Blood Lust (17 page)

Chapter 14

Finally, Darby had some information on Samantha Collins. Poor girl had been institutionalized locally,
no wonder no one could find her
. She had fallen off the face of the earth and landed in Belmont, MA at Mclean Mental Hospital, not too far from Boston.

Darby didn’t want to bother Mark as she had asked him for too many favors and freebees already. She took a bus to the hospital on a Saturday morning and was able to get in to talk to Samantha Collins. What a pretty thing she was. They had her on some serious meds though. Darby wasn’t sure that she would be able to get much out of her.

“Samantha, I’m a friend of Anton’s. Do you remember Anton Larsen?”

“Yes, I do, I’m here because of him.”

“You are, how so?”

“First I got a call that said I would be very, very rich if I didn’t see him anymore, but I liked him, he was sweet and handsome and I didn’t want to leave him. Very soon after, an angel visited me and told me he was very, very bad, but it was the angel that was bad, not Anton. She had scary teeth. Angels don’t have teeth like that and I wouldn’t listen to the angel, but she wouldn’t leave me alone. I saw her everywhere; at work, at home, in my dreams, in my car, everywhere, and nobody believed there was a scary angel following me, so they put me in here. Now the scary angel doesn’t bother me anymore.”

“Can you describe the scary angel?”

“Oh yes, she has long golden hair, perfect skin, brown eyes, and scary teeth.”

“Samantha. You were right. She is not an angel, she’s a bad person and she wanted to keep you away from Anton.”

“I know. I’ve always known.”

“Good. Now Samantha, don’t tell anyone I was here. I will make sure the scary angel never scares you again, okay?”

“Good. Then can I see Anton?”

“Yes, I will bring him myself if I have to. But you can’t tell anyone we talked, okay? I will send someone back here very soon and you will always be safe.”

“Thank you. I’ll be as quiet as a mouse. I promise.”

“Good. Bye for now, but I will see you soon.”

“Bye.”

Okay, so her confession probably wouldn’t hold up in court, but I’ll just bet Libby’s name is somewhere on the committal paperwork.
When she got back to the house, she texted Mark and told him of her visit. She asked if he might be able to get a set of the paperwork for Samantha’s committal. She was sure this would be enough to sway Anton.

Mark had said that he wanted to get together with her this evening. He had some information and he wanted her to come on a stakeout with him.

When Mark drove up to the house, again the lights were off as she met him on the porch. He opened the door for her and she got in with the same black overcoat she had been wearing the last time he had seen her. He didn’t say anything about her apparel but he did say, “Um, Darby, I need to ask you something.”

“Sure, Mark, anything.”

“Do you have any electricity?”

“Sure I do, don’t be a knucklehead. It’s March in Massachusetts, you think I’m nuts?”

“No, but maybe broke. It’s just the last couple times I’ve been here, I’ve seen no sign of electricity.”

He reached over and touched her hands. “You are ice-cold, Darby. And when was the last time you ate?”

“This afternoon, like everyone.”

“You’re lying to me, Darby. I will call Anton, if you don’t start being straight with me.”

“Fine. I don’t have electricity. I have to make the money I have last as long as it takes to find Devon. I have plenty of blankets and I’m getting along just fine.”

“And eating?”

“I eat. I’m not starving.”

“Well, just for the record…I don’t approve. Here, I brought a pizza for our stakeout. Eat up. There’s a cooler in the back with some Pepsi.” While he drove, he handed her a file folder that was under the pizza on the seat. “Here. You were right. Libby’s signature is on the committal papers.”

“Great. So where are we going?”

“We’re going to Simon Corbel’s house. I was told by one of the neighbors that a really pretty blonde woman shows up like clockwork every Thursday night. I came here last Thursday and she was driving that red flashy car you said she and Devon took off in from the Larsens’. It must have been in storage or something until the heat was off, but it has since shown up in a couple of locations. It’s been spotted at Michael Porter’s residence in the Hamptons, and like I said, it’s been seen at Corbel’s. I’m thinking she has a guy for each day of the week. Thought maybe we could follow her to wherever she goes after, maybe that’s where Devon is or maybe he is one of the lucky gentlemen. I’ve also heard from the gossip at Michael Porter’s corporate offices, that no one has physically seen Porter in the office for going on six months. Same with Corbel.”

“Maybe she keeps them there too weak to go to work, like she did with Anton. Just alive, but not able to do much else but satisfy her.”

“You were right. She is gorgeous. I really thought you had overstated her looks, given your predicament.”

“We have to be very careful, Mark. If she thinks anyone is on to her, she’ll drain these guys, leave them to die, and ditch town to find some new blood and that includes Devon.”

“That is if Devon isn’t in on it.” Darby ignored his remark. She was used to everyone telling her she was wrong about him. She still needed to see it for herself.

“So what do we do?”

“We wait, and lie low.”

“You are such a P.I.”

“Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should. It suits you.”

“So what will you do if Devon is in cahoots with her? Or in love with her?”

“I’ll let it go and go home.”

“Home? Where?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t really have a home anymore. I suppose, I could move in with the Larsens, or I could move back to California. I still own half a house there; at least I think I do, unless my sister hasn’t told me something.”

“You and your sister are close?”

“You know, we used to be. But since I’ve been on this quest to find Devon, I’ve found just about everyone has disowned me.”

“Even your sister?”

“Even her. I guess I can’t blame her. It sounds crazy what I’m doing. I know that. Maybe I should be the one in the hospital, not Samantha. Sometimes you just have to do what you believe is to be right, no matter how everyone else feels about it. It hurts a lot to be so all alone, though. I never thought I would survive living alone, especially on the other side of the continent from where I’ve always been. Until I met Devon, I had barely ever been out of California. Los Angeles was the most foreign land I had ever been to. Now I live in the snow, thousands of miles away from what used to be home. Now I’m not sure where home is. I guess I’m kind of in between.”

“Put your hood up and cover your hair; here comes a car.” They slunk down in the seats. The car went to the stop sign and turned left.

“So do you think you could ever call the east coast your home?”

“I don’t know. I never thought I’d live here, and I’ve been here since November. I guess anything possible. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. I guess I would miss you if you moved. You’re kind of okay to hang out with.”

“Well, thanks. I’d miss you too.”

“Scootch down, here comes another car.”

“Is ‘scootch’ a technical P.I. word?”

“Shut up and scootch. Uh huh. Here we go. Bright red expensive car.” Mark wrote down the license.

“That’s definitely the car and…yep, that is definitely her.” Libby never even turned to look around her to see if anyone was watching. She was so confident she just slinked her way to the door and let herself in with a key.

“She must have one hell of a set of keys,” Mark joked.

“Yeah…no kidding. So last time you were here, was it an all nighter, a late nighter, or a quickie? I can’t imagine these guys have much to give anymore.”

“You’ve been brushing up on your P.I. lingo. Last time it was a late nighter, but these guys have got to be pretty spent after six months of this; I’m hoping for a quickie.”

“You’re such a smooth-talker, Mark. You use that line on the ladies?”

“Sometimes, what of it?” She shook her head. “Whoa, scootch, quick.” Libby was back out of the house and getting in the car. “Now the fun begins.”

“For who?” Darby said.

“Secure the pizza and put on your seatbelt.” He started the car as Libby turned the corner, but didn’t turn on the lights.

“You don’t think she killed him, do you? It was certainly not long enough for her to do the quickie.”

“I don’t know. Can’t worry about him right now. We need to stay out of sight and watch where she goes.”

“You know you shouldn’t drive without your lights on; it’s very dangerous and it’s against the law.”

“Darby…”

“What?”

“Shut up.”

“I’m just saying, you could get hurt, but hey, I’ll just sit over here and shut up.”

“You’ve had too much Pepsi.”

She laughed. Libby turned on to a main road and that’s when Mark turned on the lights, before he turned the corner to follow. He stayed back a couple of cars. The bright red car was easy to keep an eye on. “I think she’s going to get on the turnpike.”

“Okay, fine. Why do they call them turnpikes? In California we don’t have to pay to get on a freeway, hence the name, I suppose. Bridges yes, highways and freeways, no.”

“Shhhh. I’m concentrating.”

They followed her to Fairfield, Connecticut, not too far from the Larsens, to a large house near the beach. She didn’t park in the garage. Which either meant it wasn’t her house (maybe another gentleman’s), or there was another car in the garage. Which didn’t tell them anything, but they had an address.

“So you never told me what became of the address on the post-it note in New York,” Darby said.

“Would you believe me if I told you it was THIS address?”

“No way!”

“Way. I had a suspicion, but I wanted to follow her to make sure. I’ve never seen the red car out front. There’s usually an indiscreet BMW in the driveway.”

“That’s probably what’s in the garage.”

“So who owns the place?”

“A Leon Openheimer.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Yeah, doesn’t help much unless he’s on the list of pure bloods.”

“Good point.” She called Anton. “Hey, it’s Darby. How are you?”

“Fine, Darby, How are you?”

“Good, and Dominic?”

“Everything’s fine here. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I need to meet with you right away.”

“Okay. Is tomorrow soon enough?”

“Sure! Would you be willing to pay for a taxi to come pick me up?”

“I can send the driver.”

“No, a taxi is fine. In the interim, though, you wouldn’t happen to know of a Leon Openheimer, would you?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Is he a vampire?”

“Was a vampire. He died about a year ago.”

“Pure blood?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I just followed your little red flashy car to his house and guess who was driving?”

“You found Devon?”

“I don’t know yet, but your wife was driving the car. I’m also bringing you proof tomorrow that your wife sent away Colleen Heenan and Angela Marcus, buying them new lives. However, Samantha Collins put up a fight for you and Libby had her committed at Mclean’s Mental Hospital. I visited her this morning. She told me how a beautiful angel with long golden hair, and scary teeth, told her to leave you alone and when she refused, Libby started messing with the poor girl’s mind. She saw the scary angel everywhere and no one believed her and they took her to the hospital where she doesn’t see the scary angel anymore.”

“Darby. I don’t know what to say.”

“Say that you believe me, finally, Anton.”