Burnett nodded. “You have a problem with Chase?”
“Maybe,” she said. Hell, yes, she had a problem. She knew when Chase brought over her phone that he’d done it with the intent to start trouble. And he’d succeeded, too.
Not that it was his fault Steve had swapped spit with Jessie, but Chase’s part in the problem still irked her. She was so angry she’d even avoided eye contact with him during the two classes they shared. Oh, she felt him staring at her, but she’d never given him one glance.
And the phone issue was only part of the problem. There was her knowing she’d run across him before and then what Jenny had told her about him meeting someone at the gate. She almost told Burnett about Jenny’s discovery, but then she recalled Jenny asking her not to say anything.
“What is your problem with Chase?” Burnett asked.
She couldn’t out and out lie, but avoiding telling the truth was no sin. “Why not send Lucas?”
Burnett’s brow wrinkled. “You’d rather work with a werewolf than another vampire? That’s odd.”
“Not really. I know Lucas. I trust Lucas. Besides, isn’t that part of what Shadow Falls is all about? Getting along and playing nice with other species? I can deal with Lucas.”
Burnett leaned back in his chair, and the piece of furniture groaned with his new position. “Why don’t you like Chase?” he asked directly, as if he knew she was skipping around the truth.
Chapter Twenty-four
Della wasn’t finished skipping over the truth. “He seems to be full of secrets.”
“What kind of secrets?” Burnett asked.
“If I knew, they wouldn’t be secrets.” Yup, she could skip with the best of them.
Burnett frowned. “Chase’s already working this case.”
Della leaned forward in her seat. It was her turn to put Burnett in the hot seat. “Why do you trust Chase? He’s not here a week and you recruit him. That’s not like you. Did you know him before?”
“No,” he answered, and while Della tried to listen to his heart, she couldn’t. Her hearing was out. What the frack was wrong with her senses?
Burnett continued, “I think I mentioned that he has impressed me with his abilities.”
“What abilities?” Della had noted Chase’s speed, but …
“All of them,” he answered, but looked unhappy about her inquisitiveness.
She suspected there were things he wasn’t telling her, but if she continued to pursue this line of questioning, he might decide she shouldn’t work the case at all. The last thing she wanted was to get this yanked from her.
He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his desk. “If you’re not comfortable—”
“I’m fine,” she said before he could say it.
“But if you don’t trust him—”
“The best way for me to start trusting him is to work with him, right?” Her gut knotted at the thought of Burnett pulling her from the case.
He continued to stare at her. Hard. He didn’t say anything. She could see the debate going on in his eyes. To give her this case or pull her off. And it didn’t look as if it was going in her favor.
“I want to catch this creep,” she said. “It’s the least I can do.”
Burnett’s frown deepened. “Della, there is a fine line agents have to follow. It lies between wanting justice and somehow feeling responsible for the horrible things we see. There are cases that never get solved. People die. People we love die, like Chan, and I know you feel responsible, but…”
“I know I didn’t cause his death,” Della said.
“But you still feel responsible, don’t you?” he said adamantly.
It was a direct question. She couldn’t lie. “If I’d answered his call, or called him back, I might have been able to prevent it. But Chan’s death doesn’t have anything to do with me working this case.”
“The emotional state of an agent always affects their ability to work a case.”
“I can do this, Burnett.”
He set his hands on his desk. The light from the window shined through and made his black hair look almost blue. He picked up a pen and rolled it in his hands.
He continued to study her. “When I was fourteen, there was a girl I liked. Half human, half fae. We used to go to the lake and swim all the time.”
He paused and set the pen down as if the memory took him back to the past. “One afternoon she called and wanted me to go to the lake with her. I had another friend ask me to go running with him earlier, and I didn’t want to let him down. She went to the lake with a few other friends. She drowned that day. I was horrified, and for about a year I blamed myself. If I’d been there, I could have saved her. It took a long time to realize that sometimes bad things happen, and it’s not anyone’s fault.”
Della glanced up at him. “Maybe in time I’ll come to the same conclusion. But only if I stay busy with other things.” Like catching a killer.
“Fine. You can work the case with Chase, but don’t make me regret this decision.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
His gaze filled with empathy. “Time is always our friend,” he said. “But in the meantime, try to ease up on yourself. Our hearts get too heavy if we carry too much guilt and grief around all the time.”
She felt the weight in her chest right now. She nodded. “You’re beginning to sound like Holiday.”
“She does have a way of rubbing off on me.” His concerned expression changed to something softer.
Love, Della thought. Burnett and Holiday were still crazy about each other. Just like Kylie and Lucas, Miranda and Perry. Even her parents. Would she ever be able to let herself go there again?
Della’s thoughts jumped from love to the case. “Do you suspect the vampire gang of the murders?”
“We don’t have a firm lead, yet,” he said. “The morgue report is a bit confusing. The killer fed on the victims, was more physically violent than normal, which almost says the killer had motive, anger issues. The male victim was worse than the female.”
“You think the vampire knew them?”
“It’s a possibility, but it’s more likely that he was a fresh turn and he was simply overzealous.”
“He?” she asked, wondering how he knew it wasn’t a female.
“Usually males will go easier on a female. And the size of the bite marks puts the jaw size more consistent with a male. There was also a hair found. DNA hasn’t come back yet, but it was black and short.”