Lead Me Astray

Chapter 3

Unfortunately, cleaning up paranormal activity was beginning to affect my credibility. I wondered if, as Mayfield implied, I should be grateful for a simple hit-and-run. Nothing out of the ordinary about this one.

I tipped my head toward a surveillance camera at the corner of the hotel. "Whoever did this was kind enough to do it on camera. All I need is a license plate. Let's binge-watch some CCTV."

"Let's go," Tegan replied.

An hour later, we were in the manager's office with the run of the system. There was footage of the victim and her sister taking an elevator, flashing a doorman, and getting into a party on the top floor. But once inside, there was no record. I watched the uptight hotel manager. She smiled.

"Our VIP guests prefer not to be scrutinized, you understand."

"I want the name of whoever booked the floor," I said.

"You'll need a warrant." She smiled more tightly.

I gritted my teeth. Tegan drew my attention to the victim stumbling back into the elevator on screen. "She's drunk," said my partner.

"How much alcohol did they have?"

"Haley Edison blew a breathalyzer result of . . ." Tegan paused and consulted her notes, "less than 0.01, but she couldn't say how much the victim drank. They got separated at the party. CSU will get back to me with the tox report as soon as they have it."

My focus drifted over the girl onscreen. She swept back loose curls and pushed a phone to her ear, and the vision of her gorgeous face stalled me. God, I must need to get laid if I was drooling over a hit-and-run victim. I stared at her plush mouth.

"Who's Pat?" I asked. Tegan skewed her brows. The audio was full of noise, and she couldn't hear what the victim said. "I read her lips," I explained.

"There was a brief call around 11:45 about modeling agent Patricia Gramercy. The sister says the call was spotty, dropped right after she answered."

Nodding, I watched the victim exit the elevator on wobbly legs and trip through the hotel lobby. I zoomed in as a woman stopped her outside the building, but tropical landscaping obscured the view.

Tegan started to say something. I held up a finger and peered intently at the monitor, barely making out the victim saying she thought she had been drugged. Interesting. Toxicology would show what, if anything, was in her system. Now, who would drug her, and why? I squared my jaw, mulling it over.

"What is it?" my partner asked.

"That woman's going for help."

"How do you know? You can't even see her face."

"Call it a hunch. A young, drunk girl stumbling around a four-star hotel? Someone would go for help."

The young woman wandered around the sidewalk in a disoriented state for a few more moments before she stepped into the street. A second later, the SUV hit her with brutal force. Just like that. In a blink. I'd had a feeling it was coming, but it had still been tough to watch.

The stoic hotelier made the sign of the cross, and Tegan stepped away from the desk. I gave her a minute, but forced myself to watch, rewind, watch again. I heard it loud and clear with each replay: a truck idling out of camera range. A clue that the accident hadn't been an accident.

Tegan composed herself. "See a license plate number?"

I shook my head. So, what did we have? A VIP party. A drugged girl. An SUV with illegal tinted windows, no plates. Deliberate hit-and-run. It all added up to one thing: someone had wanted

Aurelia Edison dead.

Tegan blew out an exasperated breath. "Okay, we need to find out about famous Mama Edison's enemies."

"I want to know what happened in the penthouse." I was about to say more, but the surveillance video stopped me. A feeling like static crackled along my skin as the image onscreen wavered, and the thin veil separating this world from the next faded before my eyes.

I cocked my head in disbelief as an angel in full wing exited the hotel. Aurie got up. Is this real? she asked. The divine entity disappeared into the night, but my jaw dropped as our victim followed someone else out of frame. Suddenly, the crime scene was filled with vampires who were far too interested in the body. I recognized their mien. All well heeled with a swagger of entitlement.

"What in the holy hell?" I whispered, confused.

Tegan gave me a pointed stare, but I couldn't explain. She couldn't see what I saw. "Got another wild hunch?" she asked.

"Let's just say this won't be an ordinary case."

"It never is with you." She laughed.

No, I thought, it never is.