“You weren’t kidding,” he said. “That brochure looks thick.”
“Let me see?” Mamie Hoya peered into the bag. “Oh my!”
“I’m going home now to try and catch a few ‘Z’s.’ Can I drop you off at Dee’s club?” Jeffrey asked.
Jack nodded, touched. “Yes please. We’ll catch a cab from there. We’re all staying at Brianna’s place.”
Jeffrey raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. They walked through the long hallways and Jack was struck at how busy the place was. “It never stops here,” said May, as if reading his mind. “During the day there are more humans, and at night, as you can see, there are mostly undead and mutants.”
“What’s my schedule?” Jack asked May. “Do I have to wear a costume, like you?”
“You can wear whatever you want. There are no uniforms for our division. I just happen to like my costume.” May smoothed her hands over her slim hips.
“I think you should keep your cape, Jack,” said Mamie Hoya.
“I’m staying here. I have some papers to file. Goodbye Jack, Mamie Hoya. I’ll see you soon.” May stopped in front of the elevators and waved goodbye, then she turned and walked back down the hallway, her step light.
Jack had to admit he felt better knowing May was part of an official police force, and not just acting on her own. Mamie Hoya must have had the same thought, because she said in a thoughtful voice, “I think I’ve misjudged that May. She’s a lot more than she pretends to be, isn’t she?”
“She’s one of our best agents. The car park is on the minus three level,” said Jeffrey as they got into the elevator. Everything inside was chrome or white tiles, and bright lights were everywhere. But when they left the building, it was like driving out through a construction site.
“Amazing,” said Mamie Hoya. “You’d never know what was here.”
“That’s the way the government likes it,” said Jeffrey. He put his blinkers on and turned into the main road leading into the center of town. “We’re hidden in plain sight.”
“What I’d like to know is, why this city?” Jack asked. “There are far bigger cities in the country, and bigger cities in the world. So why here?”
“I’m not sure, but this place seems to be a sort of magnet for mutants and undead. We’re right in the middle of a paranormal Bermuda Triangle. Spirits have an easier time appearing here than anywhere else. And we have the highest incidence of mutant births in the world. No one knows why, but according to Native American legends, it’s been like this for centuries here.” Jeffrey was silent for a while, and then he said, “The reservation is near a sacred ground. The Native Americans have legends about vampires, werewolves, and spirits. The city encroached on that ground. Most of it is under the trailer park and industrial park now.”
“Are you really a full blooded Ais?” Jack asked him. He looked closer at Jeffrey.
“Three quarters Ais. One quarter Irish.” Jeffrey nodded. “Even though I don’t know much about my ancestors, I’ve been hearing Native American legends all my life. I believe that building on the sacred grounds was a mistake, but it’s too late to do anything about it now. Besides, there are other places like this. You’ll soon find out. It’s all in the brochure.” He pulled up to the curb in front of Dee’s club and said, “Here you are.”
Jack and Mamie Hoya got out of the car and thanked him. He leaned out the window. “Better go get some sleep. I’m pretty sure the Heart Taker is out tonight, looking for a victim. If he can’t get Brianna, he’ll kill someone else. Be prepared for me to call you, Jack.”
Jack nodded, and then he and Mamie went back into the club, where the music was still blaring and people were still dancing the night away. Dee saw him and waved, and a few of the dancers recognized him and screamed his name above the music.
He ducked his head and turned toward the office, Mamie at his heels, when suddenly time stood still. It was bizarre. Even the music stopped. Everything froze except for one figure across the room. Jack tried to focus on him, but he darted out the door and vanished into the night.
Jack took an involuntary step backwards and banged into Mamie Hoya, who, stiff as a statue, toppled sideways. He grabbed her and set her on her feet. By the time he’d turned around, the Heart Taker had gone. He scanned the club, but there was no sign of supernatural motion, and suddenly time twanged back into its place. The music blasted him, and Mamie Hoya took a step and crashed into him.
“Sorry,” she said, looking surprised. I didn’t think you were so close.”
“I wasn’t. I think the Heart Taker was here. Go into the office with Brianna. Lock the door behind you. I have to tell Dee.”
She didn’t argue. Her lips pressed together, she trotted off toward the office. Jack turned and pushed his way through the crowd toward Dee, who was busy talking to Suki at the bar.
“Dee, I need to see you in your office,” said Jack, yelling to make himself heard.
“I’ll be right there.” Dee clapped him on the back. “The place is hopping! How was your visit with May?”
“Interesting,” said Jack truthfully.
“What’s in that bag?” Dee pointed to the bag Jack held.
“Oh, just some stuff.” Jack clutched it a bit tighter.
“Go see Brianna, she’s worried sick about you. I’ll be there in a minute.” Dee turned back to the bar where there seemed to be a problem about a shortage of beer.
Jack hurried to the office, meaning to set Brianna’s mind at ease, when the music stopped again. He whirled around. Everything was still, except for a tall man dressed all in brown over by the bar. He saw Jack and frowned. “You again.” The Heart Taker, for Jack had recognized him, bared his teeth and hissed. “I have to kill tonight,” he called. “I don’t know where your girlfriend is, but it doesn’t matter. I have the poem all written out, it’s All Hallow’s Eve, and I need a heart, so anyone will do. I’ll save your sweetheart for another day.” He didn’t resemble Jeffrey anymore. He looked purely evil. His face was twisted in a mask of anger and hate.
Jack dropped his bag and it hung in the air. He sprinted towards the man, who held something shiny in his hand. A knife. And the knife was plunging right toward Dee’s chest.
Jack was on one side of the club, the Heart Taker near the bar. Jack crashed through the people on the dance floor, pushing them aside like bowling pins. They didn’t fall but stayed in the air. The Heart Taker moved with dazzling speed. But Jack had the same power of movement, and the Heart Taker only had enough time to plunge his knife partway into Dee’s body before Jack was upon him.
Jack didn’t hesitate. He bowled the Heart Taker over, slamming him against the bar. The knife fell out of the Heart Taker’s hand and stayed suspended in midair.
When Jack grabbed the Heart Taker’s arm, he got a shock. It was like grasping a live wire. Startled, he let go, and the Heart Taker got to his feet and literally flew out the door, screaming over his shoulder, “I need a heart! I’ll get one. You’ll see!”
Jack wanted to run after him, but he was too worried about Dee. He turned and plucked the Heart Taker’s knife out of the air and looked at Dee, who stood, a strange expression on his face.
Jack glanced at the dance floor and knew if he stopped moving, the people would fall and some could be hurt. He dashed back into the crowd, straightened the people he’d knocked aside, and grabbed his bag. Then he put the knife in his bag and rushed back to Dee’s side. He paused for a deep breath, stopped moving, and then everything happened at once.
Dee gave a start and then started to cough. Suki saw Jack and dropped the glass he’d been holding.
“Yo!” He jumped back “Where did you come from man?”
Jack didn’t answer. He grabbed Dee and pushed him into a seat. “Call an ambulance,” he said to Suki.
Dee was breathing fast and his color looked bad. He had both hands pressed to his chest. “Am I having a heart attack?” he asked. Jack saw some scarlet start to seep onto Dee’s white shi
rt.
“I’d like a gin and tonic,” said a man dressed in a pirate outfit, coming up to the bar and leaning over Dee and Jack.
“Hold on.” Suki was on the phone, yelling the bar’s address so that the person on the other end could hear it. He clutched the phone to his ear with one hand, served the drinks with the other, and kept a worried eye on Dee all at the same time. “What happened to him, man?” he asked Jack.
“Is the ambulance on its way?” Jack was holding Dee now, as he’d slumped over on the seat.
“Yeah. Man, he’s bleeding!” Suki jumped over the bar and grabbed Dee’s shoulders. “What happened?”
“The Heart Taker was here.” Jack didn’t want to let go of Dee, but he had to tell Jeffrey. “Help me carry him to the office.”
Suki didn’t waste time asking questions. He helped Jack get Dee to the office and lay him on the couch. He grabbed the phone in the office and called Jeffrey. Jeffrey said he was on his way.
Only then did Jack think to look for Brianna. She stood, her back to the far wall, her eyes immense in her face. He crossed the room in three steps and grabbed her, hugging her to him as hard as he could. He buried his face in her neck and just stood there, letting the warmth and softness of her body soothe his nerves. Her arms crept around him and she stroked his back and shoulders. But she was shaking. He took a breath and stepped back.
“Mamie Hoya told me everything,” she said.
Jack nodded. “And?”
“And yes, I think it’s a good idea for you to work there. And yes, I’ll help you. But Jack, what happened to Dee? Why did you tell Jeffrey the Heart Taker was here?” Her voice had been rising steadily and it finished on a high, frightened warble.
“Because he was here. He’s been looking for you. I tried to stop him, but he attacked Dee. I’m not a very good mutant catcher yet.” Jack said.
Brianna blinked and tears spilled down her cheeks. “Will he be all right?”
“I don’t know.” Jack hugged her again, and again, as soon as she was in his arms, the world righted itself and everything looked brighter, somehow. Or Mamie Hoya had just switched on the halogen light above Dee’s desk.
Davinia knocked on the door. “The ambulance is here!”
Jack opened it, and the emergency squad rushed in, loaded Dee on a trolley, and rushed out again. Mamie Hoya went with them and promised to keep everyone informed. Suki, after a worried look in Dee’s direction, went back to the bar, and Jack found himself alone with Brianna.
“I’m a failure,” he said.
“Give yourself credit for saving me at least. And Dee would have died if you hadn’t stopped the Heart Taker. Let’s just believe he’ll be fine for now and stop worrying about something we have no control over.” Brianna pointed to the bag in his hand, “What’s that?”
Jack showed her, keeping the hat out of sight. Then there came another knock on the door, and Jeffrey was there.
“I hope you’re ready. I’m taking you to a crime scene. The Heart Taker got his Halloween victim after all.”
Chapter Seventeen
A Broken Heart
In the car, Brianna didn’t have time to ask Jack why he’d fled. She’d been embarrassed, furious, miserable, and then embarrassed again, thinking about how she’d flung herself on him. And she didn’t really want to talk about it in front of other people. No one else needed to know that her seduction scene had failed. She’d hash it out with Jack later. Maybe. But the confusion she felt about him made it hard for her to concentrate on Jeffrey’s words. When they arrived at the crime scene, she tried to get back into police-mode.
Jack helped her out of the car and she stood up and looked around, her mind suddenly snapping back into a more professional manner. She took in the police cruiser, the ambulance, the tape and the markers, her police training taking over automatically. Good. She could do this. She was a cop. She was a pro. Brianna noticed the policemen were staring at her at the same time she remembered she was also still wearing her pink dress, fairy wings, and fake tiara.
She paused, and then ducked under the crime scene tape. She stepped carefully around the small yellow markers on the ground, noting the numbers on them. The scene she took in a sweeping glance, the narrow alley ending in a high, brick wall, the body lying just inside the alley, the pool of blood that had already stopped moving but hadn’t lost its shine. Then details clicked in her brain. Fingers curled upwards, blood on the sole of the left shoe, a Kleenex near the body.
Something was odd. Brianna looked around and nearly didn’t get it, and then she noticed the stillness. No one was talking. Usually there was a steady murmur of voices. The three officers gathered on the far side near the tape were staring at her and Jack in wary silence. Jack stood by the wall, looking at the body, a sick expression on his pale face. He clutched his cape around his broad shoulders. With his black hair, pale skin, and glittering eyes, Jack didn’t look quite human, but he certainly didn’t look frightening.
Maybe it was her outfit? Brianna looked down at her pink taffeta skirt and then at one of the police officers. He caught her eye and jumped.
“Is anything wrong officer?” she asked.
He hesitated. “Are you a mutant or an undead?”
“Neither.” Jeffrey’s voice was trenchant and the look he gave the officer would have withered roses. “This is Jack Severn and special agent Brianna Henley. She used to work for the city police department. She was my partner.” He emphasized the word partner, and even in the darkness Brianna could see the other officer flush.
“Sorry, Captain,” he said to Jeffrey. “With the costumes … aw hell, I forgot it was Halloween for a minute.” The other officers shifted uncomfortably and looked away.
Jack looked from Brianna to Jeffrey to the group of officers. “Are they afraid of us?” He asked Jeffrey in a low voice.
“Don’t worry about them,” said Jeffrey absently, carefully picking his way to the side of the corpse. “They don’t like working on mutant or undead cases. Very few people do, as you can imagine. It used to give me the creeps too.” He gave Jack a crooked smile. “This is new, but you’ll get used to it.” To the nearest officer he asked, “Were there any witnesses?”
“Just one.” The officer who’d asked her if she were a mutant ducked under the tape and stepped forward. He shook Brianna’s hand and she was pleased to see it was a real handshake, firm and energetic. She hadn’t liked the idea of scaring anyone. “She’s sitting in the patrol car. She was in a pretty bad way when we found her.”
“You were first on the scene?” Brianna asked.
“Officer Larry Merle was first. I arrived on his heels. No one else trampled the crime scene. The witness was trying to climb that brick wall.” He pointed the end of the alleyway. “She’d obviously tried to run and panicked, hit the wall and then just stood there and screamed.”
“I know what she felt like,” said Brianna grimly. “All right. Thanks officer, uh, Slinger.” She peered at his badge.
“Officer Dan Slinger at your service, ma’am.” Brianna thought his smile was a bit smarmy. She also noticed her top button was still undone and that the dress, never very modest, now bared a good expanse of what her grandmother had called “bosom.”
Jeffrey and Jack were standing near the victim, so Brianna excused herself and, buttoning her corset, went to join them. Taking a deep breath, she clenched her fists and then looked down.
The Heart Taker, no question about it. A once white paper, now stained dark red, filled the gaping hole where heart used to beat. No other wound. A look of pained surprise on the victim’s face. A woman, dressed in a Halloween costume representing a nurse, the immaculate white outfit now bloodied. Brianna stepped back, her heart suddenly lurching in her chest. The woman had auburn hair. It had to be a coincidence. Her hands strayed to her own hair. Almost the same, cinnamon shade. She managed to get her breathing back to normal and turned to Jeffrey.
“Pictures taken?” she asked.
“
Yes, and the forensic people have been over the scene. Doctor Banbury is in charge of medical, and he’s with the witness right now, making sure she doesn’t go into shock.” Jeffrey sighed. “I really hoped we’d catch him tonight. Who knows where he’s going to strike next.”
“Anyone look at the poem yet?” Jack came to stand next to her, his expression strained. It must be bizarre looking down at a crime scene that echoed your own murder, Brianna thought.
“Not yet.” Jeffrey put on gloves, took a pair of tweezers, and crouched down. He lifted the paper carefully from the chest cavity and delicately unfolded it, and slid it into a clear plastic envelope. He looked at it, then without a word, handed it to Brianna.
“Roses are Red, Violets are blue. You’re not the one I wanted, but sweetheart you’ll do.” Brianna read it aloud, and part of her mind registered the fact that her voice remained steady, not wavering once. Her knees started to shake though, and she had to swallow hard to keep the bile down her throat.
An arm encircled her shoulders. Jack held her tightly and she managed to stop shaking. “The bastard,” she whispered.
“All right. Let’s go. We’ve seen enough,” said Jeffrey. He nodded to Jack. “Do you want to look around some more?”
“No.” Jack squeezed Brianna’s shoulders once more and then let go.
She took another deep breath and felt better. “I’d like to talk to the witness.”
Brianna accompanied Jeffrey to the car where a woman sat in the back seat next to a man she recognized as Dr. Banbury. They shook hands, and Brianna slid into the front seat, twisting around to face the witness.
The woman looked awful. Her hands shook as she held the tea, and most of it spilled down her chin when she tried to drink. She wore a black dress and her black, fishnet stockings, Brianna noticed, had huge runs in them. A witch’s hat lay crumpled at her feet. She’d been disguised as a witch. Some streaks of green makeup still remained on her blotchy, tear-stained face.
Jack the Stripper Page 15
