Burnett motioned for Kylie and Miranda to leave. Kylie, suspicious of Burnett for Holiday's sake, didn't move until Holiday confirmed the order.
"Who do they think is in charge?" Selynn asked, annoyed at Kylie's show of authority for Holiday.
"Can we please just get started?" Burnett said.
Kylie and Miranda walked out into the front room of the office.
"He's checking to see if we're lying. That's why he wants to talk to us separately," Miranda whispered.
"I don't think he thinks we're guilty." Kylie defended him, though she wasn't so sure she could say the same about Selynn. Then Kylie wondered again about the relationship between Burnett and the rude were.
"God, it sucks." Emotion gave Miranda's voice a raspy tone. "I can't believe we actually met the girls who were killed."
"I know," Kylie said but, honestly, she didn't want to think about it. She still had this overwhelming feeling that it was her fault. She dropped down onto one of the two desk chairs filling the small entry room and stared at her hands. Was this the bad thing that the ghosts had been talking about? No, the ghost had insisted it was someone Kylie loved. That thought sent another wave of sorrow sloshing in her gut. She hadn't loved those girls, but someone had. They had mothers, friends ... Closing her eyes, Kylie tried to reconnect to the calm she'd found at the falls. How long could she hang on to that feeling when bad shit just kept happening?
"It could have been us." Miranda pulled at a thread attached to her light green scrubs.
"I know." Kylie gripped her hands together.
It was only a few minutes before Selynn and Della walked out. Kylie stood up. Selynn motioned at Miranda to follow her. Then she turned to Kylie and Della. "We prefer if you don't speak. And Burnett can hear you if you do." She practically smirked before following Miranda into the office.
Della snarled at the werewolf's back. "Bitch," she mouthed the word. And when the werewolf was in the other room, Della said it out loud. "Bitch." She glanced at the office door. "I don't care if you can hear me, Burnett. She's a bitch. You know it. I know it. And Holiday knows it."
Footsteps sounded on the office's front porch. Kylie glanced toward the door just as it opened and Derek rushed in. "Thank God." He stopped and just stared at her as if noting the hospital scrubs. Right behind him followed Perry, looking just as worried.
Perry's gaze shot around the room. "Where's Miranda?" Fear and some other deep emotion filled his now copper-colored eyes.
Kylie didn't have a chance to answer because Derek swooped her into a big hug. She let him hold her, even rested her head on his chest and sighed at how good it felt to be this close to him.
"Why do you want to know?" Della mouthed off. "You don't like her, remember?"
"Is she okay?" Perry demanded, his voice a deep rumble of emotions. Kylie didn't bother to pull away to see, but she imagined his eyes were changing colors as he spoke. She'd noticed his eyes shifted with his emotions.
"Don't go all T. rex on me." Della lost her smartass tone. Whether out of fear of Perry or if she heard the emotion in his voice, Kylie didn't know.
"You okay?" Derek whispered in her ear.
"Yeah." Hell, no. Kylie pulled back to look in his eyes and she saw the same concern flashing there that she noted in Perry's. A rush of calm flowed from Derek into her. She didn't argue this time. She really needed it.
The door to Holiday's office opened. Miranda walked out. Perry met her eyes, then he turned and left the building. Miranda watched him go.
"What did he want?" she asked.
"To make sure you were okay," Derek answered, and slipped a hand around Kylie's waist. "I saw him right after I heard what happened and I told him. He was worried about you."
"But not worried enough to even speak to me, huh?" The look on Miranda's face was half sad and half angry. She met Kylie's gaze again. "Your turn." She pointed to the office door. "Watch out, the she-wolf bites."
Kylie gave Derek's hand a tight squeeze and then walked into the room to face Burnett and the she-wolf. Kylie was no longer as intimidated by Burnett as she was the first time she'd been interrogated by him, but a nervous tickle still fluttered in her chest.
Chapter Seventeen
Burnett made Kylie go over what happened several times. Then he asked specific questions. "You said the rogue vampire was bloody. Did it look like fresh blood? How much time passed from when you saw the girls to when he appeared?"
Then Burnett asked the same questions in a slightly different way. At one time she'd have thought he was trying to catch her in a lie, but now she suspected his intent was to make sure she wasn't forgetting something and hoping a slightly different question might lead her to remember some minor detail that could be useful. Problem was, Kylie didn't want to remember. She longed to forget, to wipe it from her memory forever. And seriously, what else could she tell him that might be helpful?
"Could you describe the blood to me?" Burnett straddled a straightbacked chair in front of Kylie, reminding her of their first interrogation. Only this time she sat on the sofa with Holiday beside her.
"I already did." She felt her patience being pulled like a tight rubber band.
"One more time." His tone demanded obedience.
It was the tone that finally made Kylie snap. "You know who did this.
You know who his victims were. So is any of this really necessary?"
She gritted her teeth and tried not to start crying again.
"We decide what's necessary," Selynn answered in her haughty tone, moving in behind Burnett.
Kylie glared up at the werewolf, not trying to hide her contempt.
Selynn's tone annoyed Kylie even more than Burnett's harsh tenor. At least with Burnett, she heard real concern. With Selynn, it seemed to be all about power. She liked having it and enjoyed using it. "You think we did this, don't you?" Kylie asked Selynn.
"I think-"
"Stop." Burnett frowned at Selynn, then glanced back at Kylie. "Kylie, I know you didn't do this. And I know this isn't easy. However, blood patterns might tell us if he was killing for sport or for food."
His statement made her stomach churn. "And why does that make a difference? Those girls are dead no matter what his reasons were for killing them."
"I think she's had enough questions." Holiday placed her hand on Kylie's wrist, offering moral support and a strong surge of calm. The rush of peaceful energy slowed Kylie's heartbeat and lessened the tightness in her chest. Not that it could make it all go away. Kylie didn't think that power existed.