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Bernardo shook his head. “No.”

I sighed.

Edward came back into the room. His face was back to his normal “Edward face,” as if all the near revelations of just a minute ago had never happened. “The monster did another couple in Albuquerque last night.”

“Shit,” I said. “Are you going without me?”

Edward was watching my face just a little too closely, so I knew there was a surprise coming. “Your presence has been requested on site.”

I could feel the surprise on my face. “Is Lieutenant Marks not in charge anymore?”

“It was him on the phone.”

“You’re kidding me,” I said.

Edward shook his head and smiled.

“I don’t get it.”

“I’d guess that someone up the feeding chain chewed his ass for kicking you out. They probably gave him a choice of working with you, or being off the case.”

I had to smile. “A case like this can make a career.”

“Exactly,” Edward said.

“Well, we know Marks’ price now.”

“Price?” Bernardo asked. “You guys bribed him?”

“No,” I said, “but his principles that he so kindly spat in my face yesterday weren’t as precious to him as his career. Always nice to know how strong a person’s convictions are.”

“Not that strong,” Edward said.

“Apparently not,” I said.

I heard Donna coming down the hallway, talking loudly to Becca, but I think it was to warn us that they were coming. The men grabbed the rug and went for the doorway. Edward said in his loud, cheerful Ted voice, “Saddle up, boys and girls. We got work to do.”

I went for my room. If we were going to go outside the house, I needed more weapons.

31

I SAT IN THE front seat beside Edward. It was probably my imagination but I could feel someone staring at the back of my neck. If I wasn’t imagining it, I was betting on Olaf.

I’d added the shoulder holster complete with Browning Hi-Power. Usually, it was the only gun I wore until someone tried to kill me, or some monster showed in the flesh. But I’d kept the Firestar in its inner pants holster. Too many pictures of dismembered corpses for comfort. I even took all the knives, which tells you how insecure I was feeling. Being stared at hard enough to bore a hole through my flesh was beginning to get on what nerves I had left. It wasn’t my imagination. I could feel it.

I turned in the seat and met Bernardo’s eyes. There was a look on his face when I turned around that was nothing I wanted to see. I had an uncomfortable thought that he was fantasizing and I just might be in the starring role.

“What are you staring at?” I asked.

He blinked, but it seemed to take a long time for his eyes to really focus on me rather than whatever was inside his head. He gave a slow, almost lazy smile. “I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Like hell,” I said.

“You can’t tell me what to think, Anita,” he said.

“You’re presentable enough. Go get a date.”

“I’d have to wine and dine her, and then I couldn’t count on sex at the end of the evening. What good is that?”

“Then get a hooker,” I said.

“I would if Edward would let me out on my own.”

I turned and looked at Edward.

He answered the question without me having to voice it. “I’ve forbidden Olaf from . . . dating while he’s here. Olaf resented it, so I told Bernardo the same thing.”

“Very even-handed,” I said.

“It is totally unfair to punish me because Olaf is a psycho,” Bernardo said.

“If I cannot meet my needs, then why should you be able to?” Olaf said. There was something in his voice that made me look at him. He was staring straight ahead, no eye contact to anyone.

I turned around in my seat and looked at Edward. “Where do you come up with these people?”

“The same place I find vampire hunters and necromancers,” he said.

He had a point. Enough of a point that we finished the drive to Albuquerque in silence. I felt I had enough moral high ground to throw stones, but evidently Edward disagreed. Since he knew Olaf better than I did, I wasn’t going to argue. At least not now.

People talk of ranch-style houses, but this really was a ranch. A ranch as in cowboys and horses. It was