Kim, very quietly, said, “But you killed him. Didn’t you? You and Amelie?”

Oliver’s eyes turned red. “You know nothing about it, little girl with your foolish toys. And pray to God you never will.”

Oliver knocked the camera over, and Kim yelped, and that was it.

Fade to black.

“Enjoying yourself?” Oliver’s voice said, and for a second Claire thought it was on the computer screen, then realized that it came from behind her. She turned her head, slowly, to find him standing near the door of the small room, leaning against the wall. He was wearing a T-shirt with the Common Grounds logo on it, and cargo pants, and he didn’t look like a five-hundred-year-old vampire. He even had a peace-sign earring in one ear.

“I—wanted to know about the historical interview project, that’s all. Sorry.” Claire shut down the kiosk and stood up. “Are you going to try to kill me again?”

“Why? Do you want to be prepared?” He cocked his head at her.

“I’d like to see it coming.”

That got her a thin smile. “Not all of us have that luxury. But no. I have been schooled by my mistress. I won’t raise a finger to you, little Claire. Not even if you ask me to.”

Claire edged slowly toward the door. He smiled wider, and his gaze followed her all the way . . . but he let her go.

When she looked back, he was at the kiosk, clicking the mouse. She heard his interview start, and heard his nonrecorded voice murmur a curse. The recording cut off.

Then the entire kiosk was ripped out and smashed on the floor with enough force to shatter a window three feet ahead of her.

Somebody wasn’t happy with how he looked on camera.

Claire broke into a run, dodged around another row of books, turned left at the German books to make for the exit—

And tripped over Kim, who was sitting on the floor of the library, staring down at the screen of her cell phone as if it held the secrets of the universe.

“Hey!” Kim protested, and Claire pitched headlong to the carpet. She caught herself on the way down, kicked free of Kim’s legs, and crawled backward. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Claire said, and got up to dust herself off. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Research,” Kim said.

“In German?”

“I didn’t say I was looking at the books, dummy. But I could read German. It’s possible.”

“Do you?”

Kim grinned. “Just curse words. And where’s the bathroom, in case I get stuck in Berlin. Hey, what was the crash?”

“Oh. Oliver. He just found the interview you did with him.”

Kim’s grin left the building. “He killed my computer, right? He just went all Hulk Smash on it.”

“He wasn’t happy.”