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“And she vanished, right?”
“Right. And her insurance information turned out to be fraudulent.”
Yugi flipped through the file folder, and I realized it was the same one that they had created for the first accident. “We have here that you told us her name was Eisha te Kana. Here’s the information she gave you for her phone and address, but it says that her info checked out as fake.”
“Right. She disappeared, and nobody ever contacted me to tell me if they’d found her.”
“We didn’t. She just vanished into nowhere.” Yugi looked up as Nerissa and my sisters entered the room.
They flocked around me like a group of mother hens, crowding Roman out. I was too rattled to hear what they were all saying, so I held up my hands.
“One at a time. Please.” Suddenly feeling as if all the wind had left my sails, I drooped. “I’m tired. I know vamps aren’t supposed to get tired, but I am. I’m weary and stressed and shaky.”
Camille motioned to the chairs. “Everybody, sit down and shut up. Let Menolly take the lead. She’s all right, we can see that much, so back off and give her some space.”
Grateful, I waited till they had sorted themselves out. Nerissa vanished for a moment and brought back a box of doughnuts. Camille and Delilah each accepted raspberry-filled pastries, while Nerissa bit into a chocolate-covered cake doughnut. As they listened, I told them what had happened. Recounting it didn’t take any of the horror away, nor did spelling out the connection we thought there might be with Eisha te Kana.
“So is your car totally trashed?” Delilah winced as she asked. She knew how much I loved my Jag.
In answer, I pulled out my phone and showed her the pictures I’d taken before driving back to headquarters. The crumpled metal, crushed in on itself, was shocking. That I’d been right in the middle of it was worse.
“Oh, great gods.” Delilah motioned to Camille, who peeked over her shoulder. “If it had been Camille or me, we wouldn’t have walked out of that alive, I think. Oh, Menolly, your Jag.”
“I damned near didn’t walk out of there. A dozen spears of metal could have skewered me—or the gas tank could have blown. The only reason my attacker fled was because of the sirens.”
At that point, Yugi got a call. After a moment, he hung up. “I’m betting she left the tracer bug in your bag.”
“If she left that, did she leave anything else?” Now I was worried. “And why an accident?”
“Maybe because you aren’t always accessible? We speculated that one before. It’s hard to sneak up on a vampire. But a wreck? Can conceivably kill one. And that night—Eisha may have been armed to take you out another way if the accident didn’t work, but you had already called the cops. Do you think she was driving the Hummer?” Delilah flipped open her laptop and began tapping away.
“I don’t think so, but I have no idea.” Pausing, I frowned and turned to Nerissa. “Can you ask Yugi about whatever it was you wanted to talk to Chase about? For our unexpected guests?”
She blinked. “I hadn’t thought of that, but yeah, I might as well. Yugi?”
He glanced over at her. “Yes?”
“Can I speak to you in private for a moment?” She led him out of the room.
I slid back in my chair, stretching out my legs. “I have to buy a new car.” That was the first thing that crossed my mind. Then, “If I was bugged, have you guys been targeted, too?”
Camille and Delilah immediately emptied their purses and sorted through. Delilah’s was easy—keys, compact, candy bars, phone, and notepad. Camille’s was like the jumble from hell. But she went through everything and, finally, shook her head.
“Nothing in mine either. I wonder why they tried the same tactic twice.”
“I wasn’t expecting it. Puts them at arm’s length—a safer place to be with a vampire. This time, they used a bigger vehicle. And it probably would have worked if the cruiser hadn’t spotted it and put on the sirens.”
Camille set down the rest of her second doughnut. “I have a theory.”
“Wait till Yugi gets back. I’m too tired to rehash things over and over.”
We sat in silence until he returned, followed by Nerissa. By the look on her beaming face, whatever the conversation was, it had been successful.
“Yugi can hide our guests. Don’t ask where, but he and Chase can squirrel them into hiding for a while.” She winked at me. “See, I’m good for something!”
The comment was in jest, but it still stung. I winced. “I never, ever have implied you aren’t.”
“I was just joking.” She stared at me, then both of us dropped our gazes. Too much stress, too little sleep, and some unresolved nebulous issues made for a volatile combo, and not one to dive into when we were in our current states.
