Blood Debt (Judah Black Novels Book 2) (11 page)

I walked down the driveway, leaving my car behind, flanked on either side and behind by a suit. On the roof, the form I’d seen earlier stood up, revealing I’d been correct in assuming he was an expertly positioned sniper. Unlike the others, though, he wasn’t dressed in a snazzy suit. He was wearing a cap and tan, lightweight body armor, the kind I would have expected to see in the deserts of Afghanistan or Iraq rather than Texas. As he shifted, I was able to make out the emblem on his chest: a bright red fleur-de-lis.

I didn’t get too good of a look at him because the big house beyond the little guard post caught my eye. Two stories tall, the sprawling mansion was modeled after a Spanish hacienda, though it wasn’t as big or grand as the one I’d seen earlier on TV. Warm reds, vibrant blues and pristine whites colored the roof, doors, and walkways. The main house was a perfect contradiction of curves and sharp angles, each one in an architectural tug of war against the other and yet somehow working along with it.

Brutus led me up to an arched entry way where we paused to radio ahead. While I waited, I noticed the windows were all fake. Oh, the glass was real enough but, behind each, there was only a walkway and not a whole house. The house proper was one of those custom built homes, guaranteed to keep out every shred of UV light.

See, the old adage about vampires bursting into flames in the sunlight…Well, it wasn’t exactly true. They could go out but, depending on their diet and how long it had been since they last fed, most were extremely sensitive to sunlight. Even brief periods in the sun led to a sunburn. Extended exposure caused sun poisoning. But I’d never known one to burst into flames or die in the light of dawn. And, with a steady diet of human blood, they could sit out in the sun all day long with few adverse effects. Still, since there was no telling how long was too long, most vampires avoided sunlight altogether. Unless they had no other choice, vampires preferred a nocturnal lifestyle.

My guides moved forward and I went with them into the house. The inside was just as lavish as the outside. Narrow corridors ensured we were never more than one abreast and copious windows facing the outside terrace guaranteed I was never out of a sniper’s scope. I saw a few more security guards inside with the same emblem on their chests, usually standing next to doors or patrolling hallways.

This must be the private security Robbie mentioned,
I thought.
Seems odd she would surround herself with bodyguards if she wasn’t expecting trouble.

Brutus and company led me to an arched doorway at the end of a second corridor. One of the security guys pushed the door open for me. He gave me an old fashioned tip of his cap as I walked by. “Ma’am,” he said in the form of an acknowledgment.

The room beyond was a standard meeting room, much like the one I’d left behind at the precinct in Paint Rock…only nicer. The table was long and black with a glass polished top. Set in the middle was a high-end computer with a heads up display projecting on a screen of rotating clear glass. The chairs were plush red and had arm rests and a reclining feature.

At the head of the table sat a red haired vixen with eyes of burning coal. She wore a smart looking black blazer with a matching mini skirt and painful looking heels. The blazer was buttoned once. She wasn’t wearing another shirt under it.

Next to her was a middle-aged woman with bifocals, a blue power tie and a silk suit. She had a legal pad open in front of her, the page blank. Her black ball point pen tapped against the pages at an uneven pace. It was the little woman in the suit who rose to greet me, though, and not the sultry vampire next to her. She extended her hand to me. “Special Agent Black. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Jenna Snyder of Snyder, Billings and Rowan based out of Dallas. This is my client, Ms. Kelley.”

I frowned and stared down the vampire, ignoring her lawyer completely. “Guess I missed lunch, huh?”

The corner of Kim’s perfectly painted lips turned up.

I put my hands casually in my pockets. “Is the mouthpiece going to do all the talking, Kim, or can we just cut out the middle man and get this over with?”

“Don’t answer that,” the lawyer advised.

Kim ignored her. “This is the part where you tell me lawyering up makes me look guilty,” she said, leaning forward. She pressed her wrists together, shoving her elbows against her breasts as she practically threw herself on the table. “Go on and cuff me. I’ve been a very bad girl.”

I was smart enough to avoid looking at her directly. Remember that vampire cobra analogy? Well, Kim was the attractive cobra-like type, beautiful until you get close enough they can strike. Then you’re too dead to care.

“Gee,” I mused. “A confession and I haven’t even gotten to the part where I get to play bad cop yet. A new personal best.”

“Oh, Judah,” she purred, drawing her body up. “I’d heard you had a sharp tongue.”

The lawyer tugged at the collar of her shirt and said in a shaky voice, “That wasn’t a confession. Ms. Kelley admits to no wrongdoing. Whatever it is you want to know, let’s get on with it.”

“Yes, let’s,” continued Kim. “Unless you’d rather do pleasure before business? I am
famished
.” She drew a pink tongue over her lips.

I jerked out the chair closest to me and sat down in it. “Can you account for your whereabouts last night?”

Kim chuckled. “So direct! I’ve always had a soft spot for a woman who knows what she wants.”

“Answer the question.”

“I was here,” she said, spreading her arms wide. “I didn’t go anywhere near the club and dozens of my employees and guards will vouch for me.”

An alibi didn’t mean she was innocent. Someone with as many powerful ties as Kim had could blackmail or buy her way to an alibi if she wanted one. But no one had seen her at the club and Robbie had bemoaned her absence. She wasn’t there, which meant she didn’t pull the metaphorical trigger. It didn’t mean she didn’t know who did.

“I had a look at your financials this morning,” I said.

“You need a warrant for that,” the lawyer protested, rising.

“Not when the information is freely given. Kim and Robbie have to report any business income on a quarterly basis to BSI. BSI tracks business income, looking for discrepancies. Hush money. Protection rackets. You’d be amazed at how stupid some criminals can be.”

I matched eyes with Kim, glaring at her as hard as I could. She pushed up her dimpled cheeks and gave a pleasant, warm smile in return.

“Aisling is hemorrhaging money,” I continued. “You owe a debt to both the Stryx and the Upyri, and it’s killing you. Is that why Crux and Harry rolled into town? I bet you were practically chomping at the bit to find a way out from under your debt.” She finally turned her head away. I thought I’d hit a nerve and so I pushed harder. “How’d you get in so deep, Kim? What happened at Aisling that meant you needed to take out massive loans from two rival clans? Do you know what could happen if they find out you’ve been taking money from both of them?”

“Nothing,” she said firmly, leaning back and crossing her arms.

“The Stryx and Upyri have been at each other’s throats ever since the Revelation. Your double dealing combined with this murder could be enough to send them over the edge. This could be war, Kim. There could be bodies. Vampire bodies.”

“Human bodies, too,” added Kim with a yawn. “Which I’m sure you’re actually much more concerned about.”

“The point remains. Help me clean this up. Helping me helps you.”

There was silence for a moment as she considered what I had said. Her lawyer leaned in closer and the two of them had a short conversation in hushed tones before the lawyer sat back.

“Robbie and I opened Aisling with a loan from my father,” Kim said matter-of-factly. “Private parties and theme nights have kept the lights on but the venture has always been in the red.”

“I’ve seen what you charge for a VIP membership,” I said pulling out my notebook to make notes. “How is that even possible?”

“Well, let’s see. I pay my employees a living wage. I pay for their medical treatments, as the law requires. I pay for heat, lighting, water, props, clothing, computer equipment…And then BSI levies an astronomical fee I have to pay quarterly.”

“It’s a tax,” I corrected.

“A tax humans don’t have to pay.”

“Humans don’t drink blood. The tax pays for BSI services and equipment.” It also helped pay my salary but, as there was a disgruntled, tax paying vampire in the room, I figured I’d better not bring it up.

Kim waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Call it what you like. I still have to pay it. Aisling usually loses money every month. Until a few months ago, I was able to make it up with personal funds.”

“What happened six months ago? Daddy cut you off?”

The vampire flashed her fangs at me. “My father cut his support from the Aisling venture after Robbie disobeyed a direct order to help you.”

Oops. I’d almost forgotten. During my last big case, my son had been kidnapped and I forced Robbie to take me to a witness who could help. He’d been under orders at the time to wait until Marcus gave the all clear. My clock had been ticking, though, and I all but tortured Robbie until he agreed to go against Marcus’ orders. I hadn’t had another option at the time.

“So, you managed to keep yourself afloat from savings for nine months or so,” I said. “And then the savings ran out. I get it. But why go to both the Upyri and the Stryx?”

“Two million dollars let me pay off the loan and all my creditors and gave Robbie all the cash he needed to upgrade some equipment and get his displaced fae set up with permanent housing.” She crossed her arms and stuck out her bottom lip. “But the Stryx have bad blood with my family. Even though they were the richest clan, I couldn’t go to them. I asked the Upyris…who would only loan me half the sum I needed and at an insanely high interest rate.”

“Why didn’t you just turn them down?”

“I needed the money,” Kim said through clenched teeth. “Of course, what I didn’t know was Robbie had already gone to the Stryx and secured a loan for the full amount. I tried to return the money and cancel out the second loan but they wouldn’t have it. Said I had to make one year’s worth of good faith payments before they’d consider taking any of it back.” She rolled her eyes. “If anyone’s to blame for this mess, it’s Robbie. He should have never meddled in my half of the business.” She leaned forward and pointed emphatically at her chest with each word. “I handle the money. He handles the employees. That’s how it’s always worked. He’s the one that fucked it all up.”

Well
, I thought. There was the source of the argument between Kim and Robbie. It didn’t do the investigation any good but at least it explained why they were fighting.

“Killing Harry wouldn’t have gotten me out of my debt,” Kim remarked, relaxing. “And I didn’t even know the other girl who died. People was Robbie’s end of the business. So, I’ve got no motive, Agent Black, no means, as I don’t have any magick, and no opportunity, since I was here. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”

The lawyer stood. “I think we’re done here. My client has answered all your questions and she has a very busy schedule to keep so if you wouldn’t mind—”

“I’m not finished. I still have questions and I’m not leaving until I get some answers.”

Kim’s lips trembled as she fought to keep from smiling. “My, aren’t you the confident one?”

The lawyer leaned in as if to whisper to her client but Kim grabbed her by the suit jacket instead, lifting her out of the seat and forcing her to meet Kim’s gaze. “Why don’t you make like usual and finish early, Jenna?” Kim licked Jenna’s cheek.

The lawyer made a quiet sound and started to shake. Her eyes rolled back in her head. I turned away, doing my best to shut out the sounds of ecstasy the woman was making. Kim laughed, flashing white fangs, and cast the woman down to the floor and out of sight. It was a long moment before the lawyer could regulate her breathing again. On wobbly legs, she stood, adjusted her clothes without meeting my eyes and hurried out of the room before Kim could do anything worse.

“You see,” Kim said as the door clicked shut behind the lawyer. “If I want something, I get it. If I wanted Harry dead, I wouldn’t have to be so dramatic. I’d just cut off his fucking head and be done with it.”

I cleared my throat. “But you and Harry did have some kind of deal?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course we did. Harry was a prick but he was a high ranking Stryx. He and his cousin offered me a deal, a deal that is now void, thanks to what happened. Why do you think I have this security? Crux thinks I’m going to try and get out of the deal. But I know better than to cross the Stryx. My mother made that mistake. Do you want to know where she is now?”

I swallowed. “Uh…dead?”

Her whole face twitched. “Extremely.”

I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat, eager to take control of the conversation again. “So, what? You gave Harry some film space and the girls and he wiped away some of your debt?”

“He offered to cut me in as a silent partner. Only, instead of a royalty check, he offered to apply my earnings to the debt. Crux was here to sign off on the agreement. He handles the Stryx finances.”

“So, Robbie was right. You were trying to cut him out of a deal.”

“To pay a debt he caused!” She closed her eyes a moment and took a few deep breaths.

“Still, you’ve got to admit it looks pretty suspicious, you pulling all your security the one night there’s a murder in your club…Why?”

“My money pays for them, agent,” she said nonchalantly. “Robbie and I had an argument. He viewed the security as an unnecessary expense. I decided if I was going to sink the last of my money into a private army, I was going to keep them at home. I’m sure now Robbie realizes how useful they are.”

“I’m going to need the names of some people willing to vouch for your whereabouts. I’d like to talk to them, too.”

Kim gave a sultry smirk. “They walked you in here, agent. Ask if you want. Trust me. They didn’t let me out of their sight from midnight until about five in the morning. That’s when I got the call something had happened at the club. I would have gone out there but, well, I didn’t want to fight with Robbie in front of everyone. Besides, my bodyguards were a little tired. Seems I took a lot out of them.”