Read Online Dance with Darkness by Melissa Darnell - Free Book Online Page A

later, his beady gaze drilling into her. In contrast, his voice sounded almost bored, as if this were simply routine. Maybe it was. Or maybe that was how he lulled witnesses into relaxing and tripping themselves up.
    Brianna dragged in a ragged breath, then let it out slowly to steady her nerves and rein in her emotions. A crazy part of her wanted to blurt out the whole story and let this cop lock her up in an insane asylum afterwards. Which he would definitely do, because everyone knew monsters like her didn’t really exist.
    Or at least they weren’t supposed to.
    She bit her lower lip and imagined asking him, “Do you believe in vampires?”
    Yeah, like that would go over real well.
    She sighed. Obviously she couldn’t tell him the truth, at least not all of it. Not unless she wanted to get locked up somewhere others would eventually notice her inability to get sick or age. Or her strange needs.
    But what could she tell him? If she tried to lie, he would probably be able to tell. She was a crappy liar and always had been.
    So she took a deep breath and opted for staying as close to the truth as she could. “I came in for my shift early because John and I needed to talk.”
    “About?”
    Oh how about the small matter of John’s being a blackmailer? that crazy part of her wanted to blurt out.
    “About this place.” There, that was the truth. Sort of.
    The detective’s eyebrows rose. “What about it?”
    What to say, what to say? Her mind raced through the truth, finally leaping onto another safe part of it to share. “We needed to discuss how to tell the employees that I just bought this bar.”
    He went completely still for a few seconds, then made a note on his small notepad.
    She tried not to cringe, wishing they weren’t seated at opposite sides of one of the bar’s round tables so she could see what he’d just written down. Was it good or bad?
    “You were saying you just bought this bar from your boss?” He looked at her again, eyebrows raised in silent question.
    She licked her lips and forged on. “Yeah. John was looking to retire. And I’ve always wanted to own my own business. So I offered to buy this place from him with my savings.”
    That was all true. Sort of. Maybe John hadn’t exactly been looking to retire at first, but he’d definitely seemed happy to accept her offer for the bar when she insisted on his selling it to her at a price she could afford in exchange for meeting his demands. And she had always wanted to own her own business. It was why she was now in her third year of courses towards getting her business management degree at the local university. Though in her fantasies, she had pictured herself owning a dance studio someday instead of a place for people to come get drunk and rowdy at.
    Still, taking over the bar so she could safely keep her job without having to constantly watch her back or kill John for that safety had seemed a great solution at the time.
    Now...not so much.
    “I see,” the detective said slowly. “Why weren’t the employees already aware of this business exchange?”
    “I was worried they might not want to stick around and work for a girl who’s still in college, and then that might make John change his mind about selling to me. I figured if we waited till it was all a done deal, then they might be more willing to stay and give me a chance as their new boss.” All too true.
    “You do seem pretty young to be taking over a bar.”
    She shrugged one shoulder. “I’m old enough for it to be legal. Just got my liquor license approved today.” Thanks to John’s connections fast tracking the process for them.
    The detective frowned. “So you show up to discuss all of this with Mr. McCannon and then...?”
    “He was all right at first. But then he fell off the barstool onto the floor, gasping and turning purple as if he couldn’t breathe. So I tried to do CPR on him, but...” She shrugged once more, letting him fill in the blanks.
    Again, it was all