Page 35 of Be Still My Unbeating Heart

Salvador ignored the hand. He leaned back against the bricks, head tilted up at Bastian.

“You’re just like the girl,” he rasped. “Nobody wants to listen.”

The girl.

Luna?

The name clicked. Salvador was the man Aunt Agata saw harassing Luna shortly before she died.The local nuisance who peddles fake fortunes to tourists.

Bastian’s vampire sight sharpened to take in every detail of the man. The scraggy black suit and beaten-up shoes, the lank black hair that crept over his shoulders. He was older than Bastian had anticipated, early sixties at least. Salvador’s gaze was shrewd and calculating, and by the looks of it, he hadn’t eaten a proper meal in months. He certainly had the appearance of a person existing on the fringes.

Thiswas the man who had accosted Luna?

Bastian smelled no blood on Salvador’s clothing, though, nor under his filthy nails. The man could weigh no more than 140 pounds. Killers were strong. They had to be, if they wanted to achieve their goals. So far, Salvador had ticked the box marked“creepy,” and Aunt Agata certainly wasn’t a fan, but did that make him a murderer? And why was he so desperate to talk to Bastian?

“What did you say to Luna last night?” Bastian asked. “You spoke to her right before she died. Why?”

Salvador picked at his nails. “She didn’t listen. I tried to warn her, but she didn’t listen.”

“You knew somebody was going to attack her?”

“I saw it. I see a lot of things. Like the olive lady. She didn’t believe me, either.”

“Olive lady?”

Salvador’s lips drew back. “It’s how I know that you shouldn’t be hanging around with the inspector. He’s hiding the truth from you.”

Bastian frowned. “The truth about what?”

The crooked smile returned. “That information is worth something, no?”

Bastian stared at him, wondering how Salvador knew that he knew the inspector. He must have been watching them; he must have seen Bastian with De Luca earlier that day, and now he was using that knowledge to sow seeds of doubt in Bastian’s mind.

Bastian shook his head. De Luca wasn’t hiding anything. Salvador just wanted Bastian tothinkhe was so that Bastian would pay him.

“What did you see?” Bastian asked. “What was it that you saw that made you think Luna was in danger?”

Salvador ran a purple tongue over dry lips.

“Nobody gets their fortune read for free,” he said.

“I’m not asking to havemyfortune read. I’m asking if you know who killed the girl.”

Bloodshot eyes blinked at him. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

Bastian’s hands curled into fists, and he resisted the urge to grab hold of the man and shake the truth from him. His past selfwould have done more than shake him. Frustration twisted Bastian’s fingers. A part of him wanted to hit the man. Make him bleed. Make him fear for his life.

No. Be calm. Be the cucumber in the seltzer, damn it.

“What did you mean when you said that time is running out?” Bastian asked through gritted teeth.

“The killer has struck once,” Salvador said. “Soon they will kill again. And again.”

“Why? Why are they doing this?”

Salvador grinned once more, his eyes sunken in his skull.

“That’s the big question, now, isn’t it? I want to help you, Mr. Vampire. But that help comes with a price tag.”