Sisters! How was she ever going to explain this to her sisters?

Wait. She couldn’t explain it to them. Rhea and Sondra had to be kept in the dark just like everyone else. Just like Jimmy. Jimmy was in danger just being around her but at least he could take care of himself to a certain degree. Her sisters, both of whom were teachers, had no training or anything. She could not see them again until this was all cleared up. She simply couldn’t risk their well-being.

The waitress returned with their drinks and both she and Jimmy ordered their favorite pho. She preferred chicken in her pho along with a ton of vegetables. Mrs. Pho’s was completely organic, one of the reasons why she enjoyed it so much.

The knot in her belly tightened and she began to wonder if she’d be able to eat once her food came. But she had to. Jimmy was already noticing odd things about her behavior. Lack of appetite from a woman known to eat anyone under the table would certainly stand out.

“Jimmy, will you go over some hand-to-hand with me later?”

“Plan on getting into a fight?”

“No. I just have this feeling like I should get a refresher course under my belt. Get back into top shape.”

“A feeling, eh? What brought this on? Is someone harassing you? Is that what this is all about?”

“No one’s harassing me. Geez, Jimmy, will you stop it. The only one harassing me is you! Now will you help me or not? I can just as easily ask one or two of the young bucks fresh off the street to do it.”

“Those jackasses? They couldn’t wrestle their way out of a paper bag,” Jimmy said with a wolfish grin. “You know I’ll always help you out. We’re partners. I’m here for you. No matter what you need, whenever you need it.”

Renee smiled at that. Jimmy was so sincere it touched her. He was a good man and she was putting him in danger. True, he was a cop and he knew his life was on the line at any given moment. But they weren’t on the street any longer. Jimmy too would have let his senses dull. Although, Jimmy did keep himself in top condition—better than she did—but working out and working smart were two totally different things.

Their pho came and they both began to eat, Jimmy slurping his noodles like an enthusiastic child. Renee chuckled at his antics. She relaxed just a little, but she continued to let her eyes drift over the crowd.

“So are you going after Grovener hard or are you going to be his friend?”

“I’m going to go at him hard. We played friends last time and he did nothing but lie to me. He thinks he’s getting away with murder. He’s in for a rude awakening.”

“Last time he wanted to know what we knew,” Jimmy said. “Him coming in…I think he thinks he’s getting another shot at learning what we know. And this time I’m happy to tell him. We have a witness. We have a weapon.”

“What kind of idiot kills someone in front of his girlfriend and thinks he’s going to get away with it?”

“He thinks he has her completely under his thumb. And he was right. Until he decided to beat her up two nights ago. We’ll put her in protective custody and she’ll testify against him.”

“I know we told her that we wouldn’t charge her as an accessory after the fact for cooperating, but we don’t have enough to charge her with accessory anyway. She was only supposed to get rid of the gun. Lucky for us she didn’t. Now we have it. And now we have him. It’s all over for Mr. Grovener. And I for one am going to be delighted to tell him so.”

Jimmy and Renee finished their pho, continuing to talk about the Grovener case until they were outside in the cold.

“What about this Cooper murder? What are you thinking?”

“Still too soon to tell anything. Let’s start calling in his closest family and see if they know of anyone with really sharp teeth who might have had it in for Arnie.”

“This is going to be one for the mystery books.”

She laughed. “Jimmy, it’s one for the history books. Not mystery.”

“No, this is one for the mystery books. ’Cause frankly it makes for a good mystery. The Mystery of the Vampire.”

She groaned. “Jimmy, let’s not talk about vampires in this case, okay? I don’t want some idiot from the papers overhearing you and suddenly there are headlines about vampire killers.”

“You’re right. Of course. Sorry. We both know it’s not a vampire—just someone who thinks he is one. Although, he did get it wrong. Isn’t it supposed to be the side of the neck? Why the back? It’s a pretty awkward place to reach if you’re face-to-face. And our murderer probably didn’t expect he was going to scare old Arnie into a heart attack.”

“Whoever it is, he’s still guilty of murder, no matter how unintentional it may have been.”

And perhaps it had been unintentional. Maybe it was a lawful vampire who had unexpectedly caused a heart attack in his victim. But then, if that was the case, why would a lawful vampire be attacking someone in the cold light of day? No. Only someone careless and desperate would risk revealing everything about the vampires to the public.

But maybe that’s part of the sycophants’ plans. Maybe they were trying to out the entire vampire race.

But what good would that do them? What purpose would it serve? Humans would very likely turn on vampires the moment they found out about them. They often feared what they could not control or understand. That fear would lead to violence.

“So when we get back I’ll start calling his next of kin. We’ll arrange for the interviews to take place around four. We should be done with Grovener by then.”

“Great. We’ll catch this guy,” Renee said, even though she was pretty sure they wouldn’t. If anyone was going to catch him, it would be Rafe’s people. And only they would have the capability of bringing that person to justice.

They made it back to the precinct without incident and Renee breathed a little easier. Rafe probably would have a fit if he found out she had gone out. But she had promised him to stay in a crowd and Mrs. Pho’s had definitely been crowded.

As the afternoon wore on, she got back into her usual groove. She put Tommy Grovener away and was content when the silver bracelets were finally around his wrists.

That left the interviews with the Cooper family.

Services for Arnie Cooper would be held that Saturday, tomorrow. As a matter of ritual, Renee attended the funeral services of her victims. It usually helped her to be surrounded by all of her victims’ loved ones. Sometimes information came her way that she might not have yet come across, other times she was simply showing her solidarity with the family and proving to them that she was invested in their loved one’s case.