Dark Angel (Sequel to White Raven)

Chapter Six: New Jobs and New Secrets

Ary rose to her feet without a word and turned towards the door.

"Miss Harper, where do you think you're going?" Wilcox asked, getting up from his seat.

"I'm bored and since I'm not under arrest, I'm going to leave," Ary replied, giving him a gracious smile.

"Okay, okay," Wilcox sighed, giving in. "I get it. Please take a seat and I'll tell you the reason I asked you here," he pointed at the chair that she had previously been sitting in.

Ary smiled in triumph. That tactic had always worked for her when her parents had tried to grill her for information about what he's sisters had been up to. She knew that if she refused to play the game then the actual reason for the game would come out faster. She wasn't a fan of wasting time for any reason.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Ary asked, once she had settled back in her seat.

"I want to talk about the Bloodbaths," Wilcox said. Ary's stomach immediately dropped.

"Why do you want to talk about them? I told you, my cousin isn't involved with them anymore," she assured the detective.

"I know. We've already questioned him about this," Wilcox said, nodding his head.

"Then why are you asking me about it?" she asked. She knew she sounded defensive. It was hard not to. She thought that her days of talking about and dealing with the Bloodbaths were over.

"We know that someone knocked Christian Donovan around pretty good and handed him over to the police on a silver platter," Wilcox said.

"And? What does that have to do with me?" Ary inquired. She shifted nervously in her chair. She couldn't get in trouble for bringing down a criminal like Christian, right?

"I'm not quite sure yet," Wilcox answered honestly. "Normally, I'd chalk that up to a rival gang taking care of some business, but it's highly unlikely that any gang member would have left him alive."

So that was her mistake? Leaving Christian alive? She'd have to remember that for next time. Never leave a man alive.

"I don't know why we're talking about this. This guy is in jail, right? So what's the problem?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest in a defensive manner. Was it wrong to put criminals behind bars now?

"Look, Miss Harper, we know that a woman fitting your description was seen at Donovan's house around the time he was discovered and we also know that you weren't at the hospital with your family," Wilcox said, giving her a very serious look.

"Okay, you caught me," Ary sighed, throwing her hands up in defeat. "I took down a gang leader all by myself. I'm a vigilante hero and on the weekends I team up with Aquaman to help rid the oceans of evil," she spoke with absolute seriousness in her voice.

Wilcox didn't smile, he just kept staring at her. He was studying her in that way that cops do. Intense stares, trying to get the perp to buckle under pressure. Is that what she was to these cops? A perp that they were trying to get to confess to a crime.

"You're a pretty strange young woman, Miss Harper," Wilcox said after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Excuse me?" That statement had caught her off guard.

"Prewitt told me about how you were after your cousin and been shot and after you killed Radcliffe. He said you were calm and cool," he said.

"I'm sorry, was I supposed to burst into tears and act hysterical?" she asked, her words dripping with sarcasm. There was nothing Ary hated more than being thought of as weak and incompetent.