I was narrowing my eyes at Kelvin. "What kind of idiot would murder two people and not check for security cameras?" I asked. "Was Tate the one who approached the vampire? Tell me." Compulsion was back in my voice.
Apparently, if you ask the right questions, you can get around many compulsions. Kelvin was instructed not to reveal his connections to Tate. This, though, he hadn't been instructed not to reveal. "Tate met him on campus, one night," Kelvin said. "The vampire knew what he was, of course. Tate's father had just been killed; it was listed in the newspapers as an auto accident with the body mangled beyond recognition so it was a closed casket. The vampire recognized Tate."
"More than likely went looking for him," I muttered. Kelvin stared up at me in shock.
"You think so?" he asked.
"Duh," I said. "Let me guess, the vampire told Tate that he knew Lester had gotten killed in a challenge. Isn't that right?"
"Well, yeah."
"And then he offered to help Tate get revenge."
"Yeah."
"By exposing the vampires because he had an ax to grind, too."
"Yeah." Kelvin couldn't believe I knew all this. Actually, any idiot would have known all that. He should have read some of those mysteries I'd loaned him instead of sending the pages off to be fingerprinted.
"Well, idiot boy," I said, "he intended to expose your race, too. Imagine what would happen if you were locked in a cell come the full moon?"
"Oh." Now Kelvin was getting the bigger picture.
"The campus you mentioned, is that here in Kansas?"
"No." We were back to sullen answers. I wondered how old Kelvin actually was, and had Winkler truly been fooled by all this? I couldn't imagine that he'd be that stupid.
"Then it's New Mexico," I said. "Tate was from Santa Fe, as nearly as I remember."
"You said Tate Briggs?" The werewolf asked as he pulled out his cell phone and hit a button. "Delgado, Renfro here," he said. "I need any records pulled up on Tate Briggs, a student at any college in New Mexico." He waited; apparently, somebody was checking.
"Albuquerque State University," I heard the voice on the other end of the call quite clearly. "Majoring in sports medicine."
"Check for Kelvin Morgan," Renfro said. I knew the werewolf's last name, now.
"No Kelvin Morgan. There's a Kevin Miller, enrolled in the same program," the voice said.
"Is that your name? Kevin Miller?" I asked Kelvin. He blinked stupidly at me. He'd been told not to answer but I think I'd gotten answer enough.
"Any fingerprints on Kevin Miller?" Renfro passed the message along.
"Not required by the school," the voice said. Renfro had called him Delgado. I wondered if he were furred or fanged.
"Where are Winkler and Weldon now?" I asked Tony as Delgado was looking for other records on Kevin Miller.
"They're out of jail and the media are being told that they were arrested by mistake—that we are currently seeking the real suspect or suspects," he said.
"And just how do you intend to deal with that?" I flung a hand toward Kelvin/Kevin. It would be just as I'd said. When the full moon came, he'd turn. No way to prevent it that I knew of. Tony just shrugged. He had something planned, I just knew it, and there wasn't any way he'd be telling me.
"Am I under arrest?" I asked him instead.
"No."
"Can I walk out of here?"
"I was hoping you'd come out to dinner with me so we could talk." His gray eyes were begging a little.
"You used to be one of my good memories, Tony Hancock," I said bluntly.
"And I'm not now?" He actually looked disappointed.
"Now you're just like all the other males I know." I stalked out of the room. He followed me for a bit and when the three who'd been in the bookstore tried to block my way, Tony told them to let me go.
Figuring that I'd be followed once I left the building, I caught scent of my tracker. He wasn't furred or fanged so I started running, turning to mist as I ran. The poor schmuck lost me after three blocks. Tony still had my cell number, though, so I was going to have to fix that. I came back to myself about two miles away and asked a nice young man outside a bar if I could borrow his cell phone. He was more than happy to, handing it over with a grin. I called Winkler.
"Where are you now?" he asked.
"Funny, that's what I was about to ask you," I said. "I need another cell phone. I don't need Tony tracing my number."
"We'll get you one tomorrow. Weldon is talking to the new Packmaster tomorrow evening and we're hopping the jet immediately after."
"We've got lots to talk about," I said.
"Same here," he said. "We're at the Marriott hotel. Weldon wanted to shake the dust of the Saint James off his feet; they offered us free rooms since we were wrongly accused but we respectfully declined."
"I have to catch up with a couple of people to let them know I'm okay," I said. "I'll be there before the night is over."
"Good," Winkler sighed. I hung up, thanked the young man and then placed compulsion to forget about me.
Rhett and Dalroy were about to have a fit when I wandered into the safe house. "You probably need to get rid of the Cadillac," I said, first thing. "And rent something else, just in case."
"Already got something, it's in the garage," Dalroy told me with a grin. I'd misted inside the place; there are cracks just about everywhere. "Where's the Cadillac?"
"In the parking lot about two blocks from the Barnes and Noble on Rock Road," I said. "I didn't want to take any chances, and I still don't. They probably didn't connect me with the car but you never know."
"I'll go get it," Rhett offered. I handed the keys over to him; they'd been in my pocket the whole time.
"I need to get back with Weldon and Winkler, they're expecting me," I said. "I need to take the cooler with me, too."
"Take this one, it has a lock on it," Dalroy pulled a replacement out of a broom closet. A set of keys were taped to the top of it. Vampires were prepared, looked like. And since there were two keys, Winkler and I could both have one.
"Where do you need to go? I'll drop you off," Dalroy offered.
"The Marriott."
"I know where that is." We loaded up the clothing that Rhett bought for me and I tried to pay him for it.