The crime scene was swarming with cops. Korsak steered his car through a maze of parked cruisers, news vans, and crime scene vehicles to park right in the large, partially enclosed lot next to St. Peter's Church. Wooden sawhorses created a hastily-erected barricade across the street, where residents of the nearby townhouses stood to watch the activity.
Cat slid out of the car but didn't follow Frost and Korsak toward the body. She'd walked a beat in this area back in her patrol days. It was a tightly knit community. More than that, townhouses lined the street just across from the church. Large windows in each unit looked down on the front entrance. Surely someone would have noticed a person (or persons) carrying a dead body down the street.
Giving a last look at the crowd, Cat walked up to the church. "McClearen. Back from the big leagues?" Sergeant Byrne smirked and marked her name off on his clipboard. "I didn't think we'd see you again now that you've had a taste of life Downtown."
"Nah. You know I don't dazzle like that." Cat winked as she ducked stiffly under the yellow crime scene tape. "This is home. Always will be. Too much politics Downtown. Don't think I want to spend all my time ass up over a punishment bench 'cause I insulted some VIP."
His laughter followed her up the front steps to join the rest of the taskforce inside the church. Korsak and Frost were interviewing the parish priest in the entryway. Cat nodded to them as she skirted a sobbing woman sitting on a bench and continued into the long, narrow nave. The real action was at the front of the church, where the pews gave way to long, low steps leading to the altar.
The body sprawled gracelessly on those steps. Blood covered the carpeted treads and risers. Maura Isles had center stage with the corpse. Everyone else, including a glowering Faith, stood to one side. "What have we got so far?" she asked Jane in a low voice.
"Looks the same as the others. Maybe." Jane rubbed a hand over her eyes. "Maura doesn't guess, though." It was a long-standing source of frustration between them, Cat knew. "So I can only say it looks like another vampire attack. Bite marks in the throat. Blood everywhere."
"Not a vamp," Faith disagreed. She pointed at the body. "You can see from here, the bite ain't right. The marks are too perfect. Vamps drink straight from the wound so it leaves this tear pattern. More like a dog bite than what Hollywood says."
Following her finger, Cat noticed two perfect puncture wounds. Vampire bite marks according to every vampire movie she'd ever seen. "Isn't there too much blood?" Having Faith so close… Cat wanted to impress her. Wanted to show she was worthy of Faith. It was pathetic, yet Cat couldn't resist. "I thought vampires drained their victims."
"Drain or Turn. Either way, that ain't what happened here." Faith sounded certain, and Cat risked glancing over at her. Faith's expression was pensive as she watched Maura examine the body. "Whatever killed your vic was human. I don't know how, though. Wicked hard to drink blood if you ain't a vamp."
She had a very good point. "So we're back where we started." Great. They couldn't buy a break. Six victims already and not one real clue.
"You always give up that easy?" Faith met Cat's eyes, and she shuddered. They were like warm chocolate, only it was Cat who suddenly wanted to melt. "The doc's looking at the body. T says she's the best there is. We still haven't been to all the crime scenes. We'll find something."
A flush crawled up Cat's neck and face at the mild rebuke. "Right. We'll find something," she echoed. Her lips turned up in a smile. "Sorry." The word "ma'am" hovered on her lips and Cat bit it back.
A dimple flashed when Faith smiled. "I been workin' on the pep talks. How'm I doing so far? You feel pepped now?"
"Yeah." The electric tingles were back. Cat absently rubbed her arm where all the hairs stood at attention. "I'm so pepped you wouldn't believe." It was no lie. Not even a dozen espressos left her this jazzed.
"If you try to bring out pompons or cheerleading uniforms, I'm having you both committed." Tara bumped Faith's shoulder and did that funny half-smile thing at Cat. "Now I know what Mr. Giles felt like all those years, sweetie. The only adult in a room full of adolescents."
Cat wanted to hate Tara. Last night, it had seemed a simple enough emotion. It wasn't simple at all, though, she realized. Tara was too nice to hate, and she had no idea what her very existence in Faith's life meant for Cat. "I think your Domme just insulted us," she told Faith, lips feeling stiff with the effort of uttering "your Domme."
"T knows me pretty good." Faith's grin was wide and carefree. She slung an arm around Cat's shoulders and spun them so they faced Tara. "Question is: did she figure you out? You just a big kid, too? Ain't had anybody to get into trouble with in a while."
For fifteen years, Cat had imagined Faith touching her. Reality was far different. Desire took second place to pain as the weight of Faith's arm pressed against last night's welts. She sucked in a quick breath and held it.
Faith didn't notice. She continued to tease Cat. "You should meet the dudes at the Council. Most of 'em are from England. They wear tweed and drink tea, and they got no sense of humor."
"Sounds like a certain medical examiner's mother," Jane added dryly. "She's English, too. I wonder if she's related to some of your Council guys. The last time Constance was in town, Maura made me scrub the kitchen with a toothbrush. No joke. And every meal was some special dish that Maura swore was Constance's favorite."
Maura overheard Jane's comment. Apparently finished with her examination, she had moved closer as they'd talked. Pinning Jane with an imperious stare, she stripped off her latex gloves and tossed them into an evidence-collection bag. "Are you saying you don't enjoy spending time with my mother?"
Jane immediately shook her head. "That wasn't what I said."
"No, you agreed with Faith, implying that my mother had an affinity for Tweed, a particularly rough, unfinished woolen fabric and tea," Maura clarified.
Since Faith's arm was still resting on her shoulders, Cat felt her quiver with suppressed laughter. This close, she could smell Faith's perfume, a dark mixture of cinnamon and something spicy. Unconsciously, she leaned closer.
"Maura, I mean… Ma'am, I…" Jane was floundering. Cat had never heard her use any honorific with Maura in the six weeks she'd been working with the task force.
Maura let her verbally stumble for a long minute. "Really, Jane. How can my mother lack a sense of humor when I clearly have one?" Her smile was triumphant before it disappeared beneath her usual intense expression. "Now, I don't have anything new regarding the case. This was a preliminary examination of the victim. There could be evidence in the body that I can't see here. Please don't speculate on what we do, or do not, have until then."
"Aw, Maura. Come on. You've got to give us something," Jane had recovered enough to protest. "I'm not asking you to make something up. I just want to know how she died. Faith says it wasn't a vampire. What was it? What made those marks? Did the bite kill her? Or the blood loss?"
"You do realize, if I answered any of those questions, I would, in fact, be speculating?" Maura wasn't giving an inch.
From Jane's sudden smirk, she had known that from the start. God, Cat loved them – and hated them at the same time. Maura's cool control and Jane's passion. They constantly picked and teased each other, but you could see the love.
Maura nodded at the morgue assistants who were wheeling the body out of the church. "I need to get back to the morgue. This body has priority, and I'll start the autopsy this afternoon. Jane, will you and Detective Frost be attending?" She was very good at not mixing business with her relationship with Jane. Maura asked, rather than ordered.
It made Jane's grimace amusing. She clearly would prefer to spend the day with Maura, even if that meant watching her carve up bodies. "Um, no. I'm going to stay here and work with the uniforms on the neighborhood canvas. Cat can stay, too. She used to work this beat, and it might help get some answers. I doubt the locals are going to cough up information for a new face."
"I'm sorry, Detective," Tara disagreed. "I'll help you ask questions. As a witch, I can run a surface aura scan on anyone you talk to." Everyone except Faith looked at her in confusion - and Tara blushed and ducked her head.
Dominants blushed? All the ones Cat knew were arrogant and domineering to the extreme. She certainly couldn't imagine Maura doing looking shy and turning red.
Moving away from Cat, Faith reached out and tucked the hair that had fallen in front of Tara's face behind Tara's ear. "Means T can tell you if somebody's lying."
"And it will leave Detective McClearen available to show Faith around the crime scenes." Recovering her composure, Tara reminded Jane of their request from the previous night. "She needs to examine the sites for any evidence that would point to demonic involvement. Although none of the wounds on your victim are from a vampire attack, that doesn't mean that they were not part of the crime."
That confused Cat. "Wait. If none of the vics were killed by vamps, why are you and Faith here?" It came out a little more bluntly than she'd intended and now Cat was the one blushing as Maura and Tara gave her matching looks, complete with raised brows. "I just..." Cat hunted for a more polite way to phrase her question. "You said last night Faith was a specialist for the Council. Why send in a heavy hitter when there are other cops who are Slayers? There are at least five in C6 alone."
"We don't know, Cat," Faith said.
"I don't know, little cat," Faith said softly through their bond. "You know it don't work that way. We gotta wait until we magically find each other."
Tears threatened as Faith's answer merged with a snippet of memory. Cat held very still, not even blinking, praying no one noticed.
"One of the Council Seers had a vision. Faith and I are supposed to be here, but they didn't give us any details." Tara's half-smile was wry this time. "Seers aren't known for crystal clear images or for answering questions. Short of blowing a few holes in the Council building, I had to accept the assignment and let Fate take its course"
Fate. Cat hated Fate. Fate determined bondmates - and Fate took them away. "Doesn't seem like a good way to do business."
"Beats the Hell out of prophecies," Faith murmured. "You ready to roll, Cat? If we stand here too long, T will find something else to keep me busy, and I'm not lookin' to spend hours researching or doing some show and tell on Slayer abilities." Her voice dropped as Tara smirked at her comment. "It's like she thinks I need to learn people skills."
Cat knew she should say no. Jane was the lead detective on the case. Not to mention every minute spent with Faith twisted Cat up inside. She'd already hit more highs and low emotionally in the last twelve hours than in the past year.
But she couldn't.
This was Faith. Her Faith. Her shoulders were still warm from Faith's touch. Cat wanted more. For a little while, without Tara nearby, Cat could pretend that Faith remembered who she was and that they were still bonded. "We'll have to swing by the station house first. My car's there and it would be good to have the crime scene photos and first responder reports handy. If something's been altered or you have questions, we can reference the reports."
"You drive then. I ain't much good with cars. It's a Slayer thing." Faith moved toward the front of the church with Cat on her heels.
"Yes, Faith," Cat murmured obediently.
