Forsaken By Shadow (20 page)

“
Mr. Stokes, let’s just get right down to the reason we’re here. I’m sure you know that we came to question you about the murder of Patty Ryan. I want you to go over that day, telling us everything that you remember. Why don’t we start with the morning before her murder?”

“
I had been out late at a dinner party with some friends. I came home early in the morning, and I immediately checked all the doors, set the alarm, and then I went to bed. I slept until about three o’clock that afternoon. I got up, took a shower, and then I went downstairs. When I walked into the living room, I saw that young girl lying there. I went over and checked for a pulse, just in case I could help her, but she was already cold. I immediately called the police and you know the rest. I didn’t hear anything. I slept from the time I went to bed until I got up in the afternoon.”

“
Mr. Stokes, how do you explain the fact that two people, the murderer and the victim, got into your house without setting off your alarm?” Kerry asked. “You mentioned that you set the alarm when you went to bed. Our report shows that the alarm was still set when the police got here and you had to turn it off.”

Gerard Stokes sighed. “I can’t explain it. I don’t know how that happened, but the fact is that it did. Maybe someone disarmed it somehow, and then turned it back on.”

“
You do understand how unlikely that sounds.”

“
Yes, Detective, I do. But that’s the way it happened. Maybe someone is trying to frame me.”

“
Do you have any enemies that might want to do something like that?” asked Ethan.

“
Detective James, when you are in the position I am in, many enemies are made. There could be any number of people who might want to frame me. But in this case, someone had to have the expertise to do it.”

They asked Mr. Stokes several more questions, and then they got up to leave.

“
We’ll be in touch, Mr. Stokes. I don’t have to tell you how this looks. You may be arrested. I suggest, if that happens, that you cooperate fully and things will be easier for you,” said Kerry.

Gerard Stokes fixed her with a stare that made her feel uncomfortable and odd. Then he nodded his head and gestured for them to precede him out the sitting room door. They were shown out by the dark haired girl and they got into their squad car and drove off.

“
Something is off about this,” said Ethan.

“
Yeah, something is off. It’s Gerard Stokes.”

“
No, Kerry, I think he’s telling the truth.”

“
You’re kidding me, right?” she asked incredulously.

“
No, I’m serious. I really do think someone is trying to frame him.”

“
That just shows how naïve you are. It looks pretty clear to me. He lured the girl to his house, killed her, set the alarm, and then he called us. Case closed.”

“
I’m just asking you to keep on open mind.”

Kerry pulled over to the side of the road and turned around to look at Ethan. He averted his eyes, as if he were uncomfortable with her scrutiny.

“
You know him, don’t you?” she asked.

“
Why would you say that?”

“
You keep defending him, and when we were back at his house, you looked as if you knew him from somewhere.”

Ethan sighed. “Okay, I do know him.”

“
I knew it! You need to be taken off this case. You could mess up this whole investigation!”

“
Kerry, I won’t mess up the investigation. I can be objective about this; I promise.”

“
You’re already trying to defend him and trying to prove he didn’t do it,” she accused.

“
I don’t think he did. Since I do know him, I should be a better judge as to whether or not he was capable of murder.”

Kerry glared at him. “If you know him and like him, then you’re not going to want to believe he did it. You’re biased.”

“
I’m just looking at it from a different angle than you are. We have to look at every possibility.”

“
Look, the alarm was on. There was a dead body in the house. He was the only one in the house with the body and the only one with the alarm code. He had to have done it.”

“
How do you know someone else didn’t get the alarm code? How do you know someone didn’t plant that girl there to frame him? It could have happened that way.”

Frustrated, Kerry pulled the car back out into traffic and drove on toward the station. She was tired of arguing with him. This partnership wasn’t going very well if they strongly disagreed on the first case they worked together. This just wasn’t going to work. She would ask the captain to partner her with someone else.

After a few minutes, Ethan said, “Kerry, I don’t want to quarrel with you. I’m only asking you to look at all the angles. I’m not asking you to completely throw out your theory. I just want you to consider mine. Will you please try to be a little more open minded about this? If we look at all the evidence and consider everything, and you still think he’s guilty, then we can go back and arrest him later. It doesn’t have to be done right away.”

Kerry took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Alright. I’ll consider what you’re saying. I don’t see any way it could happen like you’re saying, but I’ll give it some thought. But you have to think about my theory as well. Okay?”

He smiled at her. “It’s a deal.”

They got back to the station and reported back to Captain Bruce. They talked to him about all of the possibilities, and Kerry reluctantly told him that they were looking into the possibility of another suspect. After they were finished talking to the captain, they went to their desks, which were across from each other, and talked more about the case.

Kerry said, “This thing about all the blood being drained from the victim’s body is very strange. What would be the purpose of something like that?”

Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they are going to use the blood in some kind of ritual. Does Gerard Stokes strike you as the kind of man who would be involved in some sort of blood rite?”

“
I don’t know. I thought he was kind of strange. I don’t know what he could be involved in.”

“
He’s a prominent businessman,” said Ethan. “He wouldn’t risk his reputation by being mixed up in something like that. In fact, he wouldn’t get mixed up in a murder, either. Why would he murder a girl, and then turn around and call the police, knowing he would be the prime suspect?”

“
Maybe he didn’t know what to do with the body, so he called the police to throw the suspicion in another direction. He probably thought that by calling the police, he was showing that he had nothing to hide.”

“
I just don’t buy it. A man that wealthy has plenty of resources. He could have found a way to make that body disappear. And I sure don’t think that he would do something as bizarre as drain the blood from the body, and then call the police. Why would he do that?”

Kerry said, “I don’t know. But until we find out how someone bypassed or turned off that alarm, my money is going to be on Stokes.”

“
I disagree. But you know that.”

“
There is something really wrong in that house. That girl that opened the door for us. She didn’t really say much. Something was off about her. And Stokes was really weird, too. He just stared at me right before we left and it made me feel strange. It was kind of creepy.”

“
Oh, so you think he was trying to put some kind of spell on you?” Ethan teased.

“
No, of course not! I don’t believe in that kind of thing. But it did make me feel odd when he looked at me that way.”

“
Maybe he was trying to hit on you.”

“
Oh, stop being stupid. There is just something wrong at that house.”

“
Well, having a murdered girl in the house is pretty wrong.”

“
That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

Ethan sighed. “That’s not what I meant.”

Kerry said, “I think it’s time to take a break from this. It’s about time to call it a day anyway. I’m ready to get something to eat and go home.”

“
Want to catch a bite at the pizza place across the street?”

Kerry looked at him, surprised. She hadn’t expected him to ask her to go to dinner with him the first day they worked together. Usually, partners had to get to know each other pretty well before they started hanging out together. She wasn’t sure how to respond to the invitation.

“
Ethan, I’m pretty tired. I was thinking about getting something to go and eating it at home.”

“
Okay, I just thought I would ask. I’m going to go over there anyway and get some dinner. They’ve got great pizza.”

Kerry said, “Some of the guys eat over there all the time, and I’ve thought about trying it. But not tonight, okay?”

“
That’s fine. We’ll do it another time.”

“
Sure,” she said. “Another time.”

When she saw him walk across the street, she regretted turning down his offer. He was trying to be friendly and she should have gone with him. Now she faced a lonely night at home, and she knew she would be thinking about Roger. She almost went over to the pizza place anyway, to tell him she had changed her mind, but pride wouldn’t let her do it. So she went home to an empty house with her take out burger and fries and ate alone.

Excerpt:

Mated

By Zoe Winters

If Jane Tanner’s life could be summarized on a bumper sticker, it would say: “Be small. Don’t look threatening.” An odd life mantra for a 24-year-old woman who was five foot three and one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet. But sensing vampires in a world where such beings were a well-kept secret wasn’t great for survival.

Jane huddled in her coat and scrunched behind Paul as he led her into the smoke-filled club. There was snow on the ground, but this wasn’t about the cold; it was about being invisible. Lately, the goal had been to be invisible from Paul. Over the past six months, he’d become what every vampire before Gregory had been with her. A monster.

To the average human, Paul would appear handsome, nonthreatening. His frame was slight, his height only five foot nine. But in that compact form, he held the strength of an immortal. And although he was still a fledgling by most vampiric standards, he was still about ten times stronger than Jane. A fact he reminded her of often.

While other humans saw a handsome face, hair that glinted gold as if touched by the sun, and perfect creamy skin, Jane could only see his good looks as a passing shadow. Instead, what she saw when she looked at Paul, and every other vampire, was coal-black skin that glistened like a snake, with shimmers of silver where the light hit it, and eyes that glowed like doorways into hell.

His fangs remained hidden inside his gums; when they were out they showed on his human visage as well. Vampires preferred to keep a low profile.

Which was why they hated her.

She could see them without being one of them. She’d begged countless times to be turned, but Gregory wouldn’t curse her, and the other vamps wouldn’t reward her.

Paul held her wrist in a punishing grip as he dragged her through the bar. The smoke of countless cigarettes was a thick haze that had her eyes watering. It had to be the control of all the preternaturals because Cary Town was the only place she’d been in a long time where you could still smoke in a bar.

The establishment was run down, but it was obvious it had been the spot in its heyday, maybe sixty years ago. Back then there had no doubt been live singers and performers of jazz and blues, instead of the canned music that was being piped out now through a cheap sound system.