Maggie Shayne - Lover's Bite

“I just need to know, that’s all. I’ve never…I’ve never understood who she was, or how she felt about me. I want to know everything about her. But especially who took her life.”

The older woman nodded slowly, her gaze turning inward. “Your mother was the most beautiful woman I have ever known,” she said softly. “She wasn’t a great actress. But she had this energy, this spirit, that just emanated from her and drew people to her. Everyone who met her fell in love with her. Everyone.”

“Well, maybe not quite everyone,” Topaz said softly. “Someone killed her, after all.”

Rebecca didn’t let the comment sidetrack her. “She was a free spirit. Couldn’t be tied to one man. She fell in love at the drop of a hat. I think it was the excitement of new love that thrilled her most. Once it got old—well, men pretty much fell into a predictable pattern with Mirabella. Once they had her, they wanted to own her. I mean, you couldn’t blame them. Anyone could see how attractive she was, how many men wanted her. So whichever one she was with tended to feel threatened by that, and inevitably, he’d start trying to control her, manage her, you know? She couldn’t tolerate that.”

Topaz nodded. “Having a baby must have been the last thing she wanted. I mean, nothing is more controlling than—”

“Having a baby was the best thing that ever happened to her.”

Topaz looked up slowly, trying hard to read the other woman’s face, and then her thoughts, in search of a lie.

“She finally had someone in her life who loved her, without giving two hoots what she looked like or how well her career was going.”

“Or how much money she had,” Topaz murmured.

“She adored you, Tanya. She so wanted to make everything perfect for you. And she tried, she did. But her life was snuffed out before she had the chance.” Rebecca dabbed at her eyes. “I really loved Mirabella, you know. She was my friend.”

Topaz believed the woman. There was nothing in her mind to contradict what she was saying aloud. But there was something.

“Do you know who killed her?”

“No.”

“But…?” Topaz prompted, fully aware that there was something else, something Rebecca wasn’t saying.

“There…was a lot going on in your mother’s life before she died. Let me dig into my files, so I can get my facts straight. My memory isn’t what it used to be. I’ll phone you in a day or two, and we can meet again. If you’re going to be in town that long?”

“I am,” Topaz said.

“Good.” Rebecca nodded. “Good.”

It was, Topaz sensed, the end of the conversation. She would get no more information from Rebecca tonight. She got to her feet, and Jack rose with her. “Thank you,” she said simply.

“It was a pleasure meeting you,” Jack added. He reached out to take Topaz’s arm, then stopped himself, she noted, just before making contact. He really was trying to live up to his end of their bargain. It was slightly amazing to her. He was actually trying to keep his word.

They walked around the house, through the backyard and out to the front, where Jack had parked the Porsche. Topaz didn’t say a thing until they got in. And then she said disbelievingly, “I can’t believe she knew who I was just by looking at me.”

He started the engine but didn’t put the car in gear. Instead, he turned in his seat to look at her. “Well, her eyesight clearly hasn’t gone the way of her memory.”

“But I don’t look anything like Mirabella.”

He laughed. Just a soft sound, very short and more surprised than amused.

“What?”

“You look a lot like her, Topaz. You have the same bone structure, the same high cheekbones and delicate, angular jaw. The same little nose, the same full, sexy lips. Same milk-chocolate-brown eyes and thick lashes. Her skin tone was a little darker, her hair, too, but beyond that…”

“That’s ridiculous. My mother was called the most beautiful woman alive.”

“Yeah,” Jack said with a firm nod, then put the car into gear and began to drive. “Exactly.”

She shot him a look, but his face was unreadable. He focused on the road, not looking at her, intent on his driving, as if it were some challenging task that took every bit of his concentration.

“What are you trying to pull, Jack?” she asked softly.

He frowned, sending her a quick glance. “What do you mean?”

“Do you think flattering me is going to get you back into my good graces? Or my wallet?”

“I’d settle for back into your bed, but—”

“You never said shit like that when we were dating.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want you to get a swollen head. And maybe I was thinking like those men of your mother’s. If you knew how beautiful you were, why wouldn’t you go out and find someone a hell of a lot better than me? I sure didn’t want to encourage that.”

“No. At least not until you got what you were after.”

He sighed, his head falling forward briefly. If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought she’d hurt him, just a little.

But that was impossible, of course.

You couldn’t hurt someone unless they cared, and she knew all too well that Jack didn’t. He never had.

That thought hurt a little too much, so she distracted herself by picking up her phone, glancing at the time and dialing Reaper’s cell.

He picked up on the first ring. “Topaz?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” she said. “How is it going? Are you still in Virginia Beach?”

“No, we’re already moving on. Still heading north. I’ll let you know where we decide to hole up next when we get there. How are things with you?”

“Fine. Everything’s fine. The others?”

“Roxy and Ilyana are at Roxy’s place.”

“Really? Interesting. You think Ilyana will open up to her at all?”

“If anyone can get her talking, it’ll be Roxy.”

“She has secrets, that one,” Topaz said. “How about Seth and Vixen?”

“They haven’t checked in yet,” Reaper told her. “Have you, um…Have you heard from Jack?”

She hesitated and glanced Jack’s way. She got the immediate impression that he was listening closely to her conversation. He wouldn’t have any trouble hearing Reaper’s end, given all vampires’ heightened senses. “Actually, he’s here with me.”

“Tell him I said hi,” Jack said.

She didn’t. Reaper could hear the greeting for himself. He sighed, and said, “Be careful, Topaz.”

“Believe me, I am.”

“Oh, hell.”

Jack rejoined Topaz at the checkout counter of the 7-Eleven, having ditched her just long enough to place a call of his own. She was handing the cashier a wad of bills to pay for her shampoo, conditioner and the dozen other beauty supplies she’d insisted she couldn’t get along without for one more night, things she hadn’t packed because it was “so much easier to just buy them here.”

At Jack’s muttered curse, Topaz shot him a quick look over her shoulder. “Anything wrong?” she asked.

He didn’t speak out loud, because he didn’t think the checker had made the connection just yet and he certainly didn’t want to encourage her to. Take a look at the tabloid in the rack—upper left slot, he told Topaz mentally.

Frowning, she glanced at the rack of magazines and newspapers standing beside the cashier. Jack had no doubt that the banner headline and side-by-side photos of Topaz, back in her mortal days, and her mother, caught her eye just as quickly as they had caught his. When her eyes widened, he knew for sure.

DAUGHTER OF LEGENDARY ACTRESS RETURNS FROM THE GRAVE TO AVENGE HER MOTHER’S MURDER

She blinked in shock and quickly grabbed the issue, folded it over the sensationalistic front-page headline and dropped it onto the counter. “This, too,” she said. He thought her voice seemed to quiver. Not so much that a mortal would detect it. Maybe not even another vampire. But he was more attuned to her than most—than anyone alive, he imagined. And that realization bore some further thought, but not right then.