Page 53 of Be Still My Unbeating Heart

Noting the pensive expression on the cat’s face, he wondered if she was thinking the same thing as him: that they had stumbled upon another link to the mayor. De Luca wanted concreteevidence if they were going to accuse her of the deaths. Did her association with the grove owner implicate her somehow?

“You said your oil can help a vampire overcome their thirst,” Bastian said, eyeing the bottle in the woman’s hands. He was sure he had seen one very much like it recently, but it hadn’t been in the mayor’s office. He couldn’t think where.

Kerstin nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes. Did you know that olive trees are remarkably resilient and enduring? At least two of the trees in my grove have been here for over two hundred years. That means they were here in the days of Charles Darwin and Jane Austen. Isn’t that remarkable?”

Bastian found himself scanning the grove, searching for the ancient trees, but he couldn’t let his focus be split. Something was niggling at him.

“Both victims had their throats torn out,” he said, thinking out loud. “It was messy, as if their attacker was in the grip of a terrible rage. What if the killer is a vampire who is struggling against their nature? Trying to quit and failing?”

He could relate. The agony of giving up human blood nearly killed him.

“It’s a stretch,” De Luca said, rubbing his neck.

“The killer could be a vampire Kerstin has treated,” Bastian continued. He gave her an entreating look. “Please, you must tell us who you’ve met with.”

The woman raised her hands in a pacifying gesture. “I’m sorry, but I swore a sacred oath to protect those I treat. Would you want me spilling allyoursecrets to the first attractive vampire who showed up on my doorstep?”

“I don’t have any secrets.”

“All the same,” Kerstin said.

Bastian’s hands clenched and released. He could be carted offby the council any moment, crushed to death for crimes he didn’t commit, and the only thing standing between him and the killer was the Hippocratic oath.

He paced in frustration, the smell of the grove filling his nostrils. The scent was so familiar, he knew he had encountered something like it recently. Not only like it, butidentical. If only he could place where.

Suddenly, it hit him. The gelateria. The bottle Whitby had knocked over.

Arianna.

“Of course!” He leaned closer to Kerstin. “Have you treated Arianna? The gelateria owner? Is she a vampire?”

The woman’s nostrils flared. “As I said, I’m not at liberty to—”

“De Luca,” Bastian said, spinning to face him, “you know Arianna. Is it possible she’s a vampire?”

The inspector looked startled by the idea, staring at him with those crystalline blue eyes.

Finally, he said, “Non lo so.”I don’t know.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Bastian said, feeling amped up by the possibility of a fresh lead. “We have to go back to the gelateria.”

19

Arianna stood on tiptoe outside the ice cream parlor, using a pole to push the awnings shut as Bastian, Whitby, and De Luca approached.

“Hello, dear,” Bastian said, aiming for cheerful, even though his body felt tight with tension. Arianna could be the killer. She could be avampire.Bastian thought he had heard her heartbeat when they first met, but he could have confused it with De Luca’s. And perhaps, like him, she could endure daylight if she was careful. And the olive oil kept the thirst at bay—until it spectacularly didn’t.

“Oh hello,” Arianna said, her tone as sour as it had been during their first encounter. “I’m just closing up for the afternoon.”

“Understandable,” Bastian said. “Vampires need a break from the sun every now and then.”

“Wow, Bastian, subtle,” Whitby said, hopping onto one of the tables.

Arianna looked at Bastian, those big brown Disney eyes really popping. Then she frowned. “Sorry, I don’t think I get the joke?”

“The olive oil from Kerstin’s grove, it’s to stop the thirst, isn’t it?” he said, folding his arms, though he was prepared to give chase if Arianna fled. People generally didn’t like being confronted with their sins.

Arianna released the awning and stood with the pole. She looked baffled, saying nothing.