Part 22 (1/2)
”I'm talking about the vampire who almost bled you dry and the werewolf who f.u.c.ked you while the vampire drained you. Both were sent by Henry Morretti.” I shook my head, my expression one of mock sadness. ”Seems Morretti thought you'd reached the end of your usefulness.”
”Look, as I've already said-”
”Fine.” I thrust to my feet. ”I'll just go make that phone call, then.”
I was almost out of the treatment room when she said, ”No, wait.”
I turned and crossed my arms. ”Why should I, when you apparently don't know what I'm talking about?”
She waved a hand, the motion elegance itself. ”If what you're saying is true about the vamp and the wolf, why, then, did you save me?”
”Because I'm investigating the death of your husband, and it would be hard to question you if you were dead.”
”But you wouldn't mind me being dead otherwise, if your tone is anything to go by.”
”Totally wouldn't mind, but that's beside the point.”
”At least you're honest.” Her brief smile held very little in the way of amus.e.m.e.nt. ”Are you a cop?”
”No. Personally, I would rather avoid involving the cops at the moment. I'm thinking you might want to, too.”
”Possibly.” She pursed her lips. ”And just to put things straight, I didn't go to bed with either a vamp or a wolf.”
”Perhaps not knowingly, but you must have let that vamp into the house. He couldn't have crossed the threshold uninvited.”
”I let a plumber in-” She paused. ”Guess I need to check credentials a little closer, huh?”
”If you're going to keep playing with pond sc.u.m like the sindicati, then, yeah, that might be wise.”
”The sindicati pay in good, clean cash and, for a subcontractor like myself, they're a viable business option.”
”Except when they believe you have come to the end of your usefulness to them.”
She frowned. ”That's what I don't understand. This is not the first time I've worked for them, and I'm very good at what I do. I cannot understand why they would wish to end my services in such a permanent manner.”
I didn't really understand it, either, but then, I wasn't a vampire crime boss. ”Did the sindicati order the hit on Professor Wilson?”
We already knew it was the red cloaks who'd killed him, but it never hurt to double-check.
”No. Why would they? They needed him alive to keep working on his research, as he hadn't pinned down all the enzymes that are apparently responsible for a human becoming a vampire.”
So much for Jackson's theory that the red-cloaked figure had been nothing but a ruse. ”Are you sure? Because another professor who was undertaking research similar to your husband's was murdered this week, and it seems very likely it was ordered by the sindicati.”
”Perhaps it was, but I do not know or care about the sindicati or their plans for other researchers. My job was to keep tabs on Wilson and his research, and that's precisely what I did.”
”And ethics be d.a.m.ned?”
She shrugged. ”Men and women have been using s.e.x to get what they want for eons. I merely use it to get information for my clients.” Her smile was cool. ”And trust me, the men I bed get the better end of the deal. They have me at their beck and call.”
”But afterward, they're left behind to take the blame.”
”If they live,” she murmured. ”Not all of them do.”
Which made me wonder just how many other ”husbands” she'd had and how many of them were still alive today. I had a bad feeling there was a whole lot more dirt swept under this woman's carpet than what we'd already uncovered.
”So how do you get the information? Pillow talk, or by breaking into his computer and copying his files?”
”Nothing so cra.s.s. I'm a telepath with a photographic memory. I might not understand what I steal, but I never forget it.”
A handy talent for a thief to have. ”How do you get the information to the sindicati?”
She smiled again. A blond-haired shark with perfect white teeth. ”You came here wanting information in exchange for saving my life. Why don't we make a deal?”
”What, saving your life isn't enough?”
”Well, no, because I need to be alive for you to get your information. Therefore, I have leverage and you do not.”
”And contacting the sindicati isn't a good enough form of leverage in your eyes?”
”Oh, it's a great form of leverage, but there is one major problem. You can't get reception here in the hospital, and the minute you leave, I'm gone. You'd lose not only me, but any additional information I might hold.”
All of which was true, d.a.m.n it. I eyed her warily. ”What sort of deal?”
”In return for answering your questions, I want your help in removing myself from the sindicati's reach.”
”I'm thinking there's probably not going to be many areas in Australia that meet that criteria.” And maybe very few overseas.
”I agree, which is why I intend to flee overseas once I'm out of this state. I have pa.s.sports and clothing at a safe place ready to go. All I need is transport there and then on to the airport.”
”A deal that certainly gives you more than it gives me.”
”Unless, of course, the information I might have also includes a hard drive containing not only every sc.r.a.p of information I stole from Wilson, but every detail of anyone I ever dealt with in the sindicati.”
I blinked and her shark smile got bigger.
”It always pays to have some form of backup plan.”
”So why don't you use said backup to exchange for your freedom?”
”Because, as you said, they have obviously-for whatever reason-decided it is safer to be rid of me than use me again. Therefore, they will merely agree to the exchange and then kill me anyway.” She raised an eyebrow. ”I am fully aware of what my employers are capable of. Do we have a deal?”
I hesitated, but I had no real choice and we both knew it. Not if I wanted the answers that might well be hidden somewhere in those files. Besides, given Morretti was currently off-limits investigation-wise, it couldn't hurt to have a secondary option in the sindicati to chase down and question.
”Okay. Deal.”
She held out her hand. ”Shake on it.”
I leaned forward and clasped her hands. Electricity buzzed across my senses, and I smiled. ”Sorry, but I'm one of those people who can't be read telepathically.”