Dead Spots (Scarlett Bernard #1)(40)

Cruz had produced a small notebook and was writing down the details. He looked up. “We’ll start with the hotel and the cards. But if those fall through, yes, I’ll have to ask her.”

“Can you tell her something else? Like...” His brow furrowed a moment; then he brightened. “There was something stolen at work, and they’re asking everybody, something like that?”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Cruz took down both Rucker’s and Freedner’s addresses and phone numbers, and we headed out. On the street, I stopped and leaned against my car, stretching my stomach muscles, which had gone stagnant. There had been a lot of driving today, which is kind of par for the course in LA, but I was still feeling a little cramped and sore. It was a lovely California night, sixty degrees with a soft breeze, and I closed my eyes, resting for a moment. I was so tired.

I felt Cruz lean against the car next to me. I had about fifteen seconds of peace before the questions started again.

“So, what was that?” Cruz asked. “Vampires have multiple human servants? I thought they only kept one.”

I opened my eyes. “Most do. Having a human servant is kind of like having a mistress. They’re whiny, they’re annoying, they require constant gifts and attention—all just so you can get what you want when you want it. Why would anyone have two of those? But some vampires do keep more than one, yes.”

“And from the wife comment, I take it there’s usually...intercourse?”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “Dude. Don’t say intercourse. You sound like my seventh grade health teacher. But yes, there’s almost always a sexual component to the human servant thing. And vampires are a lot less picky about sexual preference.”

He mulled that over for a while, then asked, “Do they love each other? Are vampires capable of love?”

That woke me up. I looked over at him, but he was just gazing back with calm curiosity. “That,” I said finally, “is the big question. Human servants would definitely say yes—they all think they’re in a Twilight book.” Which makes them easy pickings for any vampire willing to style his hair and slouch around looking sour.

“What do you think?”

I paused. It had been a long time since anyone at work had asked me that. A few months after I started doing crime scene cleanup with Olivia, I had asked her if vampires had souls. Could they feel? Could they love?

“What do you think?” she’d said.

I had thought it over for a long time. “I think it’s kind of like breathing. They don’t need to do it, it doesn’t come naturally, but they remember the feeling and the need. And they can pretend when they have to.”

She’d smiled broadly at me, her star and only pupil, but she never really answered. To this day, I still don’t really know. I call them the undead, and they don’t need to breathe or eat or have a pulse, but for all I know, they’re normal people with a disease that makes them distant and frozen. Who knows?

Cruz was waiting for my answer, looking very serious, and very young, though he had to be at least five years older than me. I realized again how strange and new this all must be for him. I felt the responsibility of it, of teaching him to navigate this world. If I did it wrong, he could get himself killed so easily.

I felt a very brief empathy for Olivia. Then I just wished someone else could be in charge.

“I think it’s a lot more complicated than a yes-or-no question. I’m certain that vampires are capable of some kind of love,” I said, thinking of Dashiell and Beatrice. “But every human servant I’ve ever met has been one hundred percent deluded. Human life is rich and desperate and complicated, with all these goals—money, family, power, fame, fortune, happiness, a career. It’s different for vampires. They have sort of a culture, a collective identity, but at the end of the day—night—they’re after blood and power. That’s it.”

Cruz’s face was very close, and his eyes were fixed so intently on me that, for a second, I pictured kissing him. Sue me. He was beautiful. I tried to imagine being on a date with him, doing something totally normal. He was a human, after all—he wouldn’t be using me for my lame ability or to get a leg up in the Old World. We could go to the movies, order pizza, like my dates in high school.

But then I remembered Eli and the tortured little thing we were doing, and how damaged I knew I was. I suspected that my ability to have a real human connection had died with my parents. Letting the keys jingle in my hand, I took a step back and broke the spell.

“Okay, so what’s our working theory here?” I asked.

He frowned. “It sounds like Abraham was the real target, and the other two vampires were just collateral damage.”

“But did they actually want to kill Abraham, or were they just trying to get to Dashiell?”

“Not sure. I’ll check out Rucker’s alibi, and we should talk to Freedner. If they were both Abe’s human servants, this whole thing could be a love triangle gone wrong. Rucker himself said that there was jealousy.”

“He said rivalry.”

“Same thing.”

“I don’t know, he didn’t sound that...worked up about it.”

Cruz shrugged. “Maybe Abraham dumped Freedner, and he decided to off Abe. If I can’t have you, no one can kind of deal. Rucker might not even know about it.”