"Sizemore, Susan - Laws of the Blood 2 - Partners" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sizemore Susan)

Haven already regretted showing even a slight interest in the woman's problem by the time she answered.

"Do you believe in vampires, Mr. Haven? I think you do," she went on before he could issue the standard scoffing denial: No one believes in vampires. She was the one who gave the scoffing laugh. "I'm not sure if anyone ever really did, except maybe the folklorists who listened to the lies Balkan peasants told them for the price of a few beers. I don't think you're a gullible person, but I do know that you killed a group of teenagers who were involved with a blood-drinking cult last year. They thought they were vampires."

The little shits deserved what happened to them, even if they hadn't been the type of vampires he was used to dealing with.

"Those teenagers murdered at least two babies that I know of," Novak went on. "I don't mind what you did to them."

Not to mention all the dogs the nut cult butchered to drink the animals' blood and eat their hearts. He'd followed the trail of animal mutilations looking for his usual prey and come across the wacko kids instead. Would have been a waste of valuable time if he hadn't taken down the little murdering bastards.

"The case was kept quiet. The local police were happy to avoid a media circus," Novak said. "Your version of rough justice gave the appearance of being a tragic accident. Looked like those kids got drunk and their car stalled on the train tracks. The cops didn't look any deeper than they had to, but I did."

He supposed the woman had proof, and she was going to use that proof to blackmail him into helping her find her son. He didn't mind that sort of coercion, it was better than Baker looking at him sincerely and talking about helping people.

A silence stretched out for a couple of minutes, then Novak said, "Something happened to you about five years ago, Haven, that changed you from a worthless piece of repeat offender shit. Officially, you died." She glanced up at Baker. "Something turned you from an honest cop into this scumbag's partner. The pair of you and some of your friends have been playing vigilante against satanists and other cult crazies ever since."

Haven and Baker exchanged a look, but neither of them tried to deny what Novak said.

"What I know about you comes from my own research," she went on. "You were always too small-time to be a blip on the Bureau's radar, Mr. Haven."

"Thank goodness for that," Baker said.

Haven didn't like the humor he saw in his partner's eyes, but he ignored it. "That's me," he told Novak. "Small-time. I hunt crazies," he admitted. "For my own reasons. You want me to hunt your crazy kid, is that it? Bring sonny home to mama before the cops track him down and put him away. And you're doing this for love rather than the fact you're scared of losing your career." Bright spots of color appeared on the woman's cheeks as Haven went on. "Glass ceiling at the Bureau's hard enough to break without a complication like having a serial-killing kid in your personnel file."

"Enough, Jeb." Baker squeezed the woman's shoulders. "You stung him," Baker said to Novak. "So he stung back."

He could tell that she was more angry than offended.

Haven didn't care, just as long as he got a reaction. He already knew she was going to make him work for her, and he would take whatever price he could get in turn.

Novak opened her purse. Jebel Haven stilled the instinct to pick up the pistol. He was not surprised at what she took out and slid across the desk to him. "There are several copies of most of the information on that," Novak told him as he picked up the zip disk.

"Information about me."

She nodded to his statement.

"But this is the only copy that also has everything I need to know about finding your son."

She nodded again.

Short of killing the FBI profiler here and now and risking her information about him being passed on to unfriendly eyes, there wasn't much Jebel Haven could do.

He rubbed his jaw. He needed a shave. He turned on the computer and popped in the zip disk. "What's the kid's name?"


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Chapter 3
PORTLAND