The woman couldn’t be serious. “Lady, you don’t even know what you’re talking about.” He didn’t need crap from a reporter right then. The puzzle pieces were all dancing through his mind.
Susan had been in Paradise Found before Cara started singing, but she could have still been around when his succubus was performing, if she’d slipped past the guards…
Paradise Found.
Had she met the killer here? Seemed a damned good possibility.
A perfect place for humans who liked to play with the dark side.
From the reports he’d read on Susan, the woman had possessed one major dark side of her own.
“I know—I know about the demons,” Holly said. “I know they’re around us, cops, doctors, lawyers—”
“And you have proof, do you? Hard evidence?” He pinned her with his stare while Niol just well, looked bored. Nothing new there. “You think the station director is gonna just let you blast out your tale? Get real, lady. News Flash Five would be laughed out of the city.” And so would she. People weren’t ready to hear the truth yet.
He sure hadn’t been. “And you mentioned just the demons—what about the others?”
Her face seemed to pale a bit. “O-others?”
“Yeah, you know, the vampires, the witches, the shape-shifters…”
Her eyes widened a bit with each name that he rattled off. He did not have time for this. “Lady, you don’t even have a f**king clue about everything that’s lurking out there—and do you really think all the supernaturals are gonna be happy that you’re planning to blow the lid off their nice, secret world?”
He saw her throat work as she swallowed. Then her gaze shot to Niol’s. He smiled at her, a smile that displayed a whole lot of teeth. “I don’t care what you do. If exposing the Other is your plan, then do it.”
Aw, crap. Niol would encourage her.
“Every demon in the city will go after her,” Todd snapped. Maybe the woman’s sources were setting her up for just such an event.
Niol’s lips quirked. “I wouldn’t.”
And that just left what, a couple of thousand who would? Could he not just deal with one crisis at a time? “Go home,” he told the reporter, injecting as much steel as possible into his voice. “This isn’t a place for you—go back to your safe world and forget about this story.”
“And what about the killer?” She demanded, voice rising.
“I’ll handle him.” And he’d handle Niol, too. “Don’t report this story,” he told her. “Just go home for the night, and we’ll talk tomorrow—hell, I’ll answer any questions that you have, tomorrow.” In the bright, safe light of day.
She hesitated.
“I’m asking for just a little time, Ms. Storm. Just a little more time.” And if she didn’t agree, well, he’d have to toss her ass in jail—
because no way was she airing her story tonight. He’d hate to lock the lady up, but he couldn’t risk her blowing his town to hell, and now that he knew she’d been poking around in his case, well, the woman could very well have stirred up a whole mess of danger for herself.
Her lips pressed together. Her gaze flew between him and the ever-watchful Niol. “You promise to answer all of my questions, on the record?”
Ah, now she was pushing too much. “I’ll give you an interview.” That was as much of a promise as she was going to get from him.
And once he got her in the station, he’d work on convincing her to see things his way.
Holly exhaled. “All right. You have until tomorrow afternoon, three p.m. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll go live at five.”
And the woman would do it. He’d have to contact the captain ASAP and let him know they had another fire blazing.
She turned around, began to stride away from them.
“Oh, Holly…”
Niol’s voice was soft, silken.
The woman stumbled to a halt. She glanced back over her shoulder, lips parted.
“Don’t come to my Paradise again, unless you’re willing to play with the devil.”
Todd heard the sharp sound of her indrawn breath. Then she hurried toward the door, almost ran in her haste, and Niol watched her every move like some kind of hungry spider. Creepy as hell.
“Leave her alone,” Todd warned. “Hell, I thought you didn’t even want her ‘kind’ in here!”
Niol shrugged. “She’s human, sexy, and hungry for a walk in the dark.” A soft laugh. “Just the way I like my women.”
Christ. Todd’s stare shot across the room. Landed on the door marked PRIVATE. He pointed toward the door. “I wanna know every damn thing you’ve been holding back, and I want to know now.” Before any more unexpected visitors showed up in Paradise.
Chapter 17
The closed door muted the growing hum of conversation and music from the club. Todd didn’t bother to sit down. His hands rested easily at his sides and he pinned Niol with his gaze. “Talk, and, this time, save the bullshit.”
Niol lowered his body into the chair behind the desk. “Just what do you want to know, Detective?”
“Why didn’t you mention that Susan Dobbs had been in your place before?”
The demon’s lips pursed. “Because I didn’t want you to think I was involved with the killings. And I’m not, by the way.”
Yeah, ’cause the guy just reeked of innocence. “So you’ve been hindering my case so you wouldn’t look guilty?
Niol frowned at him. “I’ve been helping you.”
By withholding information. Right. “Cut the crap, okay? I really don’t have time for this shit.”
“Then what is it that you want to know?”
“Why’d you kick her out? Why let Susan come in, then suddenly bar the door to her?”
“Susan wasn’t a woman who took well to rejection.” Level stare. “And she was also very much not my type.”
A woman who liked to kill—and she wasn’t a perfect match for the demon? “So the lady hit on you, you rejected her, and then told her to keep her ass out of your place?”
One brow lifted. “Pretty much.”
Todd felt an ache behind his right eye. “Let me go over this one more time, ass**le.”
The demon’s brow lowered. His lips thinned.
“I’ve got four dead bodies now, all pointing to a demon’s hand.” Okay, so Monroe’s pointed more to Susan’s dead hand, but…“I’m staring at a f**king demon who knows what’s going on, and I’m getting sick and tired of hearing his jackshit stories.”