Bria’s hand slid from her badge over to her gun, her fingers instinctively curling around the weapon. “You don’t understand, Gin. I have to get Benson. I have to. And you’re my best shot at that.”
For the first time, I noticed how tired my sister looked, the purple smudges under her eyes, the rigid set of her slender shoulders, the harsh slant of her mouth, as though she were disgusted with herself. Her blue eyes locked with mine, and I could see the pain shimmering in her gaze—along with the guilt.
“Look, if you want Benson taken out, just say the word, and I’ll start working on it,” I said, trying to find some way to help her and still keep what was left of my anonymity intact.
I knew that Bria wanted to do this herself, in her own way, within the black-and-white confines of the law, but Xavier was right. I’d do anything to protect the people I loved, and if I could help Bria by killing Benson, then I was more than happy to do it for her.
Especially since the vamp might decide to turn his attention to my sister if she kept pursuing him.
I drew in a breath. “It won’t be easy, and it may take me a few weeks, but I’ll figure out a way to get to him—”
“No.” She shook her head, her blond hair snapping around her shoulders before settling back down into place. “No. I’m not going to ask you to do that. I’m not going to stoop to Benson’s level.”
“We’re talking about my level right now.” My voice was as cold as hers was hot. “And I can tell exactly what you think of that.”
Bria ground her teeth together, but she didn’t deny or contradict my words. Her silence shouldn’t have hurt me, but it did. I might not have a badge, but I fought for justice in my own way, and I helped people when I could. I thought that Bria understood that—that she realized that we were the same that way.
Apparently not.
“I’ll do it.”
We all turned to stare at Catalina. She’d been so quiet since Bria and Xavier had arrived that I’d largely forgotten about her. Catalina let go of Troy’s hand, got to her feet, and slowly walked over to us.
“I’ll do it,” she repeated in a stronger voice. “I’ll be your witness. I’ll tell everyone who will listen exactly what Benson did to Troy.”
8
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
Catalina’s gaze cut to Troy’s body again. Her face hardened, and her hazel eyes sparked with anger. “I know what I’m doing, and I know what I saw.”
I moved closer to her. “You don’t owe Troy anything. No sort of loyalty whatsoever. Not after what he did to you last night. Not after what he was most likely going to do to you here tonight.”
Her fierce expression melted into a more melancholy one. “You’re wrong. I do owe him. He took care of me all those years ago. This is the last way that I can take care of him. I want to do this, Gin. I want to testify. I have to do it. So please don’t make this any harder than it already is. Okay?”
I could tell by the grim set of her lips that nothing I could say would change her mind, but I still felt compelled to try—
“If you want, we can take your statement right now,” Bria said, and stepped up beside us before I could protest. “Save you the hassle of going down to the station.”
My mouth dropped open, and I once again felt like a cartoon character whose face was stretched out to impossible proportions. Two minutes ago, she’d wanted me to march into the police station, right past all her fellow boys in blue, and now she was giving Catalina a free pass on that? Anger flooded my heart, replacing my earlier hurt.
“Excuse us, Catalina.” I ground out the words. “I need to speak to my sister, the detective.”
I grabbed Bria’s arm and pulled her away. Xavier stayed behind with Catalina, talking to her in a low, soothing voice. I marched Bria over to the far side of Catalina’s car, out of earshot of the others, then whirled around to face her.
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” I hissed. “You’re going to get that girl killed. And for what? Just so you can collar Benson? Even if you arrest him, the chances of him spending any time in jail are slim to none. He has too much money, too much power, and too many connections for that.”
“It’ll be fine,” Bria insisted in a stubborn tone. “Xavier and I can protect Catalina.”
“From Benson? And the dozens of vampires who work for him? I doubt that. The second Benson hears that there’s a witness to Troy’s murder, he will do everything in his power to find and kill Catalina—and anyone else who gets in his way. That includes you.”
Bria crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m a cop, Gin. I can take care of myself.”
“Yeah, you can, but you’re being awfully cavalier with Catalina’s life. Xavier’s too.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t tell you how to kill people, so why don’t you give me the same courtesy and quit telling me how to do my job?”
My whole body stiffened, and I had to work very hard to keep my face blank, as though her verbal knives had slid right off my skin, instead of burying themselves deep in my heart.
Bria winced, and she opened her mouth, almost like she was going to apologize. But then her gaze flicked to Troy’s body, a shadow passed over her face, and her lips mashed down into a hard, flat line. She wasn’t going to back down, so I decided to try another approach.
“Look, Xavier told me about your informant, Max,” I said, trying to rein in my own temper and ignore the hurt I felt.
Her angry gaze shot over to the giant. “He had no right to do that—no right at all.”
“I know you feel responsible for what happened to Max.”
“I am responsible.” Guilt and bitterness roughened her voice. “I’m the one who wanted info on Burn. I’m the one who pushed him to get in deeper with Benson’s crew. Max did exactly what I wanted, and now he’s dead. And I’m the reason why.”
“Bringing down Benson won’t change what happened to Max.”
“No,” Bria agreed, rubbing her thumb over her detective’s badge. “But at least I’ll know that the bastard will never do that to anyone else.”
“Except Catalina, when he finds out about her.”
Bria stiffened, and her hands balled into fists. Yeah, it was a low blow on my part, but that didn’t make it any less true.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to take my witness’s statement,” she snapped. “I’m also going to call in the scene. Since you’re so worried about being identified, it’s probably better if you’re not around when everyone else shows up.”
Bria pushed past me and went back over to Catalina and Xavier. She gently put her hand on Catalina’s arm, escorted her over to the sedan, drew a notepad and a pen out of the back pocket of her jeans, and started writing down Catalina’s statement. Xavier gave me another troubled look, then went to stand next to Bria. He didn’t like it either, but it was his job to back her up, and he’d do it, just like always.
Catalina started talking. I didn’t hear her words, but I didn’t need to. I’d seen the whole thing for myself. Instead, I watched Bria. The longer Catalina spoke, the more eager my baby sister’s expression became, and a twinkle shone in her eyes, almost as if she was enjoying hearing about a young man’s murder.