Relentless (Vampire Awakenings #11) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,86
on the other side, and the door cracked open. The safety chain remained in place as she peeked out at him.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Do you know Margie Dalton?”
“No.”
“She has an apartment on the third floor.”
“I’m sorry, but the name doesn’t sound familiar. I don’t know many of the people who live here.”
“Does Arnold ever let himself into people’s apartments without their permission?”
“Of course not! Arnold’s a great guy. He wouldn’t do that unless it was an emergency.”
As Dante suspected, Arnold assumed Margie was on her cruise when he got the parts for the light. He probably believed it would be nice for her to return to a fixed switch. Instead, he stumbled across poor Margie, who was most likely Jasmine’s food source.
Dante didn’t know Jasmine, but when he found her, he would kill her.
“Is something wrong? Is Arnold okay?” the woman asked nervously.
Dante stepped closer to the door. “Everything’s fine,” he said in a soothing tone as he took control of her mind. “I was never here; you never saw me. Do you understand?”
The woman’s eyes glazed over. As much as he disliked using this power on others, he couldn’t deny it came in handy.
“I understand,” the woman said.
“Go back inside and lock the door.”
The woman closed the door, and the locks turned as he left out the back exit.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Dante tucked the rag into his pocket as he stepped onto the small roadway running along the back of the building. The narrow lane was more of a service road and, thankfully, was empty. As he walked, he pulled out his phone and pulled up Preston’s name. He hit the button and waited for Preston to answer his call while he maintained a casual pace that wouldn’t draw anyone’s attention.
He kept his head down and his face averted from any possible cameras. He couldn’t take the chance of someone seeing and identifying him later. Or worse, security cameras catching him.
“Hello,” Preston greeted after the third ring.
His drowsy voice alerted Dante that he’d been sleeping.
“Do you know a Margie Dalton?”
There was a pause as blankets rustled across the line and a click sounded. “Dan?”
“Yes. Do you know a Margie Dalton?”
“Yeah, Margie’s a good friend of Jasmine’s. Why?”
Bile churned in his stomach. If Jasmine could do that to her friend, what would she do to someone she considered an enemy? “How good of a friend?”
“They were best friends. Margie used to go out to dinner and play cards with us, and they always went shopping together. She’s human, and she doesn’t know what Jasmine is, but they’re extremely close.”
A couple of the puzzle pieces fell into place. “Are they close enough to go on a cruise together?”
“Oh, yeah. They used to talk about going on one all the time, but they never got around to it.”
So, there was no one to report Margie missing because they all thought she was on a cruise with her best friend. Her work and friends wouldn’t start to worry about her until her vacation ended.
“Why are you asking about Margie?” Preston inquired.
Choosing to ignore Preston’s question, he asked another one of his own. “How long have they been friends?”
“Jasmine told me she’d lived in the building for a few years. They bumped into each other when Jasmine was carrying in boxes, and Margie helped her. They’ve been friends ever since. Is Margie okay?”
Dante had no idea what caused Jasmine to snap like this. It couldn’t be the fact Preston dumped her if she started acting crazy while they were still together.
“Dan, is Margie okay?”
Dante didn’t know how to break it to him easy, so he ripped the Band-Aid off. “She’s dead.”
Preston sucked in a breath. “What happened?”
“Jasmine killed her.”
“No!” Preston blurted. “She wouldn’t do that! She loved Margie. They were like sisters, except they never fought. Margie was a good person; she was sweet and kind and… how do you know it was Jasmine?”
Dante glanced around to make sure he was still alone before filling Preston in on what he discovered in Margie’s apartment and what he believed happened. When he finished, stunned silence followed his words.
“What happened to her?” Preston finally whispered. “Jasmine wasn’t like this.”
“She is now, and she still has Julie. I’m pretty sure Julie’s still alive, or I would have found her body in the apartment. Can you think of anywhere she would go?”
“No.”
“This is to get back at you for whatever reason she’s concocted in her twisted brain. Is there anywhere the two of you went that you would consider a special