“Do you think she would’ve called them?” I asked.
“I doubt it. I mean, not without telling you at least.”
“But why would anybody call them?” I rounded a corner fast, and Bobby flew into Violet.
“Get off me!” Violet shoved him back roughly.
“It’d be nice if you could take it easy,” Bobby said, readjusting his hat.
“Sorry.” I slowed down a bit as we got closer to Olivia’s building.
“It’s a vampire,” Bobby said.
“What?” I glanced over at him.
“I said that earlier that a vampire is the serial killer,” Bobby said. “That’s the only reason those guys would get involved, right? I mean, assuming they are what that chick said they are.”
“Holy shit.” I stopped in front of the building, almost slamming on my breaks, and Bobby reached to brace himself on the dashboard. “You’re right.”
“You know, Olivia has never called herself a vigilante,” Violet said, looking over at us. “She’s a vampire hunter. And so are they.” Her purple eyes met mine. “And we’re both vampires.”
“Oh, that’s real deep,” Bobby said sarcastically.
“You’re lucky you’re with her, or I would kill you,” Violet said flatly.
17
I popped the trunk, and Violet got out of the car. She grabbed her blood from the back, and giving me one final wave, she went into the building. Bobby adjusted himself more comfortably in the seat and clicked on his seatbelt, and I pulled away from the curb.
“Do you think it was her?” Bobby asked as I drove us home.
“Who?”
“Violet. Do you think she’s the serial killer?”
“No, of course not,” I scoffed.
“Why not?” Bobby asked me directly. “She tried to kill you once before. You did kill her boyfriend. She just threatened my life. And she knows Jane.”
“She didn’t really threaten your life,” I shook my head.
“Yeah, but she fits everything else.” He got more excited and turned to face me. “The only thing we know about Jane’s killer is that they knew Jane and they were a vampire.”
“What about that branding thing?” I asked. “Violet was the one that told us about that.”
“Exactly!” Bobby said. “She told us! It could be a total red herring. And we don’t even know if Jane was branded. Even if it’s true, it could be completely unrelated.”
“Come on.” I shook my head, but I couldn’t refute his logic. I looked over at him. “You don’t really think its Violet, do you?”
“No. I don’t know.” He shrugged and leaned his head back against the seat. “It could be her, though. You can’t discount that.”
“No, I guess I can’t,” I sighed. I didn’t want to agree with him, but at this point, I couldn’t cross anybody out.
“Well, who else do you think it could be?” Bobby asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. The truth is, I didn’t really want to think it was anybody.
“What about that Jonathan guy?” Bobby asked. “He’s a douche, right?”
“Yeah, he is, but being a total douche doesn’t make you a killer,” I said. “And right now, that’s all I have on him. That he’s douche.”
“What about those three assholes we met tonight?” Bobby asked.
“Nah.” I sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe. I mean… maybe they’re… I don’t know. They might’ve, I guess, but since I know nothing about them, I can’t say anything for sure.”
“How about Leif?”
“What?” I looked at him and jerked the wheel.
“Hey, take it easy!” He held up his hand. “Watch the road. I’m just saying stuff.”
“You can’t possibly think Leif did it,” I shook my head. “Why would he have any reason to do it?”
“He was part of a totally sadistic pack of lycan that already tried to kill you and Jane before,” Bobby said. “Or did you forget that?”
“No, I didn’t forget, but he did fight against them to save us.” I gave him a hard look. “And he saved your life, too.”
“Well, maybe he killed Jane for altruistic reasons. Like to protect you and Milo cause Jane is a bad influence.”
“Why would he want to protect me and Milo?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “But Leif does it all the time. Whenever I’m fighting with Milo about something stupid, he always comes in and defends Milo’s honor, even if Milo’s wrong. And I’ve seen him do it with you and Jack before. He’s always protecting you guys.”
“Well, that means he wouldn’t kill Jane, because he’d know that hurts us,” I argued lamely.
“Maybe.” Bobby didn’t sound convinced when he looked at me. “But you can’t say for sure it’s not him.”
“I can’t say for sure it’s not anybody!” I wanted to throw my hands up in the air, but I was driving, and it would be better if I didn’t kill Bobby. “It could be you, for all I know.”
“No, it can’t. I was in Australia with you when she was killed,” he said. “The only people you know for sure didn’t do it were me, you, Milo, Mae, Peter, and that brat of theirs.” He shrugged. “Maybe Jack did it.”
“Oh, Jack did not do it,” I rolled me eyes. We rounded the turn getting closer to our house. “You can’t tell Milo about those vampires we saw tonight, okay?”
“Well, duh,” Bobby said. “And you can’t tell Jack.”
“I know.” I hated having secrets from Jack, but he didn’t need to freak out and worry.
When we got home, only Milo and Jack were there. Peter had taken Mae and Daisy down to show them how things were coming in the tunnel, and I wasn’t sure if they were coming back to the house or not.
We found Milo in the living room, sitting on the floor next to the couch with a few of my textbooks lying around next to him. Jack had taken to the X-box, and he appeared to battling some kind of horrific demon in Dante’s Inferno. He’d already beaten the game twice, but he kept coming back to it.
“Are you even reading any of these?” Milo asked, not bothering to look up from the law book he had opened on his lap.