Alex sighed and drummed her fingers on top of the workstation at which she sat. “He’s a collector. Yes, he makes these dolls, but the dolls themselves aren’t that important to him. If they were, he wouldn’t have given up even one of them. The dolls are vessels. It’s the souls that matter. He’s collecting them so there has to be a reason for it, something beyond just feeding off the residual energy.” She stopped drumming her fingers. “Reyes, the doll left with Mindy’s car, was it damaged in some way?”
“Yeah, a hairline fracture in the back of the porcelain head,” he answered. “It was partially obscured by the wig but I noticed one tail end of it along the neck where the head joins the body.”
“So the doll was damaged and no longer capable of containing a soul,” Freddy said.
“That would be my guess.” Alex stifled a yawn. The lack of sleep from the previous night was starting to catch up to her. She propped her chin on the palm of her hand and rested her elbow on the workstation. “Porcelain heads and bodies made of human skin aren’t easy to make. He’s not doing it in a weekend. He’s taking his time with them.”
“Maybe he takes his time with the victims as well,” Varik said. “If preserving a soul is that important to him, he’d probably want to spend time with the victim.”
“It’s possible.” Alex’s eyes drooped and closed behind her sunglasses. Sleep tugged at her consciousness and made her body feel heavy. “We should call Doc Hancock and ask if he’s finished the autopsy on our Jane Doe from the salvage yard. If we can establish an identity and time of death, I think—”
“I think it’s probably best if we take a break and grab some food,” Varik interrupted. “We’re all hungry. I’ve heard Freddy’s stomach grumbling for the past ten minutes. We can pick this up in an hour or two.”
For once, Alex didn’t argue. She was tired but as soon as he mentioned food, her stomach rumbled to remind her she hadn’t eaten since that morning. She reluctantly allowed Varik to help her to her feet and guide her down the steps of the mobile lab. The November air was much colder now than when they arrived and she leaned into him for added warmth as they traversed the parking lot in silence.
They slowed and she assumed they were close to Varik’s Corvette.
Varik sighed. “Alex, I’m sorry about earlier, with Morgan. I should’ve told you about our past relationship when you told me she was coming here.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I couldn’t. We were on-scene and with everything that happened afterward—I don’t know what you want me to say, Alex. You expect me to be either some squeaky-clean schoolboy without a past or to bare my soul to you and fill you in on all the dirty, gory details. Well, I’m not and I can’t.”
“I know you have a past, Varik, and it’s trying to kill me.”
“That’s not fair, and you know it.”
“Fair?” she scoffed. “You want to talk about what’s fair? You keep saying I should tell you everything because we’re bond-mates, but you’re not willing to do the same. And you wonder why I have a hard time trusting you?”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?” she shouted. “I hear that a lot, too, but ever since you showed up I’ve been shot, beaten up, possessed, and blinded, and yet you haven’t offered one single scrap of evidence that suggests I need protection from anything other than you!”
Her voice echoed across the parking lot, and Alex realized what she’d said. She reached for him, clutching at his shirt. “Varik, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
She expected him to shy away but he took both her hands in his and pulled her into an embrace. “Yes, you did.”
She shook her head. “No, I—”
He silenced her with a kiss.
Alex returned the kiss, pressing herself to him as if she could take back her words and soothe the pain she’d inflicted in a single act.
Varik broke the kiss and touched his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
When she tried to protest, he touched a finger to her lips.
“I haven’t been completely honest with you about my past, about Morgan, about Edward—a lot of things—but baby, you have to understand. There are people in my past who wouldn’t hesitate to use you to get to me. I have to keep some secrets because