"I am not privy to the discussions over jurisdiction. I can surmise that Washington and my own superiors believe that the IPD's better knowledge of the local criminal element and our own sources put us in a better position to bring the perpetrators to justice."
"What are the police doing to stop the killings?" Another reporter shouted.
"We are pursuing a variety of leads. We expect to start making arrests soon."
"Do those leads include a certain civilian who's been seen at several crime scenes?"
Ware paused and looked back at an older officer who frowned at him without saying anything.
Ware shrugged and turned back to the front. "We have hired a consultant to assist with the investigation."
"Consultant? Like a psychic?"
Ware winced. "No. We don't use psychics."
"Maybe you should start." Someone else in the crowd shouted.
Ware winced again. "The consultant has encountered cults similar to the one we believe responsible for the murders. It is our hope that her specific experience will provide insight that will allow us to identify the perpetrators and bring this case to a close. Our goal, as always, is to do everything in our power to keep the city safe."
The interview continued for some time. I watched as Ware fielded some questions, evaded others.
While I was watching the door opened. "Hey, Tagalong."
I silenced the phone and looked up. Tanner stood in the doorway.
"May I help you, Detective?"
Tanner opened her mouth to say something, then hesitated. She sighed and, finally, spoke. "I've got a job to do. Can I trust you to give a message to James?"
"James? You mean Detective Ware?"
She nodded.
"Of course," I said.
"Tell him Crazy Mary is down in holding and asking for him."
"Crazy Mary?" I tilted my head, puzzled.
"Just tell him. He'll know."
"Whatever you say, Detective Tanner. I'll make sure to tell him."
"You do that."
When she left, I looked back at the phone, but the conference had ended. I checked the time. Sunset would be soon.
I dialed.
The receptionist answered on the first ring. "McIntire Investigations."
"It's Herzeg," I said. "I need to speak to the boss. Urgent." Normally Matei would not be up this early but I hoped with his planned flight he might have risen before sunset—difficult, but not impossible for a vampire of Matei's age.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Herzeg, but Mr. Antonescu will not be in today. He's got an overnight flight to Tampa. He said he would be going straight to the airport from home."
"It's very important that I speak to him. Do you have his flight schedule?"
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I jotted down Matei's flight information, then glanced up at the clock. Allowing for the time change—Nashville was central time and Indianapolis was Eastern—I had about twenty minutes before the flight was scheduled to start boarding. I slipped out of the door of Ware's small office and headed for the coffee pot. A quick glance told me that the room was mostly deserted. A detective I did not know was typing at a computer. Another sat filling out a paper form.
I had as much privacy as I was going to get.
On returning to Ware's office, I dialed Matei's cell—the 'never use except in dire emergency' number—on my phone.
Matei answered on the first ring. "Dani?"
"We've got a real problem, Boss." I summarized for him what Reid had told us. "I think some vampires, a lot of vampires, figure that with one of them imprisoned, the secret is out."
"Yes," Matei said. "That would explain much. Still, the knowledge is not general. If we can keep the knowledge that vampires exist to a select few, perhaps we can prevent escalation. Secrecy has always worked better than fear. Cowed humans can turn ferocious at the most inopportune times. Secrecy for unwary prey is much easier to take."
"Even easier when they're willing, huh, Boss?"
"Now is not the time for that, Dani."
I sighed. "No, I suppose it isn't. Very well, Boss. What do I do here?"
"I am no more able to provide support than I was before you called. But if a select few know about our existence, then a few more, carefully made aware, should not tip the balance. Since he is already aware, bring in this Reid. Another gun at your back might prove helpful. And if you can include one or two others without risk of a general release of knowledge, then you may do so. I will trust you to use appropriate discretion."
"All right, Boss. If that's the best you've got, it will have to do. Will do."
"Good luck, Ms. Herzeg. And good hunting."
I punched "end". "Good hunting. Yeah. Only question is who's hunting whom."
I leaned back in the chair, tilting my head back and pressing my palms into my eyes.
I swore, giving vent to frustration in language I rarely use.
Some time later I had returned to the crime scene photos, looking for anything I might have missed in the first pass. One of the shots showing the entrance to the building from the inside drew my attention. A scrap of... something... something blood soaked lay on the floor just inside the door. I drew out the diagram of the floor plan with the arrangement of bodies marked. The door was a good fifteen feet from the nearest body.
I looked back at the picture. Bloody footprints, probably from when the vampires left the scene, but no large spatters as there would be if one of the dismemberments happened there. So, what was that something and how did it get all blood soaked all the way over there?
I was still puzzling over the picture when Ware walked through the door.
"You're still here?" He sidled past me and dropped into his chair.
I dropped the finger and turned my hands up.
"Sorry. Tired." He nodded down at the picture I had dropped. "Find anything?"
"Maybe." I tapped the scrap in the picture. "What's this? It seems to be soaked in blood but—" I dragged out the floor plan and measured the distance between the door and the arrangement of bodies with my hand. "—all the messy stuff happened over here. A victim didn't just drop it. It had to be dropped after getting soaked in blood, which means taken from here—" I tapped the arrangement of bodies on the floor plan. "—to here." I tapped the spot near the door. "And that had to be by the vamps. So, what is it?"
Ware nodded. "Let's see."
Ware opened up a folder and scanned through various reports. "Bagged and tagged by Crime Scene. Receipt for...um...illegible. I'll make a note for the lab to see if they can tell what it's for. Good catch."
I smiled. "Thanks." I stood up and peered out the door of the office. No one else was in the squad room. I closed the door. "I spoke to Matei. He agrees with me that at least some group of vampires believe the secret is already out—the one they're holding in Seattle. He's authorized me to bring in some others on the true mission. I figure we can start with Agent Reid."
"Oh, that will be fun," Ware said, "explaining to other cops that, yep, vampires are real and that's what we're hunting."
I looked into Ware's warm eyes and forced a smile. He had a point. I had never had to convince people of the reality of vampires, just the opposite, actually. I hadn't even had to convince Ware since he'd figured it out himself.
I shook myself and tapped on the pile of pictures. "Judging by the number of fang marks on the bodies, we've got at least thirteen vampires here. We need all the help we can get."
"All right," Ware said. "I'll think who might be...crazy enough to buy into this."
"Oh, on a different matter," I said.
"Yes?"
"Tanner stopped by sometime this afternoon. She said someone called Crazy Mary was in holding and asking for you."
Ware sighed. "It never rains but it pours."
"A problem?" I asked.
"Probably not, not for this case anyway. She was one of my snitches when I worked vice. I'd better go see what she wants." He nodded down at the folders on h
is desk. "You done here?"
"I think so, at least I think I've gotten everything I'm going to get for now."
"All right then, if you'll come with me, I'll lock up here. I'll see what Mary wants and then walk you out."
"Works," I said.
After Ware made a call down to holding, I helped him load the files into an empty drawer of the filing cabinet. He locked the cabinet, then pocketed the key. He ushered me out of the small office and locked the door.
The elevator took us down to the basement of the building. Ware opened a door in the corridor and motioned me through into the darkened room.
"Don't touch anything, but you can wait here while I talk to Mary."
I nodded.
A large window dominated one wall of the room, providing a view of another room with a small table and two chairs. A woman sat in one of the chairs. Her skin was a dark brown. Makeup inexpertly covered sores on her face. Her hair hung in greasy ropes from her head. She wore a torn denim jacket over a top cut off at the midriff and a scarlet mini. She was skinny, almost to the point of emaciation. Torn fishnets and black heels completed her outfit.
The bandage high on her right arm looked completely out of place, not because I would not expect wounds on this woman but because it was too neat, too clean; a small touch of civilization somehow finding its way into a concrete jungle.
The old term about 'rode hard and put away wet' could have had her picture next to it in some dictionary of slang.
Alerted by something, perhaps the sound of the door closing behind me, the woman looked in my direction. I expect it was a mirror from her side and she could not see me, but it was as though she looked right at me.
The door into the other room opened and Ware stepped through. He took a seat in the other chair
"Hello, Mary."
The woman's, Mary's face split into a grin, her lips pulling into an expression of pure delight. Her eyes, however, remained flat.
"James! You lookin' for a good time?" Her voice was sultry and would have done any screen temptress proud.
"You asked to speak with me, Mary."
She sagged back into her chair. When she spoke, the tone of her voice changed, now street rather than Hollywood. "All right, you got me. Might's well come clean."
"What do you want, Mary?"
"I'm turnin' mysel' in." Yet another voice. "Speedway on Twenty-Fifth that was robbed yesterday? That was me."
"And why would you rob a gas station, Mary?"
"I needed. I had a powerful needin'. And Donny, he wouldn't take trades no more, least not from me. So I was needin' cash."
"Mary, what am I supposed to do with you?"
"You need to lock me up, not just overnight and a fine plus time served for walkin'. Really, lock me up. I won't even ask bail."
Ware sighed. "Mary, the Speedway was robbed by a six-foot black man with a buzz cut."
Mary jackknifed forward and slapped her palms on the table. "Then it was some'eres else. I robbed a place and you gotta lock me up."
My eyes kept turning back to the bandage on Mary's arm. I rubbed my own arm, rubbed the almost faded scars at almost the same spot.
What, I wondered, would scare a streetwalker so badly that she'd beg Ware to lock her up? I thought I knew.
"Touch nothing," Ware had said but... I tapped on the glass.
"One moment, Mary." Ware stood up.
A few seconds later he had left the other room and entered this one.
"Ms. Herzeg—" His voice was quiet, but stern "—what are you..."
"I think she's tied into the vampires." I lifted my right arm and laid two fingers on the bite scars. "That's a common spot for vampires who intend to leave a victim alive." I dropped my arm. "We need to talk to her and we need to do it alone, away from here."
Ware looked at me for a moment then shook his head. "She's here until she talks to a judge."
"If she starts talking vampires..."
Ware shook his head again. "There's a reason she's called 'Crazy Mary.' No judge is going to believe her ranting about creatures of the night. I'll find out what court she's scheduled for and see if I can get her a suspended sentence as an informant." He stood. "In the meantime..."
I started to rise but he waved me back to my seat. "Let me see what I can get out of her for now. Cameras and mikes are turned off, so this is as private as we can get here."
I waited while he returned to the other room. He sat across from Mary.
"What kep' ya?"
"Nothing important, Mary." He nodded toward Mary's arm. "What happened?"
"Cut mysel' shavin'."
"Mary...you know better." Ware held up two fingers of his left hand, slightly curved and pressed the tips against the inside of his upper arm. "Two punctures." He folded his second finger, leaving only the index finger extended. He dragged it in an arc to where the other finger had touched. "Additional shallower lacerations across here. That's what I'd see if we took that bandage off, isn't it?"
Mary jerked back in her chair, her eyes wide, her face a mask of terror. "You know. You know these things."
Ware nodded.
"Oh, God, you one o' them?"
Ware grinned, wide then ran his tongue over his teeth. "No fangs, Mary. I'm not one of them. I'm hunting them."
"I wanna believe you, Detective. I do. But, God..." She turned her head to the side. "No, we can trust the detective. He's always been square... shut, up you stupid bitch."
"Mary." Ware leaned forward and tapped her on the arm. "Come back to me, Mary."
"Judy thinks you're tricking me."
Ware rested his chin on folded hands. "Are you taking your meds, Mary?"
I am but—" Mary leaned forward and held a hand up next to her face. She whispered loudly. "I don't think Judy is."
"Judy can skip her meds all she wants as long as you take yours every day."
"I do. I swear I do. And most of the others, they're mostly quiet but Judy...Judy's kind of a bitch."
Ware smiled. "So do you want to listen to the bitch or do you want to listen to me?"
Mary turned her head. "Shut up, Judy. The detective's al'ays been good to us."
Ware nodded. "Here's what I'm going to do. I'll see what judge will be seeing you and try to have a word, see if I can get you released as an informant for me. Fine and probation at most. You know the routine."
Mary nodded.
"And once they spring you, I'll be there to meet you. And I'll have someone for you to meet." Ware turned to look at the window, almost but not quite looking toward where I sat. "She'll keep you safe."
"Not against those things. Nobody can keep me safe against those things. You haven't seen them."
Ware turned back to Mary. "She can. She's done it before."
Something swelled within me. I didn't know why Ware's faith in me affected me so strongly. Maybe it was that Ware was seeing me not as a hunter, a killer even if what I killed was monsters, but as a protector.
My memory ran back to when Ware had wrapped me in his arms after I'd killed the vampire threatening his daughter. It had felt...good.
I shook my head. The case, I thought. Focus on the case.
But Ware and I would have a talk once the case was over.
Nashville wasn't that far from Indianapolis.
Was it?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
After Mary returned to her cell, Ware kept his promise to walk me out. We had dinner together at a downtown restaurant before I returned to my hotel.
I had reached the point where all the caffeine in the world wasn't going to keep me up much longer. After the room door closed behind me, I somehow managed to strip out of my clothes and cross to the bed before blackness took me.
I woke to the howling of my phone. I groaned and rolled out of bed, falling to hands and knees on the floor to search for where I'd dropped the jeans, in the pocket of which my phone continued to cry out for attention. The ring tone stopped. Okay, it hadn't been howling, just louder th
an my sleep-deprived brain wanted to deal with. A few seconds later, it started again.
Finally, I found the jeans. I shuffled them through my hands until I reached the pocket and pulled out the phone.
"Herzeg," I said.
"Ms. Herzeg," Matei's receptionist said. "Have you heard from the boss?"
I rose to my feet then sat on the side of the bed. The covers were hardly disturbed. I'd collapsed on top of it and was asleep before I could even crawl into it.
"No," I said, "unless that was him calling a few seconds ago."
"No, that was me."
I frowned. "What's the problem?"
"He called to check in when he landed, but I haven't heard a word since. My attempts to call him go straight to voicemail."
"He may be deep in the case and not able to..."
"Have you looked at the time?"
I pulled the phone away from my ear and glanced at the screen. Seven forty-five. Well after sunrise. While Matei would still be awake, he would have had to seek shelter.
"Let me check messages and see if he's sent anything," I said.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and started scrolling through text messages.
This was not good. While Matei was as much a monster as any vampire, he was at least aimed in the right direction. He still saw humans as food, but at least he herded and milked rather than slaughtered.
And he put me in a position to kill the worst of those who wouldn't learn that lesson. If someone had taken down Matei, my life would have just gotten a lot harder.
Nothing. Nothing from Matei. Just one text from Ware, shortly after he had dropped me off, suggesting breakfast in the hotel cafe at eight thirty.
"I've got nothing," I said. "Look, Matei hasn't lived as long as he has by being easy to kill. If he ran into something he couldn't take, he'd vanish, hide. Probably waiting for me to finish here so I can bail his ass out."
"Maybe, but..."
"Nothing we can do about it now. Hold down the fort. I'm starting to get a break here and with Matei's permission to bring others in, I think we're in a good position to take out this...I don't know. What do you call a group of vampires? They're usually solitary. Herd? Flock?"
The Unmasking (Dhampyre the Hunter Book 1) Page 14
