that—” I held up a finger, “—if you agree to do the same.”
“I can do that.” He stuck out his arm. “Partners?”
“No.” Cass swatted his wrist. “She’s my partner, and you can’t have her.”
I stifled a snort at her territorial display, which earned me a hard stare from Cass and a smile from Boaz.
“Poor choice of words,” he amended, honoring my overprotective best friend’s claim on me. “How about we all agree to keep in touch with one another and not sweat the labels?”
“Works for me.” I regretted, a little bit, not having the excuse to hold his hand again. “Cass?”
“I won’t have to stay in touch,” she said loftily, “because I’m not leaving your side.”
A buzzing sound filled the room, and Boaz reached for his phone. “Pritchard.”
The slight tilt of Cass’s head confirmed she would hear every word and report to me later.
Holding up a finger, at her or me or both of us, Boaz mashed the speaker button and set his phone on the table between us. “Go ahead.”
“Angelo Willis didn’t make it,” said a woman’s smoky voice. “I just got the official word.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Clan Willis is reeling from the loss of two members.” She exhaled. “Things are about to get ugly.”
A subtler buzz drew my eye to Cass, who frowned at her phone. I raised my eyebrows in question, but she shook her head and jerked her chin toward Boaz’s cell.
“Thanks for the update, Honey.”
“No problem.” She hesitated. “I heard a rumor your lady friend might be involved.”
“Oh?”
“I can keep it quiet for a few hours, maybe, but you’re going to have to bring her in to make a statement. Her presence at the scene, plus her relationship to you, will make the brass twitchy otherwise.”
A quiver in my gut made me sick to think how close I was to all this blowing up in my—and Dad’s—face. He was a proper Southern gentleman and would be horrified by his daughter’s proclivities.
“I’ll take her statement.” He flicked his gaze up to mine. “But I want her name redacted.”
“That’s not going to fly, and you know it. You’re hardly impartial.”
“Then you come take the statement.”
“Anyone who knows us knows I’m hardly impartial where you’re concerned either.”
Fingers twitching like he wanted to mute the call, Boaz made a fist to steady them. “How about Parker?”
“I’ll see what I can do, but it won’t be tonight. Use the time between now and dusk to get your stories straight. I’ve got a video meeting with the heads of various investigative units in thirty. I don’t expect it to wrap up anytime soon.” She exhaled. “I’ll issue a temporary gag order. It won’t hold long, but it will stick for twenty-four hours. Tomorrow, I’ll ask Parker to go with me to get Adelaide’s statement. We can bring Abernathy and park him in the car. They’re the only two who overheard Ms. Nunez, as far as I know.”
“All right.”
The call ended, and Boaz found plenty of places to look that weren’t at me.
Cass, of course, waded into the breach. “Honey?”
“Jessica Honeywell.”
“And you two were an item?”
“For about a week, a few years back.”
“And you trust this fling to handle Addie like a dirty little secret?”
Boaz looked ready to spit nails at her tone, but he held his temper in check despite her poking at him.
“Honey is good people,” he said. “She’s also the lead on this case. We sell her on Addie’s innocence, and the sentinels will back off. They might take a harder look at you—hell, even me—in light of these new points of connection, but I can take it. Can you?”
Anger was an emotion Cass respected. It was honest, she always said. Not always deserved, but still.
“Selling Addie’s innocence?” Cass wet her lips, diffusing the tension. “That sounds downright lascivious.”
“That’s…not what I said.” Boaz cast her a dry glance, willing to play along. “Bad vampire.”
Maybe they wouldn’t kill each other after all. It would definitely make my life simpler if they got along.
“You have no idea,” she purred, reeling herself in as she checked her phone. “Oh, no.”
Her pallor set my gut roiling, and I leaned closer. “What’s wrong?”
“If the pattern holds, the killer has chosen his next victim.”
“Who?” Boaz demanded, rising from his chair. “We need to move while the lead’s fresh.”
“Ari Willis,” she rasped. “Her mate, Demaryius, the clan master, texted me.”
“Cass?” I touched her arm. “What did he say?”
“She’s missing.”
And this close to dawn, there was nothing they could do about it.
Thirteen
Boaz had earned a reputation