“Good luck with that trial.” I checked my watch. “It’s getting late. Let’s go talk to Will.”
I grabbed his hand without thinking. It was warm and dry, and I dropped it almost immediately. What was wrong with me tonight? He followed me past the tables and through the EMPLOYEES ONLY door, where the bar’s din dropped down to a much more manageable level. Will was waiting for us in the hall outside the office that he shared with Caroline. I introduced the two of them, a little awkwardly.
“Will, this is Officer Jesse Cruz, and Cruz, this is Will Carling. He, um, owns this bar.”
The two men shook hands, and then Will said, “Come on in. I’ll show you those pictures.”
We followed him into the office, and he went behind his big oak desk and took out an oversized envelope full of photos, handing it to Cruz. I sat in one of the visitor chairs and looked at the walls, trying not to fidget. For someone who is technically a creature of the night, Will’s life often seems more normal than mine. The walls in his office were lined with pictures of the Little League team Will coached, a huge fish he’d caught, his mom and siblings. I wondered if his family knew what he was, if it bothered them. I felt a brief flare of jealousy, missing my own past as a normal person.
“Him,” Cruz said, and I jerked back to attention. He was holding up a photo of Will with Caroline and some of the other wolves, pointing to a slender, wispy man in the back. “This is him.”
Will took the picture and looked closely. “That’s Ronnie. He’s new to the pack, transferred last year from...Phoenix, I think.” He looked up and shrugged at us. “I don’t actually know him all that well, but he works at a comic book shop not too far from here, a mile or so east on Pico.”
“Last name?” Cruz said, suddenly all business. He’d gotten out a little pen and pad. They looked brand-new.
“Pocoa, I think. Something close to that. But Scarlett said you weren’t arresting him.” He looked pointedly back and forth from me to Cruz, who nodded.
“This part of the investigation is out of the public record. It’s just me. We’ll ask Ronnie if he knows anything, and if he can help, great, if not, that’ll be it,” Cruz said, then added firmly, “Of course, if he’s involved somehow, I’ll have to pursue it.” I had to admire Cruz a little bit for that one. Of course, he’d never seen Will turn into a wolf and snarl at an underling.
Will stood up. “Sounds reasonable to me.” He reached over and shook Cruz’s hand, indicating that the meeting was over. Good. I was tired.
I drove us back to my parking garage. Cruz was quiet beside me, and I wondered for a second if he’d fallen asleep. Then he spoke.
“My mom worked on a vampire movie once.”
“Your mom works in the movies?”
“My whole family does. My dad’s a composer; my mom’s a script supervisor. My older brother Noah is a stuntman.”
“Noah Cruz?”
He grinned. “It was part of the deal. My mom’s Mexican, and my dad’s Caucasian, but she really, really wanted to pass on her family’s surname, and he didn’t care. So their deal was that she’d keep her last name and give it to us, and he got to pick Anglo first names. So, Noah and Jesse.” He looked over. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Why the name Scarlett?”
Oh. I was a little thrown, having not realized we were on an adorable-family-story basis. “Uh, I was named after Scarlett O’Hara, but my mom always told everyone it was the book, not the film. She corrected everybody, and it was kind of a family joke after a while. I’ve never even seen the movie.”
“Do your parents know about, you know, what you can do? All of this?”
“They died,” I said matter-of-factly, “before I knew myself.”
“Oh. I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Um...Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
I hesitated. I’ve always kept Jack’s existence far away from my work, but Cruz wasn’t really a part of my work, and he could probably find it in some police database anyway. “A brother, Jack. He’s older. He doesn’t know.”
“Do you see him much?”
I shrugged an I don’t want to talk about it kind of shrug, and we were quiet for the rest of the drive, which was just fine with me. I pulled into the parking garage at two forty-five, feeling gritty with tiredness. “So, tomorrow,” he said, one hand on the door latch, “will you come with me to check out this Ronnie guy?”
I leaned back in the seat, feeling even more tired than a moment ago. “Do I have to? Can’t you just go without me?”
“I’m guessing werewolves aren’t just strong and fast when they’re in wolf form, am I right?”
“Yes,” I said reluctantly.
“Then I’d like you to come with me. For protection.”
His smile was so warm and charming that I couldn’t help but smile back. Dammit. Stupid powers of hotness.
“Fine. Pick me up at one.”
“That late?” He sounded disappointed.
“I need sleep, Cruz. You can work your own end of the case without me.”
He shrugged, unbuckling, and made a move to open the van door.
“Wait,” I said, and reached out to snag his wrist.
He turned back, eyebrows raised, and I blushed and let go. Was I really this out of practice with dealing with attractive young men while sober? Get it together, Scarlett.