Kitty and the Silver Bullet (Kitty Norville 4)

The sedan’s driver side door opened. Somehow, I was unsurprised when Detective Hardin stepped out.

I put my hand on the door handle, preparing to pile out to confront her, but Ben said, “Don’t. We’ve been pulled over, we’re going to sit and wait like good little citizens.”

He helpfully rolled down the window. When Hardin leaned in, she was smiling.

“Hi,” she said.

She was supposed to be one of the good guys. She may not have believed it, but we were all on the same side. I couldn’t let her hold us here. So I did the only thing I could—I let my big mouth get the better of me.

“Detective—what the hell are you doing here? Are you still following me?”

I should have guessed that she was used to me by now. Her expression didn’t flicker. “Yep. You seem to know where all the interesting people are.”

Great. Just great.

She went on. “Those guys we caught today seem perfectly willing to rat out everyone involved. They just want to be let out before Tuesday. What’s Tuesday?”

“Next full moon,” I said.

Hardin winced. “Right. Got it. So. Who are you going to see now?”

Then my phone rang. I swore, as soon as this night was over I was going to shove it down the garbage disposal.

“Yeah?”

“Kitty, it’s Shaun. Becky tried to call Mick—he was watching Carl and Meg’s place. But we can’t get hold of him. Something happened, they may be on to us.”

“Mick was out at their place?”

“He was supposed to be.”

“Look, the cops have someone staking out their place and haven’t seen anything. Would Mick have followed them into the hills?”

“Maybe.”

“Someone should go check on him. We need to know what they’re doing out there.”

“Becky and Wes are on it.”

“What about Arturo?”

“No sign.”

I groaned. “I don’t like this.”

“Can I help?” he said.

“Keep looking out at my sister’s, but have your phone handy. We may need some ass-saving later on.”

Hardin was staring at me. “Arturo? Denver’s Master vampire? The one I want to pin those murders on?”

“Uh, yeah.” Ben could jump in to save me anytime, but he seemed happy to sit back and watch me dig my own hole.

“You going after him?” the detective asked.

“It’s more like we’re trying to keep him from coming after us.”

“I thought the best way to do that was to stay home and not invite them in.”