Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(23)

“I know,” Burnett said. “But until I know that for sure, I’m not taking that chance.”

“Good. I’m glad you don’t jump to conclusions.” Fear leaked from Tabitha’s words. “While I don’t know anything about the armadillo, I do

know Anthony isn’t involved in it. You can’t blame him.”

Burnett took a step toward Tabitha. Her sister shrank into the chair.

“Why would Anthony have been at that house?” he asked.

She hesitated, but finally spoke. “I told Della that she had to be wrong. She just smelled him on me.”

Burnett didn’t flinch. “Vampires know the difference.”

Her sister’s posture tightened, frustration won over fear. “He’s not into drugs if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

“He wouldn’t have to do drugs to be involved.”

“Involved how?” Tabitha asked. “Just because he’s French you think—”

“I don’t care if he’s half chimpanzee. If he’s not guilty, he’ll walk away.” Burnett’s eyes brightened. He looked at Holiday. “Now,

what’s this tattoo thing about?”

Miranda glanced at her arm. “It’s gone,” she said hoping to take a notch out of the tension in the room. “But I took a picture of it.” She

picked up her phone, found the photograph, and passed it to Holiday.

“I’m sending it to my phone,” said Holiday. “I’ll look into it.”

Burnett stared over Holiday’s shoulder at the screen then at Miranda and her sister. “Being witches, you don’t have a clue what this could

be?”

“No,” they said in unison.

He stood completely still as if mentally taking some tally. “Here’s what we’re going to do. The doctor just informed me that Miranda can go

home.” He motioned to Tabitha. “They’re keeping you overnight. I’ll put a guard—”

“No,” Miranda said. The thought of leaving her sister did not sit well. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not with the feeling I got. Let

me stay so … if something crazy happens, we’ll be together.” She looked at her sister. “We can do blood magic if we had to.”

Burnett shot forward. “Feeling? Do you … you think some shit’s going down, like before?” Burnett asked. “A premonition? Do you feel that?

”

Burnett’s and Holiday’s auras darkened, and they stood there staring.

“Just”—Miranda held up her hand and posed her fingers less than a half an inch apart—“a little bit.” She glanced at Tabitha, curious if

she agreed.

As if reading Miranda’s mind, her sister nodded. “It’s small.”

Burnett looked flabbergasted, and that wasn’t a good look for him. “Are you saying that you’re just getting a little bit of premonition, or

that the shit coming is small? Tell me.”

Tabitha’s face paled. “Wh … which one do you want me to say?”

He frowned. “Small shit. If I get a preference, I want small shit.” No sooner had his words echoed in the tiny white room than he looked over

his shoulder and cringed.

The door swung open. The doctor looked at Burnett. “You got a problem with constipation?”

The fact that the doctor looked so serious shattered the tension and had everyone laughing.

Everyone but Burnett.

*

Shawn parked in front of the address Mrs. Crow had given him for Lily Chambers—the employee she’d finally admitted was there at the time of

the robbery. The woman’s excuse for not mentioning her earlier was that the girl was hiding from her family. The story went that Lily, at

sixteen, had been placed in foster care with Mrs. Crow’s niece. A human foster home from what Shawn assumed. Assumed, because it wasn’t a

question he could ask.

But if so, that surprised Shawn. The FRU had its own foster care and had people working that system just as the police did. Why wouldn’t Lily

have been placed in a supernatural’s home?

According to Mrs. Crow, six months after Lily’s placement, her family showed up to get her. She refused to leave. While they didn’t take

Lily, they’d beat Mrs. Crow’s niece pretty badly. After Lily had gotten her foster mom help, she’d run away—leaving a note saying she didn

’t want anyone else to get hurt.

Six months later, the Crows had run into Lily while visiting Houston. She’d been living on the streets. The Crows had offered her a job and a

place to live. Only when they agreed not to tell anyone who she was did she agree.

“She’s a good girl,” Mrs. Crow had insisted. “We just didn’t want to put her in the spotlight so her family could find her again.”

Perry asked if Lily had seemed to recognize the robbers, and she insisted that the girl had been in the office getting a deposit together and

had barely seen them. But, since Officer Johnson was convinced that there were several different traces of shape-shifters in the store, Shawn

couldn’t help but wonder if Lily’s family, also shape-shifters, wasn’t behind the robbery. And considering that the girl was part vampire