Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(17)

“Let’s just say that St. Louis is of special interest for certain DC task forces right now.”

“You’re going to have to elaborate on that if you want access to my crime scene,” Dolph said.

I was glad Dolph had said it first.

McKinnon gave him a look, then glanced at me. “Okay, but can we clear the room?”

“We can,” Dolph said, and proceeded to tell everyone to get out and give us the space. No one argued, they just moved and closed the door respectfully behind them. The smell of the burned carpet and the crisped drapes was stronger, but it didn’t smell as much like burned meat as a regular human corpse would have; vampire flesh burns very differently from ours, cleaner. Less like cooking meat and more like something else. What that else was, the experts in a lot of fields are still trying to figure out.

“Why is St. Louis getting special treatment from the Oversight Committee on Supernatural Affairs?” Dolph asked.

“When the first Sunshine Murder happened, the powers that be were afraid it would spread here.”

“I hate that name, by the way; ‘Sunshine Murders’ sounds so upbeat. It makes it seem like the vampire didn’t die a gruesome death,” I said.

“We can call them something else while we’re alone,” McKinnon said.

“Did I offend you on the phone using the phrase?” Dolph asked.

“No, Dolph, it’s just . . . it seems like the press is downplaying it.”

“The Sunshine Murders are starting to be the leading story on every news site,” McKinnon said.

“I stay off the news,” I said.

“Because of the wedding speculations?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why are you here, Pete? Why this fast?” Dolph asked.

“The big wedding is why.”

I looked at him then; his face gave nothing away. He was a firefighter and arson investigator specialist, but he had always given blank face like a cop. Maybe it was specializing in arson investigations?

“You mean my wedding to Jean-Claude?”

“Yes.”

“Why should my nuptials have one of the top-ranking officials from the Supernatural Oversight Committee here in St. Louis for one suspicious death?” I studied his face for a clue, but he kept looking at the remains at our feet and not meeting my eyes. Was he afraid of what I’d see in them, or was he treating me like a vampire and that was why he’d stopped looking me in the eyes? I hoped not, because it would make me sad for Pete McKinnon to believe the rumors.

“It’s not just one suspicious death, Blake, it’s hundreds.”

“You mean the hotel fire in New York,” I said.

He nodded.

“I heard the death toll was over a hundred,” I said.

“One hundred and eighty-eight,” he said. The fact that he knew the exact number was not a good sign. It probably meant it would haunt him. Years from now when he was closer to eighty than fifty he’d probably still be able to quote the number of dead from the New York fire.

“Has anyone claimed credit for it yet?” I asked.

“No, in fact I’ve never seen all the hate groups deny anything so hard and so often.”

“Usually they’re clamoring to take credit for killing a vampire,” I said.

“That’s when all that dies is the vampire, but whoever opened the drapes in New York trapped hundreds of regular people. They opened them just after dawn, almost everybody still asleep in their rooms.” He stared at the slightly singed window, but his eyes had that look that let me know he was seeing the other arson scene, far away from this one.

“So, Humans First and HAV are both denying involvement with the New York case?” I asked.

“Humans Against Vampires stated that they do not condone violence to further their cause, which they usually don’t,” he said.

“Humans First does violence; they were the ones that firebombed the Church of Eternal Life here about six, seven years ago,” I said.

“Didn’t they try to shoot you, too?” McKinnon asked.

“Yeah, HAV mostly hates vampires and sees shapeshifters as victims of a disease, but Humans First hates all supernaturals including necromancers like me.”

“HAV says that they would never be that careless of other human beings,” Dolph said.

“Are you saying they haven’t claimed responsibility for any of the other murders?” I asked.

“Not that I’ve heard,” Dolph said.

McKinnon said, “Humans First says that just opening the drapes and letting the sunlight do the job is too passive for them. The vampire should suffer instead of sleep through it.”

“They said that publicly?” I asked.

He gave a small smile that never reached his tired eyes. “No, they’re better at handling the press than when they first started, but privately in interviews they think it’s a coward’s way of slaying vampires.”

“Because the vampire doesn’t suffer enough?” I asked.

“Something like that.”

“So, what does Anita’s impending marriage have to do with the Sunshine Murders?” Dolph asked.

“I didn’t say it was connected to the murders.”

“So why did St. Louis having its first of these murders bring you on the jump and mentioning my upcoming nuptials in the same breath?”