The Malevolent Vampire

by Elsie Charlotte

  "Yes," Sharon acknowledged meekly.

  Sharon was slightly intimidated by the man standing before her. This condition was nurtured more so by her past communications with him. She had deviated from the outline he suggested for her and she suspected he was not pleased by this.

  "Better late than never, I suppose," Joseph retorted with a stone face expression and a nod of his head.

  "Let's go into my study," Joseph continued a second later.

  "Okay."

  Joseph turned about without fanfare and set off for a room across the foyer and down a short hall at the back end of the house.

  The study was decidedly masculine in appearance and texture. A large ornate mahogany desk was situated along the adjacent wall to the right of the door. The interior was spacious. A hardwood floor was partially covered in the center of the room with a Persian area rug, intricately patterned with a collection of red, brown and yellow hues. A high-back, black leather, mahogany, office chair was behind the desk. Two, leather cushioned, mahogany chairs were situated in front of it. Four, large, dark brown, leather, sofa chairs were positioned along the outer margins of the area rug, each facing toward the center. Each chair had a small end table to either side of it. Situated to the right of each chair, behind the end table, was a five foot high, bronze, floor lamp. Raised wood paneling, with built in shelves and floor cabinets, covered every available space along the walls. An assortment of books and knickknacks were neatly stored about the room, within the shelving. The stuffed head of a deer, complete with a large display of antlers, hung high on the wall behind the desk. A large pine, nutmeg finished, gun cabinet was situated in the near right corner of the room relative to the desk. Three narrow windows, one-foot by three-foot, seven-feet up from the floor, along the wall opposite the door, allowed the only light from the outside to enter the room.

  Joseph Walsh ushered Sharon into this room and closed the heavy, raised wood, door behind her.

  "Won't you have a seat?" Joseph offered with a point to the closes sofa chair.

  "Thank you," Sharon acknowledged with a nod before sitting herself in the large leather chair.

  Joseph walked over to the shelving within the wall facing Sharon and indicated to a small collection of decorative crystal decanters. Each contained a different alcoholic beverage.

  "Can I get you anything?" Joseph offered with a gesture towards the beverages.

  "I'll have whatever you're having," Sharon responded pleasantly.

  Joseph poured himself and Sharon a short whiskey. After handing her the decorative etched crystal glassware, Joseph took a seat himself, opposite her.

  "We were expecting you a week ago," Joseph announced after taking a gulp of his whisky.

  "I know," Sharon responded softly. "I had something I had to do."

  "And that something was visiting the Swans?" Joseph questioned directly.

  "Yes," Sharon answered a second before taking a sip of her whisky.

  Joseph took a moment to examine her before reacting to her response.

  "Mrs. Cunningham, time is critical right now," Joseph reported tactfully.

  Despite some feeling of intimidation, Sharon was not prepared to faint away from the man sitting before her. Now that their conversing had commenced, her anxiety was starting to wane.

  "It's critical for me as well."

  Joseph let out an audible sigh of discouragement as he contemplated his situation. Half a dozen seconds later he spoke again.

  "I hope you're not rethinking your decision?"

  "No, I haven't," Sharon shortly responded. "I'm here and I will carry through with my promise. But I need to push the timetable back a week."

  Joseph was clearly not pleased with this answer. He took a dozen seconds to digest it along with another gulp of whisky.

  "You're putting us in a tight spot," Joseph reported with some urgency.

  "I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be," Sharon quickly returned.

  "You do know that visiting the Swans was never part of this?" Joseph countered with equal swiftness.

  "You're asking me to alienate myself from my nephew, possibly forever," Sharon retorted calmly. "If a week is all I'm ever going to have with him, then I want it …all of it."

  Joseph was clearly disheartened by this answer. He studied her, with a grave expression, for half a dozen seconds before resigning himself to this decision.

  "Okay, enjoy your week."

  Sharon relaxed a little with this response, but betrayed no evidence of this to Joseph. She then took another sip of her whisky while Joseph studied her in silence. She set her glass down a few seconds and returned his stare for several seconds more before speaking again. Joseph was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He had surmised by Sharon's visit to his home that she did not come just to tell him to wait. He knew she could have and likely would have done this over the phone had this been all she wanted to talk about.

  "Have you found out anything about my brother?" Sharon exhaled as if a pressure valve had just given way.

  Joseph paused for several seconds to give his guest a careful look. His concern at that moment was that the wrong answer might have a detrimental effect to his plans.

  "We're still looking into it," Joseph confessed after a moment of pondering.

  "You've had two months," Sharon challenged in a mildly alarmed tone.

  Joseph knew that this was a sensitive subject for her. He feared the effect that an unsatisfactory answer might have on her and quickly searched his mind for a likely acceptable reply.

  "The local authorities did a thorough job investigating your brother's disappearance," Joseph explained calmly. "We're coming at this from eight years away."

  "I don't need you to investigate that," Sharon insisted with a hint of hysterics. "Renee and her clan of relatives know something about my brother's disappearance. I need you to find out what they're hiding."

  Joseph had no reaction to the desperation in Sharon's request. His instincts told him to counter her rising anxiety with calm and control.

  Sharon spent much of the past seven years researching the Swans and the Cullens. She did much of this on her own. The expense of employing private investigators became more than she could justify after the first year. The reports they returned echoed that of the Jacksonville Police Department, but often to a lesser degree. Sharon was never satisfied with these reports. She could not stop herself from believing that Renee was somehow criminally responsible for whatever happened to her brother. This suspicion was reinforced by the peculiar behavior of the Cullens at the time of his disappearance.

  "So far we haven't been able to find anything in your ex sister-in-law's past that links her to your brother's disappearance," Joseph reported stoically. "However, we are still looking."

  "What about those Cullens?" Sharon questioned sternly. "There has to be something nefarious going on with that family."

  "The Cullens are interesting," Joseph partially pondered out loud, "but it's for the opposite reason."

  Sharon took a deep breath and seethed a little before reacting to this report.

  "Why is that every time somebody looks at these people you all come back with the same report?"

  "And what report would that be?" Joseph casually inquired.

  "They're squeaky clean."

  "Joseph nodded his head in the affirmative as if to say he agreed with this assessment.

  "The report that I got back was that they're almost too clean."

  "That has to mean something?" Sharon challenged.

  "No, it doesn't," Joseph corrected. "It usually means that the person or persons in question are inoffensive and boring."

  "So, you're giving up?" Sharon questioned sternly.

  "Mrs. Cunningham," Joseph began in a firm voice. "I would love to find something that implicates the Swans or the Cullens in your brother's disappearance, but the reality of the situation is that this is an eight year old investigation. The chances of us finding something that the original
investigation missed, is extremely unlikely."

  Sharon sat back in her chair and fumed at the hearing of these words.

  "We'll keep looking," Joseph continued in a firm voice, "but I need you to stay focused on what you came here for."

  Sharon paused for a couple of seconds to give Joseph a stern look and then she quickly pushed herself up onto her feet as if she had just been insulted. She held a rigid stance for two seconds as she watched Joseph follow her lead. As soon as they were both standing and staring across into each other's eyes, Sharon gave her response to Joseph's request.

  "Don't worry, Mr. Walsh, I'll give you what you want. When I'm finished with Renee and Charlie Swan, you'll be able to mount their heads alongside your buck."

  To be continued ….