Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,138

a car was just too mundane.

Newman crossed to stand by our vehicles, hands on hips, hat in his hand as if it had become too heavy. “Jesus,” Newman said, “I fucking hate this case.”

“It’s got all the awfulness of both regular police work and the supernatural,” I said.

“Incest. Fuck, I do not want to put that in my report. If Bobby has to die and Ray’s already dead, I do not want that following them to the grave.”

“Jocelyn doesn’t need that following her around the rest of her life either,” Edward said.

“They aren’t actually related to each other,” I said.

The two of them looked at me.

“Legally it’s not incest,” I said.

“I double-checked—Bobby was seven and Jocelyn was only five years old when her mother married Ray. They have been raised as brother and sister. Jocelyn probably doesn’t even remember a time when Bobby wasn’t her brother,” Newman said.

“So, you will simply accept that the woman is telling the truth because she cried?” Olaf asked.

I looked at him. “Are you saying she smelled like she was lying?”

“Yes and no.”

“What does that mean?” Edward asked.

“She was disgusted with Bobby. She does not feel for him what he feels for her, but she also smelled like truth when she said she killed her father.”

“Can you blame her for thinking she killed him?” I asked.

Olaf stared down at me and finally said, “If her version is true, then I can see why she might feel guilty.”

Edward said, “But you said that Bobby is telling the truth, too.”

Olaf nodded. “He believes what he says. There is no doubt or lie in him when he speaks of the love between himself and his sister.”

“Is he delusional?” Newman asked.

“That’s for a court-appointed therapist to say,” Edward said.

“If Bobby were human, then we’d get him in to be interviewed by professionals, but he’s a wereleopard. There won’t be any doctors doing talk therapy with him,” I said.

Newman leaned against the side of his Jeep, head down. “Jesus, have I been wrong all along? Did Bobby kill Ray?”

I went to him, touched his arm. “I’m sorry, Newman, but if the friend and the cook corroborate Jocelyn’s story, then no judge is going to give another extension on the execution.”

He looked at me with anguish in his eyes. “But did Bobby do it? Does he deserve to die?”

“If he was delusional, then he may not remember killing his father.”

“Which means when I shoot him, he’ll beg for his life, and he will believe that he’s innocent and I’m killing him for nothing.”

“I’m sorry, Newman,” I said. It seemed so inadequate, but sometimes it’s the best you have to offer.

He started to cry then, and though it was against all the male rules of cop life I hugged him, and because it was Newman, he hugged me back. I held him in the parking lot while he curled all that six feet plus of police officer around me and wept. He cried his grief out now, so maybe, just maybe, he could do his job later.

46

WHEN NEWMAN CALMED down a little, Edward tried to take over from me. Newman didn’t hug him like he had me. Maybe it was a guy thing or a girl thing? Edward tried to get him thinking about calling the cook and the friend who was Jocelyn’s alibi, and seeing if we could set up an interview ASAP. I thought it was interesting that Jocelyn had told only the one girlfriend, Marcy, about Bobby molesting her. Why not tell both? We’d find out. But in the end Newman asked me if I could catch a ride back to the sheriff’s office with Ted and Otto.

“I may drop by the house and check on Haley, but I won’t be long.”

“Sure, Newman, whatever you need.”

He nodded, managed a weak smile, then went for his Jeep. Edward ushered Olaf and me toward his SUV.

“Who is Haley?” Olaf asked.

“His fiancée,” I said.

Olaf scowled so hard his sunglasses couldn’t hide it. “Women make a man weak.”

“I’m not sure he’s really going home,” I said.

“He wanted some time to himself,” Edward said.

“Why did he not simply say that?”

“Pride,” I said.

“Everyone in the car,” Edward said, “in case he just goes straight back to the sheriff’s office.”

“I would respect Newman more if he hadn’t used the woman in his life as an excuse,” Olaf said as he opened the driver’s-side back door. He was going to sit behind Edward, just as I’d asked him to do on the drive over. It was nice