The Dragon at The Edge of The Map: A Crime Thriller Novel

by P. A. Wilson

  “No, thanks, I think I’ll be better off staying sober. So what do you think I should do?” It had felt good to tell Tess the whole story, but feeling good wasn’t going to get the murders solved.

  “Give the cops the picture and tell them what you found out. Move in with Rafe until they get this guy.”

  Monique shook her head and stood. “Thanks anyway. I’ll keep trying to find The Colonel.”

  Tess grinned. “I figured you would say that. Look, I don’t know where this guy hangs out, but wherever it is, he’ll be lying low. He’ll be running things from behind someone. He can’t afford to be noticed. War crimes don’t have a statute of limitations, so to speak. My guess is that he’s not afraid of incarceration as a war criminal. His type tend to rule in any violent environment. He’s afraid of revenge. Of someone he tortured recognizing him. Or a relative of someone he killed.”

  Monique hadn’t considered The Colonel would be hiding because he was afraid. “So even if the police get Vincent, The Colonel might still get away?”

  “That’s right. It sounds like you really want to get this Colonel guy. You need to know why you care about getting him. It’s not because of Snake. You hardly knew him. It’s something else, and that’s what will get you through when it gets really dangerous.”

  “I think maybe Didi is in this somehow. And I can’t ask him right now.”

  “If he is, you can’t help him. I know you think you can, but his best bet is to go to the cops.” Tess rubbed her forehead. “I hate this shit. I try to keep the club out of it, but gangs don’t wait for an invitation.”

  Monique gave up trying to get information. Tess might know something, but there was no way she’d help Monique get deeper into danger. “I guess I’ll just keep doing the same thing, and hope I get another idea before it’s too late.”

  “Go talk to Rafe. You need to have a safe place to go. If Didi is really just sulking, you need Rafe to be there for you.”

  Monique knew Tess was right. The thing that kept her from talking to Rafe was the fear it would be another fight. She wasn’t ready for that just yet. “I think I’ll go hang out in the back for a while.” Now that she’d told Tess, maybe she could ask questions of other people she trusted. Maybe Wes or Ray would know something from other clubs they worked. Some of those clubs were run by less than honest people.

  “Just be careful. These guys could make a cornered rat look like Mother Teresa.” Tess threw back another shot of whiskey and waved at the door. “Go ahead. I’ll be out in a while.”

  Monique opened the door and glanced out. The men were gone. She slipped through and closed the door behind her.

  The set was ending as Monique made her way past the stage into the back room. She tossed her purse on the desk and sank into the chair. Not smoking was screwing with her routines.

  “Hey, I thought you left,” Ray said as he walked into the room. “Can’t get enough of us?”

  “True, if you weren’t in love with Wes, I’d be all over you.” Monique smacked Ray’s butt as he passed. “Where’s Maisie?” She looked at the door. “In fact, where’s everyone else?”

  Ray dropped into the chair opposite her. “Having a drink. I didn’t feel like one. What’s going on with you? I saw you leave like the devil was on your heels.”

  “I think he might be. I saw the guy who killed Snake, the guy in the alley, and I went out to call the cops.” She paused. “I think he’s connected with something bigger.”

  Ray looked up at her. “Ask what you want to ask. I’m making no promises, but I can’t answer a question you haven’t asked me.”

  Monique had been fretting over how get him talking. Since he’d been forthright, she decided to just ask. “Do you know anything about Serbian criminals in Vancouver?”

  Ray sat back and looked at her, eyebrow raised. “There are some here, like any kind of community there are criminals and just regular people. What’s going on, Monique?”

  She gave him an abbreviated version of the facts. “It feels like I have to find this guy. It feels like something bad is coming. Or, I guess, something worse.” Was that it? That she was seeing signs of coming violence that she’d missed with her father? Something that she should have seen, that could have stopped him.

  “I’m sure that you’re right. But, are you sure this isn’t about Didi. You can’t make him stay sober by taking out all the bad guys, Monique. There’s always someone waiting to make a buck on misery.”

  Monique rubbed her face to clear the weariness. “No, it’s not about that. I know Didi is responsible for his own choices.”

  “Okay, well some of the guys running the Queen Club are connected. I don’t know if it’s Serbian, but I can find out.”

  She went cold at the thought of putting her friends in danger. “Don’t put yourself at risk. I hoped you knew something, but if you don’t then leave it.”

  He reached over and patted her knee. “I know how to be careful, but I wasn’t planning to ask any questions. You can learn a lot if you observe with an objective.”

  “Wes will kill me if anything happens to you.”

  “Nothing will happen. Now, I gotta go and make sure Wes gets something to eat. You want to join us?”

  “No, I think I need to go make peace with Rafe.” Tess was right about needing a place to go. She didn’t want to go back to her apartment carrying this feeling that everyone was mad at her. Didi was either still unconscious, or keeping her away because he was angry. Rafe, at least, would let her in. If she could keep her temper then they could talk. She’d stop using him as a safety net as soon as this was over.

  CHAPTER 17

  The walk to Rafe’s usually only took ten minutes. This time Monique felt like she was being followed, as if someone was about to stab her, or throw a garrote around her throat. Every minute of the walk felt like it took hours. She kept turning around hoping to catch someone, but no one was there. The feeling had her twitching by the time she buzzed Rafe’s apartment.

  “Come up.” Rafe released the door as he spoke.

  Monique slipped inside and watched the street from the back of the lobby. After a few minutes, she pressed the elevator call button. If she was being followed, they were experts and there was nothing she could do about it. As she rode the elevator, Monique wondered if she should tell Rafe about the feeling. She decided to keep quiet since there was no evidence. He’d only use it to tell her to stop looking for Vincent because it was making her crazy.

  He was waiting for her at his door. She reminded herself to keep her temper and be reasonable, even if she had to hold back a few details.

  She kissed his cheek as she passed. “I’m sorry we fought. I don’t want you to be mad at me.” The words were becoming too familiar.

  He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “I don’t like it when we fight either. I’m sorry too.” He squeezed her in a hug and walked with her to the living room. “Why don’t we curl up on the couch and watch an old movie. If we don’t talk, we can’t fight.”

  “Popcorn?” Maybe he was right. They could just pretend that everything was normal and it would be. There was no need to drag up anything that would cause a disagreement.

  That grin she’d been attracted to the minute she saw Rafe, bloomed. “Dig out a DVD and I’ll make the popcorn.”

  Monique checked the time. It was probably too late to call Andy, and she only had the energy to be an adult with one of her relationships.

  Rafe had a bigger collection of DVDs than she did. The first one she grabbed was Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. It was a little too close to home. She slid it back into the pile and grabbed It Happened One Night. That would take her mind off everything, at least for a couple of hours.

  Rafe brought a bowl of white cheddar popcorn to the coffee table and put two beers down beside it. “How was your night?”

  Monique slid the DVD into the player and pressed play. She shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth to delay responding. It couldn’t hurt to te
ll him about Vincent coming to the club. She’d called the police, after all.

  “It was interesting. I called the cops because I saw that killer in the club.” She curled into his side as the movie started.

  “Did they catch him?” He took a swig of his beer. His voice was relaxed, but Monique could feel his muscles tense.

  “No, he got away. But I’m sure they’ll get him eventually.”

  He grunted something that might have been agreement and then settled in to watch the movie.

  Monique picked at the popcorn while she dealt with her guilt at letting Rafe believe she was letting the police handle the investigation.

  “Are you staying?” Rafe asked as the credits rolled.

  Monique shook off the doze she’d fallen into about halfway through the movie. As the story unfolded, she’d started thinking about relationships. The movie couple had so much fun with all the misunderstandings, and they’d gotten over the half-truths. She didn’t want that kind of relationship because in real life people didn’t just laugh off lies and omissions. She needed a safe haven with Rafe and it wasn’t fair to him, or to her, to pretend things were okay when they weren’t.

  “I would like to stay. But we need to talk first.”

  He nudged her off his shoulder. “I was afraid of that. Okay tell me. I’ll try to keep an open mind.”

  “I…” Now that she had to say it, Monique didn’t know where to start.

  “Let me help, Monique, please. You’re still digging into the murders, right? And you don’t plan to stop regardless of what I think, regardless of the danger.”

  She sighed, stalling so she didn’t snap at him. “Yes. But it’s not like that. I get that it’s dangerous. I get your point. No normal person would keep pushing at this.”

  “So, why are you?”

  He was only asking the same thing that Tess pointed out. Why didn’t she want to yell at Tess the way she wanted to when Rafe asked? “I’m not normal.” She tried to say it lightly, but she feared that it was the truth.

  “No one is normal, Monique. What is making you put everything in jeopardy for a stranger?” He kept his voice gentle, but Monique saw his tension in the crease on his forehead, and the tightening around his eyes.

  “I’ve tried to work that out,” Monique said. “Maybe it’s because of my dad.”

  This time Rafe didn’t bother to keep his emotion out of the words. “It’s about time you got past that. It’s becoming a convenient reason for everything you want to do that people, no make that me, that I don’t approve of.”

  She sprang from the couch. “I can’t believe you said that. I have tried to get over it. You just use it to point out how I’m not normal. How I don’t let you in, how I don’t trust anyone enough.”

  He watched her and it made Monique madder. She started gathering her things. This wasn’t a safe haven. This was just another place where she couldn’t just be herself.

  He stood to face her. “Monique, don’t leave. If you keep running out when we fight, we won’t ever get past this.”

  Monique stopped what she was doing. Rafe’s words touched something inside her. Did she run away? “I can’t keep going over the same argument, Rafe. I leave because I don’t hear anything that tells me you’ll change your mind.” She hoped he would hear her meaning, not just the confrontation that she couldn’t keep out of the words.

  Rafe looked back at her, his determination clear in the set of his jaw. “You don’t give anything enough time to get to that part. If I don’t agree with you right away, you leave. Will you stay this time?”

  “Are you going to listen?” Everything felt as though it was balanced on a fine point. “Can we disagree and still have a relationship?”

  He deflated. As though he’d just realized how big a battle he had to fight. “Yes. I don’t want to stop you doing things that are important to you. At the same time, I want you safe.”

  Monique put down her purse and jacket. “Okay, let’s talk this out. I came here to be with you tonight, Rafe, not to push you away.” She sat on the other end of the couch, turning to sit with the arm at her back, crossing her legs as she faced him. “I need to know I have someone I can trust, who trusts me.”

  He nodded and waited for her to continue. She picked at the seam of her jeans she’d slipped on after her set, not sure where to go from there. Wasn’t that enough? She realized that this was new territory for her, she’d never let someone get that important. “I guess this thing with the murders brought it home to me. I needed someone to talk to and I only had Tess. I was fighting with you, and Didi is in a coma as far as I know.”

  “Tess didn’t strike me as someone interested in a heart to heart.”

  Rafe wasn’t helping her, but he wasn’t stopping her either. “I was lucky. The club was about to become part of the Serbian mob network. I guess I helped her out.” Monique’s pat response didn’t feel fair to Tess. “She is not that bad, anyway.”

  “So how do you plan to get this done? Break the mob and catch a war criminal, without losing your life.”

  “I’m not sure I have a choice. I got that call. I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before they realize I’m still following Vincent, if they don’t already. And what if they find out I was the one who called the cops on him. After that, all they have to do is come find me, and I’m not exactly hiding.”

  Even under his dark skin, Monique saw him pale. She braced herself for his anger. She watched him count to ten almost aloud. A slight relaxation of the muscles in his jaw was the only indication that he was in control. “Will you stay with me, at least until this is over with?”

  “I don’t think fear is a good reason to move in together, Rafe. I—” she cut off the next words realizing that telling him she didn’t want to move in with him at all was not the right way to keep things moving in the right direction. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t panic. I’m not trying to get you in permanently, but it can’t be good living across from that mess. It’s going to start smelling soon.” He smiled as though he’d made a joke.

  “No pressure? No asking me what I’m doing?” Monique had to admit, having someone at home who would talk to her, and feed her, was tempting.

  “I can’t promise I won’t ask, but I will do my best not to apply pressure.” He gave her a real grin this time. “I might even be able to help. I do have some skills on-line.”

  Having Rafe do the research on the computer was a great idea. She was using him again, though. Why did it always feel like he was giving more than he was getting in the relationship? And why did that bother her when it didn’t seem to bother him? “You would do that?”

  “Yes, it’s my way of trying to keep you out of their hands. I’ll make sure that what we find on-line can’t be traced. Maybe we’ll be able to give the cops enough information that you won’t need to go looking. And do it without committing any crimes ourselves.”

  Monique started to relax, just a little. They’d been talking for a half hour without a fight. “I need to go get my stuff.”

  Rafe rose. “I’ll come with you.”

  “No,” she snapped without thinking. Rafe drew back as if she’d hit him. “I’m sorry. I mean, I need to do this myself. You can start doing the on-line research while I’m gone. It will only take a minute for me to give you everything I know.”

  “Okay. If you feel like anything is wrong, you call the cops, right?”

  “That’s reasonable, I guess. I won’t be long.” She grabbed him and kissed him. “Maybe we’ll fit in a little rest tonight too.”

  Rafe took her to the computer to gather everything she knew about the murders. When he asked about the picture, Monique said she’d get it, and then remembered it was on her phone. She searched through the gallery and sent it to Rafe’s email. “I’ll be back in less than half an hour. Thanks for doing this.”

  “It’s what people who care about each other do, Monique, they support each other.” Rafe started typing search queries. “Take
my keys so you don’t have to buzz to get in.”

  Monique slipped out while he was absorbed in his work.

  The walk home was uneventful. The feeling of being watched was gone. Monique put it down to her stress on the way to Rafe’s. She’d known they were headed for a fight. If it had been up to her, that’s where it would have ended. Rafe was a good man. Maybe she should think about moving in permanently for the future if he really wanted to.

  Monique ran up the stairs to her floor and opened the stairwell door. Two things hit her at once; the smell was overwhelming, and there was a man doing something to her apartment door. She put her hand out to stop the stairwell door slapping her in the face.

  Her heart racing, she couldn’t make a decision. She was frozen in place. Realizing she had to move forward or run away, and do it now, she still couldn’t make her feet move.

  Taking a deep breath made her gag. The man at her door turned at some noise, or because he’d finished.

  Monique’s knees buckled with relief, it was her landlord. “Bob, what are you doing here at this time of night?”

  He walked toward her. “Are you okay?” He reached her and put his hand under her elbow. “I know it stinks, but it’s not that bad.”

  She nodded and took a step forward. “I’m surprised it’s taken this long for the smell to get out.”

  “I came by and opened the windows in there the other day. The screens are covered in bugs. It’s gross and interesting at the same time. There are tons of flies in there too.”

  She walked to her apartment and slid her key into the lock. “Are the police finished with it?”

  “Yeah, finally. That’s what I was doing just now, leaving you a note. There’s a crime scene clean up team coming tomorrow. The guy told me they’d be all day. They have to take out the carpet, and maybe the sub-floor. I just wanted everyone to know what was going on.”

  “It will be good to have it done,” Monique said. “I’ll be staying with my boyfriend so I won’t be bothered. When will you do the repairs?” She could stay with Rafe for more than just a couple of days, so they could fix Alexi’s apartment without disturbing her. The idea didn’t feel as bad as she expected, but it might give Rafe ideas.