Frustration and fear swirled through me. "I wanted to see the reports so I can read them myself. If I'd simply needed questions answered, I would have asked them."
Step warily, Risa, Azriel warned. I do not think it wise to be too antagonistic toward Hunter in front of her peers.
Once again my gaze flicked across the three, and I had the sudden sensation of snakes about to strike. I shivered.
"There are no files, Risa. Every report comes to me verbally. As I've said, I will not risk this investigation—or these clubs—becoming a matter of public knowledge."
I crossed my arms, but resisted the urge to rub the chill from them. "Okay, did all five victims come from a similar social and economic background?"
"No."
I waited, but she wasn't forthcoming with any further information. Which was damn annoying given that they supposedly wanted this case solved, and wanted my help to do it.
A slight smile teased her lips. The bitch might not be reading my mind, but she was certainly reading my reactions to this whole situation and enjoying them. And while she wanted my help to find the keys and—to a lesser extent, it seemed—to hunt down this killer, she was also very much a cat toying with a mouse it might yet decide to eat.
If the three council members didn't devour me first.
"The first two victims had high-profile jobs in the advertising industry," she drawled eventually. "The third was little more than a pen pusher in the local government's vampire affairs department. The last two were living off charity."
"If the first two victims were high profile, why did they come to a place like this? You've inferred this is not one of your more up-market blood whore clubs."
"It isn't," Marshall said. "But there are some who do not wish their addiction to be known in the wider vampire community, and so they attend clubs that they would otherwise consider beneath them."
Vamps like the first two victims might not want their addiction known, but in coming to this particular club, they'd served that information up to Hunter on a silver platter. And I had no doubt that she would use it to her own advantage. "How long has each of the victims been addicted?"
"All five were long-term addictives."
"Define ‘long-term.'"