Murder in Vein (2010) (4 page)

"The Dedhams can seem rather odd," Notchey commented
dryly without looking up. "But they're nice enough people." He'd
just questioned Madison about the events that had led up to
her being kidnapped and her time in the woods, but it had been
tough pulling the information out of her when all she wanted to
focus on was the vampire issue.

"Odd, my ass." Worked into a frenzy, she spun to face him.
"Did you not hear a word I've said? They're not people. They're
vampires!"

This time, the detective looked up at her, his face weary with
impatience. "How could I not hear, with the lungs on you? And
just so you know, the Dedhams can hear you, too, even if you
weren't shrieking like a banshee. They have very acute hearing."

That's not all they have, Madison thought to herself as she
glared at the detective.

After she had dropped the tray, Dodie Dedham had rushed to
Madison's side. "Dear, are you all right?"

Madison had slumped to the floor and was sagging against
the doorjamb. Her hands were over her face, trying to squeeze
out the invading memories from the night before.

"Madison, what's wrong?" Dodie had asked again. She knelt
beside the girl, speaking in a soft, soothing tone.

"Last night," Madison began, lowering her hands just enough
to stare in terror at Doug. "Last night I saw you kill Bobby. You
wanted to kill me."
"

"Nonsense," cooed Dodie next to her. "You're still alive, aren't
you? We took you in and cared for you, didn't we?"

I heard him," Madison persisted. "He wanted to kill me. He
killed Bobby."

Doug Dedham leaned back in his chair, totally unperturbed
by Madison's accusations. "Would you rather I didn't? Should I
have left that scum to kill you instead?" He let loose a low chuckle
reminiscent of dark, dank corners. "Certainly would have saved
us all a lot of trouble."

"Stop it, Doug. You're scaring the girl." Dodie started picking
up the tray and its former occupants. The teacup had broken, but
everything else was sound. When she got to her feet, Madison
rose with her but never took her eyes away from Doug.

Rising from his chair, Doug took his glass to the sink and
rinsed it out. "Better scared than dead-at least for her. Me, I
prefer dead over scared."

"Don't mind him," Dodie told Madison as she took the tray
to the kitchen counter. "He has a very dark sense of humor." She
turned to her husband. "You behave," she ordered, poking him in
the chest with an index finger.

"I am behaving, darling." He smiled at his wife while rubbing
his hands up and down her arms in a tender motion. "But she
really needs to know, especially if you plan on keeping her."

"Keeping me?" Madison straightened up, her fear downgraded
a notch by her indignation. "What am I, some sort of pet?"

The Dedhams turned and looked at her in unison-Doug
with amusement, Dodie with frustration. Without waiting for an
answer, Madison made a break for the front door.

Upon yanking the door open, Madison screamed in blinding
white terror. On the other side, Doug Dedham filled the doorway,
tall and elegant with his silver, slicked-back hair and strong jaw.
But it was impossible. It had to be. There was no way he could
have gone out the back door and made it around the front before
she reached the main door. No freaking way, she told herself. Not
at his age.

Madison glanced behind her to see Dodie standing a few feet
away in the doorway that connected to the kitchen.

"Madison, please," Dodie pleaded, as if Madison were a
young, naughty child misbehaving in church. "Sit down and listen. We're not going to hurt you."

"No!" Madison backed up and weighed her options. To her
right was the staircase, and next to it Dodie, moving slowly
toward her. To her left, Doug watched her with a hungry eye.

"I saw you," she said to Doug, pointing a finger in his direction. "I saw you bite Bobby." She shot a look at Dodie, keeping
track of her movements.

Doug stepped into the house. He was smiling. Madison
backed up, a cornered rabbit amid a hunting party.

"You ... you had fangs," Madison continued, feeling at this
point she had nothing to lose.

"Fangs?" Doug inquired.

"No, Doug," his wife warned. "She's been through enough."

Doug grinned. Ignoring his wife's caution, he looked right at
Madison. "You mean like these?" As if triggered by a spring, fangs
shot forward, framing each upper corner of Doug Dedham's
mouth as his eyes widened with a red, burning light from within.

Madison felt her mind fading as her body tried to fold in
upon itself like a tumbling house of cards. She fought to hang on
to consciousness. She tried to scream. Her mouth opened in horror, but nothing came out. Finally, she dropped to the floor out
of emotional exhaustion and waited a second time to die.

Her complete breakdown was interrupted by another voice,
a different voice. "What's going on here?" the new arrival had
demanded. It was Detective Notchey.

Back in the den, Madison had looked at Detective Notchey in
disbelief but continued, her voice toned down. "So the vampire
thing-this isn't news to you?"

"No, it's not. I met the Dedhams a while back" He paused.
"On another case."

Madison's eyes widened with new fright. "You're not a vampire, too, are you?"

Notchey stared at her a moment, then laughed. "No, I'm not.
I'm a beater, just like you"

"A ... a beater?"

The detective beckoned to her. "Come here, Madison." When
she hesitated, he repeated his request. "Come here" He said it as
gently as he knew how.

Madison shuffled over to the detective. He held out a hand to
her. With caution, she placed her hand in his. He drew it forward
and placed her fingertips on his neck, just under his jaw.

"What do you feel?" he asked.

"Besides stubble?"

"Besides stubble, what do you feel?" He kept his eyes riveted
to Madison's face.

Madison pressed her fingers gently into the warm flesh of
Notchey's neck. "I feel your pulse"

"And a pulse is?"

"A heartbeat." She pulled her hand away. "Heartbeat ... beater.
I get it."

Notchey nodded. "You and I have heartbeats, like all living
creatures. The Dedhams do not. Vampires refer to us as beaters."

Before Madison could say anything further, Notchey went
back to his foremost concern: asking her questions. "Let me get
this straight," he said. "You knew Bobby Piper before he snatched
you, right? Are you sure you're telling me everything?" He looked
at her with a cocked eye, as if she'd left out a vital piece of information on purpose.

Madison wanted to hit him, not once, but twice. Once for disregarding her own concerns, and the second time for his barely
veiled accusation. She knew damn well where he was going with
his prodding questions, and she was ready for him like a fighter
prepped for the fight of a lifetime.

Detective Mike Notchey of the LAPD was irritating and rude,
but then so were most of the cops she'd met in her life. Just a bit
taller than her and with a slight, wiry build, he reminded her of
the bantam rooster that had ruled the back yard at her second
foster home. The small, ill-tempered chicken had terrorized her
and the other children with its aggressive demeanor and arrogant
ways until the day it turned up headless. They'd all been severely
punished, even though all evidence pointed to Jodie Hormel, the
oldest girl staying at the home, as the culprit.

"I'm telling you the truth," Madison insisted. "Bobby came
into the diner every now and then. Sometimes he tried to talk
to me while I worked. That's how I knew his name-he told me.
That night, I didn't see him until he grabbed me."

"Do you remember anyone ever being with him?"

"No. There might have been from time to time, but I don't
remember."

"And the diner, that would be Auntie Em's Diner on Washington in Culver City?"

Madison ran a hand through her freshly washed hair and
winced as she grazed the scrape on her forehead. "Yes," she
huffed. "I've told you that several times now." She'd been questioned enough by police to know that they asked the same questions over and over in different patterns in the hope of tripping
up a suspect or unearthing new information from the victim.

Notchey was dressed in jeans and a Dodgers sweatshirt. His
medium brown hair was cut short. He looked tired. Shadows
cupped his dark eyes, and his five o'clock shadow had gone into
extra innings. He wasn't young and he wasn't old, landing somewhere between Madison and the Dedhams in age. But then, that
was a pretty wide spread.

"According to your record, you were picked up twice in
Boise for soliciting." The detective eyed her over the top of his
notebook.

Madison's jaw set in defiance. "I was never formally charged."

"Why is that?"

"Because I never solicited. I've never, ever been a whore." She
spit the words out like rotten food and for the moment forgot
about the vampires in the kitchen.

"According to your sheet," Notchey said, consulting his notebook, "you'd go into bars and promise the johns a good time.
Once they were nice and drunk, you'd rob them in the parking
lot."
"

"That was back in Boise. I've been straight since I've been
here."

"Here? You mean since you've moved to LA?" He scoffed. "So
you came to la-la land to start a new life, just like every other
skank, crook, and perv?"

"Yes," she answered, as if clubbing him with the word. "I came
here to start a new life. I've got a job, a place to live, and I pay my
bills. I even take a class at West LA College. I haven't had a single
brush with the law since I left Idaho. Ask my boss-he'll tell you.
His name's Kyle Patterson. He owns the place."

I already have. He says you're hardworking and always on
time. Also said you're not much of a people person."

"Didn't know that was against the law." She narrowed her eyes
at him. "If it was, you and I'd probably be wearing his and hers
matching orange jumpsuits."

The edge of Notchey's mouth twitched as a smile fought for
its life, then was beaten into submission. "We don't think Piper
was working alone. And from what you observed-his waiting that's a fairly safe assumption. You're sure you never saw anyone
else?"

She shook her head. "No one" Fixing her eyes on Notchey,
she gathered her resolve and moved closer. "Just ... just Doug
Dedham splattering him against a tree, then gnawing on him like
a ren faire turkey leg."

Mike Notchey closed his notebook and met her steady stare.
"The Dedhams saved your life and took care of you. Be a little
grateful, why don't you? They could've left you there. It would
have been better for them if they had."

Madison raised her chin in defiance. "He wanted to kill me.
She talked him out of it," she repeated yet again.

"Doug Dedham would never have killed you." This time the
detective did smile. "No matter how tempting. He just likes to
screw with people when he can, which isn't often. For him, it's
Halloween every day."

"And what about Dodie?"

"Dodie is just as undead as Doug. She just exercises more
common sense and manners. Dodie is kind, warm, and caring,
but don't for a minute think she's some fragile old lady. Believe
me, when need be, she can be just as scary as Doug."

Madison gave that some thought, sure now that Dodie Dedham had carried her through the woods. If they had super hearing and could move at lightning speed, what was to stop them
from having super strength?

Notchey closed his notebook and got to his feet. "I'll stop by
tomorrow to see how you're getting along and if there's anything
more you may have remembered."

"Hold on," she told him. "Let me grab my purse. I'd feel better
leaving with you."

Stopping short of the door, Notchey turned to her. "Didn't
the Dedhams tell you? You're staying here for the time being."

Madison's mouth hung open a full fifteen seconds before she
found her voice. "The hell I am!"

In two strides, Notchey was in front of Madison, holding her
tightly by the arms. "It's the safest place for you, and we need you
to stay low for a while-out of the way in case they come back to
finish you off."

"Did you not pay attention to me just now? Vampires. They
are vam-pires!"

Notchey put his face close to hers. She could smell onions.
"And did you not understand what nearly happened to you?" He
shook her, then let go. "Doug and Dodie are not going to hurt
you. There's a killer or killers on the loose, and they're helping
hunt them down."

"The vamps are helping the cops?" Madison was confused.
"But I thought the guy who killed those women was in jail."

"The Dedhams are helping me." Notchey paused before continuing, running a hand through his spiky hair. "The brass think
they've got the guy. I don't; neither do the Dedhams. Someone is
going around snatching women, mutilating them. It's going on
a lot more than what you're hearing in the news. I think Bobby
was just a middleman-the guy who brought the women to the
killer. I think the guy in jail was also a murder pimp and not the
killer. But he's not talking, except to claim he did it. If I'm right,
this guy's more afraid of the killer than he is of going to prison
for life."