Page 18 of Isabelle’s Forbidden Love

“Me too, Mom.” She placed the empty bottle in the sink and hugged her. “I’ve gotta go. I’m meeting Cooper to canvass Mr. Hong’s neighborhood. Maybe the neighbors noticed something.”

“Don’t you want some food? I can make you some eggs. I’m sure you haven’t eaten,” Delilah chastised.

“The blood was plenty. Don’t worry about me.” She took a step toward the door. “Oh, and don’t wait for me tonight. I’ll have to go to the crime scene with the new police liaison after sunset, and who knows what else comes up from there. So, I might just stay at Grayson’s loft to get a couple of hours of shuteye, rather than come all the way back here.”

It was an excuse so her mother wouldn’t become suspicious if she didn’t sleep at home. Isabelle had no intention of staying at Grayson’s loft in the financial district. The loft still belonged to her brother, and it was still fully furnished, and on occasion Isabelle stayed there when she needed time alone. But she wasn’t planning on staying at her brother’s loft tonight. Nor did she want to be alone.

“All right, Isa. Be careful, okay?”

Delilah kissed her on the cheek, and Isabelle left the kitchen and got back into her car.

Cooper was already waiting for her, when she arrived outside of Wayne Hong’s house in Glen Park. She parked her Thunderbird behind his SUV and got out.

Cooper exited his vehicle. “Let’s do this.” He yawned.

“Did you get some shut-eye last night?”

“Not much,” he confessed and grinned. “I was too wound up after the meeting, so I went to the Black Velvet for a night cap.”

“The sure thing, really?” She chuckled. The Black Velvet was a pick-up bar only a few blocks away from Grayson’s condo. Most Scanguards employees had been to it at one time or another, because picking up somebody for a quick tumble in the sheets was easy there. Thus, they had nicknamed it The Sure Thing.

He winked at her. “I just needed something to take the edge off.”

She couldn’t blame him. Their jobs were stressful. Cooper worked as a bodyguard for Scanguards, but he also got pulled into investigations like the one they were currently working on. And vampires as well as vampire hybrids like her and Cooper had an elevated sex drive that needed to be stilled before it bubbled over and became unmanageable.

“Is that what you’re calling it these days?” Isabelle asked as they walked to the house right next to Hong’s.

Cooper grinned instead of replying.

She’d always liked Cooper. He was her best friend’s younger brother. Lydia, a vampire hybrid who was almost the same age as Isabelle, was the adopted daughter of Yvette and Haven, two pureblooded vampires. Lydia’s biological parents had been brutally killed by rogue vampires, and Yvette and Haven, childless at the time, had taken her to raise as their own.

Lydia had many talents. While she was trained as a bodyguard by Scanguards like virtually all of the hybrids related to anybody at Scanguards, she had a beautiful voice and regularly sang at the Mezzanine. Isabelle hadn’t seen her there last night, and maybe that was a good thing, or Lydia might have wondered why Isabelle hadn’t stayed to catch up with her.

Isabelle turned to the entrance door of the little cottage and rang the doorbell, then stepped back to wait next to Cooper. She didn’t want to crowd the homeowner. It took almost a minute, before she heard shuffling sounds from behind the door and the sound of a chain being removed.

A woman in a thick bathrobe, her hair in disarray, opened the door only a few inches, just enough to cast Isabelle and Cooper an assessing look. “Yes?”

“Sorry to disturb you so early, Ma’am,” Isabelle started with a smile. “We’re private investigators.” She flashed her Scanguards ID, and Cooper did the same. “You’ve probably heard of your neighbor Mr. Hong being killed.” Isabelle zoomed in on the name written on the mailbox next to the door. “Mrs. Martinez?”

“It’s Ms.” She nodded. “But yes, I heard. Terrible thing. And this is a good neighborhood.”

“Yes,” Cooper assured her. “You have a beautiful place here. And such a great view.”

When the woman smiled at Cooper, Isabelle knew his approach was working. Congratulate a person on their good taste or good fortune, and they opened up. Besides, Cooper was right. Many houses in this neighborhood that were nestled on a steep hill, had amazing views to the south and the Bay. She gave Cooper an almost imperceptible look, indicating that he should continue, since the woman seemed to respond better to him. After all, Cooper had oodles of charm and cute dimples in his cheeks when he smiled.

“Did you know your neighbor Mr. Hong?” Cooper continued.

She shrugged. “We never exchanged more than a few words in passing. Now his wife…” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t get me started on her.”

“We were told he was in the middle of a divorce,” Cooper interjected. “Or were we misinformed?”

“Well, it doesn’t surprise me. The fights those two had. It was hard not to hear them. I mean, my bedroom backs out toward their deck. But she hasn’t been around much in the last few months. First, I thought, maybe her work hours changed, and that’s why I haven’t seen her much, but now that you’re saying that they’re getting a divorce, she probably moved out.”

“Yeah, that’s our understanding,” Cooper said. “Did you by any chance see Mr. Hong on Tuesday night, when he came home from work?”

“Is that when they think he was killed?” she asked.

“We’re trying to establish the exact time of death, but since he was found Wednesday morning, we have reason to believe that he was killed during the night.”