Chapter 572

Verchiel hooked his thumbs through his belt loops and mock pouted. "What am I doing here? That's the best greeting you can come up with? They sent me to investigate."

"But they already sent Ark." She thought of his car wreck. Was it worse than the others let on? "Is he dead?"

Verchiel chortled. "Ark is fine. He was in New York last I checked. I'm the one they sent."

"Oh. You were in the car wreck?"

"Yep. The car and the moose didn't make it, but I did. Ta-da!" He held out his arms to show he was in one piece. She remembered the bloody, bandaged vampire Porter led through the door, his head wrapped to "hold it together".

Verchiel shrugged. "Yeah, it was pretty bad, but I'm all healed now. The question is, what's eating you?"

"Nothing. If you're here to investigate, shouldn't you be in the study with Jorick?"

"We're taking a break. I can only interview so many of them before I get bored." He leaned close and whispered, "They all seem suspicious to me."