"Bryce."
"You think--?"
"I think all employees fitting the criteria must be checked. That particular inquiry, though, appears to be one Sean would like to conduct without our assistance."
"I don't think Bryce--"
"Check out Salas, Savannah. At least for the purpose of saying we were meticulous in our investigation."
Lucas sometimes gets so wrapped up in the logical side of things that he overlooks any other aspect. Paige wouldn't have set me on this task because she'd have realized what she was really asking me to do: investigate the possibility that the perpetrator was the half brother who hated my guts.
Maybe that last part should have made it easier. It didn't. Sean had taken Bryce out of the suspect pool. How would it look if I put him back in? If Bryce found out? If Sean found out?
I could only hope my gut was right and Bryce had nothing to do with this.
As it turned out, I could safely postpone the bodyguard check. Aaron phoned as we climbed into the car. He'd arranged a meeting with the supernatural who'd claimed to have seen Anita Barrington.
"A bar?" Cassandra said.
"Yeah," Aaron said through the cell phone speaker. "It's a place where people go to relax, socialize, drink. Savannah will show you how to do it."
"I'm quite familiar with bars," Cassandra said. "It's a necessary concept for anyone who has spent any amount of time with you. I have no objection to holding a meeting at a cocktail lounge or local pub. But this sort of place is highly inappropriate."
"What sort of place is that?"
"One called The Meet Market, where I will be pawed by every overweight, fifty-year-old man who can't attract the notice of any young thing and thinks I'll be grateful for the attention."
"Well, there is another place down the block. The Cougar's Lair. Might be more your style."
I laughed. When Cassandra didn't reply, Aaron said, "Cass? Still with me?"
"Just . . . considering. What kind of clientele would this other establishment attract? Young urban professionals? Or big strapping farm boys? You know I like farm boys. Perhaps--"
"It's set for The Meet Market."
"Are you sure? Because--"
"Shut up, Cass."
She chuckled. "I do believe you're the one who made the suggestion."
"The contact's name is Eloise. I said you'd be by within the hour."
Aaron gave us the rest of the instructions, then told Cassandra to "get him off the damned speakerphone." After she did, they talked for a minute, Cassandra's voice low, her gaze turned to the window.
I didn't eavesdrop. There's a lot of speculation about the nature of Cass and Aaron's relationship, but to me, it's obvious they're lovers. Or lovers again, I should say. They'd first gotten together two hundred years ago, shortly after Aaron's rebirth as a vampire.
That part about Cassandra liking younger guys? Big, strapping types? Let's just say that I'm sure when Cass was alive, she was slipping out of the manor house for tumbles in the hay with the stable boys. When she found Aaron as a newly turned vampire, she must have jumped him like a starving dog on steak--an analogy I've used before, and one she really appreciates.
Whatever the physical attraction, though, there must have been more. A lot more. They'd been together for over a hundred years. Then Cassandra had betrayed him, leaving him behind as she escaped a mob. People say they can't understand how she could do that. But I think I do.
I don't know anything about Cassandra's past. No one does. She's not someone you'd go out for a beer with and casually say, "So, what was your life like before you turned?" If you did, you'd be answered with a stare cold enough to frost your glass. I know this, though--Cassandra is not a hereditary vampire. She chose this life, meaning she survived a transformation process that kills most people and drives the rest insane. I have a feeling it wasn't about wanting immortality. It was about thumbing her nose at death and isolating herself from the rest of the world, choosing a life where you can't make lasting relationships. With Aaron, she had a lasting relationship. So she severed the bond with a betrayal she thought he'd never forgive.
Only problem with that plan? She loved Aaron and she was miserable without him. Only an idiot couldn't see that. Fortunately, Aaron understood her. Maybe even understood why she did it. It took him seventy-five years, but he'd forgiven her. For a long time, they'd only been friends. As Cassandra reached the final act of her vampire life, that had changed. I was sure of it. As discreet as they were, there was no hiding the fact that Cass was a whole lot happier these days. No less bitchy or opinionated, but happier in her misanthropy.
twenty-eight
I actually thought calling a bar "The Meet Market" was a clever play on the bar scene. If I owned a place like that, I'd do it up right. Lots of double entendre advertising. Decorate it seventies swinger style. Adorn the walls with old-school porn posters. Make it the kind of bar where you could hang out with your friends and not get hit on nonstop, because guys would feel cheesy doing it in a place that poked fun at the stereotype.