Dalakis Passion 4 - Eternal Brothers (28 page)

should be okay.
She lifted up one side of the blanket and peeked beneath the bed. He hadn't moved
a muscle since his eyes had closed. Sighing, she dropped the covering and turned away.
She had
work
to do and Zane wouldn't be awake for hours.
After she had a quick shower and dressed, she gulped down a bowl of cold cereal
and went to work in her office. The police had finally identified the second victim. Ariel
Woodland had just been laid off work the week before she was murdered, so it had
been days before anyone had reported her missing. Her friends had all assumed she
was hiding out at home because she was depressed over losing her job.
"What did you two have in common?" Sophia pondered as she stared at the photos
of the two women. They were very different in looks. Janice had been fair-skinned with
light brown hair. Ariel was dark-skinned with long black hair. Janice had been a
student. Ariel had been an unemployed office worker. There had to be something that
attracted the killer's attention. Maybe it was simply that both women were in their early
twenties and attractive, but Sophia felt in her bones it had to be something more.
Picking up her phone, she dialed the first number at the top of her list. It was time
to talk to the family and friends of both victims. She dialed the first number, checking
her notes to see what she knew about her first contact. Ann
Perreault
was a close friend
of Janice Barton and the two women had gone to school together. Sophia tapped her
pen absently against her pad of paper while she waited for the phone on the other end
to be answered.
Ten minutes later, Sophia was on a first-name basis with the other woman and
figured she'd learned all she could from Ann. The woman was devastated by the loss of
her friend. "I'm sorry," Ann whispered. Sophia could tell she was desperately trying
not to cry, but had already lost the battle.
"I'm sorry too. It must be hard to lose your best friend. I was just hoping that there
might be something you could tell me that might shed some light on why Ms. Barton
might have been targeted by the murderer."
"There is no reason," Ann retorted. "Janice might have been a bit odd at times, but
she didn't deserve this."
"Of course she didn't," Sophia soothed. "I would never even suggest such a thing.
I'm simply trying to figure out what it was about her that caught the eye of the killer.
The more we understand about the situation, the better chance there is of catching
him." Something Ann had said had caught Sophia's attention. "You said she was odd at
times.
In what way?"
She could feel the other woman's hesitation. "I would never write
anything derogatory about Ms. Barton's character, Ann," she added gently. "I just want
to help uncover the murderer.
Ann sniffed again. "It wasn't anything really. She'd just know when the phone was
going to ring sometimes or she'd get hunches about things before they happened. Stuff
like that."
Sophia murmured soothingly and then ended the conversation a few minutes later.
Sighing, she crossed Ann
Perreault
off the list and then tackled the next one. James
Lemont was an ex-boyfriend of Ariel Woodland, the second victim.
It only took her thirty seconds on the phone with James to realize that there was no
love lost between him and the poor, departed Ariel. He certainly wasn't distraught over
her death.
"I wasn't surprised when I heard what happened. That girl was just totally
whacked at times, if you know what I mean."
Years of dealing with people like James allowed Sophia to hide her distaste for him.
She wanted to keep him talking. "No, I'm not sure I know what you mean, Mr. Lemont.
Maybe you could explain it to me."
He gave a cruel laugh. "She was always claiming that she had powers, you know.
Like some voodoo queen or something. She thought she was something special." He
snorted. "Guess being special didn't save her in the end."
Sophia swallowed her anger and her disgust even as a kernel of an idea began to
take root in her mind. She asked a few more questions, then brought the conversation
with Mr. Lemont to an end and swiftly dialed the next number on her list. Her list of
questions grew as she talked to one person after another who had known either Janice
Barton or Ariel Woodland. Some people on her list weren't answering their phone, so
she made herself do some other work as she waited for time to pass so she could try
them again.
Morning drifted into afternoon as she continued to work, managing to write several
more articles and send them out to her waiting editors. She resisted the urge to check on
Zane every five minutes, only going into the bedroom twice during the long day. She
kept trying the numbers on her list until she'd reached just about everyone. It was late
afternoon when she finally hung up the phone for the final time. She'd taken what she'd
inadvertently uncovered in her first two phone calls and all she'd learned from Laurel
Rose about what had happened in Salvation, North Carolina, and played a hunch. None
of the families would talk about it, but several of the friends had confirmed that both
women were
different
. Some of them had even been adamant that each of the women
had had some kind of psychic ability.
"Bingo," she muttered as she made notes on her computer. It seemed that the
Dalakis
family might have been right in their assessment of who might be targeting
their family. Not that it brought them any closer to finding out who the killer might be.
It was time to take another tack on the problem.
Grabbing her phone again, she hit her speed dial.
"Cassidy."
The male voice barked on the other end of the line.
"What do you know about Jeremiah Stoner?"
He paused.
"Other than the fact that he was a psycho killer?"
Sophia scowled. "I'm serious. Did anyone ever check into his personal life, his
phone records? Who did he talk to outside of Salvation? Did he have a computer, a
journal, anything like that?"
She could almost feel Cassidy's interest perk up. "We didn't look too deep. The
man was dead and we didn't want any more questions than necessary. You know
something."
It wasn't a question. "Yes.
Maybe.
I'm not sure." Sighing, she rubbed her tired eyes
and leaned back in her chair.
"I've been talking to the family and friends of the two
victims."
"And?"
She could hear the impatience in Cassidy's voice.
"And," she drawled, "I got curious, considering what I've learned from Laurel Rose
over the past week."
"Don't make me have to come over there, Sophia," he growled.
Sophia smiled, totally unconcerned by his threat. She had his number and the man
was a softie--at least when it came to the women he considered under his protection.
And that small, select group now included her. "The families won't confirm anything,
you understand, but the friends had some interesting stories to tell."
Silence.
"They were both psychic, Cassidy. At least to some small extent."
"Shit."
"Shit is right.
Seems like Stefan and Laurel Rose were on the right track when they
thought this was connected to Stoner.
The cult he was a member of was all about
drinking people's blood to absorb their powers. If these women did have psychic
ability, then that's why they were targeted."
"That makes sense. We have to dig into Stoner's past and see if we can't discover
who some of his associates were." Cassidy huffed out a breath. "Okay, I'll call the
sheriff in Salvation and see if I can't get him to talk. Maybe they came across something
in their search for Stoner. Officially, he's still listed as missing."
"They never found his body?" Sophia hadn't realized that.
"And they never will. Not without tearing down the church and digging with a
backhoe."
Sophia didn't know whether to be appalled or impressed by the
Dalakis
brothers.
Considering what Stoner had done, she tended to lean toward being impressed. They
were good men to have at your back, but definitely not people you wanted as enemies.
"You'll have to be extra vigilant around Laurel Rose and Delight. They're both
special and the killer might make a try for them."
Cassidy was already ahead of her. "This place is a fortress during the day and
there's no way a human could get past both the men at night. I'm more worried about
you and Blythe."
Sophia's stomach clenched and she placed her hand over it. "I don't have any
special abilities, so I should be fine. Besides," she hurried on before Cassidy could
interrupt her, "the killer had plenty of time to hurt me in the cemetery if that was his
aim."
"I still don't like it. You should come over here for the day. I could have a cab come
and pick you up."
She smiled in spite of her anxiety. Cassidy was very much like the other men even if
he wasn't a vampire. They were all protective, almost to the point of being overbearing.
Not that she could blame them in this particular situation. "I'll be fine, and besides, I've
got work to do."
"Promise me you'll be extra careful."
"I will," she agreed before she said goodbye and hung up. She'd leave this
particular research in Cassidy's capable hands. For now, she'd go down to the police
station and badger them for a bit. Hopefully they'd learned something new that might
help. The killer might be from the
Dalakis
brothers' past, but he was in New Orleans
now and they had to find him before he took another victim.
Sophia thought about having some lunch, but quickly remembered that there
wasn't really that much to choose from. She glanced at her watch and realized it would
be more like supper than lunch. The day had flown by and it was only an hour until
sundown. A sub sandwich would hit the spot. She'd grab one on her way to talk to
Officer Cuthbert and Detective Simpson. She contemplated changing her clothes, but
decided that jeans and a T-shirt were good enough.
Closing down her computer, she left her office. She was tempted to check on Zane
one final time, but forced herself to turn toward her living room instead. It was
kinda
freaky to watch him when he wasn't breathing and his heart wasn't beating. She'd leave
him a note letting him know that she'd meet him at Lucian's when she was finished at
the police station.
A knock interrupted her reverie. She wasn't expecting anyone. Her heart began to
pound furiously and she gulped in a mouthful of air. Okay, this was totally ridiculous.
It was probably nothing at all.
Still, better to be cautious. She hurried back into her office and grabbed her cell
phone before approaching the front door. Hitting the speed dial again, she didn't have
long to wait, as it was answered on the first ring.
"Cassidy."
"It's me again. There's someone at my door."
"Don't answer it," Cassidy barked.
There was another knock before she got there, this one slightly harder. Peering out
through the peephole, she relaxed when she recognized the delivery uniform from a
local office supply shop. "It's a local delivery. Hang on while I talk to him." She undid
the locks but kept the chain on. She could hear Cassidy swearing in the background.
"Yes."
The man was bald and appeared to be somewhere in his forties. It was hard to tell
exactly because his shoulders were slumped forward. He gave her a quick, frazzled
smile.
"You Sophia Daring?"
Her fingers tightened on the doorknob. She hadn't been expecting this. "Yes," she
replied cautiously.
"Good. I
gotta
delivery."
"I didn't order anything."
The man's pale blue eyes narrowed as he stared at his clipboard. "Says right here
it's for Sophia Daring." He rattled off her street number.
"That's me, but I didn't order anything." Now she was totally confused.
The man checked his clipboard again, shuffling papers. "Phone order by a Zane
York." The man looked up again, looking perplexed. "It's a great desk chair.
Top of the
line.
The order came in yesterday evening."
Sophia sighed. This sounded like something that Zane would do. Putting the phone
back to her ear, she closed the door and undid the chain, ushering the man inside. "It's
just a chair that Zane bought for
me
."
"Sophia." She could hear the panic in Cassidy's voice. "Did Zane tell you he bought
you a chair?"
The man wheeled his trolley just inside the door.
"Well, no." Now Cassidy was making her nervous.
"Just need you to sign here, ma'am." The deliveryman held out his clipboard and
pen.
"Hang on a second, Cassidy." She laid the phone down on the hutch and reached
for the pen and clipboard.
It happened so fast, she didn't have time to respond. The man straightened to his
full height and slapped his hand over her mouth as he yanked a hypodermic needle out
of his pocket and jammed it into her arm. It hurt and she cried out as she started to
fight. But her limbs didn't want to work properly and her head began to spin.
The man held her easily with one arm. He was much stronger than he appeared
beneath his baggy uniform. Flipping open the top of the box with his other hand, he
then hefted her over his shoulder. It was only then that she realized the box was empty.
"In you go." She tried to stop him, tried to move her body, but it was no use. Her
hand flopped out and smacked him in the shoulder. He ignored her as if she were no
more than a fly and stuffed her into the box. Before she knew it she was inside and the
lid was being closed. She couldn't move, but she could still hear as the man picked up
her cell phone.
"Who am I speaking with?" He chuckled and continued. "I rather thought it would
be you, Cassidy. I've done quite a bit of research on the
Dalakis
family." He laughed
and the sound sent shivers down Sophia's spine. This man was evil. She swallowed
back her fear and continued to listen even as she struggled to get her body to move.
"Hmm," he continued after a few moments. "You're in no position to make threats or
demands. I know things that your employers wouldn't want made public. Who'd have
thought that vampires were real?"