“What about his eyes?” Trey pressed, aware that he was risking something by focusing on the one thing that seemed to be freaking out the Stelalux boys.
“What about them?”
Trey shrugged and tried to appear casual about his interest. “I saw the video of his swan dive, and right before he went over, it seemed like his eyes were pretty red.”
“I didn’t notice when I viewed it, but he certainly has subconjunctival hemorrhaging in both eyes on account of landing face first on the floor. No mystery there, Duncan.”
Trey wanted to push the point, except Karl changed the subject. “What can you tell us about him in general? Like, was he in good condition?”
“Not particularly. My assessment is that he’s been living rough for a while. There was ingrained dirt on much of his body. I take that to mean he wasn’t able to bathe routinely. Calluses on the soles of his feet indicate a lot of walking in poor footwear. He had gum disease and rotted teeth. That is typically a function of prolonged meth use. Sallow, acne skin points in that direction, as well. Liver’s seen quite workout for a few years. So, alcohol may be another factor.”
“Okay,” Bronner interjected, “addict and probably living on the streets.”
Almadeo sighed. “Yes, and a shame, because he appears to be in his late twenties, although some of his organs peg him as a lot older. He had to have been using various substances because there are signs of so many things. And, there was an odd odor to him when I first cut him open.”
That observation had Trey perking up. “What kind of smell?”
Almadeo gave him a pained look. “Like I said…odd. A sickly sweet one, kind of like honeysuckle but mixed with a sharp pine scent. Not something I recognized, and it dissipated pretty quickly.”
“What drug would create such a smell?” Trey pressed.
“None that I’m aware of.”
Bronner clapped her hands once. “Well, the guy died because drugs made him stupid. No mystery about that. And, as no one has found his clothes, he’s a John Doe. Hopefully someone will see the video and recognize him, although I don’t hold out much help of finding his dealer. God knows there’s plenty out there. His body isn’t telling us anything pretty, regardless.”
Turning to Trey, she gave him a pointed look. “I have no idea what this Murphy vic’s life story is, but surely this poor boy has nothing to do with your case.”
Trey rubbed at his chin. “I guess not. Seems like at best he was a user, not even a dealer.” He gave her a tight smile. “Thanks for letting us tag along.”
“Any time, and by that, I mean let’s not make a habit of this. We’ve got enough on our plate.”
“Right. Thanks anyway. Doctor,” he added with a nod.
“Waste of time,” Karl said once they’d left the room.
“Yeah, I guess.” Trey made himself busy finishing his coffee to hide how he was thinking through the rest of his day. The Stelalux boys would be waiting for him to get back to them about what he’d learned. It hadn’t seemed like much to him, but there might be something meaningful to them.
“Trey!”
“Huh?” He glanced at his partner, realizing that Karl had been trying to get his attention for a few seconds. “Sorry, what?”
“I was asking what you think our next step is. I vote for going back to Brigid’s Place and rattling Murphy’s cousin some more. He knows something. I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah, sure. That dive is always open early. It depresses the hell out of me to see so many people drinking Scotch in the middle of the morning, but I agree that the cousin is holding back.”
As they entered the elevator, talking and planning out their strategy, all Trey could really think of was another bar in the middle of a private club—an upscale one with pretty boys and humungous aliens.
* * * *
The cool elegance of Lux was a world away from the old bar in South Boston. Here was muted lighting with classical music playing low. His cop’s feet tread on a deep pile carpet instead of sticky linoleum. And, no sad people sat nursing their second or third drink of the early day, making their own kind of Boulevard of Broken Dreams. There’d be no surly, uncooperative owner, either, giving him and Karl mostly ‘no comment’ answers that pissed him off yet didn’t give him cause to haul anyone down to the station. Here in the quiet space was only one clearly agitated, massive, otherworldly man prowling near the bar.
The bouncer with the girly name, Val, stopped on a dime and whirled to pin Trey with a hard stare. It was difficult not to flinch. Trey had faced down plenty of scary, murderous perps in his day. It wasn’t the size factor so much, although that was significant. It was more the knowledge that what confronted him now was something that should only exists in fiction. He hadn’t seen any of these ‘men’ since that mind-bending night a few months ago, and he wasn’t prepared for how nervous he felt in doing so.
He pushed that weakness down and plastered the same ‘don’t fuck with me’ look he’d given Murphy’s bartender cousin. Not that it had worked, but the point was he could not allow Val to see the effect he had on him. Pride and all that, plus Trey wanted to show these aliens that humans could hold their own.
“You have something for us?” Val barked out.
“Yeah. I only want to say it once, though. Where’s the boss?”
“This way.” Val strode off, heading for the elevator. If he was irritated by Trey insisting on taking this to the top man, he didn’t show it.
Trey hurried to keep up. He didn’t know much about the alien’s society, yet he’d seen enough to know that Alex was in command. The guy seemed to have the respect and loyalty of those around him. There was no doubting his love for the boy, Quinn, either. Whatever else these creatures were, they had the capacity for the best of human characteristics and emotions. That said a lot to him, even though he still struggled with keeping such a monumental secret from his own bosses and his partner.
He followed Val into the roomy elevator and couldn’t help comparing it to the dingy one he’d used earlier with Karl. That memory, in turn, gave him a thought. “I don’t think I ever thanked you.”
The alien looked at him through the reflection of the polished stainless steel of the door. “For what?”
“Saving Karl, my partner,” he added, probably unnecessarily. “If you hadn’t dived into the harbor and hauled him out like you did, he would have died. So, thanks for that.”
“You are surprised that I did.” It wasn’t a question, and there was an undercurrent of reproach.
Trey cleared his throat once. “I don’t know anything about your, um…species.” That wasn’t much of an answer, yet the best he had and the least offensive way he could think to put it.
“Alex would have been most displeased if I hadn’t at least tried to save your partner. It was my…duty,” he finished.
“Okay, well, thanks anyway.”
The elevator stopped and, before the doors opened, Trey said, “It’s hard.” The words rushed out before he realized what he was doing. When his companion gave him the side-eye, he felt compelled to explain. “Not telling anyone. Sneaking around on Karl, making up a story about going to the doctor, for Christ’s sake. He and I depend on each other for our very lives, and here I am treating him like I don’t trust him.”
Val stepped out. “We appreciate your discretion…and your help.”
Trey grunted because he couldn’t think of anything polite to say to that. He hadn’t been given any real choice about keeping the alien’s secret. Without another eyewitness to what had happened months ago by the harbor and with no evidence, either, anything Trey could have said about aliens would have made him sound crazy. Once that die had been cast, helping seemed the best course of action, though it still didn’t set well with him.
“I’m doing this to protect my people.” It was petty of him, perhaps, but he was on edge enough to let it out. He stepped forward.
The bouncer blocked the way by slamming his hand against the
frame. He glared down at Trey. “Believe it or not, that is what we’ve been doing, as well—protecting your people.”
Trey jutted his chin, refusing to be cowed. “Why? I mean I get why your boss went all out to rescue his lover and cover the tracks of the killer. Saving Karl was part of all that, I can only assume. What’s in it for the rest of you and why didn’t you all simply take over this world when you had the chance?”
Those violet eyes went flinty. “As I said, it was a matter of duty. Alex is an honorable man and those of us who follow him, and not the other, do so because we share that same sense of responsibility. I will never see my family again, yet I feel their presence always. I will do nothing that would make them ashamed. You understand those things, do you not? Honor, duty, family?”
“Yeah. I get it.”
“So, we are allies, even if we’re not compatriots.”
Trey stuck his hands in his pants pockets. “Guess so.”
The bouncer pulled away from the elevator, giving Trey room to leave and enter a luxurious vestibule that would have been a step up from Trey’s entire apartment. At the opposite end was a wide-open door. He followed Val past it and into an apartment that mirrored the décor in the club. He stared down into a large sunken living room. Here was the boss, Alex, with his lover cuddled up against him on a long couch. The boy looked happier than Trey had ever seen him before, and that alone told him that these aliens weren’t necessarily something to be feared.
The bouncer’s ex, Mackie, was sprawled in a big, comfy chair. The last time he’d seen the boy, he’d had an arm broken by the enemy alien. The trauma of injury, coupled with the knowledge that it had been inflicted by someone otherworldly, must have left the boy shocked and terrified. And yet, he’d still managed to resist the demand to lure his friend, Quinn, into a trap. The balls it must have taken with the alien breathing down his neck impressed the shit out of Trey. Underneath that affectation of the pampered brat was a smart, stand-up guy.
He was pretty, too, with his red hair growing out and a hint of makeup accentuating his eyes. There was a lot of creamy skin on display, given the crop-top he wore. The light caught something shiny around the navel area. Normally a belly ring wasn’t anything he found attractive, but the idea of flicking his tongue around this one popped into his mind. Something of what he was thinking must have shown in his face because Mackie fluttered his eyelashes at him and the boy’s lips curved up into an enticing little smile.
Trey returned the look for the few seconds it took him to enter the room. A low growl penetrated his ear. Startled, he turned his attention to Val. For a split second, there was an ‘I will kill you’ warning in the alien’s eyes before it was replaced by placidity. Trey might have chalked it up to his imagination if his cop-nerves weren’t screaming that he should take cover. Then, he relaxed in the next instant, understanding that despite the break-up between the two, the bouncer still had it bad for the stripper—go-go boy, rather. The same boy who by all accounts liked to be bent over a bench and beaten.
“Is there a problem, Valeriu?” Alex called out.
“No, sir.” With that deceptive response, the bouncer stepped into the living room area and planted himself at the far end of the couch. He stood there with arms folded, ever the sentinel, guarding his master.
Alex’s expression conveyed how much he wasn’t buying the act, either. “Do come in, Sergeant Duncan, and make yourself comfortable.”
“Thanks.” Trey took a seat in a chair opposite Mackie and flashed him another smile, just to fuck with the bouncer.
“Emil has provided us with a light luncheon of sandwiches, if you’re hungry.”
Trey nodded. “I could eat.”
When he started to rise again, the chef called out from the small kitchen area of the suite. “Stay. I’ll bring it to you.”
“Thanks again.” Settling back down, he took in the rest of the room and those who occupied it.
The older alien, the one who posed as a doctor, sat on one of the high-back stools at the counter, munching on a sandwich, yet giving Trey his stern attention. Trey had only ever met him once, during the initial interviews after the first of the serial killer’s victims had been found in the alley next to the club. At the time, Trey had felt a bit of excitement, along with sick dread, at catching such a juicy case. Now he wished someone else had. He could be living his life none-the-wiser about how aliens walked in his world.
He knew that the man, Harry, was married to an exquisite human who had answered Trey’s questions with quiet dignity and understated sharpness. They had a kid, a boy whose brattiness gave Mackie a run for his money. Trey wasn’t sure what the deal was with the kid’s lineage. He looked alien, to be sure, yet with a touch of Asian features. Given that all the marooned aliens were male, that had to mean that somewhere along the way a human woman had come into the doctor’s life. Maybe it was something as simple as using a surrogate who could keep her mouth shut. The boy had far more appeal for him than was healthy. If he never ran into the kid again, it would be a good thing, and Trey was relieved that the kid was nowhere to be seen.
“Here you go.” The brutish chef handed Trey a plate piled high with food. “It’s only pastrami on rye with German potato salad and slaw, but I cure the meat myself and everything else was made in my kitchen, too.”
This is a light luncheon? Centuries on Earth had certainly given these guys a lot of wealth and time to hone their respective skills. “It looks great.”
“I’ll get you a bottle of water.” Emil smiled broadly and fangs peeped out, reminding Trey again that he wasn’t there for a date.
As he bit into his sandwich, he saw that the homeless vet, Logan, ate her own meal in the back of the kitchenette area. She looked clean and calm, although she stared at him with suspicion. He supposed her presence was yet another indication that the aliens were stand-up guys. She had helped them, and now she was inside their protective orbit.
Alex’s throat-clearing caught his attention. “Sorry to force you to speak and eat at the same time, Sergeant, but we’re all waiting with bated breath about what you can tell us concerning that unfortunate young man.”
“Mmm.” Trey swallowed his mouthful. “Right.” He took the water offered by Emil and slugged some down before wiping his lips and setting the plate and the bottle on the table next to his chair. “So, I horned in on the autopsy. Vice has caught the case because it’s a drug crime, not a homicide, like I told Val last night.”
Alex opened his mouth and Trey held off the obvious response. Yeah, I know. There’s an argument to be made that whoever gave him that poison is guilty of murder. Regardless, I pretended that it might tie into a case I do have. A drug dealer named Murphy got his throat slit a few days ago. I used that as excuse to poke around the autopsy of last night’s victim. The coroner and the two detectives on the case bought it and were willing to let Karl and me ask a few questions.”
With a fleeting look at his lunch, he continued. “Anyway, the vic was definitely human, on account of his…you know, not turning into a pile of dust.” That aspect of the alien’s nature was possibly the creepiest one of all.
“We know that already,” Val barked out.
Alex held up his hand. “Patience, please.” He nodded graciously at Trey. “I appreciate your observation, but we were more interested in whether he had any unusual characteristics. Besides his possibly red eyes, that is.”
Trey frowned. “Such as?”
Alex seemed uncharacteristically uncomfortable. “Well, I…”
Mackie piped up. “Like did he have only boy bits or were there some girl ones, too, mixed in?”
Trey frowned. “You mean, was he transgender?”
Mackie grinned. “Yeah, like that.”
“No, the coroner would have mentioned it. I asked what details he could give me about the vic. Sex-reassignment would definitely have come up.”
That answer seemed to settle down most everyone in the room. There were a lot of shared loo
ks.
“And, what about his eyes?” Alex asked.
“The redness, you mean? I asked. The coroner chalked it up to trauma from the fall. Hard to argue with his logic. Then there are some drugs that give people red eyes.”
“Not pupils,” Mackie scoffed. “That guy looked like his picture had been taken by an old camera or something.”
Trey held up his hands. “I hear you, but it’s probably a good thing that it’s not going into the official report as anything weird. They’re doing a tox screen, of course. We’ll eventually know what was in his system to make him act that way, if anything. He might have simply been mentally ill.”
No one challenged that statement, although their demeanor conveyed how much they disagreed with him. The tension in the group was hovering around DEFCON Two, waiting to climb to One the moment he said something relevant. Although what that would be, he couldn’t imagine, except… “The coroner mentioned that when he first cut into the guy, there was a weird smell.”
That perked up the aliens, at least. The doctor slid off his seat. “Describe it, if you please.”
“I can only tell you what the coroner told me. It dissipated quickly, apparently, and I didn’t detect it over the general icky smell of the morgue.” He shrugged. “He said it was a honeysuckle and pine kind of combination.”
And there it was. The aliens’ worry hit full alert. They were silently conversing with eyes and hand gestures. Most of it seemed focused on the doctor, who didn’t look happy. Trey wasn’t the only one to notice.
“What?” Mackie demanded, sitting up straighter. “Why is everyone freaking out?”
“We’re not,” Val insisted.
Twisting in his seat, the boy glared back at him. “You sure as fuck are. If I had lied that way to you, back in the day, it would have meant a paddling and lock-down in chastity.”
Amused, Trey watched the bouncer struggle to keep his cool.
Those words should not have had any effect on Val, yet his blood pounded down to his cock. It hardened, giving him the urge to adjust his slacks. Knowing that Mackie would be sure to see the movement and take it as a win, he settled for clasping his wrist with one hand in front of his fly.
Dangerous Dance Page 5
