Page 67 of Midnight Coven

Morley got the message. That, Nick did care about.

Nick thought Jordan and Morley––really anyone he knew, anyone he was close to––might be in danger from the vamp doing this. If this Stranger asshole targeted Nick in his murder-rampage spree, or centered that spreearoundNick in some way, then maybe Nick’s friends shouldn’t be wandering off on their own without telling anyone.

Maybe it wasn’t a great idea to just blow it off when one of them disappeared, either.

“Where the fuck is he, James?” Nick growled. “Do you really not know?”

Morley returned Nick’s grim look.

He touched his ear.

There was a brief silence.

When the other end picked up, Morley didn’t bother with a greeting.

“Hey, Midnight’s freaking out that you’re not here. Can I tell him where you are now? Or is it still some kind of state fucking secret?” Morley gave Nick an openly annoyed look. “He seems to think you’re dead in a ditch somewhere, so maybe we better come to you.”

Nick didn’t hear the answer.

Morley must have wised up and engaged the sound dampeners.

Even Nick couldn’t get past those.

After a few more seconds, Morley cut Jordan off, waving a hand.

“Yeah, okay. All right. I wasn’t blaming you,” the old man said. “Where are you now, Damon? Can we come to you?”

Nick folded his arms, scowling a bit.

He didn’t interrupt, though.

Morley just listened for a few beats, frowning.

Whatever Damon Jordan was saying to him, it wasn’t satisfying Morley.

After another handful of seconds, Morley cut him off.

“Okay, okay. Wait. Just wait a minute. I’m looping in Midnight. I want him to hear this.”

There was scarcely a pause.

Then Jordan’s annoyed-sounding voice rose in Nick’s headset.

“…thought you two were already on your way, to be honest,” the other detective was saying. “Are you really still in Manhattan? Fucking Brady was supposed to tell you both to come out here as soon as you finished with the murder site… come to find out he didn’t even tell Charlie where I was. She called not long after I got here, trying to find out if they’d sent a car to look at the place in Long Island.”

“Have you?” Nick cut in. “Are you out at the Long Island property now?”

Jordan sighed, sounding even more annoyed

“No. Not yet. There’s this whole thing with a private gate and their own security team… I guess it’s a big deal to even get access to the land out there. I was in the process of trying to get permission when you called me the first time, James,” he said addressing Morley that time. “From what I could tell, private security was okay with it. They were happy to give me access. It was those Long Island bozocopswho didn’t want me going out there. They kept telling me I wasn’t on the ‘approved’ list or some shit.”

Morley and Nick exchanged looks.

Nick grunted. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I wish I was.”

Morley sounded even more annoyed. “They didn’t want you driving out there to the house to check on the Tanakas? Why? Are they worried about you getting credit if you find anything on the property?”

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