Anything but this. Because this was nothing but a glorified AA meeting where all the attendees have the same bad fashion sense.

“I tried to talk to my parents,” a young man in a dark sweater said. “But they wouldn’t listen. They didn’t understand. They said-get this-‘Have you ever tried not being a vampire?’”

Several sympathetic hands were laid upon his shoulder.

“We feel your pain,” the others chanted together.

More likely they cause his pain, Loving thought. With their teeth.

Daily whispered into Loving’s ear. “How much more of this are we going to endure? I’ve talked to everyone in the room. None of them knows a Beatrice.”

“Did you learn anythin’ about the girls that disappear? The ones the Sire’s minions select for the Inner Circle?”

“No one seems to know much about that.”

Loving grunted. He was equally stymied. He hated to give up on a promising lead, but this was getting them nowhere. “Amber’s last words before she fell unconscious-”

“She was out of her head. Probably didn’t know what she was saying.”

Another member of the Circle was speaking. “And then she threw the engagement ring back at me, screaming, ‘You said you were going to be a lawyer!’ And I told her, ‘I can still be a lawyer, honey. I’ll just have to stick to night court.’”

“Okay, let’s get outta here.” Loving headed out, but to his surprise Morticia left the group and ran in front of him just as he passed through the outer door, blocking his way.

“You can’t just leave. I told you. We’re destined to be together.” She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close. “Just let me take a little nip. You won’t be disappointed. I promise you.” Once again she was all over him, her heaving bosom pressed against his ample chest. “It would be an experience you’d never forget.”

“That I don’t doubt. But-”

“Give it up, you gorgeous infidel.” All at once, she lurched forward, placed her acrylic teeth against his neck, and bit down hard.

Loving pulled away. “Stop that!”

“Why? Afraid you might like it?” She wiped her mouth dry. “You shouldn’t withdraw prematurely. Haven’t you heard? Women don’t like that.”

“Be seein’ you.” Loving started for the door, tugging Daily as he went.

“You know you want it. Deep down,” Morticia called after him. “You’ll come back. Wait and see. I’ll still be here. When you’re ready.”

Loving ran down the front steps and breathed in the night air. Strong with carbon monoxide, but refreshing, just the same. It was a relief to be outside, away from that pack of nutcases.

Vampires. Jeez Louise. What next? It can’t possibly get any weirder than that…

A voice emerged from the darkness. “Freeze, or I’ll stake you where you stand, you unholy beasts.”

Loving and Daily both pivoted at once. There was a woman standing behind them, emerging from the shadows of a side alley. She was young, slender but sturdy. She had long blond hair and a tanned complexion. Her eyes were fixed intently upon her targets.

She was holding a crossbow. Not a gun. A crossbow.

“Now you’re going to do exactly what I say,” she said, moving forward but never blinking, never moving her finger from the trigger. “And if either of you so much as takes a baby step toward me, you’ll get a bolt through your undead heart.”

16

B en was not surprised when the prosecution called Brad Tidwell, the junior senator from Oklahoma. Padolino made a great show of explaining in open court that Tidwell was a “hostile witness,” and was appearing only because he had been subpoenaed-probably a condition of his agreement to testify. Tidwell opened with several stories of how he had once admired Senator Glancy and how helpful the man was during his early days in the Senate, despite the fact that they were from opposite parties. Together, he and Padolino did everything imaginable to dispel the idea that this testimony had partisan motivations.

“On September 26 of last year, did you attend the morning meeting of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions?” Padolino asked.

“I did, sir. I’m proud to say I have the best attendance record of any member currently serving. I’ve never missed an entire day. I even attended when I had strep and a temperature of one hundred and four.”

Well, I bet the other committee members appreciated that, Ben mused.

“And was the defendant present on September 26?”

“He was, sir. He’s still vice chair, and I believe he handled some of the parliamentary rigmarole at the opening.”

“And did he remain in the committee chambers for the entire morning?”

Ben wondered if he had been coached to pause at this dramatic juncture, or if his political experience had given him sufficient instinct to work these things out for himself. “No, sir. He did not.”

A small stir from the gallery. Not quite enough to get Herndon’s gavel rattling, but close.

“At what time did Senator Glancy leave the room?”

“I can’t be certain. I was very busy, and I didn’t know then that it would be important. But it was in the first hour or so of the session.”

“Say around nine thirty?”

“Objection!” Ben rushed in. “Leading.”

“Sustained.”

“I really didn’t notice the time,” Tidwell continued. “But it was early. Before ten, certainly.”

The earliest time the coroner said the killing could have occurred, Ben noted. How terribly convenient.

“Thank you. I have no more questions.”

But Ben did. More than a few.

“Could we possibly get some specifics on this previously unmentioned absence?” Ben thought it was an appropriate time to allow some indignation to show.

“What would you like to know? I told you as much as I can about when he left.”

“How long was Senator Glancy gone? According to you.”

“I really couldn’t say. I had other things to do than monitor his comings and goings.”

“Give me a ballpark figure.”

“I can’t.”

“Was it a bathroom break? Or was he gone a good long time?”

“It was more than a bathroom break. I was trying to float a redraft by him, but he wasn’t anywhere in the chamber. I searched the whole place, waited, finally had to move on to something else. It was at least ten minutes before I saw him in the chamber again. Maybe as much as twenty.”

More than enough time, Ben realized. He played the best card he had. “Senator Tidwell, I interviewed you two days after the murder occurred, along with every other member of that committee. You told me you were working on a new formulation of a bill and couldn’t remember whether Senator Glancy was present the whole time or not.”

“And that was true. At the time. But I’ve had a long while to think about it since then. Time to reflect and to review my notes. Now I distinctly remember looking around for Todd, and not finding him.”

The man was so smooth he could make anything sound reasonable. Ben had one last impeachment card, a pretty feeble one. But he had to play it.

“Despite being from the same state, you’re not a member of the same political party as Senator Glancy, are you?”

“I think I made that clear.”

“The current Senate has only a bare Republican majority. You’d probably like to see a few Democrats replaced by Republicans, right?”

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“Answer the question.”

“Well…” He grinned a little. “I wouldn’t object.”

“And you’d probably enjoy being the senior senator from your state, wouldn’t you?”

That got a rise out of him. “If you’re trying to suggest that I’m making this up just to get Senator Glancy out of the Senate, you’re wasting your time. I wouldn’t do that. We may be political opponents, but we’re still brother senators. Politics is one thing, but loyalty is another. I put loyalty first.”

“So you say,” Ben rejoined. “But that didn’t stop you from testifying today, did it? No more questions.”