Free Once Bitten by Stephen Leather Page A

like she does.”
    “Maybe she's got real rich parents,” he said with a shrug.
    “Parents are dead, she told me.”
    “Yeah? I must have missed that in the file. Orphan?”
    “So she says. Maybe that's where she got the money.”
    “Inheritance you mean?”
    “Inheritance, or insurance settlement. Any news on the victim?”
    “Still dead, last I heard.” He guffawed and then repeated the joke to Filbin, who'd just walked up to his desk with styrofoam cups of coffee for them both. Filbin laughed with him.
    “You know what I meant,” I said patiently.
    De'Ath slapped his desk and laughed all the louder. “No,” he said eventually after he'd calmed down. “Still no ID.”
    “She still here?” I said. “You said the bird was about to fly.”
    De'Ath wiped his eyes. “She's just getting her things together. You wanna see her?”
    “Not really,” I lied. The fact was that I did want to see her, though to be honest I wasn't sure why. Yes I was, I was attracted to her, that's why I wanted to meet her, even if it was just to say 'hello' and to ask her how she was. I dumped my briefcase and computer in the office and then went to the main entrance to the precinct house, knowing that was the way they'd send her out. She was already there, arguing with the desk sergeant, making sweeping gestures with her arms and raising her eyes to the heavens at his answers. The sergeant was Patsy O'Hara, a genial Irish American with five children and a grandchild on the way, and I knew he wasn't normally hard to deal with so I wondered what her problem was. I looked around for her lawyer but she was on her own so I went up to the desk.
    “I don't want to go!” she said and banged her fist down on the desk.
    “Acting like that won't get you anywhere, young lady,” O'Hara said, and I could tell from his voice that his patience was beginning to wear thin. Terry was dressed in the clothes I'd seen in the bag on Filbin's desk: miniskirt, ankle boots with leather tassels on the side, black stockings, and the leather jacket over a white t-shirt. And sunglasses. She looked older than she did when she was just wearing the grey police-issue tunic.

Once Bitten
    “I just, like, wanna stay here until later, you know? You can't make me go!” She stamped her foot as she spoke.
    O'Hara sighed and shook his head. “Ms Ferriman, your lawyer has gone to a devil of a trouble to get you released, for the life of me I can't understand why you don't just go.”
    “Terry?” I said, standing next to her.
    She turned and saw me, and removed her sunglasses. “Jamie, thank God,” she said. “Can you make this guy see sense, please?”
    “What's the problem? Lieutenant De'Ath tells me you're free to go.”
    “That's the problem,” she said. “I don't want to go. Not now.”
    “What do you mean? Is there someone trying to hurt you?”
    She looked even more exasperated. “I can't go out in the sunlight, that's all.”
    I gave O'Hara a hard look. “You set her up for this did you, Patsy? I thought better of you.”
    He looked pained and held up his hands. "Hey, Jamie, it's nothing to do with me. Scout's honour.
    “Did you hang the bat on my aerial, Patsy?”
    “That I did not, son,” he said.
    “Look, I shitfire sure don't know what you two are babbling about, but I just wanna, like, stay put for a few hours,“ said Terry, putting her sunglasses back on. ”Until it gets dark, you know?”
    “And as I've already explained to you, young lady, this is not a waiting room,” said O'Hara,
    looking at me for support. “Your lawyer has fixed your bail, you're free to go.”
    “I can't go,” she cried, and stamped her foot again.
    I took her by the arm. “A joke's a joke Terry, but that's enough. I don't know who put you up to this, but it's not really funny any more. I've had far too many vampire jokes played on me over the years.“ I began edging her towards the doors that led outside. ”If you need a lift, I'll happily run you home.