that would suggest Tate thought he had it coming?”
“Not that I’m aware of, but I’m not privy to the entire file. It’s in the CPD servers, and I’d have to, you know, sneak around in there to take a look.”
He paused silently for a moment, as if waiting for me to object to the possibility that he’d hack the servers to get information on a case. But if it weren’t for Mayor Kowalcyzk, Tate wouldn’t have escaped, so I didn’t really feel that bad.
“Do what you need to do,” I said at Luc’s nod, absolving Jeff of any vampire-related trouble.
“Will do,” he said. “I’ll do some looking and get back in touch. In the meantime, be careful. Maybe I’m wrong, but it looks like Tate’s clearing the slate. I’d advise anyone who’s been in contact with him to keep an eye out.”
Unfortunately, he was probably right. That made Gabriel (my second-favorite shifter, although I’d never confess it to him) my next phone call.
“Can you spare a moment?” I asked him, skipping the niceties.
“If it’s a quick one. What’s news, Kitten?”
“A former colleague of Tate’s is dead. Murdered earlier today, as were four people who were around him at the time. It was a pretty gruesome scene, and we think Tate might have been involved.”
“Why’s that?”
“He’s the only one who showed up on the security camera. He and the victim had a connection, so there’s a theory Tate’s visiting old friends. Mallory is one of those friends, at least theoretically, so you might want to consider doubling up on big guys with guns.”
“Noted,” Gabriel said.
Finally, since Paige hadn’t yet made it back to the House, I gave her a quick call.
“You’re a master researcher,” I said. “Do you think you’d be able to try to figure out what Tate is and how we can stop him?”
“It’s a nice idea,” she said, “but as you know, I’m down a thousand books or so.”
Oh, but I could solve that problem. “You leave that to me. Just get to the House when you can.”
If there was one thing I had in full supply, it was books. And somewhere, in our stacks and stacks of them, had to be the answers we were looking for.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LOST AND FOUND
If there was murder to be solved, might as well make the best of it. It was logical to presume that I’d be spending the remainder of the evening at work—either in the Ops Room or in the library. Calling in takeout for the crew was the least I could do.
Fortunately, the House’s foxy chef, with tiger brown eyes and a bob of dark hair that curved into a point across her forehead, was a friend of mine. Margot was pinup curvy and a lot of fun, and as head of the House’s culinary department, the one to ask for food-related favors.
She was also responsible for stocking the kitchens with Mallocakes. How could you not like a girl who did that?
The kitchen was located at the back of the House’s first floor, just past Ethan’s office. I found Margot leaning against a commercial-sized stainless-steel refrigerator, arms crossed over her white chef’s jacket as she watched the activities in her kitchen with amusement.
The grill and prep areas were alight with activity, as the rest of the staff cheered on a man and woman who were sweating over sauté pans filled with what looked like asparagus.
I sidled up to Margot. “What’s going on?”
She smiled. “We’re having an entrée competition. T.J. and Alice get two ingredients, and they have to make an edible entrée we could actually serve in the cafeteria. Edible,” she repeated, slowly and loudly, so the staff and contestants could hear.
She glanced at me. “What can I do for you?”
“Darius is here. Are you making a big dinner for him and Ethan?”
Margot grinned at me. “Wouldn’t you know better than anyone what Ethan’s plans are?”
Not tonight, I thought. “Actually, I don’t, but this isn’t about Ethan. It’s for the guard crew. I was thinking we might cater in, if you’re not whipping up something exotic for Darius.”
She snorted. “When it comes to food, he doesn’t want exotic. He wants simple and very, very specific.” She reached out and grabbed a clipboard that hung from a wall peg. “Charlie faxed this over last night. It’s Darius’s hospitality rider.”
Charlie was Darius’s majordomo, and a hospitality rider was a list of demands and snacks a band required at a concert venue.
“How long is Darius going to be here that he needs