Chasing Daybreak

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The house was empty when I got home. No sign of Shane or, thankfully, any more presents.

It was just dark enough that I flipped on every light in the house as I went. Yes, between the previous night and Heather’s cryptic warnings, I was quickly becoming an electric company’s dream.

My tiny yet surprisingly expensive dinner hadn’t taken the edge off my rumbling stomach, so I opened the fridge to rummage for leftovers. Settling on some day-old pizza, I nuked my plate and went to my office to eat as I searched. The machine was blinking again. I hit the playback button. It took me a second to place the voice.

“Ms. Stone, it was really nice talking to you the other night. I’m calling because our church is having a prayer meeting tonight at eleven. I saw what happened on the news last night, and I wanted to express my sympathy and invite you to join us. Pastor Marlowe and I both hope you can make it. See you then.” Beep.

The voice belonged to Pastor Marlowe’s right-hand man, David Pierce.

Well, there was no way I was going to subject myself to Marlowe again, but I did decide to do some more intense background checks on the good pastor. I watched a few videos of his anti-vampire sermons. Same old rhetoric, but delivered by a handsome, charismatic man of the faith. I could see why people were drawn to him. He reminded me of the old-fashioned snake oil salesmen, saying just what you wanted to hear while simultaneously promising the moon and making you very afraid not to buy what he was selling.

There were a few articles on his wife’s death, and a few on his daughter Melanie’s medical condition. His congregation had launched a huge fundraising campaign to earn the money he needed for her pricey treatments. Even so, the doctors weren’t holding out much hope, the general opinion being that it was a miracle she’d made it this long.

A little after ten, Shane came home, alone thankfully. I got that he was seeing Mercy, and on some level, I could deal with that. But seriously? She made me want to redecorate in Holy Object Chic.

Shane peeked his head around the doorframe, holding a bag from Bubba Sly’s deli out like bait.

“Hungry?” he asked.

I looked at my half-eaten, now-cold-again pizza for a split second before dumping it in the trash.

“Bring it on.”

He vanished, reappearing again with two paper plates. Handing me a Philly cheese steak with a side of salt and vinegar chips on my plate, he dropped into his usual place beside me. Vamps didn’t have to eat solid food, but they could. Their taste buds didn’t react quite like a human’s did, or so Shane said, but that just made experiencing food more enjoyable. It was like getting to try everything all over again for the first time.

“Whatchya doin?” he asked.

Sighing, I took a bite. I answered around my mouth-watering sandwich. “Trying to figure out this Marlowe guy.” I wiped my mouth. “He’s big bad, no question. But what was his connection to Lisa?”

“She a member of his congregation?”

I shook my head. “According to her sister, she went to St. Peters, downtown.”

“So why was the husband going there?”

I shrugged. “Convenient? He was going there for treatment for his gambling problem.”

“We ever come up with any debts for the husband?”

“Nope. No money missing that I can see, no weird debts, no loans. Clean.”