Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [1062]
Janet Talbot nodded first. “Andy’s almost got his pre-med degree. If they find out what he is, he’ll never be a doctor, but I want him safe more than I want anything right now. So I agree, go to the police.”
“I can’t speak for Amber,” Christine said, “but I’m pretty sure she’d agree.”
“I should ask the others first, but the hell with it, find Rebecca for us, even if that means bringing in the cops,” Boone said.
We all turned to Nilisha MacNair. “No, if they find out, we are all ruined.”
Olivia took her hand. Ethan knelt in front of her. “Mother, without father, what does it matter?”
I wasn’t sure she’d agree since he’d been cheating on her, but she nodded, and she agreed. Love is a funny thing sometimes. But whatever the motive, it meant I could talk to Dolph, and I wouldn’t even have to lie.
45
DOLPH ANSWERED ON the second ring. “Dolph.” He never said, Regional Preternatural Investigation Team, or even police, just his name, not even his last name, not even his full first name, just “Dolph,” or “Dolph, here.” Did anyone ever complain? Somehow I doubted it.
He sounded as close to surprised as he ever gets. “Anita, I didn’t expect to hear from you until we’d at least finished the paperwork on the last batch of bodies.” I heard a man’s voice, but couldn’t tell what was said. Dolph came back on. “Zerbrowski says that if you killed someone else just hide the body, he’s not starting over on the paperwork.”
“I know enough about procedure to know that he’d have to start a new report anyway. Separate crime, separate report, right?”
“Do you really have a fresh body out there?” He sounded tired, but not surprised.
“No,” I said.
“Then how do we rate a call?”
“I have information pertaining to several crimes and the permission of those involved to tell you the truth, the whole truth. Now, isn’t that refreshing?”
I could almost feel him sitting up over the phone. “I’m a cop, truth is always refreshing, so dazzle me.”
I told him. As I’d suspected, the MacNair case was already on the roster for Dolph and the gang, but it was the first he’d heard of the others.
“I interviewed the wife personally. She kept saying she had no idea why some monster would attack her husband. It might have helped us find him if we’d known.”
“Dolph, they run a restaurant. If it gets out that they’re shapeshifters, they may lose it.”
“Board of Health can’t shut them down for this.”
“No, but word will get out, and the customers will start to worry. You know it, and I know it.”
“No one will find out from my people. You have my word on it.”
“Yeah, but how many other departments are involved? How many nonpolice are at every crime scene, not to mention clerical workers? It’ll come out, Dolph, eventually it’ll come out.”
“I’ll keep a lid on it, Anita, but I can only guarantee my people.”
“I know, Dolph, but Andy Talbot wants to be a doctor. He’ll never get into med school once this comes out. Rebecca Morton is a chiropractor. If they find out what she is, they’ll yank her license.”
“Why is it that most of these people go in for professions where this is a problem?”
I shrugged, knew he couldn’t see it. “Just lucky, I guess.”
“I think it’s stubbornness,” Dolph said.
“What do you mean?”
“Tell anyone that they can’t do something, and they’ll want to do it.”
He had a good point. “Makes sense.”
“How do these disappearances tie in to the attack on your house?”
Damn, the whole truth, I’d said. There was my chance to prove it. I took a deep breath and told him almost all of the