Death Calls. Caridad Pineiro

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СКАЧАТЬ would be an area on the sleeve that lacked splatter,” Peter finished for her. “Have CSU check the entire right sleeve and make sure those toxicology reports are carefully reviewed for any unusual residues.”

      “Of course, Detective Daly,” the M.E. answered. The glance he shot Diana was anything but friendly. As if to retaliate for the extra assignment the M.E. picked up the scalpel and let it linger above Sylvia’s body. The light caught the sharp edge and a chill transferred itself to Diana’s skin.

      She had seen hundreds of autopsies before, but this one…

      “I need to get back to the office.” She bolted from the room, Peter hot on her heels.

      “You okay?” he asked as she leaned against the wall outside the autopsy room.

      Swallowing to keep down the bile, she could only nod. “Will you call me later? Let me know what’s up and if toxicology finds something?”

      “Will do.”

      As she started to walk away, he said, “Diana?”

      “What?”

      “Will you be all right?”

      With a shake of her head, she said, “I wish I knew.”

      

      She couldn’t face going home. Couldn’t deal with sitting there alone, thinking about all that had happened. How what had started out as a normal day had spun into…darkness. As black and numb as that which had claimed her nearly a decade earlier.

      Rushing out of her office, she started walking, headed nowhere in particular. Each step took her farther away from where she began, but no closer to where she needed to be. She wanted to be with other people, somewhere she could let go of the pain that had staked a claim on her this morning.

      She could have gone to her brother, only she didn’t want to drag him down with her misery. As for her partner, David had tried to help her upon her return to the office, but had failed miserably. Her wound had been too fresh for her to accept sympathy.

      Her reaction to today’s events was familiar, she realized. After her father’s death, she had driven away those closest to her. Her mami, her then boyfriend and lover Alejandro, even Sebastian, at first.

      A stitch in her side made her stop. She suddenly realized she had been running, attempting to escape her emotions.

      Only there was no escape.

      As she paused until her breath became regular, hands on her hips, she glanced down the street and realized she was only a block or two from Ryder’s nightclub.

      Had she been running to him or to the darkness she would find there?

      With a deep inhalation, she told herself there was only one way to find out.

      

      The Lair was the same as always. Charcoal-gray walls, structured to look like rock, absorbed most of the light, leaving the club with the feel of a subterranean chamber. Overhead, by the length of the stainless steel bar, hundreds of fake bats hung from the catwalks and ceiling. The only difference tonight was that the club was less crowded. It was early. So early that not even the band was on stage yet. Instead, music was piped in from a sound system.

      Fine by her. Although she didn’t want to be alone, Diana wasn’t in the mood for masses of people milling around.

      She couldn’t feel Ryder, but then again, she couldn’t feel anything but pain and anger. Loss. And worse than any of them combined, guilt—for not protecting her friend, for being absent from Sylvia’s life so often lately.

      She had been too busy with work—and with Ryder. Years earlier, she had experienced something similar. She had been too busy with college and with her boyfriend, too involved with the needs of her own life to have time for her father…

      Until he was gone.

      Grief squeezed her chest, making it difficult to breathe. She forced herself to move forward, but not toward the steps leading to Ryder’s office. Not yet, anyway. Instead, she plunked herself down on a bar stool. Raising her hand, she motioned to the bartender she recognized from previous nights at The Lair.

      The attractive blond laid out a coaster with the club’s stylized bat-and-blood logo.

      “A shot of Cuervo.” Diana waved her hand toward the back of the club. “Is Ryder here?”

      The girl shot a look up at Ryder’s office window. “I don’t think so.”

      So he was gone, Diana thought. She had suspected as much with the connection she hadn’t felt from the moment she had stepped into the club. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe if he had been here tonight, she would have made a mistake she would so totally regret in the morning.

      She rubbed at the tattoo on her shoulder, letting it remind her about not only protecting her heart, but avoiding rash actions. Seeing Ryder tonight likely being bad on both counts.

      Diana slugged back the shot and then asked for another, which the bartender immediately supplied, although concern clouded her All-American features.

      “Worried that I can’t handle it?” Diana asked, both interested and amused by the young vampire’s obvious anxiety.

      The girl motioned to the tequila with a manicured nail done in pink. Nothing Goth about this vamp, Diana thought. “Last time I had one too many of those, I ended up undead.”

      Diana choked on her drink. “I’m sorry.”

      “Yeah, me, too. But I guess you go on, don’t you?” She gave a careless shrug that couldn’t quite hide the sorrow in her inquisitive blue eyes.

      Diana only nodded her agreement. Was that why Ryder wasn’t here? Was he going on, moving on? She peered around again, trying to open herself up to sense him.

      “I don’t think he’ll be back for a while.”

      Diana experienced a rush of heat to her cheeks. “Am I that obvious?”

      The vampire leaned her elbows on the bar and grasped the bar towel between both hands. “People tell me I’m intuitive. I guess that’s why I get such good tips.”

      As Diana caught a glimpse of the cleavage the young vampire’s current position exposed and shot her gaze up to the coed’s too earnest and classically pretty features, she suspected there were other reasons, as well, but couldn’t be cruel.

      “You are that,” she offered.

      “So what about you and the boss man?” the vampire asked.

      What about her and Ryder? “I’m not…like you.” She looked down at her glass, a bit uncomfortable about reminding the unfortunate coed of her undeadness.

      “Yeah. You’re older,” the bartender said, so matter-of-factly that Diana jerked her gaze up in surprise, only to find the girl smiling. A broad, fooled-you smile that was friendly and blasted away her earlier discomfort.

      “You’re right. I’m older and СКАЧАТЬ