn't mean a damn word of it, does he?"
I shook my head. "Nope."
"Hey," Zerbrowski said, "I resent that, I mean everything I say. I am a pervert, I swear!" He raised his hand like he was about to be sworn into court.
We both laughed at him. He grinned at us, and it was just Zerbrowski.
Pride actually got invited to sit with Detective Tammy Reynolds, Larry's wife. I'd been surprised at first, but Tammy hadn't been as mean to me as Larry was, partly because she'd been gone for a while. Tammy was a natural witch, a psychic, and the Church had made room for people like her as a kind of holy warrior. They used their abilities to help the Church defeat Satan in all his forms. A lot of the witches went into police or social work. She'd taken a year of maternity leave with their daughter, and then gotten transferred to the Preternatural Branch at the FBI. She'd only been back a few weeks.
Her long brown hair was pulled back into a sensible ponytail. Her skirt suit was brown with a white button-down shirt, as sensible as the hair and lack of makeup. She was still pretty, but the clothes wouldn't have flattered anyone. She was five-eight to her husband's five-four, and I'd always liked that she hadn't had a problem being taller than Larry.
Dolph had sort of loomed behind me. Claudia had stood to shake his hand, which made Pride come over and do it, too. It was nice to see a woman who was so close to Dolph's six-eight. Pride looked small beside them, which made me smile. Did I feel tiny standing there with them all? A little, but I was used to it.
Dolph took me back so I could get a look on the video at our supposed human servant, before I went into the interrogation room. "See if you can tell anything from a distance," he said.
I looked at the grainy black-and-white image. The man sat very still, hands folded on the table in front of him. He had short, dark hair, cut very traditionally. His shirt was white and button-down, top button open, no tie. His suit jacket looked black or true navy; either way the clothing was dark and conservative. There was a glass of water sitting by his hand. He never touched it. He sat, he blinked, and he waited.
"He looks almost too ordinary,"