Boundary Crossed (Boundary Magic #1)(37)

When I padded into the kitchen, tying my hair in a tight ponytail as I walked, Keller was sitting at the island counter looking around the open dining/living room area while Elise made coffee across from him. She had shut the dogs into the mudroom, and I could hear their muffled, indignant barks at the way their friend Elise had treated them. I reminded myself to walk slow and look weak and stiff. After less than four hours of sleep and a hell of a week, it wasn’t hard.

I blew out a breath and said, “Sorry about that, Detective, Elise. Must have overslept a little. I’m on some pretty strong painkillers.” I nodded toward my pharmacy bottle of Vicodin, which I’d conveniently left on the kitchen counter by my water glass.

Neither cop looked at the amber cylinder, which meant they’d already spotted it. “No worries,” Elise said, then shut up when she caught Keller glaring at her. She straightened, smoothing down the front of her uniform. Elise had the Luther brown eyes and honey-blonde hair, which was set off nicely against her dark patrol uniform. She was attractive rather than pretty, her unremarkable features enhanced by that healthy, relaxed-by-outdoor-sports look that was shared by a lot of people in Boulder. Hell, I probably had that same look when I wasn’t up to my eyebrows in supernatural bullshit and stab wounds.

“Your cousin is only here as a courtesy to your family,” Keller growled at me. He was in his late forties, balding, with a perpetually tight expression and suspicious eyes. He had on a forgettable suit that reminded me a lot of the one Quinn had worn to my hospital room. Had that really only been a few days ago? “I’ll be asking the questions, and you’ll direct your responses to me.”

His tone was unnecessarily nasty, and I was suddenly certain that my father had made a call to the department and demanded that Elise be allowed to join the interview. My father had a way of inserting himself into my life, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’d strong-armed the department into pulling Keller away from me.

No wonder the detective was pissed. I suppressed a sigh. Thanks, Dad. “Of course, Detective Keller. Elise, let me get that coffee.”

She shooed me away. “You sit and rest. I know where the cups are.”

I shot my cousin a grateful look and gingerly took a seat on one of the four stools. Still eyeing me, Keller sat down two stools away from me. “What can I tell you, Detective?”

Keller set a small digital recorder on the counter between us. “Start by running through the whole night, in your words,” he ordered.

So I walked them through it, starting with setting up the soda display. I told them everything, minus Victor and Darcy’s names and the weird things I’d seen them do—healing, recovering from blows, moving fast. Hopefully the security tape hadn’t caught that, but even if it had, I’m sure Quinn would have handled it. After all, he’d seen the footage.

Keller made me stop and go back several times, tossing in oddly specific questions like which brands of soda I’d used for the display and the exact words I’d yelled to Bettina. I knew he had to test my story, but by the fourth time I’d gone back over the same part, I was ready to reach over and punch him.

I forced myself to calm down. The best way to get rid of Keller was to answer all of his questions politely and professionally, and not give him the satisfaction of getting to me. I wasn’t some lost, angry drunk anymore.

Well, I definitely wasn’t drunk, anyway.

When he was finally satisfied, Keller asked, “And you have no idea who would want to harm your brother-in-law or his family?” He sounded skeptical.

“No, of course not,” I lied. “I figured it was some kind of kidnapping thing, some couple that wanted a baby.”

“Kidnapping, yeah. You know, we saw the security tape.”

I glanced at Elise, but she was just sipping her coffee, her eyes giving away nothing. “Okay . . .” I said to Keller.

“Something went wrong with the feed—a couple of times there were some blurs or static, stuff the tech guy couldn’t really explain,” he went on. “Had to be done by someone who knew the system.”

Or maybe vampires somehow had an effect on technology? Interesting thought. Keller paused in case I wanted to jump in with more information, but I just waited him out. “What we did see, though, it looked like you clocked that guy pretty good with the jar of baby food.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said warily. Where was he going with this?

“I picked up one of those jars when I was at the store,” Keller went on. “Thick glass. It should have left a goddamned dent in his head, pardon my French.”

There was a hint of accusation in his voice. I knew better than to rise to it, but I was tired and distracted, and I heard myself saying weakly, “Maybe I didn’t hit him as hard as I thought.”

If I hadn’t been watching, I might have missed the flicker of triumph that passed across Keller’s face and was gone. “You trained in combat, right? In the service?”

“Yes.”

“So maybe you pulled your shot a little bit,” he suggested, soft and dangerous.

I stared at him. It took a long moment for his meaning to sink in. “You can’t possibly think I was in on this,” I burst out. “I got stabbed!”

“You look like you’re moving around okay,” Keller observed.

“Wha— why on earth would I kidnap my own niece!” I said, working hard to keep from raising my voice. “I adore that kid!”