It was a busy day of classes, quizzes, and discussion groups, and Claire was grateful for the afternoon break when it finally arrived. She felt stupid, dressed in her long-sleeved tee, but it was the only thing she had that could hide the bracelet, and she desperately wanted to hide it. So far, so good. Eve hadn't noticed, Shane hadn't been awake they'd left for school. No sign of Michael, either. She'd gotten desperate last night and tried a couple of ways to break it -- scissors, then a pair of rusty old bolt-cutters from the basement -- but she broke the blade on the scissors, and the bolt-cutters were clumsy and slid right off the metal. She couldn't do it alone, and she couldn't ask for help.
Can't hide it forever.
Well, she could try.
Claire headed for the U. C. And the coffee bar, and she found Eve harassed, pink-cheeked under the rice powder makeup, all alone behind the counter. "Where's Amy?" Claire asked, and handed over three dollars for a mocha. "I thought she was working all week?"
"Yeah, no kidding, me too. I called my boss, but he's sick and so's Kim, so it's just me today. Not enough coffee in the world to make this easy. " Eve blew hair from her sweaty forehead and zipped over to the espresso machine, where she pulled shots. "Ever have one of those dreams where you're running and everybody else is standing still, but you can't catch up?"
"No, " Claire said. "Usually mine are about being naked in class. "
Eve grinned. "For that, you get a free caramel shot. Go sit down. I don't need you hovering like the rest of these vultures. "
Claire claimed a study desk and spread out her books, got her mocha when Eve called her name, and yawned as she cracked open Last Will and Testament again. She'd spent most of the night memorizing the symbols, but they were tricky. She'd gotten all of the Egyptian ones down, but these were a whole lot less straightforward, and she had the sense that Myrnin wouldn't be too forgiving of mistakes.
A shadow fell over her book. She looked up and saw Detective Travis Lowe, and his partner, Joe Hess, standing close behind him. She knew both of them pretty well; they'd helped her during that crazy time when Shane's dad had been skulking around Morganville, trying to kill vampires (and succeeding). They didn't wear bracelets, and they weren't Protected; as she understood it, they'd earned some kind of special status. She wasn't sure how they'd managed that, but it had to be something really brave.
"Morning, Claire, " Hess said, and pulled up a chair. Lowe did the same. They weren't all that similar in body types -- Hess was tall and kind of wiry, with a long face; Lowe was chubby and balding. But the expressions in their eyes were identical -- careful, hidden, wary. "How have you been?"
"Fine, " she said, and resisted the nearly overwhelming urge to touch her bracelet, fiddle with it. She looked from one to the other, feeling less secure all the time. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"
"Yeah, " Lowe said. "You could say that. Look, Claire, there's --I'm sorry to tell you this, but there was a dead girl out back of your house. She was found this morning by the trash collectors. "
A dead girl? Claire swallowed hard. "Who is she?"
"Amy Callum, " Hess said. "She's a local girl. Family lives just a few blocks from you. Her people are pretty broken up about it. " He shifted his gaze toward the coffee bar. "She worked here. "
Amy? Coffee Bar Amy? Oh no ... "I knew her, " Claire said faintly. "She worked with Eve. She was supposed to be here today. Eve was saying -- " Eve. Claire looked over and saw that Eve was still chattering away brightly, filling orders, taking cash. They hadn't told her yet. "You're sure it was our house?"