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“You don’t have the authority to make a deal,” I said. “I want my lawyer.”

The skin around his eyes tightened; otherwise he looked the same, unmoved. But I was pissing him off. Couldn’t blame him.

The door to the office opened. Greeley looked up, ready to be angry at the interruption. Dolph walked inside, flashing his badge. His eyes gave the briefest of flicks to me, then settled solidly on Greeley.

Greeley stood up. “Excuse me, Anita. I’ll be right back.” He even managed a friendly smile. He was putting so much effort into the act, it was almost a shame I wasn’t buying it. Besides, if he was really being friendly, he’d have taken the cuffs off.

Greeley tried to get Dolph to step outside, but Dolph shook his head. “The office is secure. The rest of the club isn’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Greeley said.

“It means your murder scene, complete with victim, is being flashed on national television. You ordered that no one was to talk to the press, so they’ve been speculating. Vampires run amok is the choice rumor.”

“You want me to tell the media that a woman attached to a police squad is being charged with murder?”

“You have three witnesses that all say Ms. Smith pulled her gun first. That it was self-defense.”

“That’s something for the assistant district attorney to decide,” Greeley said.

Funny how when he was talking to me he could make a deal. Now that he was talking to another cop, suddenly the ADA was the only one who could make a deal.

“Call them,” Dolph said.

“Just like that,” Greeley said. “You want to cut her loose?”

“She’ll make a statement after we get her and her lawyer down to the station.”

Greeley made a rude sound in his throat. “Yeah, she’s real hot for her lawyer.”

“Go talk to the press, Greeley.”

“And tell them what?”

“That vampires aren’t involved. That it was just bad timing that the murder happened at Danse Macabre.”

Greeley glanced back at me. “I want her here when I get back, Storr. No disappearing act.”

“We’ll both be here.”

Greeley glared at me, all his anger and frustration filling his eyes for a second. The friendly mask was gone. “Make sure you are. The brass may want you in on this, but this is a homicide case, my case.” He shoved a finger at Dolph, not quite touching him. “Don’t fuck with it.”

Greeley pushed past him and shut the door firmly. Silence thick enough to walk on filled the room.

Dolph pulled a chair up in front of the desk, next to me, and sat facing me. He clasped his big hands together and stared. I stared back.

“The three women say Ms. Smith pulled her gun first. She ripped your purse off, so she knew where your gun was,” he said.

“I flashed it a little too much tonight. My fault.”

“I heard about you joining the show out there. What happened?”

“I had to police the show a little. The woman didn’t want to play. It’s illegal to use preternatural powers to coerce anyone into doing something they don’t want to do.”

“You aren’t a policeman, Anita.”

It was the first time he’d ever reminded me of that. Usually, Dolph treated me like one of his people. He’d even encouraged me to simply say I was with his squad so people would assume I was a detective.

“You kicking me off the squad, Dolph?” My stomach was tight as I asked. I valued working with the police. I valued Dolph and Zerbrowski and the rest of the guys. It would hurt more than I wanted to admit to lose all that.

“Two bodies in two days, Anita, both of them normal humans. That’s a lot of explaining at headquarters.”

“If they’d been vamps or some other creepie-crawlie, everyone would look the other way, is that it?”

“Picking a fight with me isn’t your best bet right now, Anita.”

We stared at each other for a second or two. I looked away first, and nodded. “Why are you here, Dolph?”

“I handle the media a lot.”

“But you’re letting Greeley talk to the press.”

“You’ve got to tell me what’s going on, Anita.” His voice was quiet, but I knew by the tightness around his eyes, the way he held his shoulders, that he was angry. I guess I couldn