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link from chapter 20:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=4071
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When I came back to the office the sun was about to go down, and Carl was preparing the bouncer. I was sitting at my desk to go over some last minute paperwork when Beth arrived.
I could see that she hadn’t slept well, maybe not at all. My first thought was she might only be here to get an inside scoop on her drug story. She wasn’t supposed to use me as a source, and now that we weren’t an item anymore it was odd that she was showing up. But maybe I was being too harsh.
„Rough night?“ I asked.
„You could say that.“
„I’m, uh, I’m glad you’re here. I need to talk to you.“
She startled. „Look, I’m sorry if I was insensitive about your case. I know it’s important to you.“
If that was why she was here, I should apologize for my patronizing behaviour too.
„I don’t know what I was thinking trying to order you off a story.“
„The fact that I was in the club, it was just work. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.“
I nodded. Maybe I should tell her that it wasn’t my place to be embarrassed any more. Maybe I should ask her about Mick. But how could I ask her if she knew that he was a vampire? Morgan trusted me not to spill the secret, and I needed to think about how to deal with Mick before I said anything.
„I shouldn’t have made such a big deal out of it. It’s just this case driving me crazy. I really messed up. The drug evidence vanished.“
„It’s gone?“ she asked, worried, maybe a bit relieved. Could she know that it was a vampire drug, or how it worked?
„We seized the drug, but there’s nothing illegal about it. Toxicology couldn’t even get a read on it.“
She had that far-away look that she sometimes got when she was mulling over something that she couldn’t tell me. I decided to take a risk and added casually:
„You know, I tried a bit of the drug myself. It was an odd experience.“
She gazed at me, and I saw her face changing quickly between alarm and astonishment. After a long silence she asked: „How did it feel?“
„It was as if I could feel everything, as if my hearing and sight and even smell and taste were enhanced. I didn’t take much, but it lasted for a while. An hour or so.“
She smiled. „After you admitted taking a drug I feel like I can admit that I snatched some of it and tried it, too.“
I felt anger bubbling up, but I suppressed it. Now wasn’t the time for hypocrisy. „So, what did it feel like for you?“
„The same. In fact, I felt so invincible and desirable that I walked over to Mick’s and tried to seduce him.“ She looked down and fiddled with her purse, embarrassed.
I experienced an odd mix of jealousy and contentment when I asked: „Did it work?“
„Partly. He tried to get me down by putting me under a cold shower, but later, when he peeled the wet clothes off of me we… you know.“
I sighed. „You know, this would really hurt me if I hadn’t done something similar with Morgan. She came over this afternoon, and we… you know.“
We exchanged an embarrassed smile, painfully aware that something final had happened, that we were back at being just friends. Somehow it made me happy that it was possible to stay friends after all this. It felt good to talk to her about the case, about life. The awkwardness of not knowing where we stood was over, and I wasn’t even jealous. Not much anyway. I had no right to be.
Which brought me back to Mick.
„Um, Beth… did you notice something about Mick when you were with him?“
„What do you mean?“
„I mean, was he different?“
„Different than what? Do you ask me if he was A better lover than you? I hope to God you’re not that insecure.“
„No, Beth, that’s not what I meant at all. It’s just that I suspect him to be… different. He has some abilities that I noticed that are… off.“
She was clearly alarmed now, so she must have known something that she wasn’t supposed to tell. „I don’t know what you mean. He’s just Mick. I won’t go into discussing his shortcomings and advantages with you. That would just be too awkward. Anyway, I need to go. What will you do now that you can’t find anything illegal in that drug? It’s not as if you can take your own experience to court.“
I smiled about her very unsubtle change of subject, but I understood that Mick’s secret, if Morgan was right, wasn’t hers to tell. „The guy we got from the club is giving us the manufacturer. It’s some woman named Lola. Maybe if we get her, we get the ingredients of the drug.“
There was a knock, and when I opened the door, Carl was outside telling us the bouncer was wired and ready. He told me that he had given them the position of the warehouse. When he saw Beth he was surprised, but greeted her like nothing was different.
Beth took her leave and gave me a good-bye-kiss on the cheek. I went over the final preparations with Carl and then headed out. When we left my office through the other door, Beth was still standing there, calling someone. Shit, after everything she still got her scoop. She had caught on where the raid would be, so she probably got her team together. Well, I had learned a long time ago to work around her and just ignore the camera, so I would do it again.
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The raid was a mess, but in a way it was just like Morgan wanted it to be. At the exact moment when Carl started to tell everybody where to stand and what to do, the whole warehouse complex exploded.
I had seen Beth standing somewhere in the trenches. I was glad she wasn’t standing nearer, as the fire was fierce. While we waited for the firemen to come in, she took her position in a corner from where the camera could pan over the whole site and gave her report to camera. I admired her nerve; in the midst of mayhem she calmly set up a news report.
The fire was so hot that even after the firefighters were through, there was hardly anything recognizable for the CSI team to find. Their report indicated that there had been some kind of laboratory in the back, and there were a few remnants of bodies but not enough to identify them or to tell what they had been wearing. Maybe they were the people working on the drugs. They had not been found where the lab was, so they were probably caught by the explosion on their way out. I concluded that Lola or some of her people had set the explosion in motion when they saw us coming, and sacrificed their witnesses. What a cold blooded killer she was. If Mor-, Coraline was right, she was a vampire with little regard for human life. I had seen what that could entail. For the first time I wondered if Coraline was dangerous, too. And what about Mick? Were they all killers? And if they were – what was I going to do about it?
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link to chapter 22:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=5238
Josh and Beth talking, now he considers them just friends, sort of. I'm glad he's questioning himself about Coraline. But I think he'll forget all that when he's with her again!!!! 
So, Mick didn't start the fire??!! 
I love this story and can't wait to see what happens next... 
