Roux pursed his lips.
“What?” I finally asked.
“Maybe he does deserve it.”
My mouth fell open. “You don’t believe Henrik did it, do you?”
When he didn’t answer, I stared. “Wait. You think Henrik killed her?”
He executed the world’s slowest, most insinuating shrug. “He is a vampire.”
I opened my mouth, ready to bawl him out for even suggesting something so unthinkable. Then again, so was the fact that Claudette was dead.
“I thought you said he was patrolling the grounds last night,” I tried.
He made a face. “He was supposed to be.”
I gaped. Surely he didn’t suspect Henrik.
“Don’t forget, Henrik went after Mina once,” Roux said. “He’s impossible to predict.”
I sat, reeling.
Eventually, the office door opened, and Bene sauntered out, though the spark had gone out of his eyes, replaced by edgy anger more characteristic of Roux.
I stood slowly, bracing myself to be called next.
Clem didn’t so much as look at me, however. He just motioned to the bear shifter at the front desk. “Get me Haddad on the line.”
Then he disappeared back inside the office.
I sat down, not sure whether to be relieved or outraged.
“What did he say?” Roux asked Bene.
The lion shifter dropped into his chair. “More like, what did hedemand. Where was I, when. When and where did I last see Claudette…”
His voice hitched, and he studied his hands for a long time. Then he cleared his throat and went on.
“When and where did I last see Henrik…”
“Clem is hell-bent on blaming Henrik, isn’t he?” I complained.
Bene looked at me in surprise. “Wouldn’t you?”
I looked at Roux, but he didn’t relent.
“I can’t believe you two,” I chided as quietly as I could. “You work with Henrik. You know him.”
“Yes. We do,” Roux said with a heavy note.
Chapter Nine
GENEVIÈVE
I felt sick. “But Henrik and Claudette…”
I trailed off, because it seemed like poor form to sayscrewed each other senseless for a few days then broke up faster than you can say “get me a clove of garlic.”
