Blood Secrets-Valorian 1 by Vivi Anna Read Free Book Online

relief that they had identified their victim, but instead a sense of melancholy washed over him. As he looked around at his team, he could see the same sadness on their collective faces, except maybe Kellen’s. He never seemed fazed by the crimes.
    They had a name, which was a good thing, but somehow that seemed to make it more real. Death was always sad, but when it happened to someone so young, Caine felt a sense of loss creep over him.
    Shaking off the feeling, Caine addressed Eve. “We need to talk to her family and friends.
    Someone knows how this girl ended up in a motel room with a vampire.”
    “I’ll call Captain Morales.” Eve picked up the phone on Caine’s desk.
    As she dialed, Caine motioned to the rest of his team to follow him out into the hallway.
    Once assembled, he looked at each of them.
    “Someone needs to go with Eve into San Antonio to talk with the family. The right questions need to be asked, and I have no faith in the human police to ask them.”
    Lyra sniffed. “Don’t look at me. I still have those symbols to decipher. I think I’m really close.”

    Caine moved his gaze to Jace. The man’s face was so stern, his eyes so fierce, that Caine didn’t even bother to ask.
    Kellen raised his hand. “I’ll go with her.” He grinned. “She’s just the type of distraction I need.”
    “Not likely, Kel. You’re a lab man, not a field man. You’d scare the residents of San Antonio.” Sighing, Caine shook his head. “Save it. I’ll go. You’re all acting like juveniles out on the playground.”
    Jace snorted. “Hey, you’re the boss. You’re the one that’s supposed to be the professional and set an example for the rest of us.”
    “You had better have made some progress on the hair and fiber analysis when I get back,” Caine remarked, then marched back into his office.
    Eve had just hung up the phone and glanced at him as he neared the desk. She looked harried, strands of hair framing her face. He noticed that she didn’t try to tuck them back behind her ears. Obviously, she was too preoccupied to worry about it. A slight twitch at her right cheek beside her lips indicated nervous tension. He could just imagine what her captain had said to her about one of them coming into San Antonio to question some humans.
    “He’s sending someone to meet us at the east entrance.” She lowered her gaze, and tapped a finger on his desk. “They’ll escort us to the Crawford residence where Detective Salinas will meet us.”
    He nodded. He hadn’t expected anything less. He was actually surprised that they were allowing any of them to enter San Antonio. It had been over ten years since he’d been in the city.
    “I’m surprised.” He lifted his brow with an unasked question.
    “I told the captain that the case couldn’t possibly be solved without you…without your questions, I mean—” she cleared her throat “—that only an Otherworlder would be able to ask the right questions to get the answers we need to solve Lillian’s murder.”
    “What’s this Detective Salinas like? Do you know him?”
    She nodded but refused to meet his gaze. Was she hiding something? “He’s all right.
    Fairly straight up.”
    Caine stiffened. Was that hurt he heard in her voice? Possibly anger? He wasn’t as sensitive to sound as Jace, but he could decipher a lot in the way people spoke, and the words they used to communicate. He had extraordinary sensory perception. And right now, it was telling him that there was obviously some history between Eve and Detective Salinas. Romantic history, he assumed by the way her cheeks turned pink when she spoke about him.
    “Is there going to be a problem working with him? Is your past history going to interfere with this investigation?”
    Her head snapped up and the color of her eyes darkened. It was obvious he had hit a nerve. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, I’m assuming you’ve had some sort of relationship with the detective. Is it going to be an