Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)(103)

*

Chase and Burnett walked around the empty house with a foreclosure sign out front. They had taken Chase’s car, but Burnett had insisted on driving. Chase didn’t know if Burnett didn’t trust Chase behind the wheel or if he just liked his car. He hoped the latter.

This was the third place they’d gone today from Kirk’s list and it appeared to be another one to simply scratch off his list. He couldn’t help but worry that this was a wild goose chase.

“You know, I don’t get why he’d be at any of these places and live and work at the apartment.”

“I checked, and all of the addresses you have were recently purchased, in different people’s names—but one of them was Don Williams, the alias that he used in France. He was either putting up his gang, or making sure he had several hideouts.”

Burnett hadn’t promised to ignore any information about Eddie that Stone might give, but he had promised to personally do the interview with Stone, and not hand anything over until he’d looked into it himself.

And since Burnett had called Chase at five this morning and told him to meet him at the FRU office, Chase suspected Burnett had already investigated some things.

They walked up onto the porch, both of them raising their faces to catch any scents and listen for any signs of someone hidden inside.

Chase got nothing.

“Where to next?” Burnett asked, and they started back to Chase’s car.

Before Chase could answer, Burnett’s phone rang. “Hey, babe,” the man answered.

Chase walked ahead to give Burnett privacy. But he stopped walking when he heard Burnett’s signature word for trouble.

“Shit!”

*

Della parked in front of the restaurant. The smell of fried rice filled the air. It was the same restaurant her grandparents used to own. The top floor was now used for storage, but it was where her father had lived for the first seven years of his life.

The Chinese couple who’d bought the place from her grandparents still owned it. And her dad brought her here regularly. And while they ate hot and sour soup and fried rice, he’d always tell her about his mother and father and his sister. Little did she know that during all of those talks, he’d been deceiving her about his other two siblings.

Yeah, the fact that he’d had a twin and another sister never came up.

Pushing away anger, she leaned forward, trying to see through the glass window to check out the patrons sitting at the tables.

In the back table, sitting by himself, she saw him. He had a paper in his hands, but she could see the side of his face, and his posture. And the way his hair stuck up in the back gave him away.

Tears filled her eyes. He’d been hiding out every day so he wouldn’t have to tell her mom he couldn’t face the thought that his associates might think he was guilty. Squaring her shoulders, she pushed the pity away, because she was about to upset him a lot more.

But it was time.

For Bao Yu and for Della.

*

“What is it?” Chase asked when Burnett hung up and started for the car.

“Your girlfriend,” Burnett said.

“My … Della?” No one had called her that, and Chase liked it.

“Yes. Or do you make out with any girl while you’re on a case?”

“No.” Chase smiled. “Just her.” Then he noticed Burnett’s expression. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes. She took the school’s car and is going to confront her dad.”

“About the murder?”

“Probably about everything.”

“It was bound to happen sooner or later. She’s pretty sure he knows she’s vampire,” Chase said.

Burnett shook his head. “Yeah, and her biggest fear is that he thinks she’s a monster. She doesn’t need to know how right she is.”

Burnett dialed a number. “Della’s on the loose, she’s trying to go see her father. Do you have him in your sights?”

“Yes,” Shawn said on the line.

“Della’s in a 2013 silver Corolla. Don’t let her talk to him. I’m heading that way just in case.”

Burnett hung up. “Let’s see if the little spitfire will answer me.”

Spitfire, Chase thought. Yeah, that was Della.

Chase heard it go to voice mail. “Della, I need to talk to you. Now!” Burnett growled. He looked at Chase. “Do you think she’d take a call from you?”

Considering their last few conversations, Chase doubted it, but he pulled out his phone. He left almost the same message.

He met Burnett’s gaze. “What do you know?”

Burnett started walking to Chase’s car. “I know that Della’s father is an idiot. And I know Della has a pissed-off ghost following her around.”

“What else?” Chase asked, knowing there was more.

Burnett frowned. “When I called to tell her father that Della needed to come back to school, he informed me that he didn’t want her coming back to his house again. Ever.”

Burnett raked a palm over his face in frustration. “Then yesterday he sent an anonymous email to the police naming Della as a suspect in the Chis’ murder. He gave the cops the name of the school.”

“Goddamn him!” Chase seethed, his eyes growing hot.