Bound by Blood (Vampire Romance) (4 page)

~*~

By the time he arrived at the Morgan’s the next day, he felt completely refreshed. Although he had no leads other than Carlos, it was a significant start. It was also something he wasn’t ready to share with the local police. He didn’t believe it possible for them to find the child before him, but what if they could? He pushed away the thought. Even if they found her, they would not be able to deal with Carlos.

Entering the house, he was surprised to find Barbara Morgan was not at home.

“She said she may as well get back to work since she could do nothing here,” Lisa told him.

“And Mr. Morgan?”

“He had a big meeting scheduled, so he went to the office for a few hours. We’re to call him immediately if there is any news.”

Alex didn’t wholly approve, but at least someone of his blood seemed to have a bit more sense than the woman.

“The captain said since there have been no calls or leads, he would have only one uniform here, but you probably saw him on the way in.”

Alex nodded absently, scanning the room and finding it eerily empty compared to the day before. “If no one else is here, we can talk privately.”

She looked at him warily, but talking was all he had on his mind, at least until she leveled her clear gray gaze on him. Then a lot of sentiments that hadn’t made an appearance in years – decades – screamed for attention.

He looked at her more closely and wondered what it was about her he found appealing. She looked a little more rested than the day before but he had a feeling she was paler than normal, making the tender skin under her eyes look bruised.

She was definitely easy on the eyes. Today, she was dressed in a pair of worn jeans and a purple sweatshirt. Simple clothes, but they changed when they were on her, he was sure of it.

“I researched the clues you gave me, and I wanted to discuss them. Is it better to do it here or would you like to go somewhere else?”

She looked around her nervously. “Somewhere else, please. Everywhere I look, I see Sandy. For once, I understand Mrs. Morgan perfectly.”

He was glad someone did. He nodded in response to her wish. “Let me make sure any calls here are forwarded to my cell phone then we can leave.”

Re-routing the calls only took a matter of minutes. On the off chance the person who had abducted Cassandra really had done so for ransom then he would not want to miss the call. But in all his years, he had learned to trust gut instinct, and he didn’t think ransom from the Morgans was on this particular menu.

Once they told the officer how he could be reached, they headed for his car. After she was inside, she looked about her with interest.

“I thought agents were notoriously poor?”

He grinned at her. “They are. I’m not.” When he glanced her as he was turning to look out the window before backing down the driveway, he noticed she was blushing. While it looked charming, it only heightened his awareness of her, if that was possible. He stopped grinning. “Don’t worry about it,” he told her when he realized she was embarrassed by her comment.

“Where are we going?” she asked after they had been driving for a few minutes and were heading out of the residential area. “I thought we were going back to the play ground.”

“No. We’re going to find something for you to eat, and then we’ll talk.”

“I’m not very hungry.”

“I suspected you would say that.” He drove for another few minutes, and then pulled into the parking lot of the upscale soup and sandwich chain.

She looked up, startled. “Oh, hey, I didn’t bring any money with me,” she told him, again blushing.

He gritted his teeth. Why did she have to do that? Being this close to her was difficult enough. The sudden rush of blood didn’t help. “Don’t be absurd. Didn’t I just tell you I wasn’t poor? I think I can afford to feed you.”

~*~

Lisa gave him a sideways glance from under her eyelashes and pulled at her sweatshirt, trying to make it look less like the working around the house shirt it was. Dressed in pants that cost more than half her wardrobe, and a sports jacket she really didn’t want to consider the price of, he was totally at his ease. Which was more than she could say for herself.

She really hadn’t thought about where they would go. His attire was suitable for anywhere. She was much too naïve, that’s what Mr. Morgan was always telling her. She was beginning to believe it. But somehow, Detective Aguilar seemed safe. And he was a detective, after all. Sworn to protect and all that. Mr. Morgan would
definitely
tell her she was naïve.

She was glad when he led them to a quiet booth. Not much light here, and not much chance that their conversation could be overheard. Although she couldn’t imagine what he would have to tell her. She had already shared everything she knew. And it wasn’t much, even she knew that. Mr. Morgan didn’t seem to blame her, but Mrs. Morgan sure did. Not as much as she blamed herself, though.

When the waitress appeared, the detective quickly ordered soup and a sandwich for her. She couldn’t help but notice the way his mouth moved when he spoke. His bottom lip was fuller than the top and totally fascinated her. Tearing her gaze away, she watched his face and looked into his eyes. She had sensed they were light colored, but now could see they were gray, nearly blue and fringed with sable colored lashes. There was a hint of amusement in them as they watched her. Hastily, she dropped her gaze.

“I can’t eat all that,” she hissed at him when the waitress left. “And why aren’t you eating?”

“Because unlike some people, I ate at normal times today.”

When the waitress put the food in front of her, Lisa looked at the sandwich with some misgiving. It was as oversized as she remembered. She did eat the soup and at least nibbled at the sandwich since it seemed important to the detective she do so.

After she spooned the last of the soup, she had to admit she did feel better. “Now that I’ve eaten, what can you tell me? And why did you want to leave the house.”

He gave her a wry smile. “I did not want to leave the house, I don’t care if we stayed, but I believed you would be more comfortable in neutral surroundings. You do feel more relaxed?”

She nodded in agreement surprised to find it so. She watched with interest when he reached into his coat pocket and brought out a folded piece of paper. Opening it, he laid it in front of her. “Is this the man you saw?”

She gasped, then looked at it more closely. “I don’t know. I think it is.” She looked up to find him watching her closely. “Is he a criminal? Has he done this kind of thing before?”

Alex reached for the paper and folded it again before slipping it back into his pocket. “To my knowledge, he has not. That does not mean he hasn’t, but if he has I am unaware of it.”

“If he’s not a criminal, how do you have his picture?”

He gave her a wolfish smile, there was simply no other way to describe it. “You do not need to know that. But there is a first time for everything.”

She could tell by the way he said it he didn’t think this was the man’s first time at anything like this.

She clasped her hands together and leaned forward. “Do you think he’ll harm her? I can’t bear the thought. To think I was responsible—“

“You were not responsible!” He practically barked the words at her and she instinctively looked around to see who might have heard. “I do not know if he plans to harm her or not, my job is to find her before he can consider doing so.”

“It’s already been twenty-four hours. He could have already hurt her.”

“It will be his life if he does.”

She blinked at him. There was no heat, no vehemence in his tone. It was as if he was telling her that’s the way it would be.

“You make it sound personal.”

“You are mistaken.”

She shivered at his tone. It was colder than she believed possible.

“What if he’s not the man? How will you know?”

“I will know.” He looked at her still full plate. “If you are finished, I can take you back.”

“Umm… yes, of course.” What else
could
she say?

She didn’t speak again until they were in the car. She shifted in her seat so she could see his face, read any expression, though she had a feeling this man was more than adept at hiding anything he didn’t want to share. “I know because of the job you do you can’t tell me much, but have you heard anything? Any leads?”

He didn’t look at her, but put the car into gear and drove out of the parking lot. “I have shared all I know.”

“But how did you find this man so fast? No one else had any pictures of him, even had any idea…” She let her voice trail off. He had not even looked at her once, and certainly didn’t appear as if he would give her any answers. He appeared cold and aloof. Then why had he made sure she was fed, cared for? She didn’t understand but finally marked it as part of his protective personality. That was why a lot of people went into law enforcement, at least according to articles she had read.

“Now where are we going?” She wasn’t alarmed, but she was curious as they headed further into town.

“To see a friend of mine.”

“About the picture?” She turned in her seat again as far as the seat belt would allow then tugged on the shoulder harness to allow herself more room. “Hey, I said it could be the man. I didn’t see him very well, remember?”

“I remember.” He glanced at her then back to the road. “Why are you so nervous?”

She had a feeling he remembered everything. “I’m not nervous. Not really. I just don’t want to be accusing the wrong person.”

“I already told you, you’re not.”

She had some misgivings on that score, but turned to sit straight in her seat. She must be nuts to be going with him. There was no other explanation. She should be at the house, with Sandy’s parents, or in place of her parents.

~*~

“Louis is an old friend of mine,” Alex told her, trying to put her at ease. He could smell the adrenaline flowing through her body, it was getting stronger by the minute as she grew more agitated. He didn’t want her to be nervous, not of him. “In fact, he’s the one who helped me find the photo.”

The elevator took forever to get to the top floor. Alex was in no mood to wait. If Lisa hadn’t been with him, he would have been talking to Louis already. For reasons he didn’t want to delve into, he wanted Lisa there. He could easily have seen his friend without her presence, but perhaps she could tell them something that he missed. At least that’s what he told himself. He didn’t know which disturbed him more – the possibility he might have missed something, or how her presence affected him.

He instinctively stepped out of the elevator first, making sure no dangers lurked. When she joined him, he put his hand low on her back and guided her into Louis’s office.

Chapter 5

Lisa looked around the office, if she could call it that. Very highly polished, very posh. Not what she had expected, though not totally out of line for the office building they were in.

A slim, well dressed man came to meet them. He was a few inches shorter than Alex – Detective Aguilar -- but slim as he was, he appeared a bit stockier than the detective especially compared to Alex’s whipcord lean length. He was much darker than the detective too. She felt herself grow warmer, wondering if she should have even noticed him at a time like this.

“So, Alessandro, what have you learned?”

Alessandro?  Was that Spanish?
 She quickly glanced at the detective who merely raised one eyebrow in her direction before focusing on his host.

Quickly Alex made the introductions. “Lisa is the one who caught a glimpse of the abductor.”

“Is that right?” Louis walked over to the leather sofa set against the wall and invited them to sit. Next to it was a loveseat, and a chair across from the grouping; a small bar stood adjacent. She had never seen an office like it.

She sat upright on the edge of the loveseat, still not certain of her role here. She shamelessly followed their exchange, trying to piece together what they had to say. Louis didn’t appear to be in law enforcement, so why was the detective here? She wanted to ask but held her tongue.

“You got a good look?”

Louis’s voice drew her attention back to the men. “Not really. I mentioned that to Detective Aguilar, but he insisted I come and talk to you anyway.”

Louis glanced between the two of them before looking questioningly at Alex.

“It’s Carlos, just as we thought. Can you help me find him?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Louis sat further back in his seat, crossing his hands over his middle and extending his legs. The picture of relaxation. “The answer rests on why.”

“Why would Carlos have her? I have no idea.” Alex made a slight noise that sounded like an exasperated breath.

“That is one why. But why would you involve this poor girl?” He pointed his chin in Lisa’s direction.

Lisa looked from one to the other. “Excuse me,” she said, “I am here. There’s no need to talk as if I wasn’t.”

“You can do nothing,” Louis told her.

“I realize that,” Lisa said. “But I feel responsible. If I’m at least here, or with Detective Aguilar I will know what is going on. I can pass the information to the Morgans.”

Alex shifted in his seat, but Louis merely studied her. She wasn’t sure if he had even blinked. “Is there some reason I shouldn’t be here?” She didn’t know how the detectives operated, but maybe there was some protocol. She looked from one man to the other.

“There is every reason you should not be here,” Louis told her. “Alessandro knows this, which is why I am surprised to see you.”

“I wanted her to meet you,” Alex said, his voice clipped. “Perhaps you could explain the need for her to remain uninvolved in the case; how dangerous this man could be.”

Louis gave her a slow smile, one she didn’t care for at all. “His name is Carlos, but that much you know. He is very dangerous. So dangerous that I question Alessandro looking for him alone.”

“I didn’t plan to do it alone.”

“Of course not. You have the department behind you.”

His tone was not reassuring to Lisa in the least. He made it should as if an entire police force was nothing to be considered; not to be taken into account. Alex must have felt the same way, because she saw him stiffen.