Free Past Due by Catherine Winchester

he was considering entering into a relationship he now knows that his mother-in-law thinks he has a girl’s name, hardly what a man wants to hear, is it?”
    “ How can he tell what I’m saying?”
    “ You aren’t keeping your voice down and he has very good hearing.”
    “ He can’t be that old then, can he?”
    “ Mother, one more word from you and I’ll find myself a nice young woman to hook up with and we’ll adopt Chinese babies with HIV together.”
    The hiss as her mother sucked air in through her teeth was audible. “Francis Mary Wright, how dare you say such things to me!”
    “ Mum, I’m hanging up now. Tell Dad I’ll call him soon and he can-”
    “ What’s wrong with calling me?”
    “ Dad doesn’t give me the fifth degree about my love life and he actually has proper conversations with me. I’m hanging up now.”
    “ Don’t you dare!”
    “ Bye, Mum.”
    “ If you-“
    Frankie hung up, dropped the phone onto the armchair and turned to apologise.
    “ I’m sorry. She means well. She’s just a good Christian woman with all the tact of a sledgehammer.” She perched on the sofa beside him, stiff with tension.
    Alexander thought it was the funniest thing he’d heard in a long time. “She doesn’t know about your gift?”
    “ Oh, she knows, she just doesn’t believe. Anything that doesn’t fit with her world view gets ignored.”
    “ But surely one of your parents has some supernatural ability. These things are usually hereditary.”
    “ Ah, well, there’s the rub. I’m adopted.” Her tone of voice told him it wasn’t a subject she was comfortable with so he didn’t question her further.
    “ Would you like me to kill her for you?” he teased.
    “ Oh, would you?” she gave him her doe-eyed look.
    “ Of course. Any self-respecting young beau would, my darling.”
    “ Thank you, but I’m not sure you can even be my beau with a sissy name like Alex.”
    “ Oh, no. the pain of it!” Alex clutched his breast. “Why, oh why didn’t my mother call me Colin? I would still kill her for you though?”
    “ But she has to pay for the wedding first. We can’t kill her yet!”
    “ Gosh darn it, Francis, can’t we elope?”
    “ Well, we could live in sin, I suppose.”
    “ Your mother would kill me!”
    Frankie finally gave into the giggles and collapsed back on the sofa. She was wiping tears away when she finally stopped laughing. “Thank you for that.”
    Alex gently pushed a strand of hair off her face, careful not to touch her though there was nothing he wanted more. Frankie’s breath caught in her throat as he held her gaze.
    “ You’re welcome.” He smiled tenderly.
    Frankie suddenly felt uncomfortable. This wasn’t something she should be getting into. Being attracted to a vampire was never smart. She sat forward.
    “ Hey, maybe I should tell her you’re a seven hundred year old vampire. What do you think?”
    “ From the sounds of things, I don’t think she’d care.”
    “ No, you’re probably right.” She picked up the papers Alex had been reading. “What do you think?” she asked.
    “ You want my opinion?” he was surprised.
    “ Fresh eyes always help, and you have a fairly unique perspective. Anything strike you as odd or stand out?”
    “ The pathologist report says a knife was the murder weapon.”
    “ And?”
    “ Well, it’s rather prosaic for a witch. If he is as powerful as we’re giving him credit for, he could kill these girls from a distance using a simple spell. No need to get his hands dirty.”
    “ True, but maybe he gets some satisfaction from being there.”
    “ He could still use a spell. It’s safer and leaves less trace evidence.”
    “ Okay, so maybe he wants to get his hands dirty,” she thought out loud.
    “ Perhaps...” He sounded doubtful and Frankie shot him a questioning look. “Or perhaps blood has to be spilt.”
    “ You mean these murders are part of something bigger?”
    “ It’s possible.”
    “ Okay, well