Page 63 of Dead Beat

“Of course not, kiddo.” Alex winked. “Not unless I have to.”

Nell opened and closed her mouth. She looked like a fish yanked from a stream.

“What do you think, Reiter?” Alex continued, pushing her advantage. “Detective Turner can get some of his domestic-beer-drinking pals down there to paw through your cabinets, dig up all your pretty flowers along with your secrets.”

“I’m not looking for a fight,” Reiter said mildly.

“Isn’t it funny how you find things when you’re not looking for them?”

“You’re a tiresome little thing.”

“I’m the gnat of all gnats and I’m not going to Sweetwell unless it’s to paint the walls red with your darling girl’s blood.”

“Stop frightening her. She’s not very bright or very brave.”

“Michelle Alameddine was both.”

Reiter made another disapproving sound. “Very well. Savin Rock.”

“Where?”

“I’ve told Nell to take your phone. I don’t want any grand heroics from the cavalry.”

“Why Savin Rock?” Alex demanded, though he’d already hung up.

“Phone,” Nell said.

Alex handed it over and Nell slipped it into her pocket.

Nell’s car was parked on High Street, right outside JE, and Alex wondered how many times she’d had to circle the block to land a spot like that. It was a posh SUV that smelled as if it had just been driven off the lot. Quite the upgrade from the Subaru.

“If I get the idea you’re heading to Old Greenwich, I’ll make you run us off the road,” Alex warned her.

“You’re all talk,” Nell whispered furiously.

“I beat my ex-boyfriend’s head in with a bat,” Alex said gently. “His brain had the texture of milk pudding.”

“What is wrong with you?”

“You’re the one working for a vampire.”

“He chose me.”

“Yes, I know. He told you that you were special and that a grand destiny of immortality awaits. He promised Michelle Alameddine eternity and he stuffed her body into a trunk.”

Nell said nothing, just steered them onto the highway. Alex was shit with directions, but she knew they were headed south, the same direction as Old Greenwich. Savin Rock sounded familiar, but she couldn’t remember why. She only knew it was somewhere in West Haven, not terribly far from Black Elm.

“How far is it to Savin Rock?”

“You don’t need to shout at me. We should be there in less than thirty minutes.”

“What can I do to get you to give me back my phone?”

“Nothing.”

Alex knew she was being reckless, but they were hurtling through the dark and she had no way to reach her friends. She let hellfire flare over her body, the blue light flickering against the dashboard.

Nell shrieked and swerved, then righted the SUV. “What is that? What are you doing?”