Page 64 of Soul Sucker

“That’s right. I’m a tough cookie and I don’t need protecting.”

“I don’t doubt that you are strong, but this particular killer seems to have the ability to disarm the most competent of empaths.”

“Did he kill Natasha?”

“I can’t prove anything, but I suspect he had something to do with it.” He looked out over the sea. “She was certainly acting irrationally.”

“All empaths do that when they turn twenty-seven.” Ella started walking again. It was too hot to linger. “You know that.”

“But they don’t tend to betray their colleagues.”

“Is that what she did?”

“We’d set up a trap for the killer at one of the empaths’ apartments and at the last possible moment, Natasha blew our cover. The Siren escaped with his intended victim and murdered her at a different venue. Natasha left in hysterics and killed herself.”

Ella kept walking as she imagined the chaos Natasha had caused. “Did you find her?”

“I found both of them.”

Ella waited for him to elaborate, but he just paced alongside her, his dark hair blowing in the soft breeze, his expression unreadable.

“Do you think the Siren wanted you to find them?”

“Seeing as they were both dumped in my apartment, I’d say that he did.”

“Oh, shit.” Despite the fierce sun Ella shivered. “So Natasha was living with you at the time.”

“She was certainly there a lot.”

“Is that why you were suspended from duty?”

He looked down at her. “Someone’s been doing their research. My boss decided that I was at fault for a) becoming intimate with a team member, and b) for not realizing that said team member was unstable.”

How were you supposed to know that Natasha would lose it like that?”

“Apparently, as team leader, I should have known. And shewasan empath.”

Dammit, she was starting to feel sorry for the man and that would never do. Ella dug in her purse for her front door key, opened the door and then handed the bunch of keys to Vadim. “Go check the car for your wallet.”

She left the door open and went inside, glad of the instant chill of the newly upgraded air conditioning. The light on her phone was blinking. It would be her mother asking a million questions about Laney that she really didn’t want to answer. Her stomach knotted at the thought of another evening on her own.

She jumped as Vadim knocked on the door and held out her keys. “I found my wallet. Where shall I put these?”

“On the countertop is fine.”

He placed the keys carefully in the center of the glass bowl and stepped back. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Ms. Walsh.”

He was almost out the door before Ella really believed he was leaving. “Hey, Morosov!”

He looked over his shoulder at her. “What?”

“You can hang out here with me for a while.”

“I don’t want to miss the ferry.”

“Oh for God’s sake, don’t make me ask nicely. If things go well and we manage to stand each other’s company for a few hours, you can always sleep on the couch again.”

“Are you sure?”

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