Shadow Falls After Dark: Eternal Part 10

The tap of footsteps moved into the room. "Never turn your back on a challenge," she repeated what she'd read. "Is that for the dog or you?"

"Both," he said.

A flash of emotion touched his eyes. She had a feeling the saying meant something, but what? She batted back the curiosity. She was here to work the case, not get chummy.

"You two made friends?"

He held two files in his hands.

"Looks like it." Della stood and walked to the large table. The dog followed her and rubbed against Chase as he joined them in the center of the room.

She dropped into a chair. Chase sat in the one next to her. Not so close their shoulders touched, but close enough she thought about his nearness.

He nudged the files over to her, his brows tightened. "I've already gone over them. Dozens of times. I'm not sure they are going to help. Getting more information would require we pay either Craig Anthony or one of his hired goons a visit. I have a feeling the FRU won't allow it."

"Burnett will allow it," she said, certain Burnett would do everything in his power to save someone. She pulled the files closer.

"All we have are two possible names. There's nothing in there that can tell me which one is our Natasha. And while having a name seems important, I'm not even sure that will help us."

"It has to." Della flipped open the first file.

She scanned quickly, looking for ... she found the name of Natasha Owen's mother. Jenny Owen. "It's not Natasha Owen." She closed it and reached for the other one.

Chase put his hand on top of the file. "How do you know?"

She decided not to lie. "Because her mother's name isn't Asian." There was a slight possibility that Natasha's mom might have taken on an American name. Lots of Asians did that, but usually it was the younger ones. Someone older than thirty or forty normally held tight to the culture of their parents.

"What? How? I don't understand," he said.

"Natasha's half Asian." She tried to pull the file from under his hand, but he flattened his palm on top of it.

"How do you know that? It was so dark in that vision that you ... you couldn't have seen her."

"I didn't." She lifted up off the chair and pulled the picture from her back pocket. "But I've got this." She considered not showing it to him until he released the file. But she was tired of playing games. They had to trust each other.

Not on a personal level, she reminded herself, still believing he held secrets, but enough to work on the case.

Enough to save two people ... two people possibly in love, who needed and deserved to be saved.

Save Natasha.

She handed him the picture and cut her eyes around the room.

He studied the photo.

"Turn it over," she said.

He did and then looked back up at her as if puzzled. "Turn it over to see what?"

He handed her back the picture. Her breath caught.

"I don't ... But it was ... There were names here earlier. It had the name 'Natasha,' along with my aunt's and Chan's." Glancing up, hit hard by the doubt in his eyes, she frowned. "I'm telling the truth!"

She stared again at the pristine white, unmarked back of the picture. Oh, h.e.l.l, was her mind playing tricks on her?

Or was it the ghost?

Della looked at Chase standing by his refrigerator. "It was there earlier," she said for the tenth time in the last five minutes.

"So you think the ghost wrote it then erased it?" He held out a canned drink for her.

"I ... I don't know." She accepted the cold soda. It wasn't diet, but she took it anyway. The icy cold against her palm reminded her of what it felt like when a spirit came for a visit-when they felt too close. She popped the top open. The fizzy sound triggered her need to be with Kylie and Miranda at one of their round-table meetings-to have them help her make sense of this, because it certainly wasn't making sense to her right now.

Then again, why should it? Nothing made sense. Ghosts, visions, being bonded-feeling emotionally tied to a practical stranger. It all sounded insane. And that became her arguing point.

"I know it doesn't sound logical, but does any of this s.h.i.+t sound logical to you? We're dealing with some dead woman, and having visions where we're different people. Tell me that makes any more sense than this, and I'll accept I'm imagining things and find some shrink's sofa to pa.s.s out on."

"I didn't say you were imagining it, I just think it sounds ... messed up."

"All of this is a hot mess!"

"Yeah, it is." He opened his drink.

They both took a few carbonated sips, then she told him about the box vibrating in the empty casket and how the lid had fallen open and the picture had fluttered out.

Frowning, he stared at the picture as if half afraid. "Okay, so let's say that is Natasha. How is knowing her last name really going to help us find them?" He dropped back into the chair.

"I don't know. But it must be important. The ghost wanted me to see this."

He leaned in. His solid forearm pressed against hers. The zing of pleasure sent her heart racing and she scooted over.

He cut his eyes up as if he thought she was silly. But it didn't seem silly to her. No zings were allowed.

She reached for the second Natasha file again. She found the mom's name and let out a frustrated puff of air.

"And?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Kathy ... not Asian. I mean, the mother could have changed her name, but..."

"But it means we still don't know which Natasha is our Natasha."

"Right."

The room went silent. Baxter rubbed against his owner's leg seeking affection. Chase dropped his hand to pet the animal, but kept his focus on her. "And you really feel it's important to get this information?"

She considered his question. "Yeah, I do."

"Okay, then let's go find out Natasha's last name." He stood up.

She rose as well, ready and willing to get this show on the road. "What are we going to do? Go see both sets of parents and see if any of them are Asian?"

"No, we do it the easy way."

"Easy way?"

"We go talk to your aunt, Chan's mom."

She dropped back down in her chair. "Let's don't and say we did."

"We don't tell her the truth. Make up some story about how you ran across the photo and see what she knows."

"No," Della said again. "Let's go see if we can find Natasha's parents." She pulled the files over and checked. Both girls had lived outside of Houston, not that their families couldn't have moved since their daughters went missing. Who knew how long these girls had been enslaved?

When she looked up, Chase studied her. "Why are you afraid to see your aunt?"

"I'm not." Her phone gave off a short buzz, telling her she had a text, giving her the perfect reason not to answer.

Not to think about it.

She dug her cell out of her pocket.

Where are u? Don't pull this s.h.i.+t! Answer me. Burnett.

Suddenly, coming here behind the camp leader's back didn't seem like the best idea. p.i.s.sing Burnett off wasn't going to get her anywhere except smack-dab in the middle of an a.s.s-chewing.

She and Chase needed to get this case approved by the FRU and the Vampire Council. While she liked to think they could do this alone, she wasn't stupid.

She looked up. "It's Burnett again." She exhaled. "We should go. We'll tell him we want to visit the parents of both the Natashas."

"Maybe I should just go by myself and get the answers now," he said. "You go back to Shadow Falls."

Was he dreading the a.s.s-chewing he had coming for going to the graveyard? Probably. She didn't blame him. Burnett's a.s.s-chewings weren't a walk in the park. Though she still thought it was funny that Chase, who didn't seem to fear much of anything, was afraid of the camp leader. Then again, she'd come here without letting Burnett know. Chase wasn't the only one in trouble.

And her chewing would be worse. When you cared about someone, it was always worse.

"No," Della said. "The ghost gave the picture to me. I think I should be there. Besides..." She studied the discomfort in his expression. "... you're going to have to face him sooner or later."

"Yeah, but I've always been a 'later' person."

"So, a coward, huh?" she asked, lifting one brow to add some sa.s.s to her comment.

He glared at her.

"You've got to learn to work with Burnett if we're going to team up on this case." And they were going to team up, because some dad-blasted higher power had apparently ordained it.

She'd like to kick that higher power's b.u.t.t, but that was beside the point. Point was, they had a job to do, and if they failed someone-two someones-would die.

"Burnett's bark is worse than his bite," she said.

"I don't like to be barked at." His tone deepened.

"Me, either, but I give Burnett some leeway. And so should you."

"Why?"

She considered downplaying her answer, but decided the truth would do just fine. "Because he never barks just to bark. He does it because he cares. And like it or not, we all need someone to care for us."

He exhaled. "Caring about someone doesn't give a person the right to micromanage their life."

"Yeah, he has a little problem with that, but he's working on it." Defending Burnett's hardheadedness felt strange, but oddly it also felt right.

Chase studied her as if mentally connecting the dots. But what kind of dots? Why did she get the feeling the puzzle he worked on this minute was about her?

Stay away from my dots, bucko.

He dropped back into the chair next to her, even closer this time. "Does your aunt not care? Is that why you don't want to see her?"

"Ya know, I'd love to spend a couple of hours telling you all about my family drama"-not-"but we don't have time." Honestly, she spilled her guts only to Kylie and Miranda. And by G.o.d, she needed some round-table Diet-c.o.ke time with them right now. She jumped up. "You coming or not?"

Chapter Thirteen.

Five minutes-down to the second. That's how long Burnett paced Holiday's office. She knew because she and Chase were facing the wall clock, and instead of getting dizzy watching him, she watched the clock hands tick away. It was almost nine in the morning, and she hadn't been to bed yet.

"Why?" Burnett finally spoke, walking from one side of the room to the other. Good thing he'd brought them to Holiday's office-his office offered no room to pace.

"Why what?" Della asked, trying not to sound like a smarta.s.s, but the question rolled off her tongue with sa.s.s.

He growled. "Why do I give orders if you guys don't listen? And why would I allow you to work with the FRU if you can't follow orders?"

"Because the death angels and some unnamed ghost have made it their job to make sure we do this." Della inhaled.

A second later, and in a calmer voice, she explained about seeing the names on the back of the picture, and how when Chase showed up it seemed like the ghost wanted her to go with him.

"You don't work for the ghost! You work for the FRU, and I tell you what to do!"

"I don't work for the FRU," Chase countered.

Della inwardly flinched, wis.h.i.+ng he wouldn't push Burnett.

"So, you don't want to work with Della on this case?" Burnett snapped. "Because you can walk right out of here and I'll make sure you don't see her again."