"So a dead end there?"
"Ha! You made a joke. But yes. Very dead.
Dead as a doornail. Dead as a doorknob even, although I'm not sure I know what the difference is between those two things."
"We got it."
"Oh, one final thing." I heard more key tapping, the sound overlaid by Jeff's humming. It sounded like "White Christmas."
"Little early for Christmas carols, isn't it, Jeff?"
"Never hurts to get into the holiday spirit, Merit. Okay, so the video isn't great, and the alley by the bar door isn't very well lit. But occasionally, on a full moon, the light shines just right. . . ." As he trailed off, I heard more tapping. "Okay," he said again. "I'm going to send you another image."
This one was a fuzzy black-and-white shot of a car in the alley. Jeff was right - the image was grainy, but the vehicle it showed was undeniably a classic Mustang, complete with racing stripes and side vents. And that wasn't all.
I squinted at the picture, trying in vain to bring it into focus. "Is that a woman in the passenger's seat?"
"It appears to be so," Jeff said. "It's more of a shadow, but it does appear to be a woman.
Curves, ya know?"
"We know," Ethan said dryly.
"Anyway, I was checking out the shadow of the lady in the video, right? I'm running the film at like half speed, and I find something else. I've got a close-up, and I'm going to send it to you."
Again, the tablet beeped, and a new blackand-white image replaced the previous one on our screen.
I squinted at it, but predatory eyesight or not, I still couldn't get a good read on the woman in the car. In fact, I couldn't get a good read on anything other than pixels.
"What are we supposed to be looking at?" I wondered aloud.
"Check the middle of the image," Jeff said, "approximately where her collar would be."
I'd just opened my mouth to protest that I couldn't see anything - and that was when I saw it - around her neck, an undeniable glint of light.
"Jeff, that looks like a House medal." Not unlike the one I'd seen Celina wearing the night she returned to Cadogan House.
"That's what I thought, too."
"Can you zoom in any closer?" Ethan asked.
"Unfortunately, I can't give you any more details. The camera's sensor just didn't record any more data. But that's something, isn't it? It kind of suggests you've got a House vamp involved in this drug business."
Malik and Ethan exchanged a heavy glance.
"It does suggest that," Ethan agreed. "But for now, let's keep this between us, shall we?"
"You're the boss," Jeff pleasantly said.
"Thanks, Jeff. We appreciate it."
"Unfortunately, I've got bad news to go along with the good news."
"What's that?" I asked.
"Paulie Cermak's the only suspect we've got for distributing V. I narrowed down the video late last night, and had to turn it over to the CPD this morning."
"Of course," I said. "Detective Jacobs would have been interested in the video."
"Is and was. They sent detectives to Cermak's house this morning."
Ethan frowned at the phone. "Did they find anything?"
"Not a thing. The house was clean. The car was clean. They're still processing some of the stuff they lifted for trace evidence, but there's nothing that ties him to the drugs or the raves. As far as we know, he's just a guy in a public alley.
He had every right to be there."
Be that as it may, my gut said Paulie Cermak was more than a passerby, and I'd bet that if we called up every Cadogan vampire who'd been in Temple Bar in the last month, they could pin him as the guy who'd been loitering outside and pushing V. Of course, that would require calling out each Cadogan vamp. I wasn't willing, at least at this point, to drag the individual vampires into it.
"Thanks, Jeff. Any objections if I pay Mr.Cermak a visit on my own?" At my suggestion, Ethan's head shot up, but he didn't voice an objection.
"Not from us. And CPD doesn't have to know.
Hey, Chuck's paging me, so I've gotta go. We've got a couple of fairies who want him to mediate a property dispute, and I need to upload some docs. We'll be in touch."
"Thanks, Jeff," I said, then tapped off the phone.
The Ops Room was quiet for a moment.
I looked up and around at the vamps in the room. "Any thoughts before I visit our apparent drug pusher?"
"How opposed are you to capital punishment?" Luc growled out.
"I'd prefer not to play judge, jury, and executioner," I said. "But if you have any strategic or diplomatic suggestions, I'm all for them."
Ethan patted my back good-naturedly. "Good Sentinel."
Chapter Sixteen
THE PERP
Lindsey escorted me to my room so I could change back into boots and grab my sword. I usually skipped bringing it along on public outings, but Paulie Cermak was quite possibly a drug kingpin, and I was heading to his home turf.
No way was I going on that field trip without steel.
It wasn't until we were inside with the door shut, Lindsey on my bed while I sat on the floor, sword unsheathed before me to ensure it was in fighting shape, that she made the confession she'd apparently been holding in.
"We made out," she said.
I wiped the blade down with a sheet of rice paper. "I don't recall making out with you."
"I made out with Connor."
I looked up at her and couldn't help the disappointment that crossed my face. Connor was a vamp from my Initiate class, a sweet kid with whom Lindsey had been flirting since our Commendation into the House. He was cute and charming in his way . . . but he was no Luc.
"When did that happen?"
"I got back from Temple Bar, and a bunch of us were talking in the downstairs parlor, and then everybody got tired and left. Everybody but him, I mean. And then one thing led to another. . . ."
The blade clean, I resheathed the sword again.
"One thing led to you making out with a newbie vampire?"
"That would appear to be the case."
What was new, I thought, was the fact that she was chagrined about it. Lindsey wasn't much of a worrywart, and it wasn't her style to Mondaymorning-quarterback her own decisions. Maybe Luc was making progress.
I tilted my head at her. "So why do you seem weird about it?"
Hands in her lap, shoulders slumped forward guiltily, Lindsey looked away.
I thought of the edge I'd heard in Luc's voice earlier, and figured out the reason for it. "Luc found out?"