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Feeling weirdly alone, I closed and locked the door and headed to the hospital.
* * *
Mara Shay was already standingin the hall outside our victim’s room when I arrived, and I went straight up to her. Her navy pantsuit was a tad wrinkled, but the bright coral of her mask matched her shirt and a pair of enamel earrings, so she probably wasn’t as out of it today as I was.
“Shay.”
“Hart,” she inclined her head by way of a greeting. “Parikh call you in?”
I nodded in reply. “He thinks this might link to the Chester case.” Because Daria Chester had been the first victim we’d found, we put her name first on the case file. I wasn’t about to use the “vamp-murder” epithet that had become popularized around the precinct because if anyone overheard it, we might have a full-scale panic on our hands. The last thing I wanted to do right now was spur more anti-Nid violence, whether targeted at vampires or anybody else.
“Seems like a logical assumption,” Shay replied, the muscles of her face tight.
“How is our victim?” I asked.
Shay blew out a breath. “She’ll recover, according to the doctors. They’re not too pleased about us wanting to talk to her, though.” She fixed me with a sharp glare from grey eyes. “Try not to be a complete dick to the poor woman, Hart.”
That stung a little, but I get it. I’m a dick. I’d like to think I knew better—and had enough self-control—to not be a total asshole to a kidnapping-and-vamp-attack victim, but… It wouldn’t be the first time I put my foot in my mouth and regretted it.
“The plan is to let you do most of the talking,” I told Shay, and she nodded once before tucking a stray strand of blonde-streaked brown hair behind one ear. It was growing out from her pixie cut, and kept sneaking its way into her face.
“Appreciated.”
“Parikh letting you take point?” I asked. I needed to know if this was still an RPD case or if it had become federal.
“Not really,” Shay answered. “We’re waiting for him to come back before we do the interview.”
“From where?”
“The bathroom, if you must know,” Raj’s voice said from behind me. “And we were just waiting on you, so let’s go.”
Raj led the way, and I let Shay go next, figuring that Bettina Chisolm would be more comfortable with a shifter and another woman than with some random elf.
When I saw her, it became immediately clear that Chisolm could more than handle her own against pretty much anyone, which explained how she’d somehow fended off a vampire.
Don’t get me wrong. Shifters are incredibly strong and incredibly tough. The fact that we only had two out of six survivors—Taavi and now Bettina Chisolm—said a lot more about the brutality of the crime than the toughness of its victims. That said, Chisolm looked like she could probably match Doc Manning in an arm-wrestling competition, or she could have before a vampire had gone to town on her throat.
The bandaging stood out starkly against her walnut skin, a few smallish spots of bright red already soaking through the gauze. Her head was shaved—professionally, not by the hospital—and one ear sported additional bandaging where it looked like an earring had been torn out. The other still had a few small gold hoops around the upper edge.
But what made her intimidating was the combination of her absolutely furious expression and the size of the biceps that pushed against the fabric of her blue-and-green patterned hospital gown.
I certainly didn’t want to get into a fight with this woman, because while I do know how to handle myself, I was pretty sure she’d mop the fucking floor with me.
“Ms. Chisolm,” Raj addressed her, his voice low and soothing. “I’m Agent Parikh, and these are Detectives Shay and Hart. I know you’ve been through a lot today, but we’re hoping you can help us by telling us everything you can remember about what happened to you.”
Her dark eyes searched his.
Raj ducked his head slightly, blinking once, slowly.
Weird.
It must have been some sort of shifter thing, since she immediately relaxed.
Shay shot me a confused look, and I shrugged.
When she spoke, Bettina Chisolm’s voice was raspy and raw, and I winced a little. But both her words and gaze were steady—and angry. “I dropped my sister off for the early bus to Charlottesville,” she said. “Almost nobody there this morning. A couple college kids. Taniya and me. The bus pulled away, and I went to get a coffee.”
“Where did you go for coffee, Ms. Chisolm?” Raj asked.
