“The guy we talked about, the golfing one who kept straying too close to your property, has journalist credentials. He isn’t employed by any of the big sites, but he’s a freelance agent who is currently writing a book called The Supernaturals Walking Among Us.”
I gasped. “How do you know that? I mean how do you know about the name of his book?”
Andrew smiled at me. “Penelope, you will soon learn that there is little that money cannot ferret out of the cosmos.”
“What?” I laughed, then realized he was absolutely serious.
“Buy, how could this man have found out about you, about both of you? It’s not like you go around announcing it to the public, right?”
“Calm down, my darling. We have dealt with such problems before. There are always people who hunt for oddities. Mistakes happen. Even the most convoluted machinations can be unraveled with the skills of an expert.”
Timothy looked over at Andrew. “Is this man an expert or just a lucky amateur?”
Andrew sighed loudly. “I think he’s the real deal. He has exposed certain dealings of the drug world. It’s amazing he’s still alive after that, but it proves that he’s not only wily, but that his investigation skills are really good. I think he’s a problem.”
I hadn’t liked being told to calm down, but Timothy was correct in that my voice had raised an octave, and I was feeling a bit faint. I concentrated on breathing in deeply and letting go of some of the tension. But my heart was doing the tom-tom beat of a drum player on speed again. What would happen if Timothy and Andrew were revealed? Would NASA come for them, or scientists in white coats, or . . . But they said they’d dealt with problems like this before. How? Would they kill someone who threatened their existence?
“One moment, Andrew,” Timothy said, then he pulled me closer and whispered into my ear. “You have nothing to fear, my darling. We have people who deal with this sort of thing. They don’t practice murder, unless turning someone into a vampire is considered such.”
I jerked away to look at his face. “You’re joking, right?”
“No. Vampires do exist, but there are other solutions we will try first. Now, relax. We can still go to San Diego.”
“I’ll stay here,” Andrew said. “Lillea might be endangered. I’ll send Terry and Bob with you. Grant and Steve will patrol the property.”