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dreams and shook her head. Stupid. It was always bad news to get involved with a client, but
when the client was a vampire ... Well, that went way beyond bad news. Focus, Cyn. Just do
your job.
She moved through all the video feeds quickly, seeing nothing she hadn't expected and
finding herself impressed with the level of Raphael's security. The only part of the faux French
manor house not at least partially wired for sight and sound was the basement room itself,
with its nest of electronics and inexplicable bank vault which, having seen the main house,
she was now pretty sure hid sleeping quarters for the vamps. She shook her head impatiently
and moved on to the two angles of most interest to her, pulling on her headphones to en-
hance the weak audio. One was the piano room, with the images of Alexandra and the two
vampires, but the other was the kitchen door on the side, the exit the abductors had used, the
place where they'd parked their vehicle while they infiltrated the house itself.
She cued up the piano room and watched with fresh amazement as Matias was dusted
right before her eyes. She'd half thought Duncan might delete that particular image. Those fif-
teen seconds of video all by themselves could net her a small fortune ... if she was stupid
enough to betray a vampire lord. But, goodness, what the television networks would pay for
footage of a vampire actually being poofed!
Light from the hallway washed over her monitor, bleaching out the video image and blind-
ing her as she spun around in the darkened room, but not before she'd hit the hot key and
blanked the screen.
Schooling herself to remain calm, she removed her headphones and stared at her sister,
who stood in the open doorway. Holly, she said slowly. I've asked you before not to inter-
rupt me when I'm working in here. It's a matter of privacy for my clients. She walked over to
the door and maneuvered her sister out into the hallway. Just give me a moment to close my
files, and I'll meet you downstairs. She didn't wait for an answer, but stepped back inside and
closed the door.
Holly immediately began knocking rapidly on the door and calling her name. Cyn ignored
her long enough to cross to the computer and close the video file, then yanked the door open
once again.
"Jesus, Holly! I'm working. What could possibly be so important?"
"What the hell's wrong with you? I knocked before I opened your precious office door. It's
not my fault you didn't hear me."
"I was working, she repeated. I don't let anyone up here. Not for any reason."
"You let your boyfriend Nick up here! Oh, I'm sorry. He's not your boyfriend; you're just
fucking him."
"Good God, Holly, she said, pushed beyond family civility. Could you be anymore crude?
What did you want anyway? Cyn decided she was hungry and gestured clearly toward the
stairs. Holly huffed in disgust, but stomped down to the kitchen. Cyn followed and opened the
freezer looking for something to toast.
Her housekeeper, Anna, had left several muffins for her. Giant, home-baked, fruit-filled,
butter soaked muffins, each of which packed at least 1500 calories. Anna was a nice, round
lady who worried about Cyn's unmarried status and was convinced it was because she was
too thin to attract a man. Who wanted a woman too skinny to breed children? She kept leav-
ing fattening treats around, hoping to put a few pounds on Cyn and thus increase her
chances. Cynthia eyed the muffins hungrily. If she jogged later, she could have a muffin now.
But if she jogged later, she'd never have time to get through all of the video from Raphael's
estate and she really wanted to get some movement on this case. Plus there were a couple of
other things hanging she could dispose of today, clearing her calendar to concentrate on Al-
exandra's abduction. She sighed and reached for a plain English muffin instead.
"Are you listening to me?"
Cyn popped the muffin in the toaster, then blinked at her sister. Sorry. Work problems.
What were you saying?"
"I said if you worked a normal job with normal hours, you wouldn't be so odd. You're posit-
ively antisocial, Cyndi. It's not healthy."
"I like my job. She looked up. And I don't like most people, so it works out fine for me."
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