Page 4 of Caretaker

Chapter Two

Captain Frank Crawford called me at eleven a.m. the next morning, hours before I would normally have left my bed. Or my closet floor, as was more often the case.

“I have a job for you, Trinity,” he said.

I rubbed my eyes. “Yes?”

“You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”

I sighed. “I was asleep. What’s the job?”

“A man’s wife disappeared last night. I told him about you—that you can track humans as well as vampires. Don’t worry,” he said, as I drew a breath to berate him, “I swore him to secrecy. Not that your gift is going to remain a secret for long.”

“It’s working for me so far. I’d be overwhelmed if people knew.”

“I’m aware of that,” he said, a bit dryly. “But you’ll want to take this case.”

I yawned, then sat up and glared at the empty water bottle on my nightstand. “Why? Is he offering a million dollars for his wife’s return?”

He hesitated. “It’s Lewis Bennett’s wife.”

I stared unseeingly at the opposite wall, my heart beginning to pound. “The judge? The one who sent Angus to prison?”

“Yes.”

“That bastard won’t even talk to me. Now he wants to hire me?”

“You’re missing the point, Trinity.”

I climbed out of bed and strode to the closet, suddenly wide awake. “I’m not missing anything. I’m just saying. He’ll have to listen to me now, won’t he?” I grabbed some clothes and hurried to the bathroom. “He can keep his money. I want Angus released. That’s the deal. I find his missing wife, and he releases Angus. Tell him.”

“You’ll tell him yourself. He wants to meet with you at his house, one o’clock. You know where he lives.” Again the dry note sneaked into his tone.

Yes, I knew where the judge lived. The first few weeks after Angus had been sent away I’d haunted the street in front of Bennett’s huge, fenced home, waiting for him to come out so I could accost him.

He’d finally called the cops and had me put in jail for a night, and told me—the only time he’d condescended to speak to me—that if I bothered him again, he’d keep Angus in Byrd Penitentiary for an extra five years.

I’d left him alone.

And now he needed me.

I was too anxious to even think about breakfast or coffee, so after I showered and dressed I rushed downstairs, avoiding the various and many people in Angus’s huge house, and climbed into my car.

Twelve minutes later I was parked across from the entrance gates that kept the riffraff off the judge’s property, jumping out of my skin.

There was still an hour and fifteen minutes before the appointment, but I’d been much too keyed up to sit in the house waiting.

I climbed out of my car and paced the street, then walked to a convenience store two blocks over and picked up some gum. Time crawled.

Fifteen minutes before my appointment I leaned against the car and stared at the gates, hoping the judge would open them and let me in early. I turned when a car pulled up behind mine.

“Captain,” I said, surprised.

He beckoned through the windshield. “Get in, Sinclair. I’ll take you inside.”

I didn’t waste time getting into his car. “You didn’t tell me you were going to be here.”

He pulled up to the gates and poked at the numbers on the panel, and the gates began to open almost immediately.