Murder in Vein (2010) (41 page)

Leaning against a post that held the roof over the patio,
Madison wrapped a large pool towel around her wet clothes and
studied the body. The body was of a naked black man, slim but
very fit, with wide, muscled shoulders and strong legs. From his
build, she guessed him to be on the young side. His black hair
was cropped close to his skull, but she never looked at his face.

As soon as she'd seen the body, she'd kicked off her shoes and
jumped into the pool to check for life. Once close, she'd noticed
the body had been impaled through its chest with a large stick,
the end of which was protruding from the man's back. Still, she'd
checked his pulse and found no sign of life. She crawled out of
the pool at that point, not wanting to destroy any evidence. No
matter who the man had been, it was crystal clear to Madison
that he was now a murder victim.

After getting out of the pool, she'd spent a few minutes trying to think of what she should do. Because the Dedhams were
vampires, it wasn't like Madison could call the local police. They
would arrive and wonder why the Dedhams couldn't be wakened. When sleeping, the Dedhams looked and passed for dead;
they were dead. How would Madison ever explain that to the
authorities? So she'd called Mike Notchey.

Mike Notchey was a detective with the Los Angeles Police
Department. He knew about the vampires and was friends with
many of them, especially the Dedhams. When he arrived, they
would figure out something together.

Madison and Notchey had become close friends in the past
couple of months. Like her, he was human. Besides the Dedhams'
housekeeper, Pauline Speakes, he was her only regular human
contact that she could talk to about the vampires. Since today
was Sunday, Pauline was off work, otherwise she might have been
the one to find the body. She'd been employed by Doug Dedham
for many years, even before he had met and married Dodie. Pauline would have known what to do, although Madison was sure
Pauline's first call also would have been to Mike Notchey.

When it was no longer possible to ignore her chattering teeth,
Madison decided to run upstairs to pull on some dry clothes.
The dead man wasn't going anywhere. Again, she looked around
the Dedham back property, wondering if whoever dumped the
body in the pool might be watching, but she saw nothing.

Hurrying, it only took Madison a couple of minutes to slip out
of her wet clothing, scrub herself dry with a towel, and slip on a
sweatshirt and yoga pants. She'd also pulled on wool socks and
slippers. Drying her long brown hair would have to wait. Grabbing
another towel and her brush, she started back downstairs to wait
for Notchey. She was on the upstairs landing when she stopped in
her tracks. Quickly, she reversed direction and covered the hallway
to the master suite. She knocked. Receiving no answer, she opened
the door a crack and peeked in.

The Dedhams were on the bed, cuddled together in the spoon
position, with Doug's arm wrapped lovingly around Dodie's
middle. The Dedhams appeared to be in their late sixties, early seventies. Doug had been a vampire for a few hundred years, but
Dodie had been turned less than twenty.

"Guys?" Madison called to them, hoping that maybe they
were nearing the end of their daily death sleep. Since it was winter and daylight hours were shorter, the vampires slept less than
they would during the spring and summer. But even in December, the sun wouldn't be going down for a few hours yet. Madison closed the door and ran back downstairs to wait for Notchey.

Walking through the house, Madison yanked out the band
holding her hair and started towel-drying it. When she got out
to the patio, she plopped herself down on a patio chair and bent
at the waist, letting her hair fall forward while she ran it through
the folds of the towel. When she came back up into a sitting position and tossed her damp hair back, she screamed.

It was a short shriek, as if someone had come from behind
her and slapped a hand over her mouth, cutting it off-a scream
of surprise that turned into silent horror.

The body in the pool was still in the pool, and it was still the
only body in the pool, but it was no longer floating with its arms
extended in a perfect textbook display of a dead man's float.

Dropping the damp towel, Madison jumped to her feet and
stared at the pool in disbelief. Her feet were frozen to the concrete pad of the patio as if the cement had become quicksand
and swallowed her up to her ankles.

The body was at the far end of the pool, near the wide steps
that led down into the water. It was still facedown, but its arms
were over the edge, its head resting on the apron, as if someone
had tried to haul it out of the water and then abandoned the
project.

Madison looked around the back yard and wooded property
and again saw no sign of anyone else. When she'd left the body
to go inside and change, it had been near the steps but definitely
still in the water.

Finally loosening her feet, Madison took a few careful steps
toward the body. Doing some quick calculations in her confused
head, she added up the time that had passed since she'd first seen
the body, called Notchey, and then left to go upstairs. The man
couldn't be alive. No one could float facedown that long and not
drown. And there had been no pulse. She hadn't been hasty in
her determination. She'd checked thoroughly. She was sure of it.

Then his right arm moved .. .