"That's enough." Burnett walked over and grabbed Blake by the arm. "You're coming with me."
Blake pulled away and the two men stared each other right in the eyes.
"Not yet." Holiday looked at Burnett. "I want to talk to him."
"You did," Burnett countered.
"Alone. I want to talk to him alone," she said.
Burnett's body turned into one knotted muscle. Jealousy oozed from his pores. "He's a suspected serial killer, Holiday, who illegally entered Shadow Falls. I need to get him to the FRU office."
"Serial killer?" Blake's eyes turned defensive. "I didn't harm Hannah or anyone else."
"That's what they all say," Burnett clipped, and reached for Blake again. The man moved back, his eyes growing hot.
"What's wrong?" Blake baited Burnett. "Worried she might still feel something for me?"
Holiday moved in and rested her hand on Burnett's arm and spoke with honesty. "Burnett has no reason to worry. I want the truth from you, Blake, that's all. And then I want you to climb right back under whatever rock you've been hiding under." She motioned with a firm hand for Burnett and Kylie to leave.
Burnett's body language and emotions said what he thought of that idea. But something told Kylie that Holiday needed this time alone with Blake, and Burnett needed to give it to her.
Kylie touched Burnett's arm, felt the warmth flow from her touch, and saw his expression soften. He looked back at Holiday right before he walked out. Kylie looked at Blake. And right then, her gut told her that he wasn't Hannah's killer.
But if it wasn't him, who was it? Then Kylie again remembered Hannah saying the killer was here. Here at Shadow Falls. Kylie couldn't help but think again of Hayden Yates. It didn't even matter that Burnett's check had come back clean; she didn't trust that guy. And by God, she wasn't going to lower her guard where he was concerned, either.
* * *
Burnett didn't move more than a foot away from the door. Kylie figured he was listening to every word spoken in the other room. For Holiday's safety, of course, so it wasn't really an evasion of privacy. At least that's what Kylie wanted to believe.
She couldn't hear the conversation, and as slightly uncomfortable as it made her listening in on private conversations, her own need to protect Holiday had her wishing she could.
"Was Blake telling the truth?" Kylie asked, wondering if the emotions she'd read from Blake were as telling as his heartbeat.
Burnett glanced over at her. "About what?"
"About not killing Hannah?"
"It doesn't matter," he said gruffly, and looked back at the door.
"Doesn't it?" she asked.
He shook his head. "The heart can lie. People, evil people with no conscience, have no problem lying."
Kylie remembered Della telling her that in the beginning. But as much as Kylie wanted to believe Blake was their man, what she'd felt from him wasn't evil. "For what it's worth, his emotions felt real."
"You mean when he said he still loved her?" Burnett's jealousy practically bounded out of him and bounced off the walls.
Kylie swallowed. "I meant his shock about Hannah being dead, but ... that, too."
Burnett closed his eyes and pressed a hand against the door.
"But just as real were Holiday's sentiments when she said all she wanted from him was the truth. She doesn't love him, Burnett."
He looked back at Kylie, sadness radiating from his eyes. "She used to."
"Is that important?"
"It is when that's what stopping her from letting anyone else get close," he said. There was a pause, and then as if to change the subject, he said, "I don't agree with Holiday's decision on removing your shadows."
"I know," Kylie said. "But tell me this-how would you take having someone shadow you all the time?"
She heard him swallow and felt his emotional answer. He wouldn't have accepted being shadowed for a single day.
All of a sudden, the room turned cold. Ghost-visiting cold. Then Hannah appeared beside Burnett; her presence came with a thick swarm of panic. "He's here! He's here! You've gotta stop him! He's going to try to kill her," she screamed at Burnett.
"Who's here?" Kylie asked.
Burnett didn't wait for an answer. He bolted through Holiday's door, without bothering to open it. Ripped off the hinges, the door landed with a loud thud on the floor. He walked across the splintered wood and faced Blake.
Door removed, Kylie watched the scene from the outer room.
Blake, already on his feet, stared at Burnett with fury.
Holiday, still sitting at her desk, wore an expression of shock. She shot up from her desk chair, showing how slow fae reaction time was to that of a vampire.
Burnett, both his hands fisted at his sides, spoke to Blake. "Either you come the easy way, or the hard way." His threat rang with honesty. "I don't care which."
Kylie's gaze shifted to the spirit. Hannah stood frozen, gaping at the scene playing out. An ugly brown aura surrounded her. While deceased, there was plenty of emotion lingering beneath the icy chill of death. Kylie picked up one emotion loud and clear. Shame-big, heaping mounds of shame. Then she felt the spirit's surprise. Oddly, Hannah's initial panic and fear had faded.
Something didn't feel right. It was almost as if Hannah hadn't known Blake was here, and if she hadn't known Blake was here, how could he be the one causing her panic? "Did Blake do this?" Kylie asked Hannah in a hurried breath. No answer. "Hannah?" Kylie said her name again. Then the ghost faded.
"What's going on?" Holiday asked Burnett again, and Kylie's gaze locked on the three people in the room.
Blake looked back at Holiday. "I didn't do this. I probably don't deserve another chance with you, but I don't deserve this." He turned to Burnett. "I'll go with you, I'll answer your questions, but if you lay a hand on me, I'll kill you."
And from the man's emotions clouding the air, his threat rang with as much sincerity as Burnett's.
* * *
It had been a lazy Sunday afternoon with a lot of frustration floating in the air. Miranda was frustrated because there was a new shape-shifter ogling Perry. Holiday was frustrated because ... well, as if losing her sister the first time hadn't been bad enough, now her spirit hadn't shown back up. Burnett was frustrated because he couldn't find one thread of evidence against Blake. Therefore he couldn't hold him.
Kylie was frustrated over the whole disaster that was her life.
The only one not in a pissy mood was Della, and Kylie, even being an emotion-reading fae, wasn't sure what mood Della was in, but it felt wrong. The girl was following Kylie around like a lost puppy.