“I know Scarlett works for you, but I don’t,” Jesse said, trying to sound firm. “You can’t just summon me places.”
Dashiell just arched an eyebrow, and Jesse had to look away from his eyes as quickly as he could. “Can’t I?”
Jesse couldn’t think of a thing to say, so he just shoved the card in his jeans pocket. “Look, I’m on another case right now, anyway—”
Dashiell’s voice hardened. “The witch in Studio City, yes, I know. This comes first.”
Witch. Erin was a witch? But Jesse couldn’t follow that thought very far, because he was working to keep a grip on his temper. He reminded himself that without Scarlett here he was outclassed: Dashiell had just taken control of an LAPD-run murder scene with one text message. Disappearing a homicide detective would be child’s play. After a breath, Jesse said, “Why me? You must have tons of vampire…lackeys, who are more powerful than Olivia.”
“Yes.” Dashiell’s voice darkened. “But one of my lackeys has already been compromised. I believe you met Albert?”
“The guard?”
“Yes. He disappeared nearly a month ago, and the two of them have been seen together. I do not know if anyone else is working with Olivia, but given your feelings for our Ms. Bernard, I trust you’ll be motivated to catch her.”
“I’m also a cop, and Olivia is killing people,” Jesse pointed out, a little irritated. Had his feelings for Scarlett been that obvious?
“Well, there you have it,” Dashiell said, smiling congenially. Avoiding his eyes, Jesse stared at the vampire’s teeth. The canines weren’t exactly fang material, but was it his imagination, or were they extra pointy? “Either way, the job is yours.”
Dashiell gave a modest little bow and turned away. He was at the Bentley before Jesse could think of another thing to say.
He was still standing there like an idiot when Glory made it back, without her clipboard now. “Doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for negotiation, does he?” she said quietly.
“No, he doesn’t.” Jesse’s eyes fell on the Jeep again. “What’s going to happen to your evidence?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I’ll log it as usual, but this is an accident scene now.”
“Did you find much?”
“Not really. The usual LA litter, nothing that looked fresh. The ground’s too hard for footprints. There are fingerprints everywhere, but they won’t be processed now. Even if they were, unless this Olivia was arrested when she was alive, I don’t know that they’d do any good. Best case, they’d confirm that it was her.”
He sighed. “Anything that would give me a location? Anything at all?”
She frowned. “The only weird thing was a tiny bit of mud we found on the floor of the Jeep. It doesn’t look like it was on either of the Reeds’ shoes. But the Jeep was stolen from a rental lot, so who knows how well the rental company cleaned it.”
Jesse felt like he’d just taken a shot of adrenaline. “Wait, what made it weird?”
“Two things,” she replied. “First, there was a really distinctive smell to it. Like…a factory.” She shrugged.
“And second?”
“The color. Soil analysis isn’t my area of specialization, but I’ve never seen dirt that was so…gray.”
“Get it analyzed, okay?”
Glory squinted up at him, bemused. “Well, duh.”
Jesse banged on Scarlett’s door at ten on the dot, half expecting her to answer the door in her pajamas. He felt a little guilty for pushing her so hard at Erin’s, especially in light of Olivia’s attack. But Erin’s death—and the swiftness with which the Old World had made it disappear—ate away at him. He resolved to be a little nicer anyway.
To his surprise, though, the door was opened by Eli, wearing boxer shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt. “Oh…hey…” Jesse said lamely. Of course Eli had spent the night. Jesse tried to ignore a stab of jealousy. You have a girlfriend, he told himself. It’s none of your business.
“Hey,” Eli said, yawning. “She’s in the shower.” He backed up, making room for Jesse to slip past him into the house. Guy was so damned tall. “Thanks for calling last night.”
“No problem.” There was an awkward pause. Jesse and Eli had met during the La Brea Park investigation—when Scarlett had been in the hospital, unable to protect herself, the two of them had taken shifts to stay with her. Jesse was pretty sure that Eli was in love with her. Hell, maybe Scarlett was in love with him too. It irritated Jesse that this thought bothered him so much.
“How is she doing?” he asked finally.
Eli shrugged, closing the door. “Oh, you know,” he said with a small smile. “It’d take a direct hit.”
“That’s kind of what I’m worried about.”
Before Eli could respond, Scarlett trotted down the stairs, her feet bare and her hair pulled into a wet bun. She wore jeans and a green T-shirt that had damp spots where her hair had dripped, and was pulling on a jacket. “I’m ready, I’m ready,” she said breathlessly.
“Shoes?” Jesse said, raising an eyebrow.
“They’re right—oh, no, they’re not.” She scrambled back upstairs. Jesse shook his head, amused.
“You really think Olivia will come after her?” Eli said quietly. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the stairs.