Murder in Vein (2010) (38 page)

Ben looked down at her. With the hand not holding the gun,
he reached up and pulled off his wig, revealing his short hair
underneath. "Remember me?"

Madison put on the best pretend shock she could muster.
"You? The guy who loves Cobb salads? You're a vampire? How
cool is that?" Then she paused and, as if changing shoes, changed
her look to puzzlement. "Wait-if you're a vampire, how come
you're eating salad?"

Ben laughed for the first time. "Vampires not eating is just a
myth. But we prefer blood-especially the blood of young, stupid girls."

Before Madison could say anything more, Ethan slapped tape
back over her mouth.

Ben put the gun back under his shirt and went to the van,
returning with medical paraphernalia. It looked to Madison like
the equipment used when she donated blood.

"We'll drain it here and drink it later," Ben said to Ethan.
"With her, we should have enough for the three of us."

"The three of us?" inquired Ethan. "So Lilith's definitely out?"

"Those were my orders as of this afternoon." Ben smirked.
"You didn't really think we were taking her all the way, did you?"

"Of course not. I just thought we wouldn't kill her until we
were sure our plan worked."

"Even if it doesn't, we don't need Lilith anymore"

Ethan looked down at Madison. "Aren't you going to give her
something to calm her down?"

Ben shook his head. "The more she struggles, the faster the
heart should pump it out until near the end, when she gets too
weak to fight."

From behind the tape, Madison grunted as a needle found its
way into one of her veins.

Ethan stroked Madison's hair as her blood began to flow down
the plastic tubing into a bag. "I'm really going to miss drinking it
straight from the vessel this time," he told Ben with regret.

"When we're done," Ben told him with a sick grin, "I'll let you
lick the spoon."

They both laughed.

Madison stopped moving and lay perfectly still, not wanting
to rush the process.

After a few minutes, Ben said to Ethan, "It's probably dark out
by now. Why don't you go outside and try to spot that guy." He
brought the gun out again and handed it to Ethan. "Here, take
this in case he gives you any trouble."

Ethan left the table and walked away, heading around the van
to the side door of the building. "Man," he said from behind the
van. "You have to be more careful. You left the side door open
again."

Ben swore under his breath. "Well, it's not like you helped me
lug her in here."

Without warning, a shot rang out, and Ben fell to the floor
like a sack of manure.

Scared out of her wits, Madison jerked her head as far as she
could to see what was going on. From the narrow space between the front of the van and the main garage door, Mike Notchey
emerged. Madison's heart jumped in her chest with surprise and
relief. He looked at Madison but didn't make a move toward her.
Instead, he stayed pressed against the van as Ethan ran in, gun
drawn.

When he spotted Ben on the floor, Ethan spun on one foot
and fired the gun before seeing what he was firing at. The bullet hit the side of the van. He got off a second shot, which tore
through Notchey. Notchey also fired three times, the second and
third bullet hitting Ethan Young dead in the chest.

Notchey stumbled to Madison and removed the tape from
her mouth, taking more skin with the adhesive. She let out a
sharp yelp. "Let's get you out of here." He started working on her
bindings but had to stop as pain ran through his body like an
out-of-control freight train.

"Oh my god!" Madison yelled when she saw blood spreading
across Notchey's shirt.

"Don't worry about me." He tore off the binding on her left
arm and removed the needle, being careful with the tubing and
blood bag. "Bend your arm to stop the bleeding," he ordered. She
obeyed.

Removing the binding on Madison's other arm, Notchey
stopped to take several deep breaths. It was then his eyes caught
sight of the bundle against the wall, near the boxes. With her
arms free, Madison sat up and focused on what had snagged
Mike's attention. A scream started in her throat, but she cut it
short. Propped against the wall, wrapped in clear plastic, was the
body of Gordon, Samuel's bodyguard.

Madison forced her attention back to the living. "Forget
him-we have to get you help."

He shook his head. "I'm waiting for Colin. I overheard he's on
his way. As soon as he gets you out of here, I'll call for backup."
He went to work on the bindings on Madison's legs.

Madison grabbed Notchey's arm. "I'm not leaving without
you.

"Nothing I can't handle if Reddy doesn't dawdle. Now shut
up and help me."

Madison was nearly free when Colin came through the side
door. The vampire came around the van, took one look at the
chaos, and ran to help Notchey, only pausing for a half second
when his eyes snagged on Gordon's body.

"He's bleeding bad," Madison told Colin.

"Forget me," Notchey told Colin. "Get her the hell out of here.
And take that blood shit with you." Notchey also wadded up
Madison's bindings and handed them to Colin. "Take anything
that could link her or her DNA to this place," he ordered as he
leaned against the table for support.

Colin, understanding instantly, helped the wobbly Madison
to her feet. She hung on to the table for support. Grabbing Madison's jacket from the floor, he threw it over her shoulders. Then
he policed the area again, looking for other traces of her being
there.

"That your phone?" he asked her, pointing to one on the
floor, by the table. When she nodded, he picked it up and handed
it to her. Then he took his own jacket off and wrapped the blood
bag and tubing in it. "Come on, Madison," he said in a firm voice.
"Mike's right, we have to get you out of here."

"What about Gordon?"

"It's too late to help him."

A cell phone rang, but it wasn't Madison's. The sound was
coming from Ben's body. Carefully, Colin retrieved the phone
from Ben's pocket and looked at the display, surprise registering
at the name. He slipped the phone into his own pocket and continued to help Madison.

Holding his bloody side, Mike grimaced and turned to Colin.
"You have two minutes, then I'm calling for backup."

"But ..." Madison stammered, still not wanting to leave Mike
behind.

"Go with Colin," Notchey demanded. "I'll call as soon as I
can.

Reluctantly, Madison let Colin lead her around the van and
out the door. Once outside, they walked as fast as Madison could.
Colin held his bundle in one arm and wrapped his other arm
around Madison's waist to support her. They kept close to the
buildings and in the shadows until they reached his motorcycle,
which he'd parked out of sight, next to a dumpster behind one
of the first buildings. Once safely on, Madison directed him over
the freeway to the burger joint where she'd parked her car.

"You okay to drive?" Colin asked, unsure no matter what she
answered.

"Yes. I'm feeling much better now." She sucked on a Coke
Colin had bought her and leaned against her car. Her eyes wandered across the freeway. Seconds earlier, sirens had screamed
down Hollywood Boulevard and turned in the direction they
had just come from.

"Mike's going to be fine, Madison," Colin assured her.

"And Gordon? He won't be."

"No, he won't, but Samuel will handle that."

s Colin had promised, Mike Notchey was fine. When the
police reached him, he was sitting propped against the van
holding his gun on the men on the floor. Ben had been killed
instantly; Ethan died on the way to the hospital. Traces of blood
linking them to the deaths of the women and Geoff Baxter had
been found in the van, including a cooler holding bags of blood,
some of it from Geoff. The police were trying to trace the sources
of the other blood.

Ben's gun had also been the weapon that had killed Gordon. Gordon's connection to Ethan and Ben was never made
clear, and the police assumed he'd been part of the killing spree,
though they couldn't prove it. Since Gordon had no family, Samuel didn't set the record straight, which would have required a
detailed explanation. He also managed to keep his name as Cordon's employer out of it, though privately he mourned the man
who'd served him faithfully for so many years.

Several days later, Mike and Madison were enjoying some
fall sunlight on the Dedham patio. After leaving the hospital, Mike had come to stay with them for a few days until he got his
strength back, giving Dodie a full house and a patient to look
after, much to her delight.

"I would never have forgiven myself had you died," Madison told Mike, being alone with him for the first time since the
shooting. "You should have let me stay and help, even if Colin
couldn't."

Notchey shook his head. "No way," he insisted. "They would
have interrogated you until you dropped-not that you would
have folded willingly under the pressure, but we couldn't take
that chance. As far as the police know, I went to that garage on a
tip from an old bum and found them packing their shit to disappear. Young fired on me. I fired back, hitting both of them. Four
bullets for two scumbags." He shrugged. "Perfect ending to a shit
story."

"But I'm the one who got the tip from Cubby." Madison
looked over at Mike, who was settled on a chaise. She could tell
he was itching for a cigarette, but he'd made the decision to use
his convalescence to stop cold turkey.

"Yes," Notchey admitted. "And I followed the tip by following
you. I knew when we talked that day you were hiding something"
He shook his head. "I may not be Samuel, but I am a trained
detective, Madison. I know when people are avoiding the truth.
And you were so caught up with playing Nancy Drew, you never
noticed anyone shadowing you. I'm sorry I wasn't close enough
to stop him from clubbing you."

"So why did you wait so long before breaking into the garage?"

"I didn't break in. That jughead really did leave the door
open. And I needed to hear as much as I could. I also wanted
to give Colin enough time to get there." Notchey looked straight into her eyes. "Believe me, I would have stepped in sooner had
I thought they were going to kill you outright. If Colin hadn't
arrived when he did, I wouldn't have been able to get you out,
and it would have been a lot messier for all of us."

"And what about Ethan and Ben?"

Mike shifted uneasily on the chaise, grimacing as pain rippled
through his middle. He knew where Madison was going with her
question, and he knew he would have to tell her or she'd pester
him to death-or worse, go hunting for the answers on her own.

"What about them?" he asked, stalling for time to collect his
thoughts.

"From what I heard, it sounded like their orders were coming
from someone else."

With a nod, Mike confirmed her guess. "As we originally
thought, Bobby Piper and the creep in custody were foot soldiers.
Ethan and Ben were the middlemen answering to someone else."

"You know who?"

This time when he moved, the pain showed on Mike's face.

"You okay?" asked an anxious Madison.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He gingerly adjusted himself into a more
comfortable position, then took a deep breath before dumping
the info he had in her lap. "Ben Winthrop was traced to Lady
Harriet. Ben's her son."

Madison felt her jaw fall to her chest. "Her son?"

"Seems she and Winthrop Senior divorced ages ago. There's
no doubt she was the one behind the kidnappings and killingsthe big brains of the outfit."

"But she seemed so sweet and laid-back."

Mike scoffed at her words. "Yeah, so sweet she had a soundproof, completely furnished torture room in her home"

Madison nearly stopped breathing at the news. She had been
in that home.

"One of the bedrooms had been tricked out with a false wall
with a hidden door. Behind the wall was quite the dungeon. It's
no wonder the guy in the can was scared shitless. As soon as he
found out Ben and Ethan were dead, he broke down and told
the cops everything. Guys like him were hired to kidnap specific
targets. They were paid when the victims were handed over. He
claims they never did any of the killing."