Biting Bad (Chicagoland Vampires 8)

Scott lifted his hands. "They've heard from me enough tonight."

Ethan nodded at Luc, and he and Jonah moved forward.

"We're going to review events while they're fresh," Jonah said. "Then we'll dismiss for the evening."

"Let's start at the beginning," Luc suggested. "Merit, you want to tell us what you found out about the first riot?"

I nodded. "The first riot hit Bryant Industries, a Blood4You distribution facility in Wicker Park. Catcher and I talked to Charla Bryant, the current CEO. She wasn't aware of any threats against the business before the attack, but we're keeping an eye on a potential suspect named Robin Pope."

"Robin Pope?" asked one of the Grey House vampires. "Trim brunette?"

Ethan and I exchanged a glance. "Yes," I said. "Do you know her?"

The vampire blushed. "Yeah. We dated for a little while. Real briefly. When I was human."

Now that was interesting. "How long ago?"

"Three years?" he said. "Maybe four?"

That was a pretty good span of time, and I wondered how long Robin Pope could hold a grudge. "How did the relationship end?"

The Grey House guard squinted bashfully and scratched the back of his head. "Not well. I mean, it kind of just ended. Except that she kept calling. What's her connection to all this?"

"She's a former Bryant Industries employee," I said. "Basically, she filed a complaint against the company because she thinks they're conspiring with vampires."

"She had a connection to Bryant Industries. A grudge," Jonah said. "And the rioters targeted that facility. It also appears she had a bad breakup with one of our own, and Grey House was attacked next."

"I don't like coincidences," Scott said.

"Nor do I," Ethan agreed. "The connections suggest she's had a hand in selecting the targets."

"She doesn't seem entirely stable," I said. "We went to her apartment to ask her some questions, feigning support for anti-vamp groups, and she ran. She clearly believes vampires are a threat, and she's identified a web of conspiracies no one else can see." I glanced at Catcher and my grandfather. "Anything else from your end?"

My grandfather nodded. "We advised friends at the CPD that Ms. Pope should be a person of interest in their investigation. They put a car on her building and an APB on her car. She returned home about an hour ago, and they picked her up. She's currently in an interview."

For the first time in a couple of days, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. Her arrest wouldn't repair the damage at Grey House, but maybe it would slow the tide of future riots.

Ethan gestured toward my grandfather. "For those of you who don't know, this is Merit's grandfather, Chuck Merit. Otherwise known as the city's rightful Ombudsman. And his colleagues, Jeff Christopher - "

"The city's best computer man," I added.

Jeff blushed and did a faux hat tip.

"And Catcher Bell," Ethan said, gesturing to both of them in turn. "Thank you for reaching out to the CPD."

"Of course," said my grandfather. "As a warning, we're swimming uphill a bit where the CPD is concerned. We still have some allies there, but overall they're focusing on the rioters, not the riots. I understand the administration has decided this is just public reaction to vampires, to fears their way of life is at risk."

"We've been out of the closet for a while," Lindsey said. "That's not even logical."

"It is to the prosecutors," Catcher said. "After all, they can't put society on trial, not really. But they can prosecute the handful of people who throw the bombs. That's where the evidence is."

"Has the mayor issued a formal statement for tonight's riot?" Ethan asked.

"And McKetrick," Luc said. "Pretty much the same talk as the last riot. 'We're incarcerating the perpetrators of these crimes,' blah blah blah. The mayor's toned down the anti-sup rhetoric a little, which is something. Hard to blame two riots on internal sup conflicts when the perps are all humans."

"And McKetrick?" Scott asked.

"Still blaming it on sups, but part of that's just jurisdictional," Luc said. "If it doesn't involve sups, he has no authority." He glanced at Ethan. "As part of our protocol, we looked for connections between McKetrick and the rioters, but we haven't found anything."

"Not surprising," Ethan said. "Even if he was involved, he's remarkably careful. Consider Michael Donovan."

"I'd rather not," Luc said.

I looked at Jeff. "Back to Pope. Can we prove her connections to the rioters?"

"I haven't found anything yet, but I haven't started on tonight's batch of arrests. There were a lot more rioters tonight."

"Many more than in Wicker Park," Jonah agreed. "And with slightly different tactics. In Wicker Park, the firebombing and rioting occurred simultaneously. Here, they hit us in two waves. The first - too small to trigger security - bombed the House. The rest of the rioters - the larger group - formed the second wave."

I glanced at my grandfather. "Have the CPD interviews of the rioters turned up anything?"

He shook his head. "There's been no progress, as far as we're aware. They're still refusing to answer questions. They have been repeating what they claim is Clean Chicago's motto."

"'Hate is the new black'?" I guessed.

"Sic semper tyrannis," Catcher said. "It basically means 'Death to tyrants.'"

"That's what John Wilkes Booth said after he shot President Lincoln," Ethan said darkly.

"Are we the tyrants?" I asked.

"We aren't entirely sure," Catcher said. "We didn't find anything else on the Web linking the phrase to the riots or the movement, so it could just be something they came up with at the last minute."

"So their group's grown larger," Ethan said, "and they have a motto. How are they recruiting?"

"We still aren't certain," Luc said. Luc projected a Web site onto the wall screen - a social-media site with a Clean Chicago badge.

"This was posted about two hours ago," he said.

"Two hours ago?" asked one of the Grey House guards, a short-haired and broad-shouldered fellow muscular enough to have played offensive tackle in his former life. "After the riot?"

"We asked the same question," Luc said. "But the account is definitely new."

"Which means they had other ways to pull in participants before the riots," Catcher said.