“There aren't any? Why not? If you're taking the case, the first step would be to have risk management perform another investigation. You don't seriously trust the humans’ judgment do you?”
“In some instances I do, Val. And I told you: this is a special case. I’m not using Trumaine resources for this.”
I looked around the car and raised an eyebrow at my brother. “Come again?”
“Okay, so maybe a few. But not anything that will draw father’s attention. And pulling a team from Tam’s unit will do that. Father gets direct reports at the same time Tam does. I wouldn’t be able to keep that from him.”
I sucked in a mouthful of air. This had to be someone important to Constantine to have asked Valerian for a favor that would have him sneaking around behind our father's back.
Out of all my father’s kids, Valerian was the poster boy for ‘Mr. Goody Two Shoes’. He almost never went against our father for anything.
“Who is this person, Vedo, and how much evidence do they have against him?”
“All I know is Constantine begged me to represent him. Now, about evidence, as far as the police are concerned, it’s an open and shut case.”
“How so?”
“The client went to sleep one night with his wife safe and sound beside him. When he woke up the next morning, she was dead beside him. He doesn’t remember a thing.”
That didn’t sound good. “How dead is dead? What did the autopsy say? How do they know it wasn’t natural causes?”
“They’ve ruled out any natural causes. When my client woke for the day, he was covered in the victim’s blood. She was ripped apart, Val. There wasn’t much left to autopsy.”
Damn, damn, and triple damn. I pulled into a visitor parking space, and we hopped out of the SUV. Valerian straightened his collar and pulled me to a stop before I got too far ahead of him.
“Val. Please keep your mouth in check and your opinions to yourself, okay.”
I turned to scowl at him, “Are you serious. Do you think that I would cause you trouble, Valerian?”
“No, just reminding you that this isn’t the CMS. I take the lead. We need to be careful around the human staff.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Why are you talking to me like I live under a rock and have never been around humans before?”
Valerian popped his knuckles and the lawyer veil slid into place. My brother's entire demeanor changed like the flip of a switch. “Just do as I ask,” he said as he led the way to the hospital entrance.
Chapter 2
We found the psych ward easy enough. Once we got to the secured unit, Valerian pressed the com button. “Valerian Trumaine here to see William Baker.”
The unit crackled as his message was played on the other side of the closed doors. We expected an immediate reply, but the only thing we heard was the sound of someone breathing. They were there, they just weren't acknowledging our presence.
I reached past Valerian, eager to give the little box a piece of my mind, but he grabbed my hand, “Not yet, Valeria. Let me try again.”
He pressed the call button again and leaned toward the microphone. “This is Valerian Trumaine, council for William Baker. I’m here for our scheduled interview.”
The heavy, mouth breather on the other side of the door continued to ignore us. I pleaded with my eyes. “Let me, Vedo, please. I promise I won't go overboard.”
Valerian held up a finger as he tried diplomacy one last time. “I can hear you breathing over the speaker, so I know you're there. Whoever you are, you need to open these doors so I can come inside and conduct an interview with my client. I have the means to let myself in, but I‘d prefer not to use them, if at all possible.”
Valerian leaned away from the intercom and waited a few more moments to see if the breather would comply. When there was still no reply, he shook his head and softly laughed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said to the intercom. “Go ahead, Val.”
I smiled to myself as I lay my hand against the glowing keypad. If this door had been my way six months ago, I would have simply ripped it out of the wall. Granted, it would have cost Trumaine Enterprises thousands of dollars to replace, but sometimes it’s worth it.
Lucky for them, I was a kinder, gentler Valeria. Not to mention powerful...when I can control it. I pulled a small amount of energy from the stores inside of me, and directed it down and out through my palm. The black charge connected with the keypad and fried all the circuitry within. The doors slid open as alarms started wailing all around us. Another quick burst of energy killed the alarms as quickly as they started.
“After you,” I said with flair, full of pride that it actually worked the way I wanted. Valerian spared me a brief smile before wiping all emotion from his face, and waltzed through the ruined doors. We didn’t make it two feet before an army of pissed off nurses and security guards, blocked our path.
The smallest nurse, a woman who looked like she was maybe four-feet-six, stepped forward and crossed her hands over her chest. “I don't know what you did to our doors, but that was totally uncalled for. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
To stress her point, three guards stepped closer to her, each one of them pulling stun batons from their utility belts. I wasn’t impressed. Valerian held up his arm and took a long look at his watch before frowning at her. “I beg to differ on the necessity of our actions, Ms. Champion. We were kept waiting for over ten minutes, when there was clearly a staff member at the desk who could have let us in. I have an appointment, and I hate being late.”
The spit fire nurse cut her eyes at her coworker at the nurses’ station. The young woman flinched under her hard gaze and quickly dropped her head. When Nurse Champion turned her attention back to us, the anger marring her face was gone. “I must apologize for Jenny. She's new here and rather spirited. Her personal feelings shouldn’t have affected her work performance.”
She waved away the crowd of people behind her as she continued. “She shouldn’t have kept you waiting, Mr. Trumaine. Be that as it may, willful destruction of hospital property is not acceptable.”
Valerian looked toward the nurses’ station at the young woman who was doing her damnedest to hide behind a row of charts. “I agree we could have handled it in a different manner but in light of the attitude of your staff, I’m glad we did. Discrimination against Extras is against the law, you know.”
Nurse Champion was quick to speak up. “Oh no, Jenny has nothing against you personally, Mr. Trumaine. We're all actually really big fans of your family.” Her face turned beet red as she continued, “It’s just…well, Fee Baker worked as a volunteer here for years. Many of us are having a hard time with this whole thing…having William here and all.”
Valerian’s face stayed blank. “I wasn’t aware of the victim’s connection to this hospital. Under the circumstances, I believe I’ll petition to have my client moved to a different facility.”
Although she didn’t say it out loud, you could see relief flood every inch of her face. While I was thoroughly irked at our being kept waiting, I sympathized with her. Having Valerian’s client here couldn’t have been easy. She nodded her head, “If you believe that’s best.”
He pulled a card from his breast pocket and held it out. “This is my card. I’ll be glad to cover the cost for repairs. Now, if you can lead me to Mr. Baker’s room, I would greatly appreciate it.”
Now that all the excitement was over, the crowd thinned out considerably. We fell in step, and I found that following the demure nurse through the ward was like walking through a mental battleground. There were so many emotions fighting to get inside my head that I completely locked down my shields, leaving no room whatsoever for anything to slip through cracks.
Valerian gasped so softly, Nurse Champion didn’t hear a thing. He cut his accusing eyes in my direction, questioning the mental knock I’d just given him. Not one to quickly admit what I saw as a weakness, I ignored him and kept my eyes straight ahead.
/>
Once we reached our destination, she swiped a key card and stepped aside. “He’s expecting you.”
Staying true to my assignment, I was the first one through the door, making sure there wasn’t any danger to Valerian. I slowly stepped inside the stark, white room and took a quick assessment. The only furniture to speak of was the bed, a small table, and two chairs. The window was smaller than I expected, no bigger than a laptop. There was a t.v., set high into the wall, and that was pretty much it.
The room’s occupant, William Baker, was sitting in one of the chairs with his back to the door, rocking back and forth. With everything clear, I waved Valerian inside.
Valerian set his briefcase on the small table and loosened his tie. “Mr. Baker, my name is Valerian Trumaine. I’m a lawyer. I was asked to meet with you today.”
Baker’s rocking stopped. A wracked moan slid from his lips, and he leaned forward, letting his head fall into his upturned hands. Valerian moved to stand in front of him and dropped to his eye level. “Mr. Baker, did you hear me? My brother Constantine asked me to talk with you.”
At the mention of Constantine’s name, the sobbing ceased and William slowly lifted his head. “Did you say Constantine...and you're a Trumaine?” He shook his head and backed away from Valerian. “No, that doesn’t make sense. They never said the lawyer was a Trumaine. Why would he send someone…unless?”
He jerked upright into the chair and leaned away from Valerian. “You’re the prosecution. You're here because you think I did it, and this is Constantine’s way of punishing me.”
Baker grabbed the sides of his head and shot up from his seat. As he put some distance between himself and Valerian, I was able to get a good look at him. William Baker looked like he was around sixty years old. His salt and pepper hair was cropped short, around a heart shaped face. He had a full beard and mustache that was just as, if not greyer, than the hair on his head. His eyes…his eyes pulled my attention straight to them.
His wide, brown eyes were full of so much sorrow, pain, and confusion, I knew the instant I looked into them that this wasn’t a man guilty of killing his wife of twenty years. This was a man that was wild with grief, and close to cracking under the strain of being accused of murder.
Valerian caught my attention, and I raised my shields enough to let him inside my head. “This man isn’t a murderer,” he said.
“Duh, tell me something I don't know,” I replied.
William Baker might have been close to cracking, but he was far from slow. I don't know how he knew, but he caught the quiet exchange between us and pointed an accusing finger in our direction.
“You two need to cut that out. If you have something to say, then say it out loud where I can hear you.”
While it was true most all, pureblood vampires could affect people’s minds in one way or another. The ability to communicate directly with other Extras was a Trumaine trait. Even more so, the bond I had with Valerian made our gifts the strongest. To say I was surprised that he knew what we were doing was an understatement.
“How did you know we were talking with each other?” I asked.
“Because your brother always talked about you two when I took his class; how you used your bond to get yourself out of trouble with your father.”
Valerian chuckled, “Well, actually, she used it for that a lot more than I did.”
I cut my eyes toward my brother, “That’s beside the point. You were my brother’s student. That doesn’t explain why he procured Valerian for your defense. Why is this so personal for him?”
This time it was William Bakers turn to be surprised. “Wait a second,” he said with his face full of confusion as he pointed at Valerian. “He sent you to represent me. He thinks I’m innocent?”
Valerian sat down in the extra chair and opened his briefcase. “He must, or he would have never asked me to defend you.” He pulled a notepad out, “Now, if you wouldn’t mind answering her question.”
Baker absentmindedly shook his head as he began to talk. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard of me before…” His voice shook, and fresh tears began to fall as he talked. “I’m the man that stole his fiancé from him, over forty years ago.”
“I’m sorry, come again,” Valerian said with mild surprise.
“You heard me just fine. Fee and I were students of Constantine’s when he was professor at Cooke University near Shreveport, Louisiana. He was in love with her, and I‘ll admit, she loved him more than she ever loved me. But in the end, she wasn’t willing to give up her humanity for him, so I won by default. Constantine wasn‘t too happy about losing her to me: in fact, I spent two months in traction. Fee never spoke with him again.”
I didn’t know what to say. I was face to face with the unknown reason behind Constantine’s move. For a long time, we thought that he would never leave Louisiana; he'd lived there almost two hundred years, and claimed that nothing could pull him away.
Close to forty years ago he showed up at my parents door, and said he was moving back home. Valerian and I never knew the reason behind his sudden change of heart, but I would have never guessed it was over a woman. My brother was too reserved to let a woman shake him like that, or at least I thought he was.
As I tried to reign in my surprise, Valerian poked at my shields. “Constantine had no business putting me in this position. I have every mind to refuse this case and refer him to another lawyer.”
“Constantine has his reasons, Vedo. Besides, any human lawyer is going to take one look at his file and assume guilt--you know that as well as I.”
William Baker frowned and slapped his hand against the table. “Don’t do that! If you're going to talk about me, at least do it in the open so I can defend myself.”
Valerian strummed his fingers against the table as he considered his thoughts. “Alright then, you want to know what’s on my mind. One, my brother shouldn’t have put me in this position; your previous relationship could be a cause for the prosecution to cry conflict of interest, if things don't go their way. And two, while I’m quite certain of your innocence, proving it in a human court, by human means, is another thing all together. I won't lie to you. All the evidence says you're guilty. I’m not in the habit of taking losing cases.”
Valerian was lying through his teeth, and he knew it. He was a champion for the underdog. My brother loved lifting up the downtrodden and less fortunate. He did a lot of pro bono work in his spare time. Why he was lying to William was beyond me, but as soon as we were out of here I was going to make him tell me what he was up to.
William laughed bitterly. “So, that’s that then.” He waved his hand toward the door and turned away from us. “Whatever. Leave me to the prosecution. When they execute me, at least I’ll be with Fee again.”
I was just about to give Valerian a piece of my mind when I felt him buzzing in my head. “Give me some privacy, Val.”
“I’m supposed to stay with you the entire time, Vedo.”
“Yes, IF, the situation warrants it, but this doesn't. I‘m fine.”
I reluctantly agreed, and left the room. I wiggled my fingers at the ladies behind the nursing station, and strolled past the maintenance crew that was trying to repair the fried panel. I couldn’t help but laugh at the confused look on one guy’s face as he held up a blackened panel with its melted wires and circuits for the others to see. If the look of disbelief wasn’t so funny, I almost felt a little guilty.
I didn’t go far, just outside the doors to a chaise lounge that was against the wall. I agreed to give him some space, but I wasn’t comfortable with being too far away from him when I was supposed to be guarding him.
No sooner than I sat down, Robyn began blaring from my phone. A man, dressed in scrubs, shot me a disapproving look, and I shrugged. “What,” I said defensively as I pulled the phone from my pocket. “It’s my mate.”
I hurriedly slid my finger across the screen to silence it. “Talk to me,” I said as quietly as I could.
“Val
, how many times…You know what, I give up.”
I chuckled and turned my back to the probing eyes of passerby’s. “I figured you would sooner or later. So, what’s up, baby?”
Irulan huffed on the other end, and I smiled in spite of myself. I could almost see her rose colored skin turning another shade of pink, with frustration. “Val, it’s ten baby.”
“Huh?” I spared a glance at the face of my phone and frowned. “Hump, we've been here longer than I thought.”
“What?”
“Nothing, I’m just out of the office for a while, go figure. I forgot to call and tell you.” For the past few weeks, Irulan had been calling me every night at ten to break the monotony of my boring shifts. “I was getting on Tam’s nerves, so he sent me out with Valerian as an escort.”
“Well, that’s good, at least you're not stuck in your little cubby-hole, complaining.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“What’s the problem, Val, you don't sound as enthusiastic as I thought you would be at getting out.”
A nurse slowed down and cut her eyes in my direction. I shooed her away and cupped my hand over my mouth. “It’s not that. It's the case that Vedo is taking,” I whispered.
“Marcus didn’t give you any shit about being on the grounds did he?”
“That’s just it, Ire, we’re not at the CMS. We're at a hospital, and the client is human.”
I could hear the sharp intake of Irulan’s surprise. Even without our bond I knew what she was going to say. “Constantine asked him to defend the guy,” I said, cutting her off before she could ask. “Without our father’s knowledge,” I added. “This is going to be a tough case if he decides to pursue it.”
“What do you mean if? He's there. Why would he turn it down?”
“I can't really explain here, but I’ll fill you when I get home.”
“Alright, baby, have a good night and come home as soon as you can. David wants to talk with you before the day sleep takes him.”
I slipped my phone back into my pocket and stood to go and check on Valerian, when he came walking out of the busted doors. He passed me without a word. The lines of his face were tense and rigid. I could feel the edge rolling off of him. I fell in place behind him, and for a second considered drawing away some of his tension, but decided against it.
Black Moon Rising (DarkLife Saga) Page 2
