False Hearts (False Hearts #1)(11)

“We don’t know if he was actually out for your sister. Our sources say he wasn’t on assignment last night, but our sources could be wrong.”

“Seems like there’s a lot you don’t know.” I’m testy, but he’s still dangling what he really wants from me out of reach, and I’m impatient and frightened.

Officer Oloyu ignores the comment. “Your sister wasn’t meant to be working last night. Another hostess, a woman named Leylani, was meant to be manning the Zeal lounge, but she never showed up for work.”

I sag a little with relief. “See? Tila could have come into the wrong room at the wrong time, had to defend herself against this Vuk. But do you even know if that could have happened? Is there a murder weapon, and if so, can you link it to her? What about the cameras in the Zeal lounge? You couldn’t have found a murder weapon, or she’d be charged rather than just accused. How do you know she has anything to do with this?” The questions fall from my lips, faster and faster, until I’m breathless.

“Funny,” Oloyu says. “When we interviewed your sister, she posed the same scenario. Almost verbatim.”

I glare at him, but he only stares at me calmly, and then makes a gesture with his fingers. The wallscreen to my left turns on. It’s a recording from my interrogation yesterday, my eyes blazing at Officer Oloyu. That angry, I look more like my sister than the woman I see in the mirror every morning. I watch myself snarling at him: “You can’t spend sixteen years with someone, every minute of every day, and not know if they’re capable of murder or not. I’ll do whatever it takes to clear her name.”

He flicks it off. “Do you still mean that?”

My nostrils flare in anger. “Of course I mean it.”

Officer Oloyu leans forward. He’s smiling, that open, sweet smile, and it makes me want to hit him. He’s glad he’s slipped under my skin. “This is why we need you, Taema. You understand how she thinks, what she’d do. But there’s more than that, isn’t there?”

I say nothing.

“She’s stumped you. She’s managed to keep part of her life secret, and it’s burning you up. You want to believe that she hasn’t done anything, that she’s just as innocent as you want her to be—but she’s lied to you, no matter what. That hurts. So. You can help us, and you can find out the truth once and for all. Whatever it is.” He leans even closer. “There’s not much time. We may have kept the case out of the papers, but she’ll still go to trial. And if she’s convicted…” he trails off.

“They’ll put her in stasis,” I say. “But then if exculpatory evidence comes to light, she’ll be set free?”

“If it’s brought to light, yes.” He gives an expectant pause.

“What do you want from me?” I whisper.

He sighs and rubs his forehead. “Personally, I don’t think your sister killed Vuk. Or if she did, it was an accident or self-defense. She’s been working on her own in the Ratel, I’d gamble. And she’s grown close.”

He’s changed his tune since yesterday. “What if she grew too close, and they already know she was an infiltrator?”

“No sign of that. What we figure is that the Ratel were after someone else that night in the club, and that assignment was interrupted. They don’t know your sister’s been taken. We’ve moved fast and we have kept this a small, tight operation. Only a handful of police officers and higher-ups know who your sister really is. We’re keeping her out of the city. This situation gives us a unique opportunity to get close to the Ratel. They haven’t infiltrated many people with Verve, but if we don’t stop them, it’s only a matter of time. The Ratel are a threat against San Francisco and all of Pacifica. They have to be stopped. So far, your sister has given us some information to work with, but not enough. We need more.”

He looks at me, and I begin to suspect what he’s about to ask of me. He’s read me to the bone. I do want—need—to find out what’s going on with my sister. What she hid from me and why. More than that, I need to get her out of prison, as much for me as for her. The thought of going through life separated from her, alone forever … I don’t think I can face that.

“We can’t let your sister out to go back undercover.” The corners of his mouth tighten. I think he’s holding something back.

“No. You asked her and she refused, didn’t she?”

A rueful hint of a smile. “She did. But it would have been a tough sell to my superior, even if she did agree. She was found by the owner of the club, sitting in a pool of blood. That doesn’t exactly make her seem like someone who would be easy to work with. She’s too much of a liability.”

I flinch at that mental image.

“Then there’s you.”

I swallow, my eyes glued to his face.

“You’re intelligent, but you also play by the rules, unlike your sister. You could do this. Infiltrate the Ratel. We believe your sister has already been recruited as one of their lucid dreamers, delving into Verve dreamscapes, monitoring their implant feeds.”

“But she hasn’t told you that.”

“No, but from another source we know her exact position within the Ratel.”

“What source?”

He holds up a finger. “We obviously can’t tell you that, unless you sign on.”