Nichols hesitated, looking around the room with an uneasy expression, almost as if she somehow sensed the monster’s presence.
Unlikely.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
Nichols shook herself, as if dismissing whatever was going through her head. She walked toward me, reaching for my cuffs. "You're free to go."
"I am?"
I wasn't one to question my good luck—I rarely had enough of it—but this was an unexpected turn of events.
Nichols's lip curled as she inserted her key and I held my breath, hoping she didn't notice the slight misshapenness of the metal. I hadn't had time to fully escape so they were only partially bent instead of a mangled mass. The cuffs loosened and she wasted no time grabbing them, stuffing them into her pocket seconds later.
"Let's go. Your boss is waiting," she said, stepping back.
Boss, I mouthed silently.
What boss?
There was a reason I worked for myself. People in authority positions and I didn't always get along. One of the best things about starting my own business was I never had to deal with people who thought they could tell me what to do or how to live. Of course, the tradeoff for that was that when things went wrong, I only had myself to blame.
Nichols jerked her chin at me in irritation. "Are you coming? I don't have all night."
I stared at her for a long moment, trying to decide if this was some sort of trick. At last I nodded and stood. "Yup, of course."
With one last searching look at the wall where I'd spotted the shadow monster, I stepped into the hallway, following Nichols through the police station.
It took me the length of a hallway to figure out the likely reason for my sudden release. Liam. It had to be. He must have people watching the police. That, or he'd gotten one of his enforcers—I was betting Makoto—to hack into the databases. I probably popped up on his radar as soon as I was brought in.
The tight feeling I'd had in the pit of my stomach relaxed. Liam might call me an idiot and question my sanity, but he wasn't likely to try to kill me.
Nichols slowed as a woman came into view.
“Crap,” Nichols muttered. “Someone’s going to get an earful later, and it better not be me. She was supposed to be gone already.”
I looked with interest at the stranger, tempted to ask about her even though I suspected Nichols wouldn’t answer.
My guess—the woman was a civilian. There was just something about her that didn’t say cop. Her clothes were casual as was her manner. She’d thrown her hair up into a messy bun. Her eyes were tired and had dark circles under them.
For the most part, she seemed average. Nothing really stood out about her if I didn’t count the extreme shock in her face as Nichols led me over to the desk she was standing next to.
“What is she doing out here?” the woman demanded.
Nichols didn’t answer, swiping a manila envelope with my name on it off the desk and handing it to me. I cracked it open, making sure my driver's license, phone, and the bracelet responsible for this whole mess was there.
At the sight of them, I breathed a sigh of relief. The debacle with the cop might have been mildly embarrassing, and I might have a new assassin after me, but at least it hadn't been for nothing.
As innocuous looking as that bracelet was, returning it to its rightful master was going to ensure I paid rent this month.
In the end that was all I could ask for.
“Wait—you’re letting her go?” the woman asked, finally realizing why Nichols had handed me the envelope. Her expression held alarm as she glanced between us
Nichols glanced at the woman. “Ma’am, I’ll be with you in a moment.”
I didn’t waste time signing my name to the sheet Nichols offered me to verify all of my belongings had been returned to me.
All the while, the woman watched with a suspicious frown that only deepened the longer I stood there. For the most part, I ignored her, not wanting her to see I was as interested in her as she was in me.
It was obvious from the way she spoke that she recognized me.
I glanced at Nichols and the way she was steadfastly not looking at the woman. Hmm. Suddenly, Nichols presence outside the warehouse at the exact moment I exited wasn’t so surprising.
It seemed someone had watched me go inside.
I frowned as I slipped my driver’s license into my back pocket. How much had the woman seen, and could that come back to bite me in the ass later?
The stranger’s gaze sharpened as I picked up the bracelet. “What’s that?”
“A bracelet.” Nichols eyed the woman like she was seriously questioning the stranger’s sanity.
I hid a smile as I grabbed my phone.
Still, I didn’t like the way the woman was staring at the bracelet like it was a snake that would jump up and bite her at any moment.
It made me wonder if there was something more to the stranger than was obvious at first glance.
A moment later, my smile faded as I glanced at the phone’s notifications.
Two missed calls from a blocked number. No voicemail, though.
Mentally, I shrugged, sliding the phone into my pocket. Whoever it was must not need anything important. Otherwise they would have left a message.
Either way I wasn't too worried. My clients preferred face-to-face meetings when discussing what they needed from me. They rarely picked up a phone to call.
Most of them didn’t even have a phone.
As someone who skated the line between a fixer and private investigator to the supernatural community, I was often the last stop for those with nowhere else to turn. I'd stumbled into the business quite by accident, with one job leading into another, then another, until I was making far more than the minimum wage I'd made as a gas station attendant.
Thankfully, the new business fit a niche not already filled in Columbus's spook community. Jerry, the owner of Hermes and my former employer, had thrown a few cases my way when his people stumbled into a situation outside their expertise.
For now, it worked. More importantly, it paid well enough that I could keep myself in black raspberry ice cream if I wanted to. Sadly, my new diet made eating ice cream a tad challenging.
Nichols held the door to the waiting room for me, her disapproval an almost physical weight. "Maybe next time, start with the truth so we don't have to waste so much time."
I didn't bother asking what truth she was talking about, not wanting to contradict any compulsion Liam would have lain on her.
"Of course, Officer Nichols. You're right. It won't happen again."
"See that it doesn't."
The door slammed behind me as I soon as I stepped into the next room. I hesitated, straining to hear the conversation on the other side of the door. Because I was a vampire which came with increased hearing, I could hear most of what was being said.
“Why are you letting her go? Don’t you see that she’s dangerous,” the woman demanded.
Seemed I was right. The woman had been watching me earlier that night. It was surprising—and concerning—I hadn’t noticed.
“Look.” Nichols paused. “You put down that your name is Pelt, right?”
“My last name, yes.”
“I would be more concerned about your own situation. Right now, you’re the one acting suspiciously.”