Arnie Cooper had left behind a wife and a daughter. Both showed up, the two women practically holding each other up as they walked into the interview room together. The daughter, barely eighteen, was just as distraught as her mother…if not more so. She ought to have done the interviews separately, but she already knew that they would have nothing to offer her in the way of clues to his murderer.

Then again, maybe they did know this vampire. He could be a friend of the family and the family wouldn’t even know it. After all, they looked just like humans, didn’t they?

“Mrs. Cooper, Ms. Cooper,” she greeted them as she entered the interview room.

“Detective Holden, please,” Mrs. Cooper begged her immediately. “Please tell me you know who has done this to my poor Arnie!”

Andrea Cooper was a rather elegant older woman. That she came from a significant amount of wealth was obvious. The gemstones in her earrings alone had to equal a full year’s salary for Renee. But that didn’t make her pain any less. Money meant nothing when it came to grief. Ms. Cooper was slightly softer, a little rounder in the face and body. Her eyes were red and her cheeks splotchy. Both women were redheads, although it was probable that Mrs. Cooper got her color out of a bottle. Both women carried tissues in their hands and both were obviously distraught at the idea of having to talk about their loved one’s death. All of their reactions were normal. She traded a look with Jimmy. They weren’t looking for a woman, but that didn’t mean one of these women wasn’t responsible in some way. For all she knew, Mrs. Cooper might have hired someone to kill her husband…and that someone just happened to be a vampire.

The possibilities were endless until they began to narrow down the truth of what had happened.

“Mrs. Cooper, is there anyone you can think of that had a problem with your husband? Perhaps a business partner or someone he had an argument with?”

“No. No one. Arnie was a very friendly man with a good, warm heart. Everybody loved him.”

If she had a dime for every time someone said that to her, she would be a painfully rich woman. It just reminded her that everyone had someone who loved them, who thought the best of them.

“If you think of anyone or anything, no matter how small it might seem, will you tell us about it?” Renee asked.

“Of course,” the young Ms. Cooper said. “Do you have any leads? Do you know who killed my father?”

“Not yet. But it’s still very early in our investigation. Things might turn up as we move along. However, if this was a truly random crime, it will make things far more difficult. Fortunately there were cameras on that corner. We’re hoping one of them caught something. The recordings are due in before the end of the day today. We’ll start to review them and then maybe we’ll have a better idea of who we’re dealing with. And we do have a very good witness. She said she saw his face and could pick him out of a lineup.”

They reassured the family again that they would do everything in their power to see the killer brought to justice. All the while, Renee couldn’t escape the feeling that she was lying to them. She wasn’t going to be doing everything possible. And the idea of it irked her.

What if she just investigated a few of these leads and found out where the actual vampire was…and then did not approach him? Leave it up to Rafe and his people from that moment on. She could be very helpful in discovering who the murderer was. It was her job and she was very good at it.

The trick would be allowing Rafe’s people to bring the man to justice before Jimmy got a warrant and went barging in on a creature that could potentially kill him. That was the dangerous part of all of this.

But she didn’t like making promises to a family that she would do her best, only to not do her best at all.

Yes, that was what she would do. She would have to be careful, very careful. But she could be careful and useful at the same time. And she wouldn’t tell Rafe what she was doing until it was necessary. She knew he wouldn’t approve and would try to talk her out of it.

Renee got to her feet and said goodbye to Arnie’s family, shaking their hands. She met their eyes and saw the pleading in them. They wanted justice. It wouldn’t bring Arnie back, but it would make them feel as if it hadn’t all been for nothing. What she knew, and what they didn’t realize, was that it wouldn’t make them feel all that much better. But she also knew that if she let Rafe take justice into his hands, they would never know the outcome and would never have the satisfaction of seeing their loved one’s murderer behind bars.

Yes. This was going to be a very, very tricky situation indeed.

Chapter 14

Rafe went in front of the committee that afternoon. He had to defend his position and his actions, and he had to face possible retribution in the form of a tribunal. The tribunal wouldn’t be held that weekend since there were far more important things going on in the vampire world, but if he did not convince the committee of his reasons for letting a virtual stranger into their fold, he would definitely be facing that tribunal after all the other vampires had gone back to their respective countries.

Rafe entered the committee chambers with confidence. If he showed weakness of any kind, it would be pounced upon and he would be batted about like a mouse by a cat. On the other hand, he could not come off too arrogant. That would be equally bad. And he could not be contrite, that would mean he felt he had done something wrong.

“Rafe DaSilva,” the leader of the committee said once he had entered the brightly lit room. The committee was sitting with their backs to a window, making it so that light glared behind them as the sun sank for the day. It forced Rafe to wince in the harsh light and made the faces of the committee difficult to see.

Damn it, he should have done this in the morning. He needed to be able to see their expressions. It was important to be able to read them. But he’d had to come within hours of his revelation of his having broken the rules. To wait would have only made things worse.

“Come forward,” the leader of the committee instructed.

As he did, he realized the change in position helped a little. Allowed him to see them better.

“You have something to tell us?” the leader said, even though he likely already knew exactly what Rafe had done.

“Yes. I have revealed the vampire race to a human woman.”

“This is a very serious flouting of vampire law. Only a human who has been vetted by this committee can be told of our existence. What makes you think your judgment supersedes ours?”