Page 84 of Soul Sucker

Vadim thought back to those frantic moments in the elevator. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“What’s up?” Alexei asked.

“Don’t you start saying that,” Vadim groaned. “I hate it.”

“Okay, let me try again. Why are you in such a bad mood?”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” Alexei stared hard at him. “You need to get laid.”

Vadim smiled.

“No, seriously, Vadim, you’ve enough Fae blood in you to make it a necessity.”

“I’ve never liked that Fae excuse for debauchery and I don’t intend to use it.” Vadim looked up at the door. “Feehan’s here and I see Liz and Ms. Walsh just behind her.”

What the hell was Ella wearing today? She had a tie-dye shirt on and a pair of baggy denim overalls that were ripped at the knee. Her hair was in two braids on either side of her face. She looked like she’d just come in from raking the hay or something. Despite that, he found himself sitting up and sniffing the air like a bloodhound. She looked in his and Alexei’s general direction and muttered something vague but didn’t make eye contact. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t fool him any longer.

After she’d left him to go on the ferry, he’d struggled to know what to do with himself. Feeling conflicted wasn’t a new sensation but he still didn’t like it. Despite his resolve to protect Ella and see the case through, he disliked not knowing how she felt about him and what conclusions she would draw about their relationship when he wasn’t there to interact with her. He’d spent the remainder of the weekend doing tourist stuff, research on empaths from all over the world and taking cold showers. If she smiled at him, he might leap over the table and take her to the floor and…

“Everyone here?” Feehan asked.

Sam burst through the door wearing a pair of dark shades. “Sorry, guys.”

“Take a seat.”

Everyone waited as Sam settled himself down and took out a tatty folder with a picture of a skateboarder on it.

“Who wants to start?”

Vadim raised his hand. “I checked out the remaining empaths from outside the U.S. in Ms. Walsh’s graduating year. All the Russians are dead, as are the Norwegians, Swedes and Danes.” He consulted his notes. “A total of nine in all.”

Feehan wrote the details on the board.

Alexei glanced at Liz. “Would the rest of you agree that our killer seems to follow a pattern here? He likes to finish a job. From the dates Vadim gave us, the Siren has gone from country to country systematically murdering empaths.”

“Why hasn’t anyone noticed before?” Feehan stopped writing and turned around.

“Probably because the numbers in each country were relatively small until he reached Russia.”

“I have another suggestion.” Sam waved his hand in the air like a school kid. “From what I’ve seen so far, does he also kill them in alphabetical order?”

“What?” Feehan stared at Sam who opened his folder.

“Well, I spent a bit of time last night looking at all the empaths who had been killed so far in the U.S. I noticed that the ones who are left, all have names that are at the end of the alphabet and the last one to die was Laney Phillips.”

Vadim felt Ella’s wince in his head and glanced across at her. She immediately looked away.

“And the previous victim was Christa Morehouse,” Feehan added. “So who’s left?”

“There are four.” Liz went over to the whiteboard and started writing.

Jodi Petrello Fay Roberts Ella Walsh Trini Yamada

“And do we know the whereabouts of Ms. Petrello and the rest of them?”

Sam looked up. “I’m still working on it.”

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