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“Amnio test for what?” he asked.

“Vlad syndrome,” I said.

“Is she healthy enough to stand up under this kind of news?” he asked.

I shrugged. “She looked fine, but I’m no expert. I’d say she shouldn’t be told over the phone, and she probably shouldn’t be alone. I just don’t know.”

“Are you friends with the wife?”

I shook my head. “No, and don’t even ask. I am not going to hold Monica’s hand while she cries over her dead husband.”

“All right, all right, it’s outside your job description. Maybe I’ll let Reynolds do it.”

I glanced at the young woman. She and Monica probably deserved each other, but . . . “Jean-Claude might know who Monica’s friends are. If he doesn’t, I know of one. Catherine Maison-Gillete and Monica work together.”

“Monica is a lawyer?” Dolph said.

I nodded.

“Great,” he said.

“How much are you telling Jean-Claude about this?” I asked.

“Why?” Dolph asked.

“Because I want to know how much I can tell him.”

“You don’t discuss ongoing homicide cases with the monsters, he said.”

“The victim was his companion for over a century. He’s going to want to talk about it. I need to know what you’re telling him so I won’t let something slip by accident.”

“You don’t have a problem withholding information from your boyfriend?”

“Not on a homicide. Whoever did this is at the very least a witch, and maybe something scarier. It’s probably one of the monsters, one way or another. So we can’t tell the monsters all the details.”

Dolph looked at me long and steady, then nodded. “Keep back the heart and the symbols used in the spell.”

“He’ll have to know about the heart, Dolph, or he’ll guess. Head or heart, there isn’t a lot else that’ll kill a century-old vamp.”

“You said you’d withhold information, Anita.”

“I’m telling you what will wash and what won’t, Dolph. Keeping back the heart from the vamps won’t work because they’ll guess. The symbols, fine, but even there, Jean-Claude’s going to have to have to wonder why he didn’t feel Robert die.”

“So what can we withhold from your boyfriend?”

“The exact symbols used in the spell. The knives.” I thought about it for a moment. “How they got the heart out. Most people will still go through the ribs to tear out a heart. They see all the hospital shows on TV and they don’t think about doing it differently.”

“So if we get a suspect, we ask how’d you get the heart out?”

I nodded. “The crazies will start talking about stakes. Or be vague.”

“Okay,” he said. Dolph looked at me. “If anyone hated the monsters, I thought it was you. How can you date one of them?”

I met his eyes this time, not flinching. “I don’t know.”

He closed his notebook. “Greeley’s probably wondering where I took you.”

“What did you whisper to him? I would have bet money that he’d have held on to me.”

“Told him you were a suspect in another murder. Said I wanted to watch your reaction.”

“And he bought that?”

Dolph glanced back at the body. “Close to the truth, Anita.”

He had me there. “Greeley didn’t seem to like me very much,” I said.

“You’d just killed a woman, Anita. Tends to give a bad first impression.”

He had a point. “Do I need to have Catherine meet us down at the station?” I asked.

“You’re not under arrest,” Dolph said.

“I’d still like Catherine to meet us at the station.”

“Call her.”

I stood.

Dolph touched my arm. “Wait.” He turned to the other cops. “Everybody wait outside for a minute.” There were some glances, but no one argued, they just went. They’d all worked with Dolph before, and no one present outranked him.

When we were alone behind closed doors, he said, “Give it up.”

“What?”

“You’ve got some kind of freaking blade down your back. Let’s see it.”

I sighed and reached under my hair to the hilt. I drew the knife out. It took a while. It was a long knife.

Dolph held out his hand. I handed it to him.

He balanced it on his open hands and gave a low whistle. “Jesus, what were you planning to do with this?”

I just looked at him.

“Who frisked you at the club?”

“Rizzo’s partner,” I said.

“Have to have a talk with him.” Dolph